An octogenarian Colonel Sanders leaps into the air and does a back flip into the seat of a car and then drives off. A dog talks. And an automobile flies into outer space. These moments-from "Star Wars," the new commercial hyping not the movie but three fast-food chains (Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut)-are all brought to you, thanks, in varying degrees, to special effects.
The piece is directed by David Denneen, of bicoastal Atherton for TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, and offers
a variety of fanastic moments. Some are more real than others-the dog never talks, of course, but the Sanders character’s leap is actually accomplished by a trampoline removed in postproduction-yet all point out one inescapable fact: special effects are growing in prominence. And with that growth comes a new need: the importance of having knowledgeable cinematographers to handle the work. That fact has changed the landscape for some DPs, who must now share visual ownership not only with a director, but also with a visual effects supervisor.
"More and more visual effects come into a project now," admits Thomas Kloss, the DP on Stars Wars, who is represented by the Hollywood-based Mack Dolan Agency. "As a DP, you have to be totally in sync with what is needed."
Indeed, to do such work requires even more preparation than it does on a non-effects shoot. The first step is to nail down what DP Chuck Schuman of Hollywood-based HFWD (who recently handled the live-action portion of a series of Mazda spots directed by Charlie Watson of Rhythm & Hues Studios, Los Angeles) calls "the intention."
"Usually, there’s a storyboard that gives the overall concept that the director has worked out with the designer," he explains. "This is a very important phase. You want to make certain that the client, the director, and the designer are on the same page. Everyone has to have the same vision."
The early pre-production meetings are where ideas are batted about and the technical processes discussed. It is there that flexibility is crucial, since after the shooting begins, effects requirements will usually restrict "inspired improvisations." A good director will listen to the different ideas of the team.
"When I design something, the hardest part is to put the first line on the page," says Schuman. "Invariably, by the end of designing that drawing or blueprint, that first line has been changed. In preparing, you learn to be flexible."
As an example, Schuman cites a problem that came up in preparing effects for the feature film The Indian in the Cupboard. One shot called for a six-inch human to climb into the hand of a normal-sized person. There was a five-second lateral camera dolly occurring just as the dialogue was being spoken; because of the effect needs, the camera had to dolly 144 feet in only five seconds.
"During our planning, we discussed the engineering requirements for that kind of move," the DP recalls, "and we realized that it would be impossible. After a lot of talk, our solution was to keep the camera still and rotate the actor and his lighting. He could be rotated in five seconds, whereas the camera could not be rotated smoothly in that time."
Such solutions are often the result of close consultation between the DP and the visual effects supervisor. The two will work intimately, hammering out choices long before the shooting starts. "There are precise technical requirements," observes Pascal Lebegue, a DP represented by The Skouras Agency, Santa Monica, who worked on the model portion of the aforementioned Mazda spots. "You have to provide a much more plain and clean negative to the people, which does affect filtration. You need something sharp and cannot have a blurred image."
"The visual effects supervisors are there from the beginning," adds Schuman, who says that their input is essential because "usually what happens is that a shot is made up of several different elements shot at different times and places, with various technologies. There may be some live action actors photographed on blue or green screen, a building may be a miniature, or there may be a matte painting or photograph of other places. You have to resort to compositing techniques, and you have to tailor it so that perspective, lighting, contrast, color, timing, and positioning are all compatible, so they all look like one event."
Good effects supervisors will find ways for the DP to achieve the look he strives for, telling him how to do it, and why he can’t. If possible, video monitors are set up that allow the DP to get a rough look at how the final effect will look. "I am very careful that they don’t blindfold me," says Kloss. "I want to see what I’m shooting, and not have everything be done later in blue screen in post."
Through it all, however, the director’s vision and presence are fundamental. "The director’s the one who will be there from the beginning to the very end," says Lebegue. "He is a big part of achieving the look, even more so than on a traditional job. He’s the one who’s going to be proposing the storyboard, trying to get tests on that, and supervising it to the finish. The more you’re in sync with the director, the better."
"Launch" is a good example of that. Created by director Steve Beck of Industrial Light+Magic Commercial Productions, San Rafael, Calif. and Los Angeles, and a team at Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, the spot is the first of five commercials for First Union Bank. As a somber-sounding narrator talks about "a world only few know well, a world of risk and uncertainty," the camera shows strikingly realistic images that could have come out of an animated impressionistic painting or a German expressionist film of the ’30s.
The people are seen through a green-tinted haze, dressed in Depression-era garb. As one scene blends into another, men and women are shown carrying sandwich boards which contain such phrases as "Acquire Me." Then a man is seen falling, his head shattering like porcelain; there is a rain-drenched street which could be a dark, foreboding version of Wall Street, with horrific images of floating piggy banks in the sky. When the narrator says, "This is the financial world," we are taken into a grotesque funhouse of two-faced people in bowler hats, of salesmen hawking wares, of flickering TV monitors.
For a DP, Beck did not necessarily want an effects specialist, looking instead for a visual stylist. "Steve called me one day and said. ‘I like your work,’ " recalls Kloss, whose credits also include such moody (and non-effects-oriented) features as Palmetto, Fear and Pontiac Moon, and commercials for Jaguar, Chevy Trucks, and Mercedes. "He said, ‘I’d love you to do these commercials.’ "
Kloss, who feels it’s important not to be pigeon-holed as an effects DP, also believes it is just as important to be able to handle such jobs. He looked at the boards and signed on. "They showed exactly what he wanted," recalls the DP. "He had clearly visualized how he wanted to make things look, and then, after meeting with the art director and the production designer, we decided on a color scale. The photography was about a conceptualizing of the look. On those spots, the production designer, the director, and I were all on the same page."
"ILM is so damn good at it, you just have to keep with their effects, particularly with the way Steve Beck visualizes so quickly," adds Avatar Kramer, a senior agency producer on the First Union account. "He can visualize in any medium: Flame, CGI, whatever. He’ll say, ‘We’ll use CG for the top of this building, but the bottom will be real.’ And you have to have the mental flexibility to keep up; but you also have to gather enough knowledge so that you know the impact of what he’s talking about. It is profoundly unusual stuff."
Having a director who knows what he’s doing will make a difference in how quickly a commercial is finished. Although that is true in most spots, it is even more important in effects-driven work. "If the director is unfamiliar, it slows the process down," Lebegue notes. Adds Schuman: "Some directors are not interested in how the effects are done. They say, ‘Just do your thing.’ Others are more comfortable if they understand what you’re doing."
All of which is part of "the process," and the best DP is the one who has the patience and insight to interpret the grand idea. "To handle effects, you have to be very patient and willing to work out the details," observes Schuman. "If a director picks up a lump of clay and squeezes it and then says, ‘Your task is to take that piece of clay and make it seem 20 times larger so that a normal-sized actor can appear to walk next to it,’ you need to have a certain mindset. If you think about what is involved in matching the contours, lighting, and scale to achieve that task-well, you just need to be a meticulous, patient person."
Many DPs argue, however, that there is one important similarity between commercials with heavy effects and those without-the idea is paramount. "For me, the storyboard is almost a finished product," says Lebegue. "I try not to think too hard about the special effects. I try to consider them a part of the process. My job is to create photography. That’s the basic job. Special effects should be a part of telling the story. They should not be the story."s
