American Cinematographer - December 1988 - 62

Sophisticated Visuals

on
Grand Scale for Die Hard
by George Turner
Richard Edlund, ASC,

producer of

visual effects, views the popular
success of Die Hard with wellearned satisfaction.
A

hard-hitting

melodrama about
man's battle to

a

suspense
lone police¬

overcome a

band of

professional terrorists who have
taken over a towering office build¬
ing, the picture is not what we gen¬
erally think of as a special effects
oriented show. It takes place in
modern, workaday Los Angeles
and there
no

are no

aliens

or

monsters,

pseudo-scientific gimmicks,

flights into

no

outer space or visits to

long ago or far away worlds. The
story, however fanciful, is ground¬

60

American

Cinematographer

ed in

reality. Most of it was photo¬
graphed at night in and around the
new
34-story Fox Plaza Building,
which towers over Century City,
California, and on a spectacular in¬
terior set a few hundred yards away
on
Stage 15 at Twentieth Century
Fox Studio. Two Musco Lights were
used in illuminating the actual
building and adjacent areas.
Much of the essential
tion of the
never

ac¬

story, however, could

have been translated into

mo¬

studio of

Joseph Westheimer, ASC,
name at Industrial
Light
and Magic in the likes of Star Wars,
China Syndrome, The Empire Strikes
Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Polter¬
geist, and Return of the Jedi. About
four years ago he established Boss
made his

Film Effects, from which have ema¬
nated the effects for Ghost Busters,

Fright Night, Poltergeist II, 2010, Big
Trouble in Little China, Masters of the
Universe and
course

now

Die Hard. In the

of these and other ventures

pictures without the utilization
highly sophisticated special vi¬

he has amassed four Oscars, four

sual effects conceived and executed

entific and Technical Awards, and a
head-full of know-how. His crew

tion

of

on a

gan

grand scale. Edlund, who be¬
career at the

his visual effects

December 1988

nominations, three

ranges

Academy Sci¬

from 60 to about 170 experts



American Cinematographer - December 1988

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

American Cinematographer - December 1988 - 1
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