American Cinematographer - April 1989 - 54

Cartoonist's ideal,
Jessica Rabbit,
seems

palpitatingly

real in her

nightclub act.

ceptions

able to do that
greatly. I read
article which stated

we were

and the film benefits
a

newspaper

concerned
with the fact that the camera moved
that the animators

so

were

much, but most of the animators

IVe talked to said that the

boon of the

adapt

great

picture is that we didn't
technique to an easier,

our
conventional way.
"We built full-size, bend¬
able rubber rabbits to use as stand-

more

help with the lighting and
staging. Each time we photo¬
graphed a scene we would always
do one take using these large, poseable figures, which were built for
principal animation characters
such as Roger, the weasels, and a
couple of the other characters.
These proved to be extremely use¬

ins to

ful devices, because the operator
was able to see their sizes in rela¬

dialogue, which was being deliv¬
ered by an off-camera actor. The
actors in the

scene were

able to do

the rehearsals with the

figures, vi¬
sualize what the action was going
to be, and then during the actual
take they could draw upon re¬
membrance of what the figure had
done when brought through by the
director.

than usual. "This

was an

unusual

picture in that all the backgrounds
were to have
something composi¬
ted

over them, whether animation
effects," Cundey revealed. "Ear¬
ly on, we decided we had to consid¬
or

would then

in

hearsed,

or I
the character

The

operator would then

see

how fast it moved and

had to consider the end result and

so

understand what the action was
and where the character would be

moving.
be able to

decide how to compose. Then,
we shot the scene, we didn't
use the
figure and the operator

when

American

er

pre-production and during pro¬
was
going to greatly affect
what was going to be done eventu¬
ally. This includes even the timing,
which normally isn't done exten¬
sively until after the negative has
been cut. As we were working we

it was re¬
that everybody would
scene as

Cinematographer

were

only going to

appear later. We were shooting
them, you might say, at the time of

production.
"It was a unique project,"
Cundey understated.

Tequila Sunrise
Conrad Hall, ASC
ASC and

complexity of the
technique employed throughout
most of the picture made color tim¬
ing of more immediate concern

tion to the actors. The director
move

characters who

Academy Nominee

The

the end result very carefully
because everything we were doing

through the

52

would have to just imagine where
the character was in relation to the

duction

almost think backward,

always
considering the post production
work involving all the animation of
April 1989

A well-known film writer stated

re¬

cently that "1988 was the year of the
close-up." Tequila Sunrise illustrates
this to perfection. Not since direc¬
tor Carl Dreyer and cinematogra¬
pher Rudolph Mate put The Passion
of Joan of Arc on film - 60 years
earlier!

-

has

a

movie owed

more

of

its effectiveness to the

prolonged
intimacy of the camera with the
performers. It's an unusual ap¬
proach to a cops vs. crooks show which Tequila Sunrise is, replete
with the expected fights, chases
and explosions - but it pays off in
characterization, audience rapport
and romantic warmth.
Such

approach de¬
players who are interesting,
both physically and histrionically,
and a cinematographer with the
ability to capture these qualities.
mands

an
American Cinematographer - April 1989

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