Visual Effects Genius Douglas Trumbull masterpiece: The Tree Of Life

Douglas Trumbull has been called a visionary, genius, a creator of masterpieces, and these are just a few amongst many other such nicknames. So when Terrence Malick, the director of The Tree Of Life, needed a special effects supervisor for his 22 minute birth of creation of the universe, Trumbull was the obvious choice.

Trumbull, who has been nominated for five Academy Awards and has received the American Society of Cinematographer’s Lifetime Achievement Award, was approached by Malick and told that computer-generated imagery was not what he wanted. Trumbull asked Malick, "Why not do it the old way? The way we did it in 2001?"

Using a variety of materials for the creation of the universe sequence, Trumbull worked in co-ordination with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass. “We worked with chemicals, paint, fluorescent dyes, smoke, liquids, CO2, flares, spin dishes, fluid dynamics, lighting and high speed photography to see how effective they might be,” said Trumbull. “It was a free-wheeling opportunity to explore, something that I have found extraordinarily hard to get in the movie business. Terry didn’t have any preconceived ideas of what something should look like. We did things like pour milk through a funnel into a narrow trough and shoot it with a high-speed camera and folded lens, lighting it carefully and using a frame rate that would give the right kind of flow characteristics to look cosmic, galactic, huge and epic.”

The Tree Of Life is sure to be a visual treat for our viewers, and with Friday just around the corner, there has never been a more awaited movie by the audiences.

Hollywood’s most reclusive albeit legendary director – Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick is what Hollywood legends are made up of – only six feature films directed in a span of six decades, yet all six are critically acclaimed movies, a reputation of shying away from premieres and cameras, almost no interviews conducted and a noted specialty in visual splendor and meditative tones in his films. 

His latest film ‘The Tree Of Life’ offers audiences nothing less than what is expected in terms of awe and amazement while watching the film. Being eagerly awaited at the Cannes film festival for almost two years now, The Tree Of Life is a story about a man's childhood memories of his family living in the era of the 50’s, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth.

Malick’s devotion and meticulous approach to film-making and the secrecy which surrounds each and every project, is generally what leads to the huge buzz and excitement during each movie’s release. It has been said that “ Few directors truly “find a film in the edit” like Malick.” Malick’s unique style of direction has indeed gotten many admirers and many have since tried to replicate his treatment of a movie.

While talking about Malick’s direction style in The Tree Of Life, Brad Pitt said, “He’s like a guy with a butterfly net waiting for the truth to go by.” Jessica Chastain, the female lead in the film includes, “it was all about capturing the accident. There’s a section where a butterfly lands on my hand. It’s not in the script, and we didn’t put anything on my hand to make it land there.”

To know more, visit PVR Pictures Official website

or our Official Facebook and Official Twitter pages.

PVR Pictures - India's premier film production and distribution company.

Today, PVR Group is among India’s leading integrated media & entertainment players with a significant presence in film entertainment (film production, distribution and exhibition) and retail entertainment landscape.

PVR Pictures is the flagship film production and distribution arm of PVR Group. PVR Pictures made an enormously successful film production debut in 2007 with ‘Taare Zameen Par’ & ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ and has continued to build on its creative leadership in the film industry, since then.  Its current year production slate includes ‘Aisha’ (Abhay Deol and Sonam Kapoor) with Anil Kapoor Films Company, ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ (Abhishek Bhachchan & Deepika Padukone) with Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd & ‘Teen Thay Bhai’ with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Productions.

Spearheaded by its CEO, Kamal Gianchandani, a widely experienced media professional, PVR Pictures is led by its passionate promoters Ajay Bijli and Sanjeev K Bijli. Ajay Bijli is the Chairman & Managing Director of PVR Ltd while Sanjeev K Bijli is the Joint Managing Director.