American Cinematographer - June 1986 - 66

The creature

shop
articulating the
glowing eyes of Locrew

Pan.

than widthwise, one
with a matte line that

adjustment
alleviate."
On

can

the

winds up
printer

no

properly

other hand,

65mm has almost double the
working area of VistaVision for
better resolution and grain, and
the

more

modern Kodak standard

perforations

are more

versatile

than Bell & Howell (C.1910) nega¬
tive perfs. The grain structure of

65mm is not the problem it is with
VistaVision, since the latter
doesn't effectively accommodate
the 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio.

"Also," continued
Edlund, "a complex effects shot
may not be composited for a year.
Not all the elements may be shot

the same time. If you put the
shot together using acetate film,
the various films will shrink at dif¬
ferent rates and you'll end up with

at

technical

Boss's

nightmare. (Many of
high-speed cameras can't

handle

acetate

a

stock. The stronger

Estar perforations are able to
withstand the stress of high-speed

pull down claws and registration
pins.)
64

American

Cinematographer

"Kodak has been

help¬
ally in providing Estar base
65mm film stock. It's not a matter
of availability, it's a matter of
Kodak being willing to produce
special orders. All of our film is
special ordered on Estar in lengths
of up to 35,000 feet for 65mm
and 66,000 feet
is used as the

for 35mm; 5247
primary camera
negative (S0247 is the Estar base
designation) with 5294 (S0185)
for high speed and low light level
photography. The reduction ratio
between 65 and 35 is so great we
don't have to worry if one scene's
been shot on 47 and one on 94.
There are problems in dealing with
65mm, but they're nothing com¬
pared to VistaVision."
John Lloyd's under¬
ground arcade set for Big Trouble
required a 65mm background

plate. All the plates were pho¬
tographed with 65 mm effects cam¬
eras

which

are

certified rock

steady, having been made for dif¬
ferent capabilities than standard
motion

picture production
equipment.

June 1986

Bill Neil is Boss's special
in charge of lo¬

a

ful

effects

cameraman

cation

plate photography. When

a

such as this is heavily inter¬
woven with live action, it's easier
for him to shoot on the existing
set rather than drag the actors to
Boss and duplicate it there. It's
also better for the film.
scene

"I prefer to have the first
unit cameraman light the set so
that everything remains the same,"
Neil admitted. "I also encourage
the operator to check my framing.

My goal is to have an effects shot
that integrates as seamlessly as
possible with the rest of the
footage. I'm not going for perfect
composition in the shot. I want it
to have the same quality and idio¬
syncrasies as the first unit's shot.
"Whenever there's

a

se¬

in the film which follows
or precedes our work, I'm there to
advise and foresee the possibilities
of being painted into a corner.
quence

Sometimes

a

director is

not

terri¬

bly experienced in dealing with ef¬
fects and will block

a sequence in
which makes the effects shot
difficult to execute. I don't always

a

way
American Cinematographer - June 1986

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