American Cinematographer - February 1990 - 80

Wire frame anima¬

thetically driven.

tion frames shot
from the computer
screen show part of
the continuity of the
commercial.

"But it's those little touches-
the exact perspective, the exact shading
and lighting-that make the character
click when it's rendered by the computer.
If we were just to trace everything that

the shadows would naturally fall and
how the lighting would look. It's usually

Duck Soup did, it would be an odd hybrid
without the ring of realism that it has
once we've translated it."
The translation from 2D back
to 3D includes making a digital pin-reg¬
istered transfer of the live-action to D1

case we are

digital video. This information can then
be imported into Rhythm and Hues'
computer system and used to ensure that
the character is fitting into the scene.
"When we get the timings down and we
need to make

sure

that the character is

sitting in the right place or has his feet
on the ground," Gibson explained, "our
system has the ability to superimpose the
wire-frame over the digital video image.
It's like a rotoscope station, but we can
slave the digital video disc to our wire¬
frame and then we

composited

over

can

shoot wire-frame

the live-action in video

test form as many times as we want. We
never have to worry about sending any¬

thing to the lab!
"Also
in 24

our

system lets us work

or 30 fps. We are able to pro¬
duce video tests at 24 fps-which is

fps

what the film is shot at. We always try
to work in the same frame rate as the

original shot. Usually when animation is
involved, which is a per frame project, it's
a given that we'll work in 24 fps. There's
an

aesthetic call there, too. Film shot at

30

fps and transferred definitely has a
different look. It's cleaner in a way, but
less classical; 30 fps can sometimes call
attention to itself, depending on the spot.
We're very comfortable working at 24
and I think it really helped the look of this
spot."
As soon as Weinberg deter¬
mined that the wire-frame looked good
in the composites, the color and lighting
phase began. He was assisted in this part
of the project by animator and technical
director Jeanne Cunningham.
"This is where we really make
Spot fit into the scene," continued Gi¬
bson. "Initially we talked to Richard and
he gave us lighting guides that showed
us how his live action lights were
handled. He used a warm key up high and

American

Cinematographer

given to the cel animators as a guide to
drawing shadows and highlights. In our
able to work backwards from
that information.
"In our mathematically defined
set within the computer system, we are
able to position the 'lights' to achieve the
same effect. The same goes for the shad¬
ows. Once the lights are positioned, the
shadows fall naturally."
At this point in the process a

spot becomes a director's dream-or
nightmare. Now a director can start
tweaking each frame. The amount of
control over all the factors in each scene
is phenomenal. "Richard was able to

position specific highlights, for instance.
He wanted a real flashy effect when we
see Spot's sunglasses and he wanted
certain shadow effects to happen. He
was able to specify how beefy the shad¬
ows are and how red the warm light
really is and how blue the cool light re¬
ally is.
"There is a scene where Spot
is behind a piece of plastic in the machine
that he opens up. We had to refract an
image through that and Richard was able
to tell us how clean the plastic should be
or how dirty. There's a million questions
once each shot is set up and a director
can tweak every aspect of it," Gibson
related.
Two additional factors make
this portion of the process a dream. First,
the director always looks at a full-color
video comp. No decisions have to be
made on the basis of a black and white
test bi-packed with the background
plate on a Moviola. What you see is very
close to what you will get. Secondly, if
changes are necessary, they happen in a
matter of minutes-not days or weeks.
Each frame can usually be corrected in 30
move

to 60 seconds.

"Normally, Richard would
in and give us his comments and
then we would compute a whole scene
overnight. He would come back the next
come

day and look at it in motion so he
how things were
looking. That's a direct result of the high
speeds of the new computers. Several

wouldn't have to guess

cool fill down low. With the

years ago, computers were so

provided

you

us, we were

guides he
able to see very

clearly how the lighting should look. In

78

fact, he has a little Spot doll that he puts
in the scene on a wire just to show where

February 1990

slow that
could see a moving comp only after
the spot was complete. That was it-it
American Cinematographer - February 1990

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