Making a Little Digital Magic
By Bob Fisher

At a crucial point in Message in a Bottle, Garrett Blake is on a sailboat when it begins raining. First, a few drops. Then, the sky darkens and the rain falls harder until the storm turns into a squall. The problem was that there was only a small amount rain when Caleb Deschanel, ASC, and Luis Mandoki were shooting the scene.

That was the cue for visual effects director David J. Negron, Jr. to make his entry. Negron had worked with LA-based Cinesite Digital Studio on The Postman, and based on that experience, he decided to bring them into the collaborative process.

Cinesite digital effects supervisor Tom Smith says there were some 50 effects shots weaved into three scenes, two on the sailboat, including a moonlit one, and another on an airplane. Deschanel shot all of the dramatic elements of the three scenes, photographing the actors in front of green background screens.

The cinematographer also color-timed the digitally composited shots, initially viewing them on a computer monitor, and then giving the final nod to film dailies.

The bluescreen elements were recorded on the new Kodak SFX 200T film, which is designed to simplify extracting separations of foreground action from the background by reducing or eliminating color fringing. Smith says the separations are cleaner and the film also records much finer details, which adds to the believability of the illusions.

“You can see fine hairs on the actors’ heads, and the fabric of a sweater Theresa is wearing has tactile texture,” he says.

Markers on the bluescreen provide a visual reference for tracking camera movement, and the angle and position of the lens. Smith explains, “This makes it possible for us to align the background plates and bluescreen shots during compositing. That gives the cinematographer more freedom to move the camera.”

Negron filmed background plates in VistaVision format. He filmed water and waves in the ocean and in a tank near one of the primary locations.

“It was basically reverse engineering,” Smith says. “Usually, people shoot the background plates first and then match camera movements during the green screen photography. Because of the weather conditions, the first and second units were not able to shoot plates for the storm sequence. David’s crew mimicked Caleb’s camera movement.”

Cinesite converted the film to digital format with a CCD scanner designed to capture all of the rich details, including color density, recorded on the original negative.

“David (Negron) shot great background footage,” Smith says. “It was our job to make the composited elements seem like one shot. Subtleties in colors and contrast had to be consistent with the live-action footage on either side of the effects shots.”

Negron provided Cinesite with video transfers of footage on either side of all effects shots. That provided a visual reference for matching effects shots to live-action elements of scenes.

“In the moonlight scene, we used a very soft grad matte to darken the sky,” he says. “You have a lot more control with a digital matte and it can be any shape. You can experiment with combining different grads and vary the amount of fall-off.”

Smith explains that the images are displayed on a computer monitor, which is calibrated to emulate film projected in a studio screening room. Negron made daily visits to Cinesite to fine-tune or approve shots. When he was ready to show a shot to director Luis Mandoki, Cinesite used a Lightning laser recorder to transfer the digital images to Kodak color intermediate film. The lab processed the film and made a print.

Rain was one of the more challenging elements needed for the composited storm shots. It had to fall from the right angle and intensity, consistent with the gusting wind. In addition to the rain shots filmed by Negron’s crew, Cinesite created digital rain.

“Practical rain elements looked better in some shots, and digital rain in others,” Smith explains.

Skin tones were color-timed to reflect the fact that the characters would have been getting colder and wetter as the storm got worse.

Deschanel photographed a welath of excellent material in the tank,” says Smith. “We had to transform it into a believable storm scene. Garrett Blake begins his voyage on a nice day and all hell breaks loose. It has to look and feel like a real storm.”

The foreground elements in the moonlit scene were shot against a green bacckground and Negron filmed the background plates using day-for-night techniques. During compositing, Cinesite enhanced the sky, added clouds to the shot, and used a digital neutral density matte to the composite. There was a warm red light in the cabin, which spilled into the night, and contrasted with the blue moonlight. Deschanel color- timed these images in the digital suite to make them warmer and richer.

“He also asked us to record a little denser internegative of the moonlit scene, so he could color-time it in the lab and make it darker in the release prints,” Smith says.

Deschanel lit and filmed the airplane scene with a greenscreen behind the window next to Theresa. The scene begins as the sun sets. There’s a red highlight on the edge of the windowsill and on the side of her face. The sun is sinking toward the horizon, and occasional clouds in the window amplify the illusion that the airplane is flying.

Negron found a selection of appropriate stock scenes in the Warner Bros. library. Cinesite transferred the film images to digital video format using a Philips Spirit Datacine, which was a relatively quick and comparatively inexpensive way to preview them on a computer screen. Deschanel color-timed the composited shots.

“It was an interactive process,” Smith says. “They fly by a cloud which blocks the sun for a few seconds, and it gets a little darker. She turns her head, and the red highlight moves across her face. I think that shot lasts for 14 seconds. Caleb came in on a Friday, did the timing, and 24 hours later we projected the film for him. It was great having him in here. It’s the cinematographer’s film. They light it. They establish the look. This is a powerful tool which should become an important part of what they do.”