American Cinematographer - March 1988 - 90

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Wire, Tape and Rubber Band Style

tor and

mixer, creating a rough video

composite.
Cardboard cutouts, made to
created of the CGI characters and
placed into the scene to check scale and
perspective. The cardboard cutouts are then
lined up with the pencil tests.
"From these," says Benison,

scale,

are

"we make accurate notes

on

the

camera

height, the lens, the angle of the camera, the
distance of the CGI characters from the
lens."

This information and the color
and contrast reference shots information is

mapped into the computer, when the vector
line renderings of the CGI characters are
done. The completed graphic image main¬
tains the same perspectives, angles, and
distances on the characters that were shot
in live action.
The completed CGI character, as
Robbins says, "is composited in with other
live action characters, live action settings,
miniature model settings and stock foot¬
(Photo is of Kenworthy Snorkel Camera in
...

a

use on

age." The composited work is shot on 5295

"Logan's Run")

book about MOVIE MAGIC

originated many
special effects
plausible. He began when the movie business was
young, was long-time chief of special effects at
20th Century-Fox, and completed a brilliant career
in the '80s. His legacy is this book, which tells
how a flying saucer was landed in the heart of
Washington, D.C.; Paul Newman and Robert
Redford leapt 80 feet into a rocky creek; the
world's tallest building was destroyed; Raquel
Welch took an odyssey through a man's
of the illusions that made movie

feeling that they are a part of the scene and
photographed at the same time as the live
action. Currently Robbins and the ARCCA
animators are working on techniques to
soften up the CGI characters, and there is
accurate blurring of the CGI characters
when they move within the frame.
The computer created vector
drawings that make up the CGI charac¬
ters are digitally composited on an Abekas
unit, which creates multiple composites
without generation loss.
ARCCA has purchased an Ab¬

line

bloodstream; James Mason almost was devoured
a giant lizard; the
turned upside down;
moth to the

moon;

luxury liner Poseidon was
Rex Harrison rode a giant
and much, much

The ASC Press

Please send

P.0. Box 2230

Rubber Band Style

ekas A-62 unit for the exclusive

more.

copies Special Effects-Wire, Tape and

Address

□
Add $2.50 postage

Payment enclosed

State

Zip

□ Charge by VISA

□ Mastercard

and

handling per copy USA: $5 per
foreign. Calif, residents add
$1.95 state tax. U.S. funds only.

Card #

Exp. Date

copy

Signed
Allow 6-8 weeks for

of the

rented

needed.
With Bob Robbins and the Cana¬
dian ARCCA technicians and Earl Hud¬
dleston at Landmarks Hollywood center

Name

City

use

show, but in order to keep up with its 22show syndication commitment, other units
are

Hollywood, CA 90078

$29.95

The CGI characters, to date, are
very sharp, so a depth of field must be
maintained across the sets to enhance the

The late L. B. "Bill" Abbott, ASC,

by

film stock.

delivery

as

constantly pushing the creative envelope of
computer graphic animation, the show is
just beginning to explore their capabilities.
The CGI characters are a heady testament
to just how far computer graphics tech¬
niques have progressed. No longer limited
to the slick airbrush-like quality of a few
years ago, they can now be intercut, and
composited, with live action footage.

A
American Cinematographer - March 1988

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - March 1988
