American Cinematographer - February 2009 - (Page 34)

2 Worlds in 3 Dimensions For an exterior view of Coraline’s “Real” house, cinematographer Mark Stewart surrounded his subjects with bounced light to create an overcast, rainy-day look. To create a magic, self-illuminated garden, Paul Gentry balanced a combination of fiber-optics, small incandescents and LEDs embedded in fanciful animated flowers, plus black-light-activated paint. I suspect the growing flowers will be mistaken for CG work, but it is all real stuff. Sometimes we shot Coraline separately so flowers could be animated in reverse by trimming them frameby-frame. Frank Passingham rendered a more dangerous version of the garden, tinting it with poisonous green moonlight and carefully diminishing glowing plants while raising contrast. In quite the opposite tone, he made the Other house exterior a beacon of light, overpowering the full moon with warm practicals in windows, outdoor lanterns and architectural lighting. In effect, the house itself became the key light for a charming conversation between Coraline and a wise cat. I wish George Pal were alive to accept our salute to his 1940s-era Puppetoons. He would smile in recognition at a sequence using 34 February 2009 sequentially sculpted series of figurines rather than flexible puppets. Brian Van’t Hul shot a rousing brass band of circus mice marching in formation, requiring animators to keep track of hundreds of replacement mice and change out each mouse for each frame. Brian, who was also the show’s visualeffects supervisor, juggled different scales of sets and characters with complex camera moves throughout the scene. I discovered that real circuses aren’t lit with great finesse, so to create more magic, Brian enhanced the tent interior with Mini Flos washing up walls for a more appealing background. The mice themselves worked in hard-edged spotlight that was brighter and cooler than the background. Brian also rigged a few practicals overhead for atmosphere, creating hot points of blown-out circus colors. For reverse angles on Coraline, he used soft uplight to suggest bounce from the spectacle offscreen. Coraline discovers an opulent 19th century theater in the Other basement, where she enjoys a vintage burlesque followed by a breathtaking trapeze act. Peter Sorg used many MR16 architectural lights to streak up walls and low-voltage halogens for footlights. Adding other practicals, mini spotlights on motioncontrol movers and a central China ball for fill, Peter surpassed the grandeur of our reference, which was the London Opera House. We took full advantage of 3-D in the trapeze act, and I suggest you see the movie twice so you can watch this scene with glasses on and off. It is an effective use of animated IO and convergence; it adds scope and excitement without nuking the eyeballs. Peter turned right around and relit his theater sets for a much spookier note. Coraline’s flashlight and some very dimmed-down practicals provide the apparent sources; they were augmented with focal spots and mini-profiles that we hope will go unnoticed. A blazing spotlight comes on to reveal a cocoon in the form of a large taffy wrapper, overpowering any other lighting.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - February 2009

American Cinematographer - February 2009 Contents Editor's Note Short Takes: Circus Production Slate: The International Reverte 2 Worlds in 3 Dimensions Dead Reckoning Embracing Anamorphic Citizen of the World Post Focus: Restoring Manhatta New Products & Services International Marketplace Classified Ads Ad Index Clubhouse News ASC Close-Up: Peter Suschitzky

American Cinematographer - February 2009

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