American Cinematographer - December 1996 - 87

Only a handful of feature-

Space Jam: A Special

length movies have success¬
fully extended the realm of fantasy
by casting animated characters and
actors in key roles. The list includes
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Pete's
Dragon, Mary Poppins, Song of the

Effects Slam-Dunk

South and The Three Caballeros.

Animation and live action blend in

a

wild and

Now there is

Space Jam, the first
offering from the Warner Bros, fea¬
ture animation division.

woolly

game

of intergalactic hoops.

The film

begins as cute
deep space
drop in on Earth to kidnap Looney

little "Nerdlucks" from

by Bob Fisher

Tunes characters and make them
into indentured servants at

a

fail¬

ing intergalactic theme park. The
wily Bugs Bunny convinces the
Nerdlucks that they have to follow
Earth rules by defeating their vic¬
tims in a basketball game. The gull¬
ible aliens agree to the competition,
but stack the odds in their favor at

game time by transforming them¬
selves into menacing monsters
with

extraordinary abilities and
Not to be outdone, the
wily Bugs has convinced basketball
superstar Michael Jordan to play
powers.

been

talking about using virtual
backgrounds as settings for telling
stories," says Jones. "We did it. The
backgrounds for about one-third of
Space Jam were computer-gener¬
ated. We also made some impor¬
tant breakthroughs in the use of a
fluid camera movement for filming
characters against greenscreen
backgrounds. That changes the vi¬
sual dynamics of the story."
Jones notes that approxi¬
mately 1,100 digital effects shots

phy

was

done by Dean Cundey

Left: Suited in

for Toon Town.

[ASC], but bluescreen elements

greenscreen

Space Jam was inspired by
the success of several "Hare Jor¬
dan" Nike commercials directed by

recorded in VistaVision film
format by an ILM camera crew.
The camera was comparatively

performer acts
out Daffy

Joe Pytka, both featuring Bugs and

static, because of the need to pre¬

the

cisely match foreground and back¬
ground elements during optical
compositing."
By contrast, he notes that
on
Space Jam, "We created many
computer-animated characters and
objects, and digitally composited

Chicago Bulls guard.
In bringing this concept to
the big screen, Pytka shows off the
aesthetics and comedic timing he
perfected as an award-winning TV
commercial director. Space Jam is
only his second feature; the first
was the 1989
comedy Let it Ride.
Key players behind the scenes
on
Space Jam included producer

were

into Space Jam, insist¬
ing, "We didn't want the film to
look like a Saturday morning TV
cartoon. If anyone had any doubts
about the value of working in 10bit color space in digital postpro¬
were woven

Ivan Reitman (director of Dave,
Ghostbusters and Twins), cinema¬

duction, the filmic look that char¬

tographer Michael Chapman, ASC
(Raging Bull, The Fugitive) and vi¬
sual effects supervisor Ed Jones

the issue."

(who earned Oscar and BAFTA
awards for his work

on

Who Framed

acterizes

Space Jam should resolve

Many people have already
compared Space Jam to Who Framed
Roger Rabbit?. However, as Jones
notes, the differences in the appli¬
cation of imaging technology un¬

them with flesh-and-blood charac¬
ters. We also used the

computer to

create virtual environments

as

background settings. Michael
[Chapman] handled all of the
greenscreen camerawork in addi¬
tion to principal cinematography."
Jones explains that
Cinesite enhanced the motion¬

tracking software previously de¬
veloped for Under Siege: Dark Ter¬
ritory for use on Space Jam. The

Roger Rabbit? in 1988).
Intent on getting cuttingedge effects for their animated ad¬
venture, Pytka and Reitman asked
Jones to temporarily shuck off
some or most of his
everyday man¬
agement responsibilities as presi¬

Jones notes, "Synthetic characters

dent and CEO of Cinesite

were

created with traditional film
animation, and they were inte¬

photography are unrestrained," he

grated into the live-action world
with optical compositing tech¬
niques. The principal cinematogra¬

ware we

December 1996

American

could concentrate

on

so

that he

Space Jam for

15 months.

"For the
years,

past several

people in this industry have

derlines the incredible progress
that has been made in the evolution
of digital technology during the

past eight years.
In the

case

of

Roger Rabbit,

modified software eliminates the
need for a computerized motioncontrol system during filming.
"This makes camera movement
much more fluid, and the angles of

material,

a

Duck's medical
exam on

Michael Jordan

(as

seen

above

in the finished

shot). In

many

scenes, actors

from

an

improv

theater served
as

stand-ins for

Bugs, Daffy and
other animated

characters,

giving Jordan
target for
eyelines. The

a

stand-ins

generally
recited the
characters'

lines while the
greenscreen
element was

being recorded
on

film.

details. "The

motion-tracking soft¬
developed for Under Siege:
Dark Territory was primarily used
for very linear moves along X and

Cinematographer

85
American Cinematographer - December 1996

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