American Cinematographer - September 1992 - 102

ASC Hosts Student Award Winners
Dunn displayed one of the more
than 25 matte paintings created for It's a

Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Wodd. The painting
of seven scene elements required
composite an elaborate establishing
shot. Dunn explained that these seven ele¬
ments required 21 passes through the spe¬
cial matte camera to composite. Each of the
elements were a set of red, green and blue
complementary color filtered separation
exposures superimposed on the raw film

was one

to

stock.

Dunn pointed out that there have
been five basic categories in special visual
effects for motion pictures: matte paintings,

optical printing, background projection, min¬
iatures, and full-scale mechanical effects.
The modern computer has since been ap¬

plied to all of these categories, introducing
improved screen
quality, saved time and costs, and virtually
eliminated all restrictions on creativity.
Dunn emphasized the great importance of
early planning, even to the point of having
the visual effects specialist work with the
advancements which have

Above: ASC

members

Woody

Omens, Dean

Cundey and
Linwood Dunn

speak to the
gathering of upand-coming

writers.

filmmakers.

I

Right: A look at
the final

■! 1 1 . 'I.

The students then viewed

'

composite from
It's A Mad, Mad,

Mad, Mad

allli LjSBftrHn

World. Below

right: The
original five-

and various events; outreach programs such
as Haskell Wexler and Vilmos Zsigmond's
recent seminars for students in Hungary

foot-wide matte

painting that
served as the
cornerstone for

(see June '92 issue); and AC's comprehen¬

the

sive coverage of both current and

composite.

historical

achievements in the field. Omens concluded

by urging the students to recognize the con¬
tributions of their

On June 12, the fifteen winners of the 19th
Annual Student Academy Awards were

given a tour of the ASC Clubhouse, where
they heard informative talks by ASC mem¬
bers Woody Omens, Dean Cundey and
Linwood Dunn.

In

introducing his fellow direc¬

tors of

photography, Omens addressed the
challenge of gaining recognition in the
highly competitive but often underappre¬
ciated field of

members.

cinematography. He lauded
exemplary efforts toward that
end, citing the organization's annual awards

among others. He advised the aspiring film¬
makers to accept any kind of work on a film,

American

September 1992

the ASC's

1G0

crew

Cundey's informal chat with the
students began with his reminiscences
about attending UCLA's film school. He
compared his expectations of the "real" film
world with the eventual reality, often with
comic results. Cundey answered numerous
questions concerning the relationship be¬
tween cinematographers and directors,
drawing on his positive experiences with
Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis,

Cinematographer

since the

experience can only help.

a

dis¬

play of still pictures illustrating many of the
aspects of the visual effects categories
used for Mad Wodd, and watched a video¬
tape that showed the completed compos¬
ite as it appeared in the film. A session of
questions and answers followed, but the
session ended before all of the eager stu¬
dents' questions could be fielded.

Two nights later, the Academy
presented the group with gold, silver and
bronze awards for documentary, dramatic
and animated films, and gold medals for
experimental and honorary foreign films.
The eleven award-winning films, which
ranged in length from four to fifty minutes,
were made by students from California,
New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Washington, DC, and Great Britain.
ASC President William Fraker
declared that the Society's members were

delighted to host the memorable visit from
these talented filmmakers, and looked for¬
ward to making it an annual event. The ASC
also extended its appreciation to Richard
Miller of the

Sciences for

Academy of Motion Arts and
arranging the program. - MR
American Cinematographer - September 1992

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