Film: Life of Pi (2012)Director: Ang Lee

The Dominant

The eye is attracted to Pi Patel first because the boy is standing out. Size: He is the largest object in the shot.Focus: He is on focus while the foreground is out of focus except for the tiger. Color: He is wearing a grey shirt and white pants while the rest of the shot is composed of shades of orange, which contrast.

The Dominant

Lighting

The high key lighting in the shot is essential because it adds to the realism. Reason: The tiger is animated and so is the ocean background by a blue screen, so by having the high key lighting is essential because if something is not lit nicely it is even more work to make it look real in post production. The lighting also fits the genre because adventure/drama films don’t need shadows or low lighting like a tragedy or mystery film. The tiger is half lift signifying that he has a good and bad side.

Costume

Pi is wearing traditional Indian clothing.Significance: Develops who the character is, he is an Indian guy coming from India.

Shot Type

The shot is a mediumlong shot because itsfrom a knee to top of head shot and also shows environment, also the main importance of the shot is the subject. Significance: Shows the subject in relation to the surrounding.

Camera Angle

It’s an eye-level shot. The subjects are calm; the tiger is observing Pi’s moves, while Pi is resting.

Color

The background is light brown/ orange/yellow. This is symbolic because light brown symbolizes stability, while the yellow on the far left symbolizes caution, which is relevant because after this scene there is a storm. The orange life raft is symbolic because orange symbolizes survival. It also symbolizes strength and endurance. These are major themes in the films.

Color

Orange also symbolizes Hinduism, which is related to the ability to cope/accept change. Pi has to accept this new change in order to survive.

Lens

A wide-angle lens was used becauseit draws the object closer and increases the illusion of depth. The significance is that it shows that the tiger is far away from the subject, and therefore Pi is safe. Slow film stock is used because the shot is a high quality shot and the film did use a great deal of illumination.

Subsidiary Contrast

The main subsidiary contrast in this shot is the tiger on the boat. He doesn’t stand out as much as Pi because he is relatively smaller than Pi in the shot, and also doesn’t have that big of a contrasting color like Pi. However, his size is significant and he has contrasting colors (black). The other subsidiary contrast is the boat because of its large size and it’s on an intersection in the rule of thirds.

Subsidiary Contrast

Meaning of the subsidiary contrast is that it shows that Pi still has an impending threat and a better place for shelter.

Density

The shot is not that dense because there are only four main objects (Pi, boat, tiger, and raft). It signifies Pi’s solitude.

Composition

The shot is composed of horizontal lines, signifies the calmness and peacefulness of this scene.

Form

The shot is a close frame because all of the necessary information is carefully confined into this one shot. There’s Pi, the Tiger, raft, boat, and they are in the middle of the ocean. Significance: To express the entrapment of the Tiger and Pi, and to keep the viewer focused on the action of the film.

Framing

Tight frame because Pi is on the edge of the frame, signifying little room to move around within the frame, but the tiger is more open to move around, since he has the whole boat and is not placed at the edge of the frame

suggesting that he has more freedom.

Depth of Field

Two frames are on focus, Pi and the tiger. The reason being that the shot is meant to give the viewer an impression of the relationship between Pi and the tiger, which is that they are dependent on each other.

Character Placement

The tiger is only placed on the top because he has power, authority, and aspiration. While Pi occupies the top and bottom of the frame because he does have some power and authority, since the tiger can’t get to him and Pi has the ability to swim and catch fish in the ocean, but he is also vulnerable because he has the impending threat of the tiger.

Staging Position

The tiger is in a full-front position, meaning that he is inviting Pi over to him (not for a good reason), also the tiger needs Pi to survive while Pi does not need the tiger. On the other hand, Pi is turned in a quarter turn signifying his intimacy and comfort of where he is since he got away from the tiger and is safe.

Character Proxemics

The proximity of the characters is public distances. The meaning is that Pi and the tiger are detached from each other by the body of water between them. This detachment is what’s keeping Pi alive.