American Cinematographer - December 1996 - 85

Depth-of-field minimal ?

CG

objects - whether Terminator,

dinosaur

or

twister

-

SYNCROMARK

have al¬

been comped into live-ac¬
tion scenes, the Mission: Impossible
Chunnel demanded entirely the
opposite approach: comping two

Laser Pointer

ways

actors

on a

locomotive set into

camera

the crew sees the laser spot,
but the film does not.

Compatible at all speeds and
shutter angles with Arriflex,

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distinct

Moviecam, Aaton, Panavision.

advantages to this approach: the

CMEM4TOGP/PW/,

virtual Chunnel didn't have to be

pitch-black,

as it is in reality. In¬
stead, the ILM crew lit their tunnel

reference mark.

so

environment.
were some

Control

Synchronized to camera shutter

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a

completely computer-generated
There

and

Bright red laser spot for marking
actor's position, focus point, or

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sporadically, not only to illuminate
the action, but to create the sense
that the train was really barrelling

along. Large CG lights spaced ev¬
ery 100' acted like picket-fence
posts on a model railroad, con¬

veying speed; the huge blue CG
cross-ventilation ducts passing
by less frequently were the
"telephone poles," providing
progress. Strobing lights on the
set made the actors and the train
appear to constantly move in and
out of light; this, combined with
the wind, created the illusion of
tremendous speed.
As

Phelps frees the
helicopter's cable, the whirlybird
lunges, its blades chopping mur¬
derously close to Hunt. Then
Hunt makes a heroic leap from
the train onto the helicopter, slap¬
ping a wad of plastic explosive
onto its windshield.

The

ensuing

blast blows Hunt back onto the

train,

right into

camera.

Here, ILM achieved

some

remarkable

sleight of hand. While
working on the explosion shot,
Knoll switched the CG helicopter
for

a

Ys-scale miniature. To match

their CG train's virtual 200 m.p.h.,
Knoll's team shot at 120 frames

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A

second as a gigantic electric
propelled the chopper
model through a 120'-long
Chunnel miniature at 50 m.p.h.
In a classic "out of the fry¬
ing pan" scenario, the train brakes
as the fireball of whirling death
per

motor

slams into it and then heads

straight for Hunt, who escapes by
the narrowest of margins. By using
Silicon Graphics software on SGI
workstations, ILM truly managed
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American Cinematographer - December 1996

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