American Cinematographer - August 2008 - (Page 59) Opposite: A college science professor, Trevor (Brendan Fraser), finds that life underground is a lot more exciting than the research lab in Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was shot in 3-D on high-definition video. This page, top: In an underground cave that is rapidly heating up, Trevor, his nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson), and a local mountain guide, Hannah (Anita Briem), plot their next move. Below: Not knowing what perils await him below, Trevor hangs on for dear life. appeared on an expedition in Iceland 10 years earlier. The professor heads to Iceland with his teenaged nephew (Josh Hutcherson), and there, they hire a local mountain guide (Anita Briem) to help them find their way. The three soon find themselves falling by stages into the earth, deeper and deeper, until they reach its core. Brevig, an Oscar-winning visual-effects supervisor who is making his feature-directing debut with Journey, had worked in stereo on short theme-park films for Disney, including Magic Journeys, Captain EO and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. When he began prepping Journey, he quickly realized a 90-minute movie would require a more restrained use of the technology. “My concern was how to use [3-D] to enhance the story without showboating or making it seem like a gimmick,” he says. “I liken it to music or sound: just because you can make something loud doesn’t mean it should be loud all the way through. It’s contrast and Photos and frame grabs courtesy of New Line Cinema. Additional photos by Philip Schwartz, SOC. dynamics that make you appreciate the loudness.” Beginning in January 2006, well before shooting began, Brevig spent four months previsualizing a number of key scenes, working with David Dozoretz of Persistence of Vision and a team of about a dozen artists. This work included creating animatics of the film’s many visualeffects sequences. The previz group did not work in stereo, but they did render out two key sequences in 3-D to show the studio, New Line Cinema, what those sequences would look like in stereo. One of the key decisions was which stereo system to use to shoot the movie. After considering various possibilities, Brevig and Schuman turned to Pace Technologies, where company founder Vince Pace had, in American Cinematographer 59
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