American Cinematographer - August 1994 - 48

The

we needed at Edison, a
state-of-the-art place where they

als? We took half of what they
had. At the same time, we were

water."
pipe room they
found was tiny, however, com¬
pared to the acres of plumbing at

using elevators that had been de¬
signed to carry Technicolor cam¬
eras for
Mary Poppins. We used
the big equipment. At Raleigh we
used every available piece of
lighting and cable. The sets - as
well as the people who built the

what

Moviecam
Compact

process

The

Intel, and the scenes called for
chases, effects and action in the

cramped

room.

Set pieces

were

built, but the key was a set of

translights Jackson and Richard
Sawyer made from some 8 X 10
photographs taken at the Intel fa¬
cility.
"When you see that un¬
derground pipe world," says
Hora, "part of it is really Intel,
part of it's Edison, and part of it's
prop set pieces of several types
that we created. We had to run
back and forth over a 20-foot

length for four days and make it
look different each time."

Anderson

emphasizes
daunting project could
not have been successfully un¬
dertaken anywhere else in the
that the

world. "This film

was

made in

Hollywood," he states. "We took
advantage of all the technology
and experience that Hollywood
can

deliver, whether it be Dick

Clark Executive

Oppenheimer
Camera Brings The
Moviecam Compact

To The Pacific
Northwest!

producing, or
sets, lighting, crews, translights,
and equipment. Chapman, Fisher,
Mole-Richardson - you name
any

house, it's in this film. Dream

Quest, Image G, Metrolight Stu¬
dios, Imagica, the Metrocolor
guys at CFI, David Keighley at
- we took
advantage
of the best of the best."
"That's very unusual for

70mm Inc.
We

Oppenheimer Camera
are very impressed with our first
Moviecam Compact. This is THE
quiet, modular, lightweight 35mm
sound

at

camera

for the Nineties!

Imax film,"

Jackson reminds.

"Most Imax films have been 'five

Compact

guys with a camera, let's go find
a natural wonder.' This was a
first time where it was like a
'film.' There was a narrative

existing rental inventory and brings
the best of the new technology to
the DP's and production companies

script with dialogue and a fea¬
ture-style schedule. We were
on
soundstages. It was SAG,

From

our

15 years on

the

camera

rental scene, we see the Moviecam
as our next step...the one
which dovetails perfectly with our

who work with
Let

us.

show

how the
Compact can make your
shoot a better experience!
us

you

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next

OPPENHEIMER
Id
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46

an

DGA, IA."
would

"Truckloads of stuff
come down from the

Disney grip department," Ander¬
son says. "Lights that were de¬
signed and manufactured this
year by Mole-Richardson were
trucked

PORTLAND
503-233-0249

August 1994

over.

Hollywood Rent¬

foam caves, and the technicians
who wired everything - were

tops. It essentially took two
companies to generate the video
that appears in the film on
monitors. We had people who
were

what

taking representations of
we

tors and

wanted

on

video moni¬

producing that in their

computers. All the makeup and
the

prosthetics people (led by
Tony Gardner) were the best in
the business. Everybody in¬
volved in this film was part of the
tradition of cinematic experience.
That could only happen in Holly¬
wood."

Looking back, the trio of
filmmakers feels that their lack of
narrative Imax experience was a

boon, in that they didn't know
what was impossible. "I don't
have a long history of directing

films," Jackson admits. "I knew I
wanted to have the camera move
all the time - in every shot. I
think I drove them a little bit

on that.
"When you take a look at
the film, even if it's not a compli¬
cated crane shot, you oftentimes
have a little move," says Ander¬

crazy

insisting

"Barnaby asked that the sets
designed as a total vista. You
could shoot any direction, and
you couldn't possibly shoot
off the set
unless you aimed
straight up in the lights."
son.

be

-

Jackson

uses

the term

"tunneling" to describe his dy¬
namic shooting style. "Imax sur¬
vives on masters," he explains.
"But I think it's just terrible to be
static. I wanted to be driving the
crane

into the set to find the cut

you can't put dolly
track down because you'll see it.

point. But
You can't

dolly in

-

forget it.

And you can't do tracking shots
because in many cases you're

strobing, again because of the
American Cinematographer - August 1994

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