American Cinematographer - November 1986 - 34

Raditschnig normally
work close to T/z to
2.5 on night scenes where there is
already an abundance of contrast
prefers

to

built in. Even

exteriors he likes

on

stay below 5.6. On this shoot
he used the Arriflex BL3 with
Zeiss lenses. "They're very sharp
and very clear - almost too
to

sharp,'' he admitted. "I have to de¬
grade the image a little by using a
black net in combination with a
diffusion 1 or 2 to take the edge
off a tiny bit. Outside I shoot 5247
with the 85 and heavy neutral den¬

in order to
my opinion the
lenses work best around f/4 or
5.6 because then they make things
appear very gentle and friendly.
When you stop way down to f/i 1
or 16 it becomes very harsh and
sity - up to ND
keep it low. In

15

-

doesn't mesh well with the softer
interiors."
Steadicam was employed
for scenes involving the POV of

the genie. The creature floats
around with a different sense of
movement than the customary

rolling dolly shot. The

crew at¬
tached the Steadicam to a crane
and lifted it and the operator to¬

gether

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so

the unit could make sub¬

maneuvers

in addition

to

the

long sweeping trucks of the crane.
"Soon as you bring in
something of that immensity, it al¬
ways becomes slightly unbeliev¬
able," suggested Raditschnig.
"You then

must

hide it in

a

very

clever way

through the use of
backlights. The less you see, the
better. But many of the dinosaur
skeletons in the
mechanical and

museum

also look

huge, so the com¬
parison helped make it easier to

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swallow."
The crew applied plenty
of fog to the genie in order to
show it sparingly. But fog effects

For

example, the opening
required enormous
fog effects combined with the

shot of the film
need for

extraordinary timing and
set piece coordination. An old
schooner pulls into Galveston har-

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-

November 1986

bor

a fog-bound night. The
glides along the outside of
the ship, then moves onto the
boat, and there discovers some¬
thing very shocking. It then backs
away seven feet, looks down into
the hold and sees more grisly re¬
on

camera

mains. To film this involved scene,

the crew employed a huge indus¬
trial crane atop a pontoon barge
which extended out over the
water. Steadicam operator Ralph
Watson sat on the crane. When
the camera reached the ship he

simply stepped off onto
and walked toward the

the deck
mangled
body. The fog was created with
the help of large Navy foggers and

sweetened with filtration. The
coolness of the water aided in

keeping the smoke close

to

the

deck.
Another scene of equal
difficulty involved a group of slimy
reptiles. The genie has the power
to transform itself into many dif¬
ferent objects. At one point a
spear shoots off the wall and at¬
tacks a guard. In another meta¬
morphosis, the genie inhabits four
dead cobras in a jar. These come
to

life while

one

of the students is

bathing. Cobras will not strike un¬
they have venom, so a large
plexiglass window needed to be
placed between the snakes and the
girl. Even though she was in no
real danger, a doctor with anti¬
cobra serum was on hand that day.
less

It also turned out to be the last
shot photographed, just in case
something went amiss.
The film also has its share
of pyrotechnics, courtesy Frank
Inez of Reel EFX. The grand finale

is similar to the flying maelstrom in
Raiders of the Lost Ark, complete
with fire, wind, lightning and float¬

ing spirits. The main character,
Alex (played by Andra St. Ivanyi),
hurls the lamp into the museum
incinerator in an attempt to de¬
stroy the evil spirit. The genie ex¬
plodes and its various parts go fly¬
ing in all directions. All the fire and
smoke eventually implodes back
into the lamp.
The climactic effect was
filmed in a day and took 41 setups.
Instead of pouring smoke out of

the

lamp and printing the

scene
American Cinematographer - November 1986

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