THE VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCER

THE VISUAL
EFFECTS PRODUCER
This page intentionally left blank
THE VISUAL
EFFECTS PRODUCER

Understanding the Art
and Business of VFX


CHARLES FINANCE
SUSAN ZWERMAN

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK
OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO
SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK
OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO
SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zwerman , Susan.
The visual effects producer : understanding the art and business of VFX/
Charles Finance, Susan Zwerman.
p . cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-240-81263-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cinematography—Special effects.
2. Digital video. 3. Digital cinematography. I. Finance, Charles Zwerman, Susan
II. Title.
TR858 .Z84 2009
778 .5’349068—dc22
2009023829
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN : 978-0-240-81263-2
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com
09 10 11 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xv
Part I VISUAL EFFECTS IN REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Chapter 1 The “Good” Old Days: Visual Effects before Computers. . . . . . . . . . .3
Stop-Motion Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Puppets and Animatronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Matte Paintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Miniatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
In-Camera Miniatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Hanging Miniatures with Live Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Miniatures with Composited Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Front and Rear Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Forced Perspective with Live Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Blue- or Greenscreen Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Motion Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
In-Camera Practical Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Special (Mechanical) Effects and Visual Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 2 Digital Effects: The 15-minute Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Two-Dimensional (2D) vs. Three-Dimensional (3D) CGI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2D CGI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3D CGI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Creating a Digital Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Building Digital Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Texturing, Painting, and Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CG Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Miniatures vs. Digital Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Part II PREPRODUCTION AND PREP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Chapter 3 Who You Gonna Call? The VFX Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
The Visual Effects Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Visual Effects Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
First In—Last Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
What Does the VFX Producer Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
VFX Producer’s Abilities and Personal Qualities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
VFX Producers and Guild Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

The VFX Producer and Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Visual Effects Production Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Visual Effects Data Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Visual Effects PA, Runner, and Similar Support Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Freelance Visual Effects Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
First Assistant Director (AD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Visual Effects DP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Blue or Green Screen DP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Motion Control Technician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Miniature Pyrotechnicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Other Special VFX Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 4 Basic VFX Technologies and Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Blue and Green Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Lighting for Blue- or Greenscreen Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Motion Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
When to Use Motion Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
EncodaCam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
VistaVision Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
High-Speed Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Digital Video Assist with Compositing Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Motion Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
SpaceCam, Wescam, Flying-Cam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
vi CONTENTS
Cyberscanning and Structured Light Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Set Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Lighting References and HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging). . . . . . . . . . 70
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Renting Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 5 Breakdowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Production Breakdowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

The First Go-Around: Generating a VFX Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Marking Up the Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Numbering Visual Effects Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Constructing a Digital Cost Breakdown Spreadsheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Estimating Digital Shot Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
A Sampling of Ancillary Digital Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Facility Visual Effects Supervision and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Preliminary Bids: Getting a Handle on the Digital Shot Costs . . . . . . . . . 98
Budget Guidelines for Digital Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Casting and Evaluating Potential Vendors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Practical Steps in Checking Out a Vendor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
The Importance of Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Bidding Guidelines: Comparing Apples to Apples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Following Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Budgeting Miniatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Chapter 6 Scheduling and Budgeting Production Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
The Production Support Breakdown Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Using Movie Magic Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
VFX Breakdown Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Preparing the VFX Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Stand-Alone VFX Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Scheduling the Shooting of Your Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Collaborating with the 1st Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Communication—Key to Smooth Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
CONTENTS vii
Scheduling 1st Unit Shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Working with a Strip Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Separating 1st Unit and VFX Unit Shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Designating Different Types of VFX Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Modifying the Strip Board Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Keeping Up with Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Scheduling the VFX Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Refi ning the Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Reports…and More Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Modifi ed Day-out-of-Days Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Modifi ed One-Liner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 7 Budgeting the Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
The Chart of Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
How to Approach a Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Some General Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Negotiating Who Will Pay for Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Constructing a Visual Effects Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Setting up the VFX Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Globals: Set Them and Forget Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Getting the Budget into the “Ballpark” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Discussion of Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Contingency: Now You See It, Now You Don’t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 8 The VFX Bible and Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
What Is a VFX Bible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Examples of Reports from a FileMaker Pro Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Database Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Visual Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Storyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Animatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
viii CONTENTS
Previs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
A Case Study—Previs for The Guardian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Generating a Previs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Part III PRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Chapter 9 On-Set Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Production Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
The Visual Effects Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
. . . and More Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Tech Scouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Extended Location Scouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Key to Success: Keep the ADs Informed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Infl uencing the 1st Unit Shooting Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
But What About the Director? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Motion Control: A Special Situation on Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Production Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Production Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
When the Schedule Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Physical Support/1st Unit Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Working on Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Laying the Groundwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Support from Camera Assistants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Paint and Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Digital Video Assist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Chapter 10 On-Set References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
Reference Photos; Art Department References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Element Data Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Reference and Clean Background Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Performance References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
CONTENTS ix

Video References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Lighting Reference Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Tracking Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Chapter 11 Operating Independently: The Visual
Effects Unit on its Own . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Matte Painting Plate Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Visual Effects Plate Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Miniature Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Traveling Matte (i.e., Blue- or Greenscreen) Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Motion Control Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Animatronics Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Motion and Performance Capture Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Stage and Visual Effects Photography Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
VFX Crews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Assembling a Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
On-Set Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Chapter 12 Models and Miniatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Miniatures or CG Models? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Early Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Defi ning the Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Miniatures on Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
The Bidding Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Monitoring Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Getting Things to Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Filming Miniatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Part IV POSTPRODUCTION OF VISUAL EFFECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Chapter 13 The New Digital Workfl ow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Digital Workfl ow on the Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
S.two System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Codex Digital System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
x CONTENTS
Digital Workfl ow in Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Uncompressed Data for VFX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Equipment Needed for a Digital Capture System on Set . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
A Note about Digital Video Assist Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Chapter 14 Getting a Handle on VFX Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
The VFX Producer’s Role During Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Visual Effects Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
The VFX Editor’s Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Attributes of a Good VFX Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Budgeting for Editorial Staff and Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Budget Guidelines for VFX Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Pros and Cons of Digital Dailies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Advantages of Digital Dailies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Drawbacks of Digital Dailies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
High-Defi nition Digital Dailies from Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Lab Transfer Costs from Film to HD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Chapter 15 Integrating VFX Shots with the Postproduction
Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261
Parceling Out the Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
How Many Eggs in One Basket? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Getting Facilities to Talk to Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Monitoring Vendor Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Chapter 16 Postproduction Scheduling Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
Practical Steps in Devising a Postproduction Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Handing off Shots to VFX Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
The Shot Delivery Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Visual Effects by the Reel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Interaction with 1st Unit Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Matching the VFX to the Live Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Grading in the Digital Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
CONTENTS xi
Two for the Price of One? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Negative Scanning; Handling Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Count Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Scanning Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
A Word about Counts and Time Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Scanning the Negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Recording the Final Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Keeping up with Editorial Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
First Line of Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Temps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
VFX and the Marketing Department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Status Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Chapter 17 Changes and Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
Changes and Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Change Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Approvals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Who Does the Approving? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Turn-Around Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Clarifying the Term “Submitted” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Approval Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
When the Job Goes South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Chapter 18 Crossing the Finish Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Finishing on Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Finishing on Digital Intermediate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Part V BUSINESS AFFAIRS — OPERATING THE VISUAL EFFECTS
DEPARTMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315

Chapter 19 Legal Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Letter of Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
xii CONTENTS
Contract Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
The Scope of the Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Quality Assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Shot Breakdowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Delivery Schedules and Interim Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Payment Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Key Personnel Guarantee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Exclusivity of Vendor’s Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Vendor Reporting Requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Right of Approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Revisions and Change Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Rights of Cancellation and Rebates for Cancelled Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Technical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Screen Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
“What If” Clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Force Majeure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Purchase Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Contractor Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Deal Memos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Work for Hire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Cash Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Cost Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Controlling the Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Monitoring Payrolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

The Virtual Production Offi ce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Visual Effects and Film Guarantor Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Negotiating and Bidding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
The Bidding Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
“May I Cut in?”—The Uninvited Bidder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Cutting Your Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Couldn’t You Just…? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
CONTENTS xiii
Chapter 20 Working Overseas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
The Challenges of Operating on Distant Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
The Lure of Working Overseas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Encountering Cultural Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
The Language Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Physical Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Working with Digital Facilities Overseas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
The Foreign Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Effect on Your Personal Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Health Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
In Sum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Appendix A Movie Magic VFX Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .351
Appendix B Crew Deal Memo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
Appendix C Technical Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .369
Appendix D Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
Appendix E Bibliography/References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .377
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .381
xiv CONTENTS
xv

INTRODUCTION
We confess to having a certain Hollywood-centered bias. That’s
only natural, because both authors spent a span of 20 years
working in the visual effects community. We were lucky to get our
experience in Southern California which has the largest concen-
tration of visual effects facilities in the world. Not only are several
of the largest digital effects houses located here, but this region
also is home to literally scores of prominent and not-so- prominent
medium and smaller facilities that service the motion picture, TV,
commercial, music video, and gaming industries.
Hollywood may have dominated the fi eld for decades, but
no longer. In the last few years the creation of visual effects has
become an international growth industry. Technical genius and
creative talent fl ourish on every continent. Software that once
was so outrageously costly that only the largest facilities could
afford it is now within easy reach of individual artists who work
out of their homes. And when visual effects festivals are held
from Germany to India, you know that “ Hollywood ” now extends
to “ Bollywood ” and all points in between … at least when it comes
to creating visual effects. The result of this trend has been a global
blossoming of artistry that continues to astonish even profession-
als in the fi eld.
What may not be widely recognized within our industry is that
this extraordinary artistry comes at a price. Creating world-class
visual effects is expensive, and to be consistently successful at
it requires not only talented artists, but also effective producers
(just ask the former owners of failed visual effects “ boutiques ”
who created outstanding work but were clueless “ businessmen ” ).
And that is the purpose of this book: to help readers become
more effective VFX Producers.

Our book looks mainly at producing visual effects from the stu-
dio’s or production company’s perspective. Studios and indepen-
dent producers alike have learned the value of bringing their own
VFX Producers and VFX Supervisors on board. And here we make
an important distinction: We’re dealing here with a freelance
visual effects team that works for the production company , not
in-house staff producers like those who work at dozens of other
visual and digital effects facilities all over the world.
We stress this point because the challenges of the digital pro-
ducer or visual effects production manager working within a
digital facility are quite different from the ones we face on the
production end. The in-house facility producer’s job is to see to it
that his or her employer’s work gets done on time and on budget.
This vendor may be only one of several companies creating visual
effects for a project, each with its own interests at heart. The pro-
ducer’s visual effects team, on the other hand, is there to protect
the production by seeing to it that the overall visual effects work
will proceed smoothly and will have the unifi ed vision that the
director wishes to express.
In particular, we will be emphasizing the role of the VFX
Producer in this book. It is not an exaggeration to say that visual
effects have become the stars in many a fi lm, and with the explo-
sive growth of the visual effects industry in recent years, VFX
Producers have found opportunities for an exciting and reward-
ing career have expanded exponentially. VFX Producers are play-
ing an increasingly important role on most visual effects-heavy
pictures, as well as major television specials and commercials.
Additionally, the interactive games industry and many special
venue fi lms have also become heavy users of visual effects. They
all need the guiding expertise of experienced VFX Producers.

Every fi lm is unique. A group of people comes together for a
time under the leadership of a producer and a director. They face
a set of unique creative and logistical challenges and go about
solving them to the best of their abilities, hoping that their efforts
will result in a rewarding experience for the moviegoer. They will
never face the exact same situations again. Instead, they will
bring their accumulated experience to bear on the next project
and the one after that, adapting as they go along.
We recognize this, and so what we present in this book are
guidelines, not hard and fast rules. As you pursue your own
career in visual effects, you will develop your own ways of work-
ing, adopting ideas that you fi nd useful, ignoring those that are
not. But our overall objective remains to provide information that
will help you do your job more effectively, thus making you a bet-
ter fi lmmaker. There will always be a demand for knowledgeable
craftspeople to work in the industry, and we need more people
who understand both the art and business of visual effects. It is
a demanding fi eld. Expectations keep rising, and the technology
continues to change at a dizzying pace. But if you have the talent,
drive, and desire to keep up with the changes, visual effects pro-
ducing can provide a challenging and rewarding career.
xvi Introduction
Success Stories
All successful Visual Effects Producers began their careers in less prestigious jobs. We asked some of our colleagues to
share their stories with us and to tell us their thoughts about being in this exciting fi eld and about what producing visual effects
entails. We have sprinkled their “ Success Stories ” throughout the book. We hope you will enjoy them — and perhaps derive some
inspiration from them.
VISUAL EFFECTS IN REVIEW

1

Part
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3
© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.2010
THE “ GOOD ” OLD DAYS:
VISUAL EFFECTS BEFORE
COMPUTERS
Until fairly recently, the art and craft of visual effects went by
the name special photographic effects because the work was
accomplished photographically on fi lm and relied heavily on spe-
cial optical cameras called optical printers. Most of the serious
visual effects work took place in postproduction. Nowadays we
simply call it visual effects. But even defi ning a visual effect is far
from straightforward. For one thing, some people include visual
effects in the general category of special effects, while others may
refer to them as special visual effects.
Visual effects have been a part of the fi lmmaker’s creative
toolbox almost from the fi rst time a cinematographer cranked a
handle on a wooden camera back in the 1890s.
The fi rst known visual effect that seems to have survived was
created in 1895 in a short fi lm called The Execution of Mary,
Queen of Scots. In that historic piece, an actress portraying the
ill-fated queen puts her head on a chopping block. A hooded
executioner raises his axe and brings it down on the neck of the
victim, whose severed head rolls free onto the ground. The story
goes that viewers were shocked by this unprecedented bit of cin-
ema magic: the simple enough trick of stopping the camera at the
appropriate moment and substituting a dummy for the actress,
then resuming. Viewers of that era knew nothing about jump cuts
or other visual trickery that even a 10-year-old youngster raised

in today’s media environment would recognize instantly.
Of course, that begs the question, what is a visual effect?
Everyone seems to have a different defi nition, which only goes
to show that the term’s exact meaning is hard to pin down. Even
the Visual Effects Society (which ought to know) hasn’t come
up with a satisfactory defi nition. Not too many years ago, it was
1
4 Chapter 1 THE “ GOOD ” OLD DAYS: VISUAL EFFECTS BEFORE COMPUTERS
relatively easy to say what a visual effect was: If a shot required
some sort of treatment in postproduction and rephotographing
on an optical printer, it was called a “ special photographic effect. ”
John Dykstra, one of the top visual effects supervisors in the
business today (and one of the main creative forces behind the
visual effects for the seminal fi lm Star Wars of 1977), once defi ned
a visual effect as “ two or more elements of fi lm combined into a
single image. ” That was a perfectly reasonable defi nition . . . until
computers replaced optical printers and he modifi ed that defi ni-
tion by saying that “ with the advent of digital imaging, that could
be considered two or more subjects captured in a separate media
and made to appear (italics added) as if they were photographed
together. ”
1
The key phrase here is “ made to appear as if they were
photographed together. ” Unless a visual effects shot maintains
that illusion, no amount of technical wizardry is going to con-
vince a viewer of the reality of the shot.
On one point most people in the industry would probably
agree: Visual effects involve some form of image manipula-
tion. That precept gives rise to the somewhat broader defi nition
that we prefer: A visual effect is the manipulation of moving

images by photographic or digital means that creates a photo-
realistic cinematic illusion that does not exist in the real world.
These effects invariably involve some sort of photographic or
digital trickery. Let’s face it: We’re in the business of deceiving
audiences.
We ’re quick to admit that this a somewhat broad defi nition
(would that make slow-motion or timelapse photography a
“ visual effect ” ?), but it has the virtue that it allows us to include
certain cinematic techniques under the heading of Visual Effects
that don’t necessarily require the combination of more than one
visual element to make up the fi nal shot (case in point: in-camera
miniatures).
With that defi nition as a guide (and on the assumption that
the reader already has a good understanding of fi lm fundamen-
tals), here follows a brief compilation of visual effects techniques
that fi lmmakers have used over time, and that, either by them-
selves or in combination with digital techniques, are still useful
today. Readers may notice that several techniques we describe
here are accomplished all in-camera. As such, they don’t nec-
essarily qualify as true visual effects as we defi ne the term.
Nevertheless, we chose to include these techniques because they
become the responsibility of the visual effects producer on many
productions.

1
( Millimeter , March 2002)
STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 5
SUCCESS STORY
Lynda Thompson - ( Evan Almighty ; Haunted Mansion )
The fi rst fi lm I worked on was Tron … I was an assistant scene coordinator and I learned about animation, animation cameras,

and the specifi cs of visual effects while working directly with a wonderful mentor … For the next 10 years I worked on numerous
fi lms as a VFX Coordinator and a VFX Production Supervisor. I also had the opportunity to work at several different companies and
that added to my learning experience. In those days credits were still evolving and I received the title VFX Producer for the fi rst
time on Dave in 1993.
I have been working as a VFX Producer for over 15 years … My father and grandfather were both in visual effects but I
graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a B.A. in English and initially thought I would go a different route and
become a journalist. Now I can’t imagine that I almost made that choice.
The essential duties of the VFX Producer are breaking down the script, budgeting the VFX, overseeing the production of the
VFX during prep/shoot/post and communicating well with the production and VFX teams. The responsibility of the VFX Producer
is to facilitate delivery of fi nal shots within the agreed-upon budget and time.
Keys to Success: Being able to see potential problems well in advance is one of the most important qualities for the job. A
VFX Producer is responsible for keeping everything running smoothly. I believe the best VFX Producers steer the team away from
pitfalls in a calm, decisive manner. The database keeps us informed on each shot’s current status, an essential part in being able
to meet the production schedule with fi nal quality effects shots.
Stop-Motion Animation
Stop -motion animation is probably the oldest visual effects
technique. It is based on the ability of a motion picture camera
to shoot a series of frames one at a time instead of in a contin-
uous burst of fi lm, as is normally the case. As early as 1897, two
American fi lm pioneers produced a short fi lm called Humpty
Dumpty Circus in which they moved a child’s toys by stop-
motion, and in 1898 the French fi lm pioneer Georges M é li è s used
stop-motion to animate wooden letters for what today we would
call a commercial.
Stop -motion animation is a bit like traditional two-dimensional
(2D) cartoon (or cel) animation in that an animator makes small
changes in the subject’s position from one frame to the next. In tra-
ditional animation, the animator creates the sense of movement
by drawing a character on paper or a 2D sheet of acetate (called
the cel) in a slightly different position in each frame. But in stop-

motion, the animator moves a three-dimensional (3D) model in
small increments from one frame to the next so that its movements
will look smooth and continuous when the fi lm is projected at the
normal 24 frames per second. The technique is also called “ dimen-
sional animation. ” Undoubtedly the most famous practitioner of
6 Chapter 1 THE “ GOOD ” OLD DAYS: VISUAL EFFECTS BEFORE COMPUTERS
this technique is the legendary Ray Harryhausen. He inspired a
whole generation of animators and present-day visual effects art-
ists with his classic stop-motion work in movies like the original
Mighty Joe Young (1949), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Clash of
the Titans (1981), and many others.
The technique is still very much alive today, but today’s stop-
motion animators have a wide array of digital and electronic
gadgetry at their disposal that enables them to create some truly
wonderful animation. In fact, we would argue that it was the
development of sophisticated electronic and digital tools that led
to a revival in recent years of stop-motion fi lms. Beginning with
The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), followed in 2000 by the
hit Chicken Run and later by such delightful stop-motion master-
pieces as Corpse Bride (2005) and Coraline (2009), stop-motion
artists could avail themselves of such technological innovations
as motion control, digital image manipulation, and digital com-
positing that did not exist in precomputer times.
The technique does have its limitations, especially in today’s
fi lmmaking environment where many stories that might have
been told with puppets in the past can now be presented more
realistically through digitally created characters. But stop-motion
has always worked best when it was in the service of fantasy
and legends, rather than literal reality. It is this quality that gave
Figure 1.1 Stop-motion animator Stephen Chiodo on stop-motion set.

(Image courtesy of Chiodo Bros.)
fi lms like James and the Giant Peach (1996) their charm and lent
an air of whimsy to the undersea creatures of The Life Aquatic
with Steve Zissou (2004). The tradition continues with fi lms like
Coraline (2009) and Mary and Max (2009), made by creative fi lm-
makers who devote their artistic energies to this oldest of visual
effects techniques.
Puppets and Animatronics
Puppets are artifi cial creations that simulate a living creature,
whether human or not. Puppets can be animated very simply by
hand, wires, cables, rods, or — more likely these days — animatronics.
Strictly speaking, animatronics is the control of motorized pup-
pets through the use of electronics. But over time, the word
animatronics has become kind of a catch-all term that covers elec-
tronic, mechanical, hydraulic, or radio-control devices. We just
need to be clear that when we say that something is animatronic,
we are merely talking about how a character is animated , or made
to move. It does not mean that the entire character is artifi cial. In
other words, a puppet is artifi cial by defi nition, but it is not neces-
sarily animatronic.
PUPPETS AND ANIMATRONICS 7
Figure 1.2 Animator Stephen Chiodo poses a dragon puppet.
(Image courtesy of Chiodo Bros.)
8 Chapter 1 THE “ GOOD ” OLD DAYS: VISUAL EFFECTS BEFORE COMPUTERS
Figure 1.3
Full-scale animatronic Alien Queen from Alien VS. Predator , making use of
a combination of electronics, hydraulics, and a computer-controlled performance system.
(Image courtesy of Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. Alien VS. Predator © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox.
All rights reserved)
Matte Paintings

A matte painting is a painting that adds to or replaces part of
a live action image. Matte paintings are used to create imaginary
environments or to replace part of a scene to add complexity to a
shot that would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to fi lm.
They have been called the invisible art, because when they are
done well, viewers cannot tell that they are looking at a painting.
Matte paintings have their roots in what are called glass shots,
a technique that predates motion pictures. Early still photogra-
phers would sometimes aim their cameras at a subject and fi nd
that the existing scene was not to their liking. Their solution lay
in setting up a pane of glass between the camera and the sub-
ject, then painting a different scene directly on the glass so that
the painting blended seamlessly with the subject they wanted to
photograph.
It was just such a photographer, Norman Dawn, who was
apparently the fi rst cinematographer to apply the glass-shot tech-
nique to motion pictures, after having learned the trick while a
still photographer. Unfortunately, glass shots had to be set up and
completed at whatever location the action took place, be it city or
desert, come rain or come shine. Glass shots enhanced many a
Rights were not granted to include this figure in electronic media.
Please refer to the printed publication.