American Cinematographer - April 1988 - 88

There
erations

in

were

other consid¬

making the mirror

shots, Ackerman noted. "Because
of the

physical proximity of the
couple we had to make all the light¬
ing completely interactive. If he has
a back
light, it has to hit her, too. If
they're both sitting on the same
have to match
they have to be the same

level, then the

exactly

-

Productions for live action

photog¬
raphy. "It's a very painstaking busi¬
ness and these guys don't have the
budget of NASA, so sometimes it
takes a lot of ingenuity," Ackerman
noted. "What

much what

distance from the

camera

and rest¬

we

saw

was

In addition to in-camera

effects,

a

number of blue

screen

shots

were made during principal
photography to be composited later
by Peter Kuran.

"Blue screen," Ackerman

said, "is

ancy in the color cast and density of
the reflected image versus the

no big deal. Have your
gaffer put in lots of light and the
right coloring - make sure you
have a richly exposed negative and
don't make the mistake of putting a

transmitted

lot of diffusion

necessary to

adjust for the discrep¬
image. I knew we had

when Rob
from Technicolor called

Hummel

succeeded

one morn¬

creatures and

puppets were de¬

signed and built by Robert Short
a

into

an

individualistic movie."
Ackerman

tic about his

was

Beetlejuice

enthusias¬

His

crew.

operator, Doug Knapp, has been
on

other films. "I've

never

been able to

design a shot that he
couldn't make," Ackerman said.
David Parrish and Patty Harrison
his assistants, Bill Silic was

were

gaffer and Ted Rhodes was key
grip. He is a firm believer in growth
and change.
"Someone

-

and

gracefully in the hands of
compositing team. I've never
film with this many

effects
sprinkled through it. There is some
stop frame animation which was
a

intercut with

live action which

matches very faithfully.
have sculptures coming

When

we

to life and

me

said to

once

more

-

ical

that

-

gee, we

-

we

wouldn't have known

one cameraman

had done all

these

things," he mused. "Fact of
try to design the
images following the concept of the
project and different films inspire
different approaches to things.
"The only allegiance one
the matter is that I

can

have is to be merciless in mak¬

ing the work the best that it
Sometimes it is fun to take

toughie, which this

one

can be.
real

on a

was."

A

how you look at it, Wisconsin
place to shoot film.
Our state offers a beautiful setting, along

No
is

use

others

the lens

walking across the room and grab¬
bing somebody, it's a combination
of stop-frame animation and me¬
chanical special effects which were
fantastic visual sleight of hand.

fantastic

much to

the

on

worked out, the camera can pan
and tilt freely."
of

so

then it is
done

number

not

perplexed than crit¬
just looked at some of
your commercials and a couple of
your pictures and some of these
things looked different from the

ing and said: 'We were just looking
at dailies and the darnedest thing
happened - one of the people dis¬
appeared.' A freedom you have
when you do a mirror shot like this
is that once all the geometry is

A

was

special effects to create a Star Wars
kind of show but to integrate them

with him

quite well visually."

axes

ing at the same angle. She has to
have the same keylight as him, even
though it's actually a different key
light. Back light, fill and all the
molding have to be credible. It's also

pretty
got. It all works

we

Our desire

matter

great

with all the talent, technicians,

facilities and

services you

need to get rolling.
And once you've settled on a loca¬
tion, we'll give you behind-the-scenes
help with permits and anything else you
might need to give your movie a happy
ending.
So call lor our free production
guide. And see Wisconsin in a whole
new

way.

Wisconsin
Film Office.
(608) 267-FILM
Division of Tourism

Development

P.O. Box 7970, Madison, W1 53707

Wisconsin.
Look At It This Wfay

r

AFCr
American Cinematographer - April 1988

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