American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 68

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Hair-Raising Heroics

Top: Alvin, the school bully, changes his tune when zombies rise from the local cemetery and threaten him and Norman. Bottom: Animation rigger David Pugh preps a scene in the Town Hall archives.

extensive stop-frame experience, and they all took direction. I made up mood reels, reference reels, and every member of the camera crew watched those to get an idea of the vibe of whatever sequence was starting up on the floor. Then, I’d sit with the lighting cameramen for a sequence and talk them through exactly what I wanted. I’d see every frame that came off the floor and give them notes appropriate to what they were doing. The problem with stop-frame is that it’s easy to form these tight little teams, and they can end up making five different
68 September 2012

short films that you then have to bolt together into a feature. To avoid that, I do a lot of top-down supervision, and my crewing structure is quite loose. My camera assistants and my sparks move around the studio depending on where they’re needed. The rapid-prototyping machine Laika uses was able to print in color this time around, whereas it could only print in white for Coraline. How did that affect your lighting for the puppets? Oliver: Because we could print in
American Cinematographer

color, all the texture inherent in the prototyping process went into the face. That ‘skin’ texture was the first thing I tested. It’s an epoxy resin that has granularity to it, like very fine sand. I was somewhat worried about how it would take light, but actually, it’s rather lovely. Clay is very matte, and if you go up the lighter end of the spectrum, it very rapidly overexposes, whereas this material has a nice, eggshell-style sheen. It gives a lot of subsurface scatter and wraparound that’s more like shooting human flesh. The ghosts in the movie all have a vibrant, colorful aura. What was the inspiration for that effect? Oliver: A very early Russian color process, actually. We didn’t want to do our ghosts as your classic transparent people. I’m very interested in early color photography, and I found these amazing photos by [Sergei Mikhailovich] Prokudin-Gorskii, who shot RGB black-and-white separation plates in quick succession and then projected them through filters to create color images. His subjects were often people, and they just about sat still long enough for the three plates, but in some shots they moved slightly, and that movement gave them this slight chromatic rainbow edge. Chris and Sam really liked that, so



American Cinematographer - September 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2012

American Cinematographer - September 2012
Contents
Editor’s Note
President’s Desk
Short Takes: 8
Production Slate: Side by Side • World Without End
Natural Bourne Killer
Around the World in 65mm
Hair-Raising Heroics
Optimizing Digital-Camera Workflows
Post Focus: Eldorado
New Products & Services
International Marketplace
Classified Ads
Ad Index
ASC Membership Roster
Clubhouse News
ASC Close-Up: John Newby
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - American Cinematographer - September 2012
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 1
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 2
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Contents
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 4
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 5
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 6
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 7
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Editor’s Note
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 9
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - President’s Desk
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 11
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Short Takes: 8
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 13
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 14
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 15
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 16
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 17
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Production Slate: Side by Side • World Without End
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 19
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 20
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 21
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 22
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 23
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 24
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 25
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 26
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 27
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 28
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 29
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 30
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 31
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Natural Bourne Killer
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 33
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 34
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 35
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 36
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 37
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 38
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 39
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 40
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 41
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 42
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 43
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 44
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 45
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Around the World in 65mm
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 47
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48A
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48B
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48C
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48D
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48E
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48F
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48G
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48H
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48I
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48J
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48K
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 48L
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 49
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 50
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 51
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 52
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 53
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 54
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 55
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 56
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 57
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 58
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 59
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 60
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 61
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Hair-Raising Heroics
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 63
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 64
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 65
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 66
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 67
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 68
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 69
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 70
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 71
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 72
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 73
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 74
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 75
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 76
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 77
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Optimizing Digital-Camera Workflows
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 79
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 80
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 81
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 82
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 83
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 84
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 85
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 86
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 87
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Post Focus: Eldorado
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 89
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 90
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 91
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 92
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 93
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 95
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 96
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American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 98
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 99
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 100
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 101
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 102
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 103
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - International Marketplace
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Ad Index
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 106
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 107
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - ASC Membership Roster
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 109
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Clubhouse News
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - 111
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - ASC Close-Up: John Newby
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - September 2012 - Cover4
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