American Cinematographer - December 1988 - 75

Opposite: Lovemaking alien style!
Animated fireball
chases

Guttenberg

through

a restau¬

rant. Above left:

Background plate
as

shot

Above

on

stage.

right: Ani¬

mated element be¬
fore

ating and controlling the colors and
the sizes of the vapors and making
sure that the character
really fit into
the scene occupied most of the
Cocoon crew for an eight month
period.
The general approach to
the alien was very similar to the
techniques used in the original
film. In fact, Ralph Gordon, the
original optical supervisor on the
show, talked extensively to Dave
Berry, who supervised optica Is on
Cocoon 1 before deciding just how
to create the alien look. (Editor's
Note:

Ralph Gordon died of a heart
August. His presence at
ILM and in the field of special ef¬
fects is greatly missed.)
According to Bruce
Vecchito, who replaced Gordon as
optical supervisor, "We had an ad¬
vantage Dave didn't. We had a new
MC camera [Mechanical Concepts
attack in

camera
use

with Tondreau

and

aliens

we

move

makes it

more

glow and

software] to

needed it. Since the
around

so

much it

difficult to create the

vapor effect."
Vecchito explained

the
optical steps in creating the aliens
and why the new camera was so
important: "First we made the
high-con window matte of the
alien

-

a

clear center and

a

black

background. We would take that
and fill that clear void with

a

water

ripple effect. We used a colored rip¬
ple that gave the alien an outward
motion. This is all done

color

on

two-

negative stock, so we have to

send it to the lab each time. Once it

back, we manipulate it with
printer. We use a technique
where we slip the sync one frame
on each pass and the cameraman
comes
our

does 24 passes per
same

time,

on

frame. At the

each pass the image

is

enlarged. So, on a single frame
you have 24 passes and 24 size
changes. The outer ripples are also
put out of focus so the image feath¬
ers out.
Zooming on the image
combined with the sync change
gives you a nice outward movement
which is the basis of the vapors.
"Then, to break it up even
more, we

take it another step. We

re-photograph that piece of film
with fire in it. This gives it an or¬
ange color and it also breaks the
image up into a more random pat¬
tern. Then we go to our final com¬
positing stage. We have about 35 of
these shots and that's a lot of optical
work to do on a show
especially
-

with all the lab turnarounds
had. We

use

like, but there
der,

we

surprises.

we were un¬

had to live with them. Per¬

sonally, I think most of them were
good surprises."
The improved technology
helped control serendipity in some
instances. Says Vecchito, "When
we are
putting the water ripple into
the clear center of the negative
space of the alien, we need to track
that center ripple and keep it on the
chest

area

of the alien. Otherwise

he is

slipping through the water
ripple and it doesn't give us the
effect
era

we

need. We needed

a cam¬

that would be able to track the

center of the

that

now

ripple for

with

ander is the

we

camera

Monaco Labs here in

amount

San Francisco.
"The aliens in the

were some

With the time crunch

our

us. We have
MC. John Alex¬

cameraman

and he did

on

that

a

massive

For Farrar the

improve¬

of work."
artistic and technical.

previ¬
ous movie were
pretty bright and in

ments

most of the

will, of the aliens and the vapors

in Cocoon I

they
were in a darker
setting so they
could light up the room and add
something to the scene that way. It's
a little harder
putting the alien into
brighter backgrounds such as the
lab. The yellow vapors that come
off him don't show up as well. We
have to use thin mattes to put the
vapor in and then we have to be
very careful to hide the mattes that
we are
using for the vapors."
scenes

were

"This time the
that

come

choreography, if you

off the aliens

better and much
than what

we were

more

are

much

complex

able to do in the

first show."
One

good example is the

increased movement of the aliens.

other

problem with the alien is that
we were
working with organic im¬
ages and depending on how the
alien is moving, those images
change the kind of look we get. It
was often a
serendipitous image
that we ended up with. We gener¬

They move through scenes as well as
toward and away from camera.
Farrar continues his explanation,
"The movement is done primarily
through wire work, but it is a little
more
sophisticated in that we have
been able to integrate the aliens into
the scene. We didn't have to keep
them relatively stationary as we did
in the first film. As I said, they
move right past camera as
they fly
into a scene and they go through
doors and turn left and turn right..

ally knew what they would look

all of it

Vecchito continues, "The

December 1988

compositing.

American

choreographed while the

Cinematographer

73
American Cinematographer - December 1988

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