American Cinematographer - March 1993 - 76

The author

examines the
Introvision

system, which
introduces a
black painted
matte between

the actor and the
camera-

projector
configuration.
The exact

negative reverse
of the matte is

employed
between

a

smaller screen
and supplemen¬

tary lens on the
other side of the
beam

splitter.

separate motion-control channels,
programmed to coincide with the
live-action boom filmed later on the

soundstage. The entire set was ap¬
proximately 30' X 40' and con¬
structed in four forced-perspective
were made to ap¬
pear as if they stretched to the dis¬
tant hills occupying the furthest
table. Capping the illusion was a
dark cloud backdrop hung on the

sections which

stage wall.
This shot, which lasts
10 seconds in the finished film,

just

took

about three

days to set up, rig and
light, and about 2 Vi days to ani¬

a

while. Visitors would

onto the set, see how we were

set to enable the animators to reach

Pete" (Kleinow's nickname in the

skeletons were made to appear to
talk with one another and give a
battle cry a la Jason and the Argonauts

Flying Burrito Brothers musical
group). Once, when down-loading
the camera magazine after a long
day of animating, I switched mags
surreptitiously with one containing
a
bogus roll of raw stock. Then I
pretended to drop the mag, allow¬
ing the film to roll out onto the floor.
Pete almost had a heart attack when

he saw the full day's take stretched
out on the stage.

three-second exposure time. The
long exposure time was not a result
of depth of field, but rather speed
limitations in the worm gear of the
dolly used for booming. The cam¬
era was completely surrounded by
black gobos, with a movable cur¬
tain positioned in front of the lens
to prevent stray light leakage in the
camera
body as a result of the long

Despite the shenanigans,
proceeded smoothly
enough, with extra care taken be¬
the shot

tween frames when the animation

left overnight. We often didn't
leave until midnight, and the

was

computer's driver boxes
on

at all times to

sabre was attached to a thin flexible
wire positioned on the ground for
the three frames it took to travel in
midair between the warriors. The
wire brace teetered back and forth

during the 3-second exposure, im¬
parting motion blur to the blade
while rendering the support wire
invisible to the

camera as

it "flew"

skeleton footage in Army of Dark¬
ness contained some form of mo¬
tion blur
either a motion-controlled camera movement or an

result, the drivers and motors

American

March 1993

a

by syncing their jaw movements to
a
pre-orchestrated exposure sheet
developed by Kleinow. One can
even catch a brief
glimpse of a
sword passing between the two on
the right. The miniature 3-inch-long

past the set scenery. In fact, all of the

became hot, so fans were added to
cool them down. The entire stage

resembled

particularly inter¬
esting shot, the four foreground

left

were

lash movement or gear slippage. As
a

the models.
In one

prevent any back¬

frame intervals.
Needless to say, the ani¬
mation process became downright

Cinematographer

computer cables and wires, with
troughs cut in the huge miniature

doing, yawn and the leave after five
minutes. To keep ourselves from
becoming too bored, we often
played practical jokes on "Sneaky

mate. Each frame took an average
of six minutes to manipulate with
a

74

dull after
come

spaghetti factory of

-

actual

stepper motor attached to

the model

-

to

lend the creatures
American Cinematographer - March 1993

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