INTERVIEW WITH SUPERMAN IV VFX PRODUCER, Lynda Thompson

1) HOW DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT, SUPERMAN IV?

After several years working at Boss Film (Richard Edlund¹s visual effects facility), I had decided to re-enter the freelance world. Having worked with Harrison Ellenshaw and Christopher Keith on TRON several years earlier, I was eager to work with them again so I jumped at the chance when it was offered.

2) WHAT DOES A VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR DO?

Job titles have changed so much over the years in all areas of film production including visual effects. On this movie, I was hired to oversee the production side of the visual effects during post-production at various companies in Southern California. Ultimately, we hired 13 companies and the visual effects production manager, Christopher Keith, and I split the day-to-day duties of managing all these facilities. We divided them up into geographical areas. Christopher took 5 companies in Hollywood and I took the remainder, mostly in the San Fernando Valley near our Burbank OLW location.

We would visit our companies daily to check their progress. We also scheduled and attended all reviews and screenings between these companies and Harrison Ellenshaw. As Harrison mentioned in his interview, we were evaluating the strengths of the companies and shifting shots to take advantage of different talents. Christopher and I had to make sure we knew the status of each and every one of over 600 shots at all times including:
whether the company assigned had all the elements needed, the status of "wedges" (preliminary still frames testing color and placement), the status of the temp composites (temps were required for screening and cutting purposes), the estimated completion of the shot, the actual schedule of the shot and whether or not the shot had been approved as final.

3) WERE THERE ANY SPECIFIC PERSONNEL THAT YOU BROUGHT ONTO THE PROJECT?

On this particular film, the project was pretty well staffed by the time I was hired. However, no visual effects companies had been contracted. Harrison Ellenshaw, Christopher Keith and I met with many companies to determine which ones would be best for the project. Due to the amount of visual effects work required and the time-frame, we had to hire as many companies as possible. This worked out for us in the long run as some of them were unable to complete the work so we were able to shift those shots to one of our other facilities.

4) WHAT PROBLEMS DID YOU FACE ON THE PROJECT?

The digital revolution was yet to occur in film so everything had to be composited optically. Because of the scope of the project, we had to manage a lot of shots in a short period of time. As I mentioned, we had to move some shots because certain vendors were unable to complete them. Luckily, we had some excellent companies who really did some wonderful work.
However, we wish we had had more time and available facilities in order to make every shot perfect.

We also struggled to maintain a consistency of look with some many different companies doing the compositing work. Harrison had hired Dorne Huebler as Visual Effects Art Director and Dorne worked with the companies to maintain a common look and color value.

Luckily we didn't have to worry about our in-house (Olsen, Lane & White) group. The visual effects animators were lead by Michael Lessa, who took care of their scheduling and timely delivery. We also had an editorial team in-house which was very important in keeping everything organized.

5) HOW DID "SUPERMAN IV" COMPARE TO WORKING ON A MOVIE LIKE "GHOSTBUSTERS"
FOR EXAMPLE?

Well, there were many differences and some similarities in the two films. GHOSTBUSTERS had more "creature effects"and model work. The film was shot in California and all the visual effects work was done in house at Boss Film Corporation. SUPERMAN IV was shot in England and the visual effects compositing work was done at various companies in Southern California. As I mentioned above, compositing at so many different companies made it more difficult to maintain consistency.

However, the visual effects work for both GHOSTBUSTERS and SUPERMAN IV were overseen by newly set-up companies. Richard Edlund had recently left ILM to set up Boss Film Corporation and the first movie to be done there was GHOSTBUSTERS. Similarly, Harrison Ellenshaw set up Olsen, Lane and White for SUPERMAN IV. I had the advantage on both films of working with young companies and being able to implement procedures that worked well for the productions and visual effects work required. No one was "set in their ways"and everyone brought different experiences to the job. The people that I worked with at both Boss Film and OLW were very flexible and enthusiastic about their jobs.

6) DID YOU ATTEND THE 134 MINUTE EXTENDED CUT SCREENING OF SUPERMAN IV IN
ORANGE COUNTY?

No. The studio wanted to keep as many seats open as possible for their recruited audience. Plus, we were still working on visual effects shots and driving around to the vendors!

7) DO YOU THINK THE FILM COULD HAVE BEEN IMPROVED WITH EXTRA SCENES?

Possibly. It was a shame that some of our work was not used and the time could have been better spent perfecting some of the shots that needed a bit more time.

8) DO YOU HAVE ANY AMUSING ANECDOTES FROM THE PRODUCTION?

We had a group of animators who were very fast and had terrific senses of humor. They would draw quick cartoon caricatures whenever the mood struck them. Everyone who passed their way was fair game. Whatever someone said that could be taken out of context or spun a different way went "up on the wall"with a drawing showing their comical variation of their sentence. By the end of the show, the walls were plastered with these "sayings" and they
really helped lighten the mood.

The one piece of artwork from this "creative outlet" that I still have is my crab-o-meter. The effects animators worked at Olsen, Lane and White and were right next to my office. My "office"was a space about 6 feet by 5 feet (including a desk and file cabinet!) I had to step out of the office in order to open the file cabinet and my "door" was a black velveteen strip. I felt a bit like the wizard in "The Wizard of Oz"! The room for the animators had to be dark in order for them to see their work as it was on an animation desk (the work lit from behind by a light right below the desk.)
Sometimes it felt like we were in a cave. The animators gave me the crab-o-meterto hang outside my officeso they would know when they could come through my (black velveteen strip) door. It seems that I had the reputation for not exactly being a morning person and few people would dare talk to me until I had my coffee. So, the animators would move an arrow on the crab-o-meter from mad to happyas the day progressed.
But, I guess there were days, when things weren't going well, when the arrow didn't move at all!

But, because of the team work and great attitudes, we were all able to get through a somewhat difficult schedule with some fun memories.

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