American Cinematographer - December 1991 - 94

NEW
ZOOM MOTOR
BRACKETRY

that it be shot in the VistaVision

derricks. The trick was to keep the
derricks out of the shot as the jet
flew over and off into the sunset.

format.

Well,

composited with motion control
aircraft elements, it was important

LIGHTWEIGHT

"Originally we thought 120
fps would work for the mountain
plate, but after testing it turned out
that 160 fps looked a little better,"
says Beck. This limited the camera

HARD ANODIZED

selection to the Wilcam W-7, the

FOR ZEISS 10-100 T2
LOW PROFILE

only VistaVision camera capable of
cranking film to 200 fps. "The W-7
did what it was supposed to do,"
Beck notes. "It ran at a high speed,
it produced a good image, it didn't
flicker, and it was steady. We had
an obligation to go back and later
match the motion of this plate to
our motion control
planes. If the
camera movement did not
produce
a
steady image the background
would be bouncing around on a
frame-by-frame basis, and that
would create a real problem when
the shot reached opticals.

00
*

Motor collar slides

260°

allowing for

mounting and

easy

positioning.
*

Channel bracket is
with

mounts
on

precision cut, and
into existing holes

screws

the lens. This prevents clamping,
can cause internal optical

which

problems.

"We tried a 28mm and
then a 35mm lens, going with the 28
in the end. The Wilcam lenses are

$495.00
AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT:

BIRNS &
1026 H.

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FAX: (213) 466-7049

LE&
RTLAND ARE
PPENHEIMER
CITIES
Oppenheimer Camera now brings you
responsive service
and quality equipment at nationally
competitive rates. Like our Seattle
shop, the Portland office features the

we were

problem:

no plane! The plane
didn't show up due to high winds
in Mojave where it was based. So
we went back the next
day and did
it all again, and this time the jet
showed. We shot at 48 fps using a
300mm Canon, got a few nice takes
and went home."
With the required back¬

grounds in the

can,

the Dream

Quest crew proceeded to complete
the necessary motion control, matte

painting, and animation elements
to build 39 optical composites.
"Both Scott Beattie and Kevin

Fitzgerald did most of their own
lighting and programming on the
motion control stages," Beck ex¬
plained. "They would light a setup,
and I would

come

down and look

speeds, and gave us a nice
image," Beck continues. "We had to

at

shoot with 5296, as the model
looked better after the sun had set
behind a hill. We were shooting at

They and their crews did a really
fine job of matching the lighting of
the miniature planes to the back¬
grounds, as well as creating the

it, and maybe ask for a few
changes in contrast or whatever.

moves."

Fitzgerald, who created

field. We shot at between T4 and

the motion control

5.6, changing as the sun was setting.

plane turning and fishtailing away
with his stage crew of Scott
Campbell and Craig Moore, ex¬
plains the process: "Everybody had

This was the only 96 stock we used.
We used 5245 a lot for our exteriors.
Shot as VistaVision, 45 is just flatout gorgeous. We shot 47 for our
blue screens, as usual, and some
5248 was used for motion control."
The Dream Quest crew
also needed a background element

involving a real landscape and a
real jet. This time the Wilcam W-9
camera, limited to 100 fps, was
utilized. "One shot is an ocean view
as seen from the deck of an aircraft

carrier," Beck explains. "As the sun

two locations with

there,

was a beautiful sunset,
there were dramatic clouds drifting
across the sun, and we had
only one

Zeiss

high speeds, the W-7 has a fixed
144-degree shutter, and we were
always fighting for more depth of
★ Seattle

we went out

ready, it

sets, a fighter jet screams overhead
and off into the sunset. Well, it's

move

of the

their own idea of how that should
look. We worked on that move for
several days, using the video tap on
the m.c. camera and a single-frame
recorder to make video move tests.
We were shooting with a 35mm
lens at f /11. The camera got so close
to the model as it spun around that
the tail of the plane actually swung
inside the matte box. The plane, in
front of a blue screen, was hung on
wires from one of our marionette
movers,

which

were

built for The

Abyss."

and

surprisingly difficult to get a nice,

accessories, Sony BetaCams, KEM
systems, Tyler helicopter

clean view of the ocean, from a

On another stage,

good height, along the California
coast. We found a spot, and using

and assistant Michael Condro were

finest

in

ARRIFLEX

cameras

editing

mounts and Motorola walkie talkies.

Give

us a

call

...or

two.

various calculations

OF3F3eiMHEIMEn
/\

M

SEATTLE

PORTLAND

206/467-8666

503/233-0249

knew

just
where and when the sun was going
to set: exactly between two oil
m

December 1991

we

Beattie

busy creating the shot visual effects
producer Robert Stadd is most
proud of. Stadd describes it: "The
shot is a POV of a plane zooming
American Cinematographer - December 1991

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