SUPERMAN II / THE PRODUCTION / SPECIAL EFFECTS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Q. Why does Superman 2 look like such a rushed production?

A. Because once Donner was fired, the producers were only allowed to finish the film so long as they kept Donner's original deadline. This meant that director Lester had to literally improvise the sequel.

Q. If there was so much Donner footage complete and Lester had such little time to improvise, why were new scenes and re-shoots filmed?

A. Because in order to claim a director's credit, at least 50%+ of the filmed material has to be your own work. Lester did re-use as much Donner footage as possible.

Q. Why are some of the special effects so variable?

A. Most of the special effects for Superman 2 had been completed when Donner was onboard, but due to the compulsorary re-shoots required by Lester, most of this work was scrapped entirely. The VFX artists were not only burned out from having there finely perfected work discarded, but in order to meet the newly imposed rushed, tight deadline, improvisation and a bias to the most practically effective procedure was called for. The animation and travelling matte optical work, which was all executed in Hollywood, had to have the original elements flown from England in order to be completed, and with the rushed deadline and script re-writes there was no quality control.

Q. Why is there so much blue screen?

A. Because of the deadline. There was no time available for the set-ups and testing of on-set flying and time consuming front projection.

Q. There are so many obvious miniature dolls used in some flying scenes. The flying looks stiff. What gives?

A. Because the time consuming direction and lighting of real actors who require a performance was unavailable to Richard Lester. The use of matted, scale dolls was the most practically effective procedure with regard to the production deadline. The doll photography could be churned out as quickly as possible and sent to Hollywood where it could then be matted into background footage thus beating the deadline.

Q. Finally, why is the Whitehouse scene at the end of the film clearly achieved using a still photograph?

A. Because, due to the deadline, the optical work was badly rushed, meaning that the optical technicians in Hollywood had to improvise. Because it usually takes weeks to optically print a travelling matte shot frame-by-frame, the use of a still photograph along with the miniature doll of Superman was the only practical way to realise the shot.

PAGE II