The special effects and premise of this short film didn’t all come together until the end when everything is revealed. According to the lead 3D animator and compositor, Jonathan Ridge, the short was, “created by Irish Commercials Director, Stephen St. Leger and talented Director of Photography, James Mather. The film was called Prey Alone and was entirely shot green-screen with 3D Computer Animation and Graphics in all of the backgrounds. We believe it is the first short film in history to be done this way. This was by far and away the most grueling and demanding project I have ever worked on, especially when you take into account the massively limited budget there was for computer hardware and software – a true testament to human endeavour I can tell you!”
The effects are most definitely Hollywood caliber, which should have the big studios either lined up to hire this team or shaking with fear as they recognize the possibilities of feature length movies created outside of Hollywood, distributed on the Internet and bypassing the traditional channels while still delivering an immersive experience. Even the soundtrack sounds like it came straight out of a building in Burbank. Prey Alone is a true testament to what can be done on a shoestring budget by skilled CGI experts.
