'Coco' a visually complex film: Indian camera artist

Arjun Rihan, who has lent his creative touch to "Coco", says the forthcoming animated film is visually "very complex" but it adds to the movie's beauty.

Disney-Pixar's "Coco" narrates the story of an aspiring musician's journey into the land of the dead.

"We really have a high bar at Pixar. We want the films to be as beautiful and detail oriented as possible. 'Coco' really had a lot of challenges which were related to scale and complexity of the world," Rihane told IANS.

In the movie, aspiring musician Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez) teams up with charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael Garcia Bernal) on an extraordinary journey through the Land of the Dead.

"The Land of the Dead is a very complex world and needs very elaborate building, spanned to different centuries, different world and layers. Getting all of that into the computer schemes so that one can shoot it with the virtual camera was very challenging," Rihan added.

Rihan, who hails from Pune, worked as a layout artist on the film, which will release in India on Friday.

Elaborating on the challenges, he said: "There were very small things and then very large things. They all needed to be there at the same time, so that was really difficult. Then there was the crowd....We had to compose the scenes in such a way that viewers don't get lost...

"It is a very complex film visually, and that is part (of the reason) why it looks very beautiful but also part of the reason it was challenging to do."

"Coco" showcases the importance of family, honouring one's ancestors and following dreams. The movie features an original score from Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino, a song by Oscar winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and additional songs co-written by Germaine Franco and co-director Adrian Molina.

Rihane says he had fun while working on the film. "It was fantastic. It is a really unique film and I really enjoyed it."

--IANS

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