Mark Sawicki - Filming the Fantastic: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography

Filming the Fantastic

A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography

Second Edition

Mark Sawicki

Focal Press

Front matter

Filming the Fantastic

A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography

Second Edition

Mark Sawicki

Copyright

Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451, USA

The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK

2011 Mark Sawicki. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publishers permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions .

This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).

Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

Application submitted

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-0-240-81473-5

For information on all Focal Press publications

visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com

11 12 13 14 15 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in China

Dedication

For Juniko and the memory of our beautiful dog Kona A blessing cut short.

About the Website

Please visit Filming the Fantastics Companion Website page to get even more materials.

http://www.booksite.focalpress.com/filmingthefantastic

Please use the following pass code to register your access to the site: fantastic

You will only need this pass code for the initial registration. During the registration, you will be prompted to create your own username and password. Please keep these in a safe place as you will need them for all future visits to the site.

Introduction to the Second Edition: New Age, Old School

Sawicki, Mark, Atop Bear Mountain, Techachapi, CA

Keywords: Computer graphic effects; CGI; real-world photography; film schools; animation schools; animation; digital processes; composite photography; editing software

Visual effects have undergone tremendous changes in the past 40 years. The seventies introduced the digital age with computer-controlled cameras that made the fabulous visuals of Star Wars possible. The effects artists of that era struggled to adopt and employ this new technology just as much as the effects community in the 1990s struggled to adopt digital compositing and computer graphic methods after Jurassic Park became a blockbuster. Today, with the dawn of digital cinema, we struggle to rediscover the streamlined processes of yesteryears filmmaking using a dazzling array of new digital tools. Visual effects have gone from hands on organic methods to digital hybrid systems (computer-controlled cameras) to completely synthetic virtual workplaces using computer graphics.

Since I went to the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts, there have been many technological improvements in basic filmmaking. Scalding-hot Fresnel movie lamps are giving way to modern cool and bright LED (light emitting diode) lamps. Electronic cinema cameras are replacing traditional film cameras. Digital still cameras now shoot high-definition video as well. Nonlinear editing software has replaced the Moviola and flatbed editing table. Production and Post-Production have nearly become one, as we color correct and edit at the same time we shoot.

Figure 1: A new LED light bank capable of bright yet cool illumination.

Courtesy of Lite Panels.

Even though new technology improves and speeds the execution of the photoplay process, the traditional principles of stage line, continuity, lighting, composition, and the other building blocks of image-making for movies remain unchanged. In visual effects as well it seems that every problem today involves a computer graphic solution, but the challenge of combining real-world actors with other real-world actors and settings seamlessly, remains within the domain of traditional camera discipline and 2D compositing. The economical solution of combining real-world photographic elements can far outweigh the extensive resources needed for a CGI (computer-generated imagery) photo-real approach.

Computer graphic effects have become such a complex discipline that entire animation schools have been devoted to its study. Film schools rarely have the financial means to sustain entire CGI departments, and animation schools rarely have the desire to add live action production facilities. The best solution would seem to be to have a copacetic relationship between a film school and an animation school within close proximity. An excellent CGI school such as Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood would profit by attending to the needs of film school students at New York Film Academy (NYFA) at Universal Studios, for example. I encourage my film school students to socialize with students at animation schools in order to find the talent and resources necessary to accomplish effects-heavy student projects.

For most student films, however, clever camerawork and simple 2D compositing is enough to enhance a good story. At USC we were trained to first tell a film story without dialogue to learn cinematic technique. Today we should also discipline film students to tell a story without effects before moving on to an effects-heavy project, even though effects have become an inescapable part of the modern filmmaking process. Filmmaking is primarily about telling a good visual story while a good effect is a punctuation mark in a movie and is either invisible or a fireworks display. One of the goals of this book is to teach the basics of creating the invisible effect in order to enhance a story.