Kon Tiki Visual Effects Breakdown

In the summer 2011 ILP was awarded a massive sequence for the Norwegian feature film "Kon-Tiki" directed by Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg. The film is about the legendary explorer Thor Heyerdal's epic journey crossing the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947. Their sequence takes place during a major emotional peak of the movie, as the crew struggles with internal conflicts while facing a critical situation involving white sharks. ILP delivered 58 shots in total, with plenty of hero shots and some extremely complex fully computer generated scenes. This is a VFX breakdown giving you a closer look at some of shots they made. Read more at http://www.ilpvfx.com

Kon Tiki

I just watched the film version of the "Kon Tiki" directed by Joachim Roenning & Espen Sandberg. The film is phenomenal and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The film makes fantastic use of visual effects as well in several key sequences throughout. A hearty congratulations to production visual effects and animation supervisor Arne Kaupang and the whole crew. Also, the musical score by Johan Söderqvist is great. I loved this movie.

Synopsis:

On the 28th of april 1947, Thor Heyerdahl leaves his wife and children behind to cross the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft called ‘Kon-Tiki’, with five inexperienced crew members. The Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer travels on the raft from Peru to Polynesia to prove that people from South-America settled in Polynesia instead of people from Asia, as was believed at the time. The crew did not pack any modern technology on board of the raft, except for a simple radio, and were companied by only each other and a parrot. With the world media watching, the crew navigates the Kon-Tiki across the Pacific Ocean using the stars and being driven by the currents and wind.

While taking on thunder storms, sharks and the dangers of the wide open sea, it’s six brave men against nature trying to get the Kon-Tiki across to the Polynesian shore. After gambling all he has, including his marriage, Heyerdahl is determined to succeed. Thor Heyerdahl’s documentary over the journey won an Oscar in 1951 and is the only Norwegian movie to have won an Oscar to date. The book Heyerdahl wrote about the Kon-Tiki expedition was translated into 70 languages and has sold over 50 million copies over the entire world. 

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