American Cinematographer - February 1989 - 77
Animation and Live Action Combine
on
Chex
Spot
by Thomas Campbell
The illustrations Norman Rockwell did for
The
Saturday Evening Post hark back to an
seems simpler from todays per¬
spective. The early part of the century is
era
that
recalled
as an
paintings
are
innocent time, and Rockwell's
signposts that have survived
of decades intact.
the passage
The task
was
clear from the
■
*
moment that Pan Productions was asked to
create the Chex/Norman Rockwell
order for the commercial to be
spot. In
the
work of the great painter/illustrator must be
instilled with life and movement. Having
a success
produced numerous animated commercials
major clients over the past eight years,
including a Clio award winner, executive
producer Edmond McCarthy, director Ruthie
Rosenfeld, and cinematographer Michael «
Brassert (who also co-directed), were eager .5
for the challenge.
3
for
"Norman Rockwell was a won-12
u
derful storyteller/' explains McCarthy. "He >
could sum it all up in one picture. Within iT
each of the illustrations we worked with, o
there was the motivation, there was the j=
character, there
were
the small but impor¬
tablecloth as a diffusion material. We tried
as much as possible to be very faithful to
his lighting."
of bringing
and that they would come out good enough
for the artist who colored them to see all
the detail."
"The first thing I do," continues
the illustrations to life involved the talents of
Brassert, "is get the best lenses possible for
illustrators working with the produc¬
sharpness and clarity. In this case I used the
Panavision Primo lenses. The other thing
other point of contention, according to the
filmmakers. In a scene that features a
tant details that told the
story...what time
been. There
it was, where these people had
was a lot there to work with."
The actual process
many
tion team. The five illustrations were chosen
by the agency ("Little Spooners," "Candy,"
"The Runaway," "Freedom from Want," and
"After the Prom"). Then the casting call
went out for "Rockwell" types. Since the
foundation of the animation technique used
by Pan is the photographic image, the
casting process was crucial.
To further ensure the period
realism of the illustrations, many of the
props and costumes were constructed to
order. One of the most difficult articles to
find was the state trooper's uniform. It was
finally tracked down with the help of the
Massachusetts State Police Department.
From a cinematographer's point
of view, the commercial had unique require¬
ments. "My approach was a little different
than on a regular live action shoot, because
the end result was not going to be film, but
photocopies," explains Brassert. "I had to
be
sure
that I
was
shooting for the prints
that we tried to do was control the contrast
as much as possible. The photocopier we
used, the Canon laser printer, has a tenden¬
increase contrast. I made sure, for
instance, that all of the whites were toned
cy to
down
bit. Anything that was white,
such as the grandmother's apron, the table
cloth, or the soda jerk's uniform, we died
quite
with tea
a
so we
wouldn't lose detail."
It wasn't only the
film to
transition from
print that complicated the shooting of
Rockwell's illlustrations. It was soon discov¬
ered that the painter took certain creative
liberties within his compositions.
"One of the biggest challenges
we
had," says Brassert, "was lighting the
little girl in the Thanksgiving scene. There
seemed to be a highlight falling on her face
that appeared to come from the table itself.
To create the effect we drilled holes in the
table, put a light under it, and used the
February 1989
Props and wardrobe
Lighting the "Little
Spooners" at the
live action shoot.
were an¬
lounging in a chair and eating from a
box of cereal, the chair was ultimately
constructed much larger than normal. Analy¬
sis of her body proportions in the original
woman
revealed that the actress would have to be
at least seven feet tall if she stood up.
It
became obvious that the height of the chair
had been greatly exaggerated. By using the
still of the illustration, which had been
stored in the video playback system, they
were able to construct the needed height by
taping white card to the back of the chair
and sketching on an outline. When the film
finally made it to the laser print and artwork
phase, the chair pattern was painted into its
proper place.
"We shot the Rockwell/Post il¬
lustrations with the film camera to transfer
them to video," says Brassert. "I stored it in
a
digital
While
memory for
we were
retrieval when needed.
shooting the scenes, we
superimposed the still image of the paint-
American
Cinematographer
75
American Cinematographer - February 1989
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 1989
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