American Cinematographer - December 2005 - 55

above the 39'x26' capture-stage floor
to the height of his knees. "For the

much smaller stage

digital Kong model to work in real

Kong is really emoting, he's usually
sitting down or fairly stationary."

time

the

motion-capture stage,
[the data] was 1:1 from my waist up,
on

but they shortened

the distance from

Once

Alias

hands on those benches
while my feet were on the floor.
[Kong] had to be able accelerate
from zero to 60, so we had long runs
of benches and plotted out the jour-

as an

ney.

Once

my

For certain actions,

when

Kong picks

up

such

as

Ann, Serkis

wielded many

different dolls that
were
suitably dressed for each
moment, including a rag doll filled
with lead balls to give an appropriate
sense of
weight and resistance. He
also interacted with a variety of other
props and setpieces. "On the
motion-capture stage, we'd set up
props built specifically for the action
of the shots," says visual-effects
producer Eileen Moran. "Also,
terrain

was

built

to

match the

set so

that

Andy's movements and travel
would suggest the 'real' terrain. For
the log chasm scene, the mo-cap
team built a scaled log for Andy to
interact with so that his performance
carried the full weight of the log."
Although the live-action sets
were sometimes rigged to move for
later interaction with the CG
most

interaction

was

Kong,

later added

digitally, "either by compositing in
filmed elements such as splashes and
dirt kicks, or by creating wholly digi¬
tal aspects of the environment," says
Matt Aitken, preproduction CG
supervisor. "The latter technique was
used extensively - on Skull Island
with digital trees, vines, water and
village elements, and in New York
with digital vehicles and buildings."
Weta's mo-cap technique
relied on a new facial system from
Motion Analysis (designed by Mark
Sagar) that used 132 reflective mark¬
ers, which were attached to Serkis by
hand. Facial capture demands a

the

motion

was

captured, the data was exported into
Maya for further animation

my waist down so that Kong's feet
ended at my knees, meaning I was

resting

than full-body

capture. "Luckily," says Rivers, "when

and then rendered via RenderMan

"Eye of God" master, with a
gray-shaded puppet against blue.
Letteri explains, "Peter would then
cut the shots together so we'd have
an

idea of what he wanted for
we

Kong.

had that, we'd motion-edit

that data and send it

through into
editing

animation. We treated the

and animation

as

of

sort

an

initial

layout, because we were sometimes
culling the performance from
several takes. Then

we

laid it

out on

the [set] geometry,

found camera
angles that looked like they would
work, and presented those choices to
Peter. We tried to do everything in
parallel as much as possible, so once
we
we

had the animation blocked out,
blocked out the lighting. When

Peter
was

approved final animation, he
already seeing Kong with

often

fur."
Weta

Digital used a variety of

keen

to use a

always recorded on vast reams of
in little notebooks," he
explains. "What I wanted to imple¬
ment on Kong was an extremely
thorough system that other depart¬

was

paper or

could

ments

nature

the collaborative

of a very large

community of

filmmakers that have focused

on

creating a tangible, believable, invig¬
orating and character-filled crea¬
ture."
-

Ron

Magid

used

a

The system was designed and
by gaffer Ants Farrell. Working
with an on-set laptop, Farrell created
the
lighting diagrams using
Microsoft Visio and ultimately
produced PDF files of each setup
run

that contained all of the relevant

information

well

digital refer¬
accessed
by second-unit and miniatures crews
as well as artists at Weta
Digital, and
was used
extensively during pickups.
The sequence in which Kong
is put on display and breaks loose
ence

was

as

as

stills. The system was

shot

ture.

testament to

we

forth."

gies, including mirror balls and gray
balls shot on set, to light Kong for
integration into plates. "Weta has a
highly sophisticated digital-lighting
pipeline," says Aitken, "but it is ulti¬
mately the eyes of the artists and
supervisors at Weta who ensure that
Kong looks like he belongs in his

a

So

productiondesign floor plans to diagrammatically record each of the lighting
setups for each take, lens and stop
data for each camera, gel packs,
measurements for each light and so

Theatre,

is

access.

Web site with

secure

reference materials and technolo¬

surroundings."
"Kong had to become a char¬
acter in his own right and play
against Naomi's great acting skills
with equal, if not greater, presence
and ability," notes Taylor. "I think he

comprehensive digital-

data collection system on King Kong.
"In the past, this type of information

a

in

Auckland's

Civic

restored Art Deco struc¬

The

production was given only
days to bump in, complete
several complex sequences, and then
bump out again. "It was an exercise
in
middle-management," says
Lesnie. "On Sunday night, a small
army of riggers moved in, and by
early Monday morning we were
underway. Our main concerns were
hiding the lights and being able to
shoot in 360 degrees. We had scenes
to shoot in both the foyer and the
auditorium. In the foyer, I enhanced
four

the effect of the red and blue

neons

that exist in the theater. The audito¬
rium

little

complicated.
always had four cameras with
varying focal lengths running to get
the coverage we required. To light
the area, we rigged greenbeds in the
ceiling with 5K and lOKs patched
was a

more

We

into

dimmers.

There

were

also

American

Cinematographer 51
American Cinematographer - December 2005

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2005
