American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 40
◗
Down the Rabbit Hole
The Red Queen’s distorted head size was one of the movie’s most complex visual effects. The first step was achieved by shooting Carter on a greenscreen stage. Dalsa’s 4K Evolution camera system was used to create plates at high resolution; this allowed the filmmakers to enlarge portions of the frame in post and then seamlessly stitch those elements together with images shot at lower resolutions.
camera was on a 30' Technocrane with a Libra head. One of the filmmakers’ trickiest tasks was determining how to provide plates for shots that showed size and scale shifts within particular frames; certain characters, and sometimes certain body parts, were designed to be different sizes from other elements in the frame. The Red Queen, for instance, has a head far too big for her body. Likewise, Alice is more than 8' tall in some scenes and tiny in others. Wrangling those scale changes was a big challenge and part of a larger paradigm for the movie — virtually every shot is, one way or another, a visual effect. In fact, Ralston, whose credits include such memorable technical achievements as The Polar Express (AC Nov. ’04) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (AC July ’88), calls Alice “the biggest show I’ve ever done,” adding, “It’s the most creatively involved I’ve ever been in this many areas of a major show.” The team ruled out motion control for plates involving shifts in scale because that would have required shooting separate passes, and “Tim wanted to make sure the actors could play scenes together,” says Villegas. “We used a variety of methods to get eyelines correct on set, including platforms and stilts. Dariusz had the problem of not knowing how much headroom to leave on various shots because Tim didn’t know, for example, exactly how big the Red Queen’s head needed to be until we’d put it all together. So Dariusz decided to just shoot it the way he saw it and let us use our post solution.” ➣
American Cinematographer
40
April 2010
American Cinematographer - April 2010
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2010
American Cinematographer - April 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Letters
Short Takes
Production Slate
Down the Rabbit Hole
Weapons of Deception
The Final Frontier in 3 Dimensions
Sundance 2010: Expanded Palettes
Filmmakers’ Forum
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Intro
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - American Cinematographer - April 2010
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 1
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 2
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Contents
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 4
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 5
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 6
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 7
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 9
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 11
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Letters
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 13
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Short Takes
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 15
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 16
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 17
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 18
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 19
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Production Slate
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 21
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 22
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 23
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 24
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 25
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 26
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 27
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 28
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 29
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 30
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 31
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Down the Rabbit Hole
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 33
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 34
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 35
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 36
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 37
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 38
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 39
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 40
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 41
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 42
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 43
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 44
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 44a
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 44b
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 45
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 46
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 47
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Weapons of Deception
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 49
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 50
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 51
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 52
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 53
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 54
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 55
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 56
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 57
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 58
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 59
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - The Final Frontier in 3 Dimensions
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 61
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 62
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 63
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 64
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 65
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 66
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 67
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 68
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 69
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 70
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 71
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Sundance 2010: Expanded Palettes
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 73
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 74
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 75
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 76
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 77
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 78
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 79
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 80
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 81
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 82
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 83
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 84
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 85
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 86
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 87
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Filmmakers’ Forum
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 89
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 90
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 91
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - New Products & Services
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 93
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 94
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 95
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 96
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 97
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 99
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 101
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - 103
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - ASC Close-Up
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - April 2010 - Cover4
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