American Cinematographer - May 2007 - 61

close-ups and tight eyelines as a way to draw in the audience,” says Moxness. “We generally shoot lower angles, not just with Clark but with all the characters.” Each cinematographer works an eight-day main unit and then, along with his A-camera operator, stays on for an additional two to three days of second unit. Insert and greenscreen days are handled separately by the second unit. Having the cinematographers alternate episodes “allows both of us to be involved with the prep for our episodes, which is especially valuable with a show that has a lot of visual effects,” comments Moxness. “Every episode has some sort of effects shot, and John Wash is always present on set when we do them.” Moxness points to a sequence from “Arrow” that involved just about every possible practical and visual-effects effort.“In this scene, we see the Green Arrow slide on a wire from the roof of a tall building to the top of a shorter building. It’s nighttime. We did his take-off from a small setpiece onstage that mimicked the first building. We then shot a background plate of both buildings on location. The Entity team referenced plates and other imagery from location to create a computer-generated [CG] environment through which a CG arrow and then Green Arrow himself [a CG character based on a moving stunt plate] travel. The final bit shows the Green Arrow landing on the second rooftop. For that he’s on a practical set. He slides into frame and continues on with the scene.” “That was quite a combined effort of people and locations,” declares Moxness,“and the result was terrific. It really helps having John onboard fulltime, overseeing everything.” Wash, who has been the show’s on-set visual-effects supervisor for the past five years, marvels that “complex shots, once the reserve of features, are now commonplace on shows with tighter budgets and schedules.” He credits advanced technology and production’s growing comfort level with previously daunting effects ideas. Beck, who directed an episode titled “Prototype” that will air May 10, emphasizes that previsualization is key to achieving a successful effects sequence. “Both Moxy and Glen are so smart and creative they make the effects work easier and better at the same time,” he adds. Beck has directed several of Smallville’s most ambitious effects interludes, including one in which a madman launches an ICBM with the intent of dropping an atomic warhead on the town. Clark finds out about the plan, sees the rocket in the distance, speeds to the launch site, and leaps onto the missile as it blasts off. To help envision the action and plan logistics for the shoot, the Entity team did a 3-D animated previz of Clark jumping onto the base of the missile. He can barely hold on and starts sliding down the rocket before he finally gets a good grip. He makes it to the warhead just as the first stage of the rocket detaches and falls away. He still has to pull himself up to the warhead, reach inside and fling the nuclear device into space before the missile turns and heads harmlessly back down to earth. “The previz provided the information necessary for the art department to build a jungle gym, completely green, that was the exact diameter of the missile we were going to generate on the computer and then integrate with the actor’s performance,” says Beck. “Tom Welling really had to haul himself up the jungle gym. We helped him with a wire, but his real struggle was seen in the final shot. Tom’s such a good actor he was able to match it exactly on the tight close-ups, which were shot on a different setpiece.” Winter notes that a number of “Clark Save” sequences don’t

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American Cinematographer - May 2007

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