American Cinematographer - May 1986 - 72

Cameraman

concentricities of a dramatic cen¬
ter. "It's almost as if the scenery is

Ralph

Alcocer sets up a
shot in the caverns

a

featuring Commander

As a consequence, the Ultimatte process, with which Cop¬

Heinrich Hudson's

ghostly

character," Coppola remarks.

crew.

pola had photographed his
electronic storyboards and pro¬
totype films and Faerie Tale The¬
atre

was

used

to

enormous

advantage for their special effects.
"We had

never

tried it

before," remarks Fred Fuchs.
"Murdo introduced it to us. He
understood the process and
worked as an intermediary be¬
tween

everyone

involved with it.

He and Paul Vlahos of the Ultimatte Corporation spent a day or
two

fore

with the ABC engineers be¬
we started. Then as we
got

into

production, the double-Ula vital part of al¬
most 85% of our shots. It was a
tremendous improvement on any¬
thing like this we had done
timatte became

before."
The

vide

challenge was to pro¬
credibility, quickly, with five

and at least three separate
levels of visualization. In most in¬
cameras

stances,

this would

start

with

one

close-up of one of six
sky paintings. Another camera
would view what the production
termed "the living mountain," a
camera on a

facsimile of
"All of them were too traditional.
Francis didn't want to do anything
that was traditional television or
film style. He was trying to see
how stylized and how much of a
statement he could make - a total
visual statement. He wasn't work¬

ing with how much he could put
stage, but how much
do with as few elements
ble again, the Eastern

on

he could
as

possi¬

philoso¬
phy. He's done movies for millions
of dollars so he wasn't trying to do
-

the director's in¬
put," Erler adds. "In this case, the
course,

director was willing to be involved
and brought consultants with a
vast amount of knowledge and

creativity. And because we were
experimenting in so many different
areas we all benefitted by the in¬
volvement of these people, includ¬
ing Murdo Laird, myself, George
Riesenberger, and producers Fred
Fuchs and Bridget Terry, all who
have a pretty good idea of what
be done."

mini feature film. He was going
hack to something more funda¬

can

mental:

tions had

a

Even so,

special

prepara¬

do with little."

Beyond that, with the de¬
signer on the set, a greater amal¬
gam of ideas by the creative
participants could be enjoyed.

ABC's Studio 59, the largest
in Hollywood, the story would
feature not one interior setting. All
of "Rip Van Winkle" would be

"Usually the responsibility is given

situated outdoors. The

to

to

a

fresh, clean minimalist

to see

how much he could

myself and the lighting director
produce the look (of the Tale)

American

Cinematographer

ing

to

at

idea, in
to suffuse emotion, char¬

part, was
and theme into the widest

acter

May 1986

a

mountain made of

(in effect, neutral colored)
cloth approximately 30 feet
square under which six dancers
could take direction during the
shot and move into appropriate
positions accordingly. A third
camera was positioned as a master
to view the principal activity of the
characters. Two auxiliary cameras

gray

would record 'details of the per¬
formances from different vantage

points.

Ordinarily, the double
might be accomplished by
recording one composite first,
then played back as the back¬
ground for the set to which an¬
matte

be made in advance to
accommodate Coppola's ambi¬
tions for landscape. Despite shoot¬

mode,

70

with, of

other Ultimatte would be added
later. Here, all three portions of
the matte, generated at different

points within the studio, could be
viewed live and in conjunction
with one another. What made this

possible

was a

the Ultimatte

unique item from
Corporation that
American Cinematographer - May 1986

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