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F/X BIOS Many f/x wizards worked tirelessy on Superman The Movie. Here, at Superman CINEMA, we believe these people require the same attention as Dick Donner, Tom Mankiewicz etc. Thanks to our f/x expert, Ahem, here is what they did. For each name, we highlight one of their impressive special effects wizardry.
Doug Ferris Superman re-rails the train. The scene was filmed at Pinewood studios in England, and had to match footage of scenes already filmed in North America. The shot of Superman lying in the crack looking head-on at the approaching train is a clever Ferris matte painting. The only live action elements are Christopher Reeve lying on a foreground mock-up of the rails. The area surrounding him, the sky, the rocky cliffs in the background, and the railway track going into the distance have all been painted in after live-action photography. The filtration on the horizon gives the shot great depth of field, giving the illusion of distance to a two-dimensional painting. The shot lasts only a matter of seconds. Les Bowie The mushroom cloud. To simulate this, Bowie built an eight foot high glass tank of water. Behind this he inserted a giant still of a New Mexican landscape, mounted on hardboard. At the top of the tank was a small bulb used to illuminate the contents of the tank. A camera was positioned upside down, photographing the tank head-on, with the still aligned behind it. White paint was poured in through the top of the tank, giving the illusion of a giant, unfolding cloud of dust. Terry Reed The starship. Reed built a foot-long miniature, for shots of the starship flying through ‘space and time’. It had to match the full size mockup designed by Ed Gimmel. Identical to the life-size model, the starship was wrapped in layers of reflective, front-projection material. When photographed with direct light, the front-projection areas appear to glow. Reed had to scale the miniature so the FP material would not give off an aura of light that appeared greater than that of the full size ship. The miniature was built from perspex. Dennis Bartlett Superman searching for Luther’s layer. Bartlett had to photograph blue screen shots of Superman flying past numerous skyscrapers, with lighting of the background reacting to the superimposed character. While Christopher Reeve remained stationary in front of the blue screen, the lights and camera were moved around him. This gives the illusion of the hero rotating in mid-air. If the compostion of a background plate has the sun in the centre of the frame, Bartlett would have to backlight the actors. Bartlett could only film in a few shades of blue, as blue is one of film strips three primary colours. Because of this, the blue costume can fade into the blue screen. Bartlett also had to film these elements so they’d photographically match Geoffrey Unsworth’s personal, photographic style. Denys N Coop The flying love ballet. To show Lois and Superman flying above the skyscrapers of Metropolis at night, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve were filmed using front-projection. The FP operation was Zoran Perisic’s Zoptic system, but it was Denys Coop’s job to photograph all of the FP shots. Background plates had been filmed by Ronald Goodman, which were combined with photography of the actors who were photographed by Coop. The couple fly up to some clouds, which was dry ice, backlit by Coop. The sequence also had to gel with what Geoffrey Unsworth had filmed on the balcony. Zoran Perisic Superman performs a close-up, mid-air, sidewards roll after the helicopter rescue. Christopher Reeve was filmed on a pole arm in front of a front-projection screen. He only moved his arms and head. The camera is on a rostrum mount, computer controlled, and gives the illusion of Superman flying, rotating and moving from side-to-side, usiong it’s double zoom lens. The whole effect is achieved ‘in-camera’. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ZOPTIC SYSTEM Derek Meddings Helicopter falling from the Daily Planet skyscraper. With the exception of a close up shot of a safety rail being ripped by the helicopter’s weight, all of the shots of the helicopter falling from the building were accomplished using 1/6th scale miniatures. Long shots of pedestrians looking up at the copter atop the building were also 100% miniature. Charles Staffell All-in-one shot of Lois watching Superman fly off of the balcony, then meeting Clark at the door. Christopher Reeve was filmed saying ‘good night’ and then flying off into the background. The shot was then taken and rotoscoped of wires. It was then rear projected onto a screen erected on the same set, exactly where Superman had been filmed flying off. Margot Kidder then performed in front of the screen, reacting to the image of Superman. The camera was then able to focus on Kidder, who walks towards the apartment door, where Clark appears. Plants and other decoration were used to seam the edges of the screen. Paul Wilson
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