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

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