American Cinematographer - July 1990 - 77

there," Koenekamp remarks,
"the tough thing was shooting
light into the cockpit from out¬

side, because the rounded

sur¬

faces of the windows on the side
of the cockpit reflected back ev¬

ery light we used. We were able
to control the 'moon' light be¬
cause it was shining through the
flat surface of the front wind¬

shield, but we got in trouble with
those side
the

lights."
Koenekamp indicates
massive 18' x 36' rear projec¬

tion

screen

behind the Intruder

mockup, on which is projected -
to excellent effect Don Penning¬
-

ton's elaborate N scale model of

Hanoi, looking quite convincing
at this extreme

enlargement.
"They built this screen for us,"
Koenekamp notes proudly,
"which is one of the biggest
screens in Hollywood. The funny
part of it is, I wish it was bigger
so I could
get bigger shots, but
then we wouldn't have enough
light. We're using 8-perforation
VistaVision plates in order to get
a
sharper, bigger picture." Which
explains why two sound stages
are
required: one for the "set" -
including the gimbal, the plane
mockup and the RP screen - the
other to house the projector and
to allow for the proper "throw".
Other than the projector, the sec¬
ond soundstage contains the craft
even

Above: The real

planes aboard a
Navy aircraft
carrier. Left:

Crew works in

hangar below
decks of the
rammmm

carrier.

service counter and a small insert
RP set up where optical effects

supervisor Mark Vargo filmed
point-of-view shots out the can¬
opy of the Intruder.
Like his director and
most of the crew,

Koenekamp
feeling the strain of shooting
four weeks of process photogra¬
phy on the same set. When asked
why it took four weeks, he says,
"There are four major flying se¬
quences in the picture - two day
and two night. Two of them are
quite long and required a lot of
process photography with dia¬
logue. This scene we're shooting
right now is eleven pages long in
the script! This is a nightmare!"
Handling the rigors of
process photography should
come naturally to Koenekamp,
whose father, Hans Koenekamp,
was

legend in his own

think he'd be overwhelmed if he

time. When asked if he consulted

the size of this aircraft and
the size of the screen we're using.
I remember as a kid going in to
watch him do car shots or shots

ASC remains

a

his father on the finer particulars
of what certainly qualifies as one
of the most elaborate RP set-ups
in cinema history, Koenekamp
shakes his head. "No. We all
know he was one of the best proc¬
ess men there ever was, but let's
face it: he's 98 years old. If he

saw

looking out of a train window
and it was mostly small screen
work."
The work in

Intruder,

on

Flight of the

the other hand,

re¬

what he had to say about it. We
talk almost every night and he
asks me how it's going. But I

quired some of the largest rearprojection screens in Hollywood,
and some unique solutions to
capture the needed material for
the seemingly endless number of
background plates for the four in-

July 1990

American

were

all

strong enough to stand up

day, I'd've brought him in just

to see this. I'd've loved to hear

Cinematographer

75
American Cinematographer - July 1990

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 1990
