American Cinematographer - December 1988 - 89

Then

saved that information

disc, which was used to shoot the
live-action, our miniature stage-

wearing raincoats and slickers, cov¬
ered heads to toe by the end of the
day in that metylcel goop! We later

work and

matted the rods and cables out

we

on

a

again when we shot
foreground blue screen."

our

once

An unfortunate drawback

of the director's

use

of

stroboscopic

light

was that it
the Blob effects,

drew attention to
making the crea¬
ture appear as if it were stopmotion puppeted. "Actually,
there's only one little stop motion
sequence in there," Yeatman in¬
sists, "when it clobbers

theatre

a

patron. The rest of it was high

speed live action miniature work. It
stop motion because of
the strobe light effect - which is a
negative result of the director's
looks like

scheme, since it does freeze each
frame.

Stop motion didn't mix well

with the fluid nature of the Blob,
but we used whatever worked!
"Stuart Ziff was

ble for the Blob puppet

responsi¬
used in the

theatre," Yeatman continues. "The

techniques were still quite basic. I
think if they'd built something out
of a lighter weight material it would
have worked better, but we were
stuck with methylcel and quilt pup¬

using articulated mattes."
The Blob's shiny surface
created huge difficulties for Dream
Quest in terms of any type of opti¬
cal matting. Realizing that backlit
bluescreen and other backlit sys¬
tems wouldn't do because of the
Blob's reflective nature, Yeatman

employed front projection bluescreen, which worked well for pull¬
ing mattes off the shiny creature.
"There

would hit its

ran

skeleton for the Blob. The minia¬
ture seats
were

and

constructed

by Greg Jein

then added to the

as

so we

cal in order to

ensure

the fact that many

was

We're

was

happening in the background and
foreground of each shot."
Complicating things even

assembly required)

lighting the South.
504-926-4241

(40 footers,

lights, generators, elec¬
trical, grip, dollies S. cranes).

times the live action element would

moving forward at 24 fps, while
background were
running in reverse at 72 fps. "That
was another reason we
required so
many optical composites," Yeat¬
man
says. "Since we were mixing a
the effects in the

same

track,

lot of frame rates, direction and

move

gravity tricks, we put together a
density control device which
worked with the high speed Vista-

towards camera,
the chairs would fold underneath,

*(some

the Blob's

actions coincided with what

the turtleshell would

across camera or

you'll ever need.9

could

match it up exactly to a rearprojected background - every¬
thing had to be composited in opti¬

be

as a

mark,

equipment

never

sequence - something we called
the turtleshell, which was an oval
track and which served

used

reasons we

technique instead of simply
rear-projecting the background
plate behind the Blob effect," he
explains. "One, we were shooting
at a very high frame rate. Two, we
were never sure
just when the Blob

further

shaped piece of fiberglass that

two

were

this

pets. A very intricate rig was used
to puppeteer the Blob in that

on a

■-

Computer Optics
Lens Service Division
We specialize in servicing
Angenieux lenses. We also repair
Canon, Fuji and other popular
lenses.

Vision cameras,

creating the illusion that the Blob
was
engulfing the seats in its path.
It was a very intricate device that

allowing us to
change frame rates within a scene

16mm

Broadcast

because

35mm

ENG

All

demands.

Effects, Eric Allard's company,

we

created. Between the turtleshell
and the

"There

were airconnected to the

which

a device that allowed air
to enter and exit the bladders to

a room

methylcel bags

bladders that

were

Ziff-organ,

help animate the outer methylcel
surface.
"There
wire and rod

quence.

There

was

also

a

lot of

puppetry in that se¬
were

cable and rod

marrionette

had these

the

opposing

sequences in
would burst

were

Blob

through a door and then shoot into
-

and

we

wanted all of that

12-120 f2

Angenieux zoom

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to

move very
quickly, so it had to be
undercranked. But once it shot out

into the room, we wanted to main¬
tain a feeling of scale, so the frame
rate had to be

high speed. On the

lens, there was a variable ND filter
system, similar to the devices made

systems above the ta¬
ble, as well as other puppeteers
working under the table top. Many
times, there were twelve to fifteen

by Cinema Products and Panavision. Those systems have particu¬
lar problems - one uses polarizers,

people working beneath the table,

which

use

December 1988

up a

lot of light, while

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American Cinematographer - December 1988

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