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Believe it or not it
took only 4 days to shoot all of the live action elements of Prey Alone
in a green screen studio at Ardmore Studios in Dublin. One can appreciate
the amount of preparation this took. Every head turn, look and movement
had to be worked out in advance by directors Stephen St Leger and James
Mather and agreed upon for it to cut together. There are approximately 350
shots in the completed movie and each one is at least digitally enhanced
if not completely created on a computer. The self-taught James Mather spent
at least 18 months preparing and building all the necessary 3d objects and
elements. After seeing a short clip, producer John McDonnell was successful
in securing some short film funding from the Irish Film Board. With a budget
most Hollywood producers spend on lunch, Technical director John O’Connell
set up the domestic nine-computer render farm. Then James, Lead animator & compositor
Jonathan Ridge and graphic artist Eddie Sheanon had only three and a half
months to animate, model, light, render and complete the film.
It was filmed entirely against a green screen background on 16mm film.
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“Ideally 35mm
would have been a better format for compositing and tracking, but we didn’t
have the money…so it had to be 16mm…James and I also wanted
to shoot a lot of it hand held so that made things even more difficult for
tracking, more difficult for everything in fact…but it’s a much
better way…more exciting, realistic and unobtrusive.”
Stephen St Leger
Director
“I felt that the camera should always be trying to catch up with the
action. In real life the camera operator would be struggling to shoot what
is happening so that should be reflected in the 3d generated camera moves.
Camera shake, camera focusing up, crash zooming into the action”…”The
more unpredictable the better”
James Mather
D.O.P. / Director
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