American Cinematographer - August 1983 - 84

In San
Francisco-
we are

located 2 blocks from

Moscone Center-site of

July,

1984 Democratic National

Convention

ROCK AND RULE

mands, it dictated possibilities that

Continued

could then be

from

page 69

through the fog filters, resulting in a
distinct shot of a prominent Angel
with a slight halation, and a sharp but
dropped-out background.
Other effects arrived by way of ex¬
isting technology rarely applied to ani¬

Norm

ducer of

A

SPACE

ODYSSEY

and

LARGEST

RENTALS

DEALER¬

throbs in rainbow sherbet hues. Noth¬

REPAIRS

SHIPS IN

ing more was needed in the way of

ONE OF THE

NORTHERN

CALIFORNIA
WITH 35

YEARS
EXPERIENCE

COMPLETE
PROFESSIONAL
*

VIDEO

MOTION

*

PICTURE
*

STILL

DIVISIONS

artwork than

a

dab of color 14" dimen¬

sion and movement, while the slit-

process burned in a (probably
meaningless but exceedingly decora¬
tive) binary code on top of the colors.
The combination of streaking and
slit-scanning also created the holo¬
gram image of the film's sinister an¬
tagonist Mok, giving the flat artwork
of his face the wrap-around effect of a
cylindrical, glowing, semi-transparent
ghost. Mok's face was drawn in black
lines on white paper, then filmed on
35mm Kodalith, resulting in a clear
image on an opaque background-
but each frame was given a slight
streak, varying in degree from one
frame to the next, to give the image
scan

dimension and halations. This film
then

was

scan

Attn:

back-projected into the slit
device for the wrap-around ef¬

fect and filmed, with various color

PROFESSIONAL
MEDIA

If you are covering
Democratic

Convention

...

the

a

gels and diffusion filters, as the sec¬
ond pass of a shot in which the first
pass was the standard top-lit back¬
ground. For a finish, Mok's screaming
face gives off a succession of threedimensional projections of itself, until
it becomes a tunnel of light lunging at

request on your

the

company

letterhead
brings you a free

required 60 passes to accomplish.
The gang at Nelvana is not only in¬

"Motion Picture &

ventive, it's cooperative, and, in the

Video"
our

Catalog and

Credit Application.

(415) 495-3852

camera:

a

series of streaks that

best tradition of the
animation house, it

forward-looking

bypasses a strict

departmentalization of function in
favor of a free-flowing exchange of
ideas and embellishments from de¬

Adolph Gower

P.0 Box 420, San Francisco 94101

82

omnipotence.

contains no computer-gener¬
ated images; it's essentially a series
of simple two-dimensional shapes
given three-dimensional form through
the same streak photography that so¬
lidifies SUPERMAN'S credits. Joining
forces with slit-scan photography, de¬
veloped for the Stargate sequence in
game

adapted for use on the Nelvana com¬
puter stand, it brought to life the "Ar¬
mageddon Key,'' a three-dimensional
Mobius strip that floats in space and

SERVICE

much-discussed combination of
he sees as his key to

sounds

mated features. The elaborate video

2001:

SALES

programmed back into
story-like the slit-scanned musi¬
cal notes that weave sinuously out of
Mok's computer to visualize the

the

partment to department. The story
on the pho¬
tographic idiom, but as the machinery
was acquired to meet those de¬
dictated the first demands

Stangel, designated the

pro¬

special animated effects,
heads Nelvana's special effects de¬
partment along with Keith Ingham.

The 20-man

department, generally re¬
EASE (for Effects And
Special Effects), operated autono¬
mously during the course of the pro¬
duction and has since spun off com¬
pletely into an entity called Ease
Media, Inc., performing photographic
wizardry for Nelvana as well as other
shops. As production on ROCK AND

ferred to

as

RULE

proceeded, Norm, Keith,
Lenora, Dennis, Clive, and the film's
producers, Patrick Loubert and
Michael Hirsch, would gather each
morning to look at the results of the
previous day's work on the three
stands. Animation pencil
tests, photographic wedge tests, and
completed production shots would
parade before their eyes. When the
screening was over, a host of criti¬
cisms, corrections, suggestions, and
improvements would pour forth, from
which would emerge the ensuing plan
of action. With the varieties of experi¬
ence represented (art, design, film,
special effects, surveying, elec¬
tronics, animation, still photography,
mathematics, and dance), the ideas
generated went far beyond the
bounds respected by conventional
animation
which is just what
Loubert, Hirsch, and Smith had in
mind. "It's very essential to do that,"
Smith thinks. "When you work with
so many people over that
length of
time-for the sake of the picture, for
the sake of the people, for every¬
body's benefit-you really have to al¬
low people to express themselves
through the picture. It's a mistake to
think that you can write the script, do
the design, do the music, and then
bring in 200 people to make the pic¬
ture. I don't think any picture works
like that-particularly an animated
one, because it takes so long, and so
much happens during the production,
so many things are developed. The
camera

-

animators who

we

cast to animate

the

particular characters created
those characters: by working with
them, by working with the voices, by
coming up with personality, character,
and story ideas. At the other end of
AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER,

AUGUST, 1983
American Cinematographer - August 1983

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