American Cinematographer - April 1989 - 53

Opposite page: The
congregation gath¬
ers on

the site of

their burned
church in Missis¬

sippi Burning. Far
left: Peter Biziou,

BSC. Left:

Rupert

Anderson (Gene

Hackman) and Alan
Ward (Willem
Dafoe) hope to

glean information
from

a

young,

frightened child.
Below: Who

Framed

Roger

Rabbit? director
of

difference between two frames per
second and a fraction of a stop can
make one a hero or a bum.
This technical expertise
has been leavened with a heavy
of artistry as the stylish
thoughtful cinematography of

measure

and

Biziou's films attests: Time Bandits,
9Vi Weeks, Pink Floyd's The Wall,
The Life of Brian and Another Coun¬

try, which captured the top prize
for cinematography at Cannes in
1984. Mississippi Burning continues
Biziou's

photography
Cundey, ASC
places a model
Dean

stand-in of the

animated star

ing in front of the picture car as it
drove through 360 degrees of
changing height.
Biziou

couldn't

be

reached for comment, but in many

The story

is based

on ac¬
tual events which occurred in the

South in the 1960s. To create a fic¬
tionalized version of the story the
filmmakers traveled to over 60 loca¬

tions, spread all over Mississippi
and Alabama. Scenes included

blazing churches, back country
roads, impoverished pig farms, Ku
Klux Klan rallies, a barbership and
a beauty parlor, ramshackle shacks,
and alligator-infested swamps
(shot in actual alligator-infested
swamps). A disused convent
a hospital.

was

converted to

The Citizen's Council Ral¬

ly scene, a thinly veiled KKK meet¬
ing, required 750 extras in period
costume, 200 period cars, 10 buses,
30 trucks, 100 crew and police, and,
fittingly, borrowed circus tents in
which to feed everyone.
In another scene, a young
black man is driven through town
with a cardboard box on his head,
in order to

identify fire bomb

con¬

spirators without being spotted
himself
an
image culled from ac¬
-

tual events. The unusual shot
made from

a

moving vehicle

was

weav¬

He

began preparation in
England in August, 1986. Two pro¬
duction units worked around the
clock at Elstree Studio until the end
of April, 1987. There was a three-

ways,

the powerful images in Mis¬
sissippi Burning speak for them¬

week shoot of street action in

downtown Los

selves.

Angeles, and

months of blue

screen

Who Framed
Rabbit?
Dean

Roger

Cundey, ASC

Factory.
Looking on is
Christopher Lloyd.

more

effects

two years.

"After our initial talks,

Academy Award Nominee
Who Framed

Acme

pho¬
tography at Lucasfilm's Industrial
Light and Magic facility in North¬
ern California.
Altogether, Cundey
was involved with
Roger for almost

eighteen year collaboration

with writer/director Alan Parker.

on

location in the

we

adopted the general policy to do
everything exactly as if the cartoon

Roger Rabbit? is not

an

easy show to describe. To say that it
combines live action with cartoon

characters

were

alive, in the way we

normally tell a story in a film,"
Cundey recalled. "With minor ex-

animation, while truthful, doesn't
say to what extent or with

begin to

what skill this

accomplished.
Roger Rab¬
bit? audience must suspend its dis¬
belief long enough to accept the
was

In Who Framed

idea that the cartoon characters are
real as Bob Floskins and the oth¬

as
er

It's

flesh-and-blood
a

co-performers.
comedy-murder mystery-

chase thriller, done on a vast scale
and filled with homages to the

great cartoon creations of the past.
Its realization

was

possi¬

ble

only through the determination
of a lot of talented professionals to
broaden the parameters of cinemat¬
ic expression. A key member of the
team is its director of
photography,
Dean Cundey, ASC, nominated for
an

Oscar for his work.

April 1989

American

Cinematographer

51
American Cinematographer - April 1989

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