American Cinematographer - January 1984 - 70

Wim***m

The

crew sets

up

for

tually yields

a very

cold and static

an

aerial sequence

film. The filmmakers of

at

lUeuschwanstein,

Carpet strove for

"Mad
castle

Ludwig's"
in Germany.

macy

a sense

with the people

screens

Magic

of inti¬
the

on

and their culture.
An

example of the suc¬
cess of this approach is a scene
filmed in Germany, in the little
shop of a violin maker. The setting
features three artisans carving
away, gas-lit lamps, tools and vari¬
ous items of the trade on the walls.
Close-focus shims were used on
the lenses for the dolly shot

shop. The result
image bursting with rich

through this
is

a warm

cozy

traditions.
Technical
in progress at

was

development is

the Disney Studio

readily available to

handle excessive vibration. Extra
care had to be taken for all moving
shots.

Surprisingly, ordinary
vibrations

seem to

be "absorbed"

optically with the system's
lenses. One POV shot of

a

32mm
train in

accomplished by plac¬
ing the cameras on a flat car that
was pushed along in front of the
France

was

train. The shot

68

American

fps

to

enhance the impact of

motion, since the highest speed
was
crew

mph. During filming, the
nearly convinced the

30

was

shot would be unusable because
of the vibration they could feel

was

Cinematographer

undercranked

this

or that
and it starts affecting
everyone's disposition. Of course,
beyond that, it's just a matter of
selecting people who are nice,
healthy workaholics!
"My line producers and I
-

through their feet, but the result is

have

terrific.

We
For aerial shots

the

on

original America The Beautiful,
the camera system was lowered
through the bomb bay doors of a
B-25. Since then, Disney has
adapted a standard cargo frame
with

a custom mount

for

use

with

Lama

helicopter. Unlike a Tyler
where a cinematographer
is operating the camera, the CircleVision camera is literally bolted
underneath the helicopter. Thus,
the pilot actually becomes the
camera operator since every move¬
ment of the helicopter goes on

a

mount,

for a camera mount to absorb
vibration from moving vehicles, a
critical problem with nine cameras
interlocked. But for this project,

nothing

at 12

film. Mark Wolff

was

chosen

to

pilot the Magic Carpet project be¬
cause of his splendid work on the
James Bond and Superman films.
The producers felt such
careful selection of a crew was vi¬
tal to the success of a project with
this kind of time and monetary
pressure.

is

one

Says Harper, "All it takes
with a lousy atti¬

person

tude
you know,
about the food or
-

January 1984

complaining
griping about

a

'short-hand' between us.
in tune to each other be¬

were

cause

they have directed and I

have been in their shoes, so we are
sensitive to each other's problems.
We didn't fight and concern our¬
selves with whose fault this or that
was. I think in most corporations
and in filmmaking, about 50% en¬

is wasted on 'blame'
passing it on to someone
else or defending against it. It's
boring and it's a horrible waste of
ergy-resource
...

either

time. End of sermon."
The challenge of
in the unique Circle-Vision

filming
format
was equalled by the restrictions of
time and money. Disney was in the
final stages of completing Tokyo
Disneyland, as well as EPCOT
Center, their enormous addition
to Walt Disney World, and finan¬
ces were tight. The filmmakers
were handed a sum of
money and
told, "That's it." They responded
to their challenge, succeeded in
getting all the scheduled shots, and
brought the footage in on time

and under

budget.

■
American Cinematographer - January 1984

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