Small Screen—Big Effects
"I'm so used to seeing the things that I do on a tiny Moviola screen that recently while at a mix I had the opportunity to view an effect of mine on a very large screen, and it knocked me over. I felt like George Lucas." This is John Gati speaking. Gati is one of the several directors of stop motion and special effects that populate this island between the Hudson and the East rivers, who as their daily task create illusions that are comparable to those we are accustomed to seeing on the screen at our local Bijou. the only difference is that their effects are created viewing in the more intimate arena of home video or in some corporate board room. Gati has caused credit cards and razor blades to soar through the air and watchbands to twist and twirl in space. These illusions are accomplished in the same manner that similar effects are done in multimillion dollar Hollywood space epics. Seen in the context of a dramatic story and enhanced with stereophonic sound the illusions attending such films as Star Trek II, E.T. or Poltergeist are extremely effective. The techniques that bring those awesome screen images about are also employed daily by studios in New York to add zest to familiar commercials.
At the Optical House, Dick Rauh and Dee D'Andrea showed me some of the things that had come across their desks in recent weeks. They had been doing simulated space effects for an NBC report on the Space Shuttle mission as well as a similar visual for a Sharp commercial depicting the many types of space vehicles that that company had helped create. While viewing these illusions that could easily have graced the scenes of "Star Wars" or "The Empire Strikes Back," D'Andrea revealed the way combinations of space ship, planets and starry outer space were made.
No Opticals Used
"We shot 4 x 5 transparencies of very detailed models and matted them in over the other elements, all in the animation camera. No opticals were used." D'Andrea explained that shooting the color photos compared to filming the models in stop motion on a set has several advantages.
"For one thing we can do all manner of pans and zooms on the still without being tied down to an existing filmed spaceship. Also, if we wish to reshoot or make changes, we don't have to back to a set to re-rig models." But what if you wish to show the space object moving in dimension, turning around and the like? "Well, in the case of the NBC Space Shuttle program, we photographed the model with a still camera but placed it in various positions, then refilmed these shots under the animation camera."
While the bulk of the work that comes through The Optical House is for commercial clients, they also manage to create effects for feature films and have developed atmospheric illusions for special effects Director Bran Ferren for the film "Altered States" and the recent Paul Mazursky production, "The Tempest." Even as Dick Rauh started to describe detailed storm sequences that they were asked to devise for the latter film, his mind ran to a spot for Chef Saludo Pizza which they were required to express the idea that the packaging for this product allows more heat to reach the pizza during the cooking procedure. Here a combination of live action models, expertly filmed by Herb Lobel, were combined with moving images of heat. A look at the final result reveals that this spot is as much in the realm of fantasy as any effect produced for any sci-fi or mystery feature. The pizza and the special pan that it comes in moves through the air, and the heat from hot coals glows and animates towards the food as it would never be discerned in true live action cinematography. It is a valid use of fantasy to express a product theme.
Tim Clark is a designer who is called upon to create graphic effects that must not only rival the kind that might highlight title sequences of a feature production but also has to devise sequences that look as if they were done with the aid of electronically generated systems. Clark works out of Rowohlt Animation at 35 West 45th Street where he employs a computerized camera stand to embellish the ideas that come from his orderly mind.
Effects From Flat Art Works
Bending over a desk of his own design, he showed me clips of dimensional effects that he was able to develop through the use of simple flat artwork. "sometimes the original art that we use looks like stuff that you would never take a second notice of. We've made effects from images composed of rubber cement smears and crayon scrawls," explained Clark, "When you throw the image out of focus or embellish it with a glow and it springs to life, you'd never connect the final result with the actual art employed."
Clark has devised his own tilting camera board for creating spatial designs. From flat art he can produce amazingly believable dimensional images that follow the laws of perspective. One of Clark's more ambitious jobs involved a dazzling display of cameras in space created for Chinon Camera Company. "The complications were enormous, said Clark. "I designed the entire concept from the client's rough idea, and then figured out how the illusion would be accomplished. " Here again, still color photos of the product were made and exposed in many runs under an animation camera. "When you see the final spot it all looks so simple, but believe me," he insisted, "it was as complicated as any effect achieved in Hollywood production."
Excitment & Grueling Toil
Most of the toilers in the field of special effects agree that the process is exciting during the period of concept and grueling toil during execution. John Gati remembers working 24 hours around the clock performing the task of twisting a Speidel watchband. An actual band was used..." and I couldn't take my eyes off of it for one second, because if it shrunk or expanded without my seeing it, the whole shot would have been ruined," said Gati, giving an idea of the precise attention that must be paid to each assignment.
At Totem Productions, Werner Koopman adds his own point of view to the subject. "My contention, " he said, "is that the average feature production does not employ the trickery or the exotic effects that are required to enhance the average 30-second spot that uses special effects." Koopman, who has spent 32 years learning his trade, started out, as he says. "...in the great American tradition. While in college I was hired as a substitute office boy at Film Graphics for two weeks., and stayed on to become an editor, a cameraman and so on." Like most special effects experts, he is proud of his work, and understands the frustrations that go with it. "We don't get our applause on the set the way actors do. We have to wait maybe 15 hours till the footage returns from the lab to see if we are going to get a pat on the back.
Recently Koopman was asked to create an effect in which a handful of Mini Wheats had to flip themselves over in a bowl to reveal both sides of their tasty little selves. The bits of breakfast food had not only to execute this move without revealing the rig that aided their animation, but they had to do it with personality. It's the little touches that make the actions effective. The cereal at least is rigid in shape, but once Koopman had to manage to animate flexible products like plastic garbage bags flying through the air and fitting into each other. This spot for the Hefty Company had to be rigged with minutely thin wires and were shot on "ones," a departure from the tradition of shooting animation moves for two frames at a time. This adds to the complications of the job but the added realism helps the look of the final effect. "It's got to be believable, otherwise we'll never get the people into the stores, and that's really what it is all about."
One thing that many of the special effects creators agree on is, as Koopman expressed it: "Too often the advertising agency people meet and decide that an effect is too expensive and then discard it. They would do better to call in one of us that design and do these effects and they may find that it can be done in a way that is considerably less costly.
There's always a way to solve effects problems. It's the illusion that counts. It's all the same, bi: screen or small screen in the hands of the experts.
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