Tree of Life.

Los Angeles, June 17 2011 - Prime Focus has contributed stunning visual effects shots to the Terrence Malick-directed drama 'The Tree of Life' for Fox Searchlight.  The Palme d'Or winning feature stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, and is based on an original screenplay written by Malick. This much-anticipated film opened in select theatres in Los Angeles and New York on May 27th, 2011.

The Tree of Life is an impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick's signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

Prime Focus completed eight highly-detailed shots for the film. VFX Supervisor Bryan Hirota, Producer Bridgitte Krupke and their dedicated team created stunningly realistic shots of dinosaurs, including a wounded plesiosaurus, a young parasaur walking through a wooded forest and field of ferns and the sequence that features an angry dromiceiomimus attacking a young parasaur, then – showing mercy – allowing it live. The challenge for the team was to create creatures that held up to the level of detail that the Director expected – but with enough time and a team of over 50 working on the film over the course of production at the Vancouver and Los Angeles studios - all of the shots met his exacting standards.

Find out more about Prime Focus' work on The Tree of Life as part of an in-depth feature on the making of the film in Digital Media World. Click here to view the article in full.