Effects-Starbu

"Zyzak Is King" -On Location With An Adventure Game Fantasy Guide to CINEMAGIC r- ~=~~: Back Issues, page 26 ~

SPECIAL FEATURE Animation With Your Home Com

0;;",0000., S 1. 95 9"

CONTENTS Editor's 4 On Location 18 Bench ___ _

Microcomputer6 Animation _

A special feature on how to create dazzling animation with your home computer. By James Leatham.

Filmmakers'12 Forum

A regular department devoted to readers' comments and cor· respondence about fantasy filmmaking.

Cinemagic Market-Place __ 13 Classified advertising and announcements.

Easy Effects _ 15 Make your own cross-star fitter and create super starburst flares. By JlIck Imes, Jr.

ClNEMAGIC goes on lOC8tion for the making of an adventure game fantasy film, Zyzak ls King. By John Cleyton.

Stop-motion Studio

Armatures for Less, CINEMAGIC veteran Ken Walker builds an armature for a model AlloslIurus from a design by Kenneth Brilliant. By John Dods.

Producers' Bulletin

Issue #23

Latest news of our readers' productions.

CINEMAGIC Back Issue Guide _ 26 At last, a comprehensive guide to every subject ever covered in the pages of ClNEMAGIC.

Success 30 Story __ _

(

A CINEMAGIC success story: Mark Sullivan rises f rom basement film · maker to Hollywood SFX artist with his fantastic short f i lm, Highrise. By John Dods.

Issue "'23

Publishers Norman Jacobs/Kerry O'Quinn

Associate Publisher Rita Eisenstein

Circulation Director Richard Browne

Assl'tant Publisher Milburn Smith

Editor David Hutchison

Art Director W.R. Mohlilley

Managing Editor John Clayton

Assodate Art Director Neil Holmes

Senior Designer Denise Lewis

Designers Daniel Abello

Sook Han

Editorial Contributors John Dods

Jo!Imes Lelltham Hugh Stegman Mark Sullivan

Spedal Projects linda Loias

Damon SlIntostefano

Production Assistants Ed Bergenza

Richerd Cebek El izabeth DeJesus Eileen Dempsey Norma Garda Shawn Hodes Chris Kwlath

Andrea Passes

Flnandal Manager Joan BlIetz

Founder of CINEMAGIC Don Oohler

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4 ONEMAG/C"23

Editor's

BENCH Guest Editorial:

Lucky You!

When I wa,a kid. I would have killed to find a magazine like CINEMAGIc' I wanted to meke movie, more then enything else. and there wes no publication to tell me how to do mln leture sets. t i tles and cobwebs-no publication to put

me in touch wi th other filmmekers In my area-no publication to teach me about ,cripu end sloryboards.

Above all. there wa, no publication that sponsored e contest where I could strut my sluff. There was no Short Film Search.

Lucky you-you have e wonderful opportunity to learn from this magazine lind then to put your learning Into practice by making II ntm (or tape) that might be a prize winner.

By the time you read th is we will hllve just staged the 5th Anniversary awards night for Ihe Short Film Search Uointly sponsored by the School of Visual Arts~ and It was a glit· tering event. Our Lincoln Center lIuditorlum was packed to overflowing with both profes· sionals and students.. We screened all the winning films to a cheering audience. and we

• presented trophies and specitll prizes to the thr illed winners. II was II mllglcal night! Look for II complete report In the next issue. If you were flol there. you aIR ,UII gel In on the fun when some o f the winning films

are shown on Nighl flIght . Friday and Saturday. November 25th lind 26th. beginning at 11 :00 PM Eastern (8:00 PM Pacific) on USA cable Network. Nlghl flight Is a four·hour. flls t·paced. youthful variety shOll/lind Is the hIghest· rated cable series in the wortd. The exposure for our winning filmmakers will be sensatlonll1.

And if viewers respond positively. Nighl flight will schedule regular CINEMAGIC segments for the future. and we'lI supply them with past winners from the Short Film Search as well as other original films.

But that's not all-we are making deflnlle plans to televi,e the entire awards night In 1984-the 61h yellr for th is non·proflt event. We' ll show the world what kind of electrlcl· ty Is generated when fans tlnd c:elebrlties come together to discover. and honor. young talent on the WlIy up. We'lI show 'em the ffitlgicl

As II result. next year's winners will heve II national ~howcase for their work that will give them an incredible career boost.

If you lire an aspiring producer. director. writer. actor. cinemlilographer. special ef· fects creator or Interested in any branch of movies or TV. you owe It to yourself 10 start-righf flow-TODAY-planning and organizing a film production for next yeer's contest.

Don', try to ffitlke Gone With The Wind. Just do a lillie film thllt shows how clever and creative you are. Make It the best work you're capable of-In concept and in execution. This is your chance; 90 {oril!

Then. milybe. just maybe. you'lI be Judged as one o f the best films-and you'lI have your work , hown to an impommt audienc:e: ilt a big New York theater-and maybe one of the professionals In the audienc:e: wilt see it and SlIy. " Hey. that kid has tlilent!" Sounds corny. but it could happen!

Still. you' lI never know unless you put out the effort. Breaks like thllt don't hilppen to people who sit around and WlIit for the phone to ring. Get up off your butt lind stop daydreaming!

When! was II k id, I would have killed to find a contest like this-an opportuni ty to show off my talent. If the Short Film Search had existed when I wes In school. I might be directing films todey.

Of course. that would mean that I neY(!r would have become II magazine publisher. lind the CI NEM .... GIC Short Film Sellrch wouldn't el<ist.1 guess ftom your point or view It's II good thing there was no magazine like this for me. lucky you!

!l;erry O'Qulnn/Publisher

CINEMI\.QlC Is publloMd bl.monthly by STAALOO PRESS. IriC. 47' P .. k A.' ...... Soulh. Mew Yo.k. MY 10016 This 1. 1._ ·23 (VoI .. me 4. No.'~ ISSN ~JOOO. C .... lonl II CI 1983 by ST ... RLOO PRESS. INC . ... II rilJh ... earnd . R~lnl Of rep'odOCIIon of..,. malerllllln .... 1 01' In .. hole ..... 11'IOIJI wrlUm permloolon lrom the pubI~ II IIrlctlylor· blclden. ONEI'VIOIC ~I no .efI>OIUIbillty lor uruoIkited manllKriplJ;. pilot .... . norothermalerMl. but 111.Mlllna OlIbmItt.ols .. e~le<Iby.oeII_-'lWnfIedm~.tMy1//II!"<:orUIck,~IOn(!.l/rI«flICrry.r ..... ""'. ProducU _lied •• e ..... _")1 endorted br CtNEl'\AGIC. ilnd.ray _lew.,..praoed In edI,orlool C'OPY .... '* necessarUy thole of ONEI'VIGIC. SubKtIp\lorl rMH: .9.911 r.. """')'HI (lilt 1_) ",U_cd In 'he U.s . c..- IOn(! """'Ito. lor~ ~ $14.<18 Itt U.s. I""," only. n_ 8ub.-c1pllo".: ..... directly 10 ClNEMGlC. do ST ARLOO PRESS. riC. 47~P .. k ... v ....... South ......... Yor'Ir.. rff 1 001& NotlfiQr.lonof eM"", or __ 01",, __ .1. aend 10c:JNEI'VIOIC. S .. lNocrIpc ..... Depc. P.O. So. 142. Mt. MI>ITIs.1L 610S4.0142. I'ott ..... t,." Send form J~79lo ClNEMIIOIC. P.O B<>-o: 142. M, Morris. II.... ~ IC»-! AppIk ....... 10 rnollo«onddullspendlng tI New York. NY .nd" ....... ~.11ons.. P,lnled In U.S.A..

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STARLOG­The most popular science fiction magazine in our solar system, bringing you all the latest in SF film, television and fact!

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MICROCOMPUTER ANIMATION Create dazzling computer animation

with a personal microcomputer By JAMES S. LEATHAM

James Leatham with his ApJ)le II plus home comj)lltet. The lOP is off 10 keep the comptJter from owr·heating. Tile camera set·up and secorMf moRIa aAlln the closet,

Most people associate "compu, ter animation" with Disney's TRON, the briefing room scene

inSlar Wars and the Voyager Saturn films. You CINEMAGIC readers have sharp eyes for new and unusual special effects and often want to find some way to incorpor­ate them Into your own films. Computer animl!!IIion effects are no exception.

Sometimes even the set Is a special ef· fect, A common example Is the computer display on a spacecraft's instrument panel. For the film Asteroid (see CINEMAGIC -16) I used my Apple II microcomputer and trick photography to make the " Paradox" logo, titles. credits and various instrument readouts. Most of what I've done is use a computer to "fake" computer displays! Those displays a re ac· tuelly feef'projected images on the sets suggesting a computer readoul A real computer end CRT (TV set or video monitor) wouldn't work liS well as rear-

6 ONEMAG/C-23

projection for several reesons. For one thing. the TV Image is hard to photograph under movie lights-the picture is dim and operates ata different frame rate then the camera. The other problem is the computer. Any microcomputer can tell you the square root of 12 before you let go of the keyboard. but if you want to do enything complicated. like enimetlon or picture displays. it needs time.

Time lapse photography can compress hours of computet time into mere seconds. We've all seen time lapse films of flowers bursting magically Into bloom in seconds. the same principle can be us· ed to "speed up" the length or time a com· puter needs to create eech frame of enimation for the camera.

Further more, the computer can take over the operation of the camera, automat lcally open i ng the sh utter for ex· posure each time an image has been ful· Iy created on the computer's screen. After

drawing an image. a radar screen for ex· ample, the computer can operete the <:amera's shutter release, then start work· Ing on the nf!)tl frame

Shooting this way will also eliminate the " roll bar" or flicker that Is normally associated with video Images that have been filmed. Holding the camera's shut· ter open for a second or more "unn ickers" the I V Image and allows the use of fine gr8in Kodachrome flIm and color filters.

To understand how this works. let's call afilm framea " frame" and a video frame e " field." Unless the camera's shutter opens when the video field begins and doses when It ends. either more or less than one complete video field will be film· ed, If one complete field and an incom· plete field are photographed during one frame, part of the frame will be 100% brighter. If this situation continues. the photographed video screen will appear to 'licker.

Professionals go to great lengths to synchronize their camera's shutter very precisely to avoid flicker. But most amateur Super.8 movie cameras do not have adjustable shutters. But by using comparatively long exposures, we can make the fl icker effect completely unno· t iceable.

If 100 complete f ields and one in· complete fie ld are photographed In II

several second exposure, part of the frame will only be 1% brighter than the r~st, The flicker Is now Imperceptible. So by using an exposure o f a few seconds you don't have to synchronIze the shutter to the video signal.

If the camera will allow the shutter to stay open for a minute or more, the com· puter can add color, without using a col· or TV-even if the computer can't display in color. Placing a green filter on the camera to film our radar screen example will make the d isplay look moreauthen· tic. But you don't want a World War II radar screen in a 21 st century space battle. so use more colors. Enemy blips can appear in red and the good guys in blue. for example.

The computer can position a red filter in front of the lens, draw the enemy blips, then erase them before changing filters and drawing the rest. Although it's more complie&ted than usIng a color computer and TV. the choice of colors, exposure conl roland increased resolution is worth the effort.

The favori te tr ick of the computer animator is to have the computer control the entire system. The program that draws the images to be photographed also controls the ca mera's shutter and moves color filters In front of thecamera's lens. This way you plan what is to be film· ed and the computer does the work,

HOWl DOlT I always wanted a computer. so I was

one of the first to purchase an Apple II. For years it had the best graphics and it has many features that make it a natural for computer animation.

It can display text (letters, numbers. etc.). graph ics or graphics with subtit les. The computer's operation can be inde· pendent o f the image being displayed. It can draw wh ile showing text, print text

while showing graphics or show one pic­ture while drawing another.

Erasing one screen lind using the other can act as a second camera shutter. The blank screen can be displayed while the com puter is busy drawing a pictu re, when the color filters are being changed and when the camera is in the proces.s of opening or dosing its shutter. Electric­powered Super·8 cameras can open and close their shutters fa r faster than a motor driven 16mm Bolex can. A "wait for me to finish" sigMl is required forthemorelse errors will occur.

The computer Is wired so that when it's in the graphics mode it produces 8 TV signal that shows the onbff state of a large chunk o f its memory. (An Apple II has 8192 bytes.) When the computer draws anything. iI's actually storing numbers.

My most compl icated program tricks the computer into drawing several pic­tu res at once outside the display memory area, then moving the "numbers" to where the cameTll can see them, expoSing each image through a different f ilter.

The Apple II is also easy to interface (hook up to other things). In addition to

The camera set-up. The motor In the ioreground in chain-drive 10 the 45rpm record is driven by an output signal and controls !he camera's $huner motor. An Input signal (cued by the stickers on the rerord) tells !he computer 'NtIen the camera Is finisMd opening or closing lis shutter. Other disk Is tile filter wh~L

ArIolher view shows !he monitor thatlhe camera shoots. Tile camera is turned ~ lor p/lotography purposes. The little rellective StickelS on the large tiller wh~1 (a cut-out33rpm record) trigger an Input s1gnallhal a filter Is In place, turning ott the output signal driving the motor and holding the wheel in place.

ClNEMAGfCII23 7

A 16mm sequence mal seems 10 have deplh. ln color, it Is aU green.

four potentiometer inputs. the game pad· die connector can send four and re<:eive three onloff signals. The output signals control the camera's shutter (on - open, off _ dose) and the color filter drive motor. The input sign/!lls tell the com­puter when the camera has finished open· ing or closing the shutter and when the color filters are in position. The signals havr: to be bufferr:d (amplified) to be ablr: to light an LED (light r:mitting diode)or can lead directly to other TTL (t ran· sistor/transistor logie, not "through the lens") circuits. Buffered signals can operate relays to control the camera and filter motors. A SSR (solid statr: relay) is an LED facing a photo electric switch. Not only does it keep house current a safe distance from the computer's circuits. it waits until the AC voltage crosses zero beforr: turning on or off. This minimizes electronic noise that may confuse the computer.

Conne<:ting the camera to the compu· ter is another problem. For my Super-B camera a small relay connected to the

B ClNEMAGIC "23

remote socket opened the shutter, and an LED in front of the photocell dosed It. (My camera was In the single·frame and time exposure mode for th is to work.) The whole set·up must be in a completely dark room or else the ambient room light will cause the photocell to dose the shut· ter. This is also necessary to prevent am· blent light from creating reflections on the monitor screen. A few ICs(integrated circui ts) handled the relay and LED tim· ing inste/!ld of having the computer con· trol each separately. Because many com· puter sequences take over 12 hours to film, lalso had tobuilda9·volt DC power supply for the camera.

The 16mm version usesa smal14.rpm AC motor to turn the handcrank spindle. An improbable arrangement of phono· graph records, reflective stickers. photo· detectors. LEOs /!Ind several les start and stop the motor at the points where the shutter is full y open or completely closed.

In each case, a 4-rpm motor turned a color filter wheel. I used an ordinary 12·inch LP record (that I didn't want to

play anymore~ cut eight two·and-a-half· inch holes In it and t/!lped three-inch square gelatine filters over the holes. I us· ed six filters: red, green, blue(the additlvr: primaries), and cyan, yellow and magen­ta (the subtractive primaries). One hole was used as "noWter," and the eighth hole was not used. Reflective stickers were placed on the circumference of the wheel, so that when a filter was in position, the "color" photodetector saw a sticker. A sticker at a slightly different radius from the rest representr:d "reset." When the " no·color" photodetector sees this stick­er, one of the open holes is in front of the lens. The computer positions any filter in front of the camera's lens by turning the wheel motor on and off, To select green (color -3) the computer turns on the wheel motor and waits for the " no·color" signal. Once it gets it, it counts "color" signals until the number it has matches the color number It wants. then it turns off the motor, Tosavetime, the programsal· ways select the colors in sequence.

Although it sounds complicated, the

section of the program that selects filters 15 fairly simple. The main reason I chose this method is that it requires only one output and two input lines.

While I lim discussing the computer·controlled motors, let me ex· plain why I avoided using "stepper motors." Stepper motors are made to be computer contro lled. (There Is at least one In every disk drive and printer.) They work l ike a compass surrounded by elec· tromagnets. The sequences the magnets are turned on and off in determines which direction it will turn. The computer can lIIi1kt: tht: !!Iulur yo fd!>t or slow j ust by changing the speed the magnets are turn· ed off and on. I didn't want to use stepper mot~rs because: the computer has to be directly involved with each fraction o f a revolution; they require four control lines; they are expensive; they <:Ire hard to Inter· face to the computer and I didn't need them for the job.

THE PROGRAMS The photographs should make the

equipment looksimple. lt is. thecompli. ClIted part is the computer and the pro· grams in the computer. The program tells

the computer what todo and how to do it. The computer will follow these instruc· tions to the best of Its ability, no matter how stupid they are.

I program in Basic, the Illnguage that comes with the computer. Recently I changed to a faster version called CCSOFT. This language does everything the Apple Basic does, but it's faster, because it uses an "Arithmetic Processor Unit." It's a calcuill tor that plugs Into the computer and performs tough math func· tions like division. When Basic isn't fast enough, [ use " mllchine language." This is the langullge the computer's CPU {Cen· tral Processing Unit) understands. Its much fasterthlln BASIC, but much harder to write. The machine language program is controlled by the Basic program. After the Basic program sets things up. the machine language program does its job then returns control to the Basic pro· gram. The BlIsic progrllm then h<:lndles the photography of the result and pro· ceeds to the next frame.

The two twin peak lInimatlon displays (colors Bessel figures) have II program which uses BaSic, machine language, and the APU to perform 300,000 ClIlculations

in one minute. That's five to 15 times faster then BlIsic alone. It took lIlong time to get the machine language section to work properly. A very long time. But now thllt it is working, it's easy to change the Basic program that controls It.

THE LIMITATIONS The Apple II can't match the resolution

of the system used to make TRON. The 280 dots wide by 192 dots high display is about a quarter of what was used for the Voyager films. Further, each pixel (dot) ClIn only be completely on or entirely off. I hllve to rely on varying the exposure times lind multiple exposures to give graduations of intensity.

The other problem is ClIused by the way tht: picture is formed. On arcade games like Slar CasUe a straight line can be drawn between any two points. The Apple II can only draw lines by turning on the pixels that are lIrranged like the squares on graph paper. Take a sheet of graph paper, select any two squares a few inches apart and using a ruler draw a line be· tween them. Now fill in every square that the line touched, Except for special cases, the line is jllgged, "sta irsteppy··, because

A 16mm sequeI\C8 of two very colorful. collapsible Bessel figures. A 16mm version, originally SUpef·a PfOQflIms can be run countless times.

ClNEMAGfC "23 9

you can't split pixels. Sometimes this effect can be minimiz,

ed because of a quirk in the method the computer uses to calculate lines. By draw­Ing from point A to point B and then from point B to point A, the computer may make the line wider and the staircaSing less noticeable,

Because the picture is a series of numbers In the computer's memory, the plcturecan besoved on a diskond return­ed to the computer's memory at anytime, To speed up the end credits for Asteroid, I stored the images on a disk, had the computer recall the Image outside the displayoreo, and move the picture a sec' tlon at II time to where the camera could s~ it. This process replaced the previous imtlge beingdispltlyed resulting in an in, terestlng "venetian blind wipe", because of the odd way the Apple's display memory is arranged,

THE EQ(J(PMENT Select your camera with care, Sound

cameras may not offer both single frame and time exposure features, A through, the, lens viewfinder will allow proper framing and focusing, Be sure it can focus

on the nine or twelve,inch monitor, A camera with an electric remote release will make it easy to interface with the computer, (The Eumig 881 PMA is a silent Super-8camera with these features. and it accepts sound film cartridges.)

Some computers come with a monitor, Usually it's possible to connect a second monitor, You should h~ one monitor for the operator, and another in a light proof enclosure with the camer", Many video monitors for computer use are tinted green, You may have to hunt around or special order a monitor with white phos­phors. (Try the monitors used for closed circuit TV. but be sure it haSilin odjustable focus.)

I use an Apple microcomputer because o f its features. Other computers moy be cheaper. but may not be suitable for your needs, There is no limit to thellmountof money you can spend on peripherals(ac· cessories). Don't buy stuff you don't need and can't afford.

rve recently purchased an Apple lie. J had to make minor changes to my equip, ment and programs, but now I have a new computer with thecapability(but not yet the ability) to double the horizontal resolution to 560 pixels.

THE ADVANTAGES If you need copies of your computer·

animated films and don't want an expen· sive second generation dupe, Just tell the computer to do it again, The programs can be run several times to get the right exposure, color and speed,

Because I do the programming and the computer does the filming, films can be made cmytime, That's what Steve Parady meant in the Asteroid article. I don't have to take a nllp during the animation pro­«$$, it just works out that way.

FortheAsleroid end credits. J made one wldt: screen version for SF convention showings and a narrower version for videotllpe. The same program was used for each, but to make the narrower version I used II screwdriver to chllnge the moni· tor's width control. Try /hal with rub·on letters!

If you are fascinated with this technl · qut: of microcomputer animation. but need further information lIbout the specifics involved, send a SAS.£. with your questions lind I'll try to get back to you liS quickly as I can. Send inquiries to: James Leatham, RD 2, Box 198, Laroe Rd., Chester. NY 10918. Good filmingl Ot'

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scooe Efleels ProlJle SantoS/ephano

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EORUM A regular department devoted to re.der.' comment. about filmmaking . their problema and solutions.

Miniature Planets · .. For those o f you who need realistic pl llm!ts for your next splice adventure. here 1511 cheep ond very realistic way of cfl~lItjng them. First. If you have seen pictures o f the Earth tllken from space you will notice Ihlll It seems to give off lin intense Inner glow. To reeTell le thi, ef· fect , buy II globe light fixture cover. Ughtlng stores carry them in varying sites from one Inch In diameter to 20 Inches lind the cost range Is between llboul $1 to $25. Airbrush IIlIghl coating of paint on Ihe globe In the pal· tern you wish the planet to be. Next , insert II light bulb through the opening lind you will 1m­medlll lely see the great results. If you want the planet to rotate simply mount the globe on a lazy susan. /4.lso If there are an) readers in the Santa Barbara area who are interested in or make science fiction and horror films please write me and maybe we can collaborate on a project o r exchange informa· t lon and ideas.

Kurt Hanson 1621 Castillo - I Santa Barbara, Ca. 9310 I

Tasty Spawns • •. The cake in the above photo may have a familiar appe/mlnce 10 CINEM/4.GIC readers. It 's a deadly spawn cake made by Canadian makeupertlst Merlene Stoller. with some asslslance from her friend Kim Vegllante and a fe i l amount of kibitzing from myself (Ihey made me carve most of the teethl)

The occtrsion was mekeup ar· tist (The Deadly Spawn) /4.rnold Garglulo's birthday. Believe It or not, the cake was completely edible (teeth were made of white chocolate and candy corn) and quite tasty! /4.rnold·s birthday coincided with the premiere of The Deadly Spawn, so we hed to do something.

A.I Magllochettl 150Thompson St. Hamden, CT 06518

· .. &c Arnold GOlrgluto':J makeup work In CINEMAG/C -17, "Secrets o{Graplt1c Gore"; CINEMAGIC - 20, "Masks Thai Move "; and In FANGORIA -22,

12 ONEMAGfC"23

"A New FfJ.ceo( Frigltt ". See AI Magliochelll 's work In the Pro/lle In CINfMAG/C "18 and Itls art/· cle about {rontJlgltllbllckllgltt animation In ONEMAG/C -/9. Also see CINEMAG/C -18 for John Dods's lIrtlele on Ihe mak· Ing 0{ tlte spawns /hunse/oes.

Norwescon Film Contest

. NORWESCON 7 , Seatt le's own regional science fiction convention (held March 22·25, 1984) Is having Its second an· nualemateur film contest. En· tr ies should be 8mm silent, Super·8 silent or sound ( lor 2 track). 16mm optical sound or VHS video. Films should not be more than 30 minutes In length. Entries should be sent In a reuseble ctrrton (marked distinctly on the box. film can lind leader) lind be insured, If possible. /4. It filmmakers not at· tendIng the convention must paye s5 entry fee to cover casu. NORWESCON and film contest personnel are not responsible fo r lost. stolen, or dameged properties. No entr ies from last year's contest may participate. If you would like

more information about the conlest or to enter your fi lm {deadline March l , l 984) senda S./4..S.E. to the address below.

NWClFllm Contest P.O. Box 24207 Seattle, WA 98124

Contact Fllmmaker-sl

... You can contllct film. makers whose work interests you or who happen to live In your area, simply by writing to Ihem at the addresses listed with Ihelr letters. CINEM/4.GIC encourages filmmakers 10 contllCl. each other and posslbly col· laborate on projects. For more names and addreS5es, see Producers' Bulletin Botrrd page 24.

New Jersey Film Casting

••• 1 am making a fentasy film with some friends and we could use some help from Interested filmmmakers In the New Jersey, New York metropolltlln area. The name of the film Is BeIWIl!! /he Huntress, and [t w ill be shot in Super·8, featuring prosthetic

makeup that makes Ihe cherac· ters look hllif human. half lion. We need actors end people to work on sel sand help film. If you live In the area and are In· terested, please contact me. The film will be aboul 45 mInutes long and Is the first story In a trilogy. One location will be a locel castte.

ArlhurCox 115 LewIs St. Patterson, NJ 0750 1 (20 I) 523·65 1 I

Flushing Film Club

••• 1 am a fllmmaker who lives in the Flushing, Bayside erea of Queens. New York. I do makeup effects trnd make movies. Besides myself. I htrve only one friend who helps me on my film projects.. If there trre any other filmmakers in the Queens aree of New York City woo would like to gel. Irwolved In a colltrboratlve filmmaking effort. please wri te to me al the address below.

Chivalry Product ions cb Vincent Schlcchl 29·27 168th St. Avshlng. NY 11358

Tasty

CINEMAGIC Writer's Guide

... The CINEMAGIC Writer's Guide Is now available. If you have on article In mind for ClNEMAGIC lind would like 10 know what we Cltpect to see from our writers, $end II self·addressed. stllmped envelope (business -10 size) 10 the IIddress below.

C1NEMAO IC Writer's Guide 47.5 Park Ave. So. New York, NY 1001 6

Rust Effects . .. 1 hllve found an easy wily to quickly give props a "I:;orroded" look with IlIke " rust ", All you need Is plasti c: model glue, tee btlgs lind rust-colored paint. First, with a brush or your fingers, spre8d an even COlit of model glue on Ihe surface where you wanl the "rust", Before It dries. sprinkle the crushed tell lellve' you find inside" tell bog onlO the glue. Lei it sit until the glue herdens. then brush rust· colored ~int over the tell . Leave some ofthe tea unpainted to give the " rust " a varied color. ThIs "rust" can be peeled off of painted and unpainted metal surfaces without leaving a trace as long as your use only pllIstk model glue and not epolCys or resIns.

Steve 8ydal 2912 Jaffe Rd. Wilmingto n. DE 19808

Address ~ COfTeSPOIldenc: to; ONEMAGIC-FUmmakm' Forum. clo O'QLdnn SiudJos, Inc., 475 Parle Ave. So., New York, NY 10016

Due 10 the enotmOU$ volume 0{ mail recelued. the dar regrets lnditJIdua/ replies are /mpo$sIble.

CineMagic

MARKETPLACE For as lilll. as $15.00 you can reach .11 our speelal effect, IMII. CATEGORY: PlEASE BE SURE TO INDICATE THE CATEGORY YOI.I

DEADliNE: CINEMAGIC f2,4 inouroffice by November 23rd. WANT TO BE LISTED UNDER. CINEMAGIC '25 In our office by January 18th.

BASIC RATE: $5.00 per "ne. UmiI-45 dlerKlefe per line. Minimum PAYMENT: Cash, chedc Of moneyorder mutt IICaIrT1j)IIny lid order. three ~nea. Punc:tualiGn.symboil end spa«Ie coum CIS (checb peyable to StatIog Press. Inc..) chVtlaer.. Sm.11 OiSOIay 1Id1-140.00 percolumn Inch (camera·r .. dy ON~YII! MAil TO: CINEMAGIC, c/o Starlog Pre. Inc. First line only-'M>rd(1 oIyourchoiCe(underilne them) 475 Perl( Avenue South will be printed In CAPS.'-________________ New'tbrk, N.Y. l001e.

HEADLINE:

PlASTIC MODEL KITS: I deal In ~ figures, alC. from TV, movies. comics, etc. Send SAsE !of list. John F. Green, 1821 W. Jacarend8 PI .• Fullanon. CA

""'" BLUEPRINTS: Oeiailed stz. OOfTIPIUIson d"IarI Of\ 5p11C8going vesseb--KUNGON 07. AOMUlAN 06, s!al'Shlp Cf&ss Space Cn.Iiser and more. Info Of\ weight, crew, power. etc.. Send 53.00 plus $1.00 lor sNppIng to:

STAAlQG MAGAZINE 475 Parll Avenue South. New YorI<. NY 10016

ANIMATION MOOELS-lOo Quality .1 low prien. Send. SASE lor cataloQ to: 'WaUaoe Jones. Roula" Bole 393 Julian. N.C. 27283.

STOP MonON MODELS ' Custom IIlmalUres end components ' Sculplureand foam casllngMl"Vltes. Send for Informat ion & prices. Ken Brilliant, 24 Sa .... ford Rd .• East Brunswick, NJ 08816

IUgnelk Sound Striping. finest ~ striping Webening Iamooatoon $upef·8 '8mm6t p&r 11 , 61t p&r 11 WIth balance stripe Rush Service MAGNESTRtPE. m AyaJQg AVB . PassaIC. NJ 07055. (201) 733·4633.

ONEMAG/C·23 13

Filmmakers '

RUM Reader's Page

... My "lime Is Carl E. Horner lind I hove been reading CINEMAGIC since: II became /I STARLOG publication. And [ th ink it Is lin elleellen! publica. tlon to "grow·up·· with. The af' Ucles thot focus on the talented. young filmmakers are of special Interest to me, lind Just the other day the rellllzDt lon hit me thllt r could be one of those young men who lire fefllured In the ~ges of CINEMAGIC.

No. I'm not losing my mind. (At iel:ls t I don't think sol) The following Is ellsl of some ormy lIchievements liS III young film· maker.

I am the first student ever (at the lIge of 17) to receive a scholarship for cinematography

from Point Perk College lind Pittsburg Filmmakers. Inc.

Michael Gornick, Olrector of Phologfllphy for George Romero, has viewed my film, Obelisk. Mr. Gornick liked Obelisk lind set up 8 viewing of It for Rick Dltllone, o r Anlvision r",me.IRlck C"t llone talks about the technique of replacement " nlmation. "M",klng Stop­Motion Models Tldk." In CINEMAGIC -11 .1 1 am now Rick 's IIpprentice.

I WIlS offered a job by HlIrwlck IPrzyborski Productions. based on my work in Obelisk. HlIrtwlck IPrzyborskl Productions Is a pro­duction house thllt does mlljor natlonlll commercials. Induslrllli films. lind many other things. Obe/15k is '" Super-8 film w ith II running time of 16 minutes thllt

An automalic delense sr.;tem seen In Obelisk. Incloded ill the sel ls a miniature lake. ThIs phokl was taken part-way IhI"OUgh the construction 01 the miniatull! sel

14 ONCMAGIC #23

took one·and·lI·half years to make. with II budget of $3.000.

111m ClJrrently finishing my first 16mm production, entliJed My WIlf. I hope to enter It in the Student Film Competition spon· sored by the Aaldemy of Motion Picture Arts lind Sc::lences.

I am elso a professlonlll model and IIctor. I h!We done local and national commercials. fash ion modeling, lind Industr ial print work. There has been some in· terest In me for feature nlm work. There's more, but I won't bore you. Rick Catilone sug· gested I send you a brief outline i of ::~:d~::~~~ career. I'

I

Box 124 I 4 11 Beaver St., ,o.\a(s, PA 1604 6

A IoreOround minlatllre 01 the White House, rioged lor miniature explosions and a IOOYing spaceship, lor a scene in Obelisk. It was rather effectrve In Ihe film.

• I I i

Starbursts Make your own cross·slar filter and creale striking

starbursl effects

A"star point" effect lSI! gTeat way to add yisua l energy to an ordinary sho t. Unli ke many other kinds of

optical e ffect s, the star point(alsocalled II staT bUTst) is easily done lit the time of the original photography using II special filter. A profeuional"staf filter" is basical· lya sheet of optically flat glass or plastic engraved with 8 pattern o f tiny l ines. The spacings between the lines and the grid pattern determine what kind of star point will be formed. The "E·Z Effects S ta r Filter" is based on the same idea and can introduce you to the "sparkle" effect. As shown in the photo, the results ~n be quite dramatic with bright streamers and rays shooti ng from every highlight. The sta r filter is most effect ive on g lass, chrome, and other shiny, highly refle<:tlve surfaces.

Before you meke the filter itself, you need to make a paper filter holder and the filter lens mount to attach the filter to the camera. The methods for constructing these two items are shown in the follow­ing steps.

THE FILTER HOLDER Step 1: Purcheseen AmbicoAdepter

Ring matched to your camera lens filter thread size. This plastic ring, available at most camera stores, greatly simplifies the mounting of the ster filter. It will elso be used on all o ther E·Z Effects Filters in rutu re issues. It costs about $2.50. The

FIGURE 1

A

By JACK IMES. JR.

FIGURE 2

00 00 *0

c

FIGURE 3

A

FIGURE 4

STAR POINTS PATTERN

D

c

SANDING ANGLES

} i

CJNEMAGIC ·23 15

A sttlny pinwheel makes a good subject for the starburst effe<:t. Poinllight sources are good subje<:lS.

A B c 16 ONEMAGIC#23

Ambico ring is available in standard millimeter lenssizesof49 to 72 mm. The correct size foryour camera can be deter· mined by checking the normal filter size, checking your camera Instructions. or simply taking yourcamera to the camera Slore to be fitted. See figure #1.

Step 2 : Trace the ring onto a large in­dex card. Ordinary construction paper will serve, but the index card Is more durable. To make a proper tracing, first draw a center line (or fo ld the card in half and then unfold). The ring itself should likewise be marked with a soft pencil line on the flange to aid in positioning the ring. Align the ring's guide l ine over the l ine seen on the index card as shown in figure 2A With a pencil trace both the in· neT and outer edges of the ring.

Step 3: Make a second tracing on the other half of the index card. This tracing uses the same procedure and center line as described in Step 2. The finished trac· ing should look similar to figure 2·B.

Step 4: Cut out the tracing. Make sure you do not cut the dashed line indicated in figure 2·C. The inner circle areas are also cut out and discarded.

Step 5 : Fold the cut-out in half along the dashed center line. The two hal f sec· tionsshould overlap perfectly as shown in Figure 2·0. This completes the paper filter holder.

THE FILTER SHEET Step 1: Cut out a 4 x 5 inch sheet of

clel!lr l!lcetate (obtained from a plastic "photo" protector or overhead projector transparency sheet). This sheet is shown in Figure 3·A.

Step 2 : Usea medium grit sandpaper or emery paper (200·400 grade) to light· Iy stroke the surface of the plastic sheet. Onlyoneor two strokes in one direction across the entire sheet are needed to engrave dozens of fine paral lel lines. Don't press the sandpaper to heavily or this will cause a "frosting" or white arel!l that will ruin the star effect. The st roke ac­tion and result can be seen in figure 3·B and 3·C. Only one side o f the plastic needs the sanding action.

THE STAR PATTERNS The sanding stroke angle determines

the direction and number of star points. 4. 6, and 8 point patterns are shown in figure 4. Each stroke shou ld be made lightly and in a continous motion In each direction required for a given point pattern.

CUTTING THE SHEET Step 1: Sl ip the f inished pl!ltternsheet

between the two halves of the paper filter holder as shown in figure 5·A. Careful ly trim the excess acetate around the holder with scissors to produce the filter seen In fjgure 5·8. Secure the fil ter sheet in place

•

A Shiny tool is Shown here withOut tile cross-star filter startMJrst effect. The same I0OI with the CIOSS'Star filter i'l place /of me dazzling startMJrsl effect.

FIGURE 6

F R I I

by folding short strips of adhesive tape around the paper holder. The finished filter is shown In figure 5·C and should be marked with the type of pattern, 4·polnt, 4-star, or 4·5, etc.

MOUNTING THE FILTER Step 1: Screw the Ambicoadapter ring

onto the camera lens. The plastiC flange forms the f~cing to hold the filter In pro· per position. as shown in figure 6.

Step 2 : Place the star filter against the Ambico ring flange and anchor it into position with two ordino!lry paper clips. The filter is now ready to be used in photography.

PHOTOGRAPHY All star filters including the E-Z Effects

Star Filter, are intended for use with

FIGURE 7

bright, ne~r pin. point tight sources or shiny reflected highlights. The best roilY and streamer effects are obtained by shooti ng at light sources in a scene. The more direct the light source (or reflection) to the lens, the stronger the ray effects. You can qu ickl y estimate your fi Iter"s pat­tern over the film frame by first looking through the camera's viewfinder (and through the filter) at a single studio light or flashlight about 10 feet away from the camera.

The angle of the star point rays shou ld be decided upon before the filter Is clipped into place, since adjusting the lens focus may cause the fi Iter ring to ~Iso rotate on many cameras. An intentional " pinwheel"' effect can be done by simply rotating the filter unattached to the Am· biro ring.

, .. . . , ~~ ... , \ , . ' .' ...

" •

• , I ...

. ' . . , ..

The subject being photographe~ should be re latively bright and contrasty, with extremely sharp highlights and deep shadow areas for the maximum star burst effect. Too much flat or overall scene lighting tends to wash out the star streamers. Use your imagination to create dazzling starburst effects. Good filming! (J(

MATERIALS Sheet of clear acetate, 8 x 10 inches Index card, 5 II 8 Inches Ambiro Adapter Ri ng, mated to

camera lens Two paperclips Adhesive Tape Sandpaper(or Emery paper~ medium

grit (200·400 grade) Tools: scissors. penci l

On

LOCATION

ZYZ8k is King, a "dungeons and dragons fantasy" film made by filmmaker Hugh Stegman as a pro­

jectat USC film School, has been making the rounds and has met with audience ap­proval everywhere that it has been shown. The film centers around a group of young adults who get together to play dungeons and dragons war games on a computer. Each player assumes an identi ty and

By JOHN CLAYTON must battie the other players by rolling dice and feeding the information into a computer, Thecomputer determines the outcome by interpreting information fed into it and printing the resul ts of the roll onto its screen. The competition gets pretty intense and, as is known to happen in some games thi!lt people take serious­ly. rivalries and tempers flare.

Each roll of the dice is punctuated by a

cut to a fantasy sequence of the action of each player's turn being played out. We see two young men arguing around a computer and a satanic· looking game board with bizarre occult pieces, and then we see one of them in armor fighting a wolfman. The production values in the film are very high and the effects in the fantasy sequences are very slick and con· vincing. Zyzakis King took second prize

The BaJrog creature is a cable-controlled articulated mask. operated 'rom out of the lrame 01 two effects lectmicians. It was designed and made by Steve Koch.

Zyzak'S IWman (Char18f1e Stevens) watches in hOrror as tile devious BaJrog sets hlmsell on fire and tries to pull Zyzak into the flames with his whip.

\ t

in the 16mm category at lest year's CINEMAGIC!SVA Short Film Search.

"ZyzakwlIsa USC student production." Stegman begins. "I wrote the script, did almost all of the preproduction and directed. The way you get II student film m8de at USC is to go in with the preproduction work completed. The s<:hool put up $5,000 to produce the film. It wound up costing about twice that much (roughly S IO,OOO)tocomplete. The rest of the money came out of the pockets of people in the crew.

"J was very fortunate to have a number of very talented people working with me all

Zyzak. I had an especially talented effects crew: Tassilo Baur, Steve Koch end Ralph Miller. Both Koch and Miller have been past winners of the C1NEMAGICISVA Film Search with their own films and the subjects of articles in CINEMAGIC [Koch in issue "II and Miller!n issue *15J. They built an amazing dungeon set out of Styrofoam blocks that were sanded down to look like bric:ks and painted a neutral blue· gray color that looks great on film, regardless of whether it's lit with tungsten or daylight. They added great touches to the set, like very realistic· looking cob­webs made of eirplene glue strung over strands of monofllliment. Th~ built a copy o f e cob\webber thet's e very popular rental item out here in Holl~ for hor· ror and fantesy films. The cobwebberthey made simply attaches onto an electric: drill.lSee CINEMAGIC "19 for the artlde on how to build your own colNteb spinner that attaches to an electric: drill.J

--Ralph Millercreated e wolfman make­upfor the film." Stegman remembers with a sml1e. "He also played the wolfman character because he had sculpted it over hisown life casts for a perfect fit. He put a great deal of work Into itand ifsonly in a few shots, but it creates a perfect effect. Steve Koch created the makeup for a character called 'Balr09: which is de· scribed as a creature that sets himself on fire and pulls his victims into the names with his whip. Steve designed the Balrog as an articulated mask. The mask looks great on film, but it limited my freedom of movement with the camera because I couldn't tilt down without showing the two crew members-who were operating the mask from out of the frame. ISee CINEMAGIC '20 for John Dods' article on erticulated full· head mask5-J The storyboards called for much more camera movement than I was actually able to shoot when I got onto the set.

"The actor who played the Balrog character could only work for about 15 minutes at a time because he kept pass· ingout under the mask. Hecould hZlrdly breathe and he was sweating to death under all of the hot lights. The Balrog ac· tor wanted to back out of the project because of the discomfort of wearing the mask, but we couldn't replace him after Steve Koch had designed the BalTog

The wollman lies ITlOftIIIy wounded at Zyzak's reet. Ralptl Miller designed and made Itle v.ullman makeup creation and played the part as wei. The very elaborate costume is seen only very brietty if! the film.

mask to fit his head exactly. There are several close·ups In the film showing the Balrog on fire and spitting flames. These were done with Just the mask itself on a stand being operated without the actor in· side. We had tubes inside the mask blow· ing smoke out of its mouth, nostrils and eyes and we had flames in front of it so it looks like it was catching fire. Although the ector who played the Balrog had a hard time o f It-he complained that he couldn't breathe when Steve Koch was casting his head in alginate-Ralph Miller was mane experienced end didn't seem to mind the discomfort.

"The fleme scenes were shot one night on a closed set with about six people stan· ding around with fire extinguishers,"

Stegmen remembers. "If anything had gotten the leest bit out of hand, that whole sound stage wouldn't be there any· more. The soundstage was built at USC around 1919. There's a placetotiea horse up in front of it. It was built right after the First World War as a craft shop for the ar­chi tecture department as e project to see what they could do with recycled lumber from the war. One stray spark would have Ignited that place l ike a torch. Thewhole effect had been very ct.Irefully planned for a long time. lt'snol the type of thing you should try in your garage. There's a safe way to create any effect you can think of, but you have to take the time to think of the safest way to create an effect.

"Tassilo Baur, Steve Koch and Ralph

ONEMAGIC"23 19

Zyzal( (Bob FoIward) enters !he dungeon sel. The set is construcIed~~~~~~~ ed. Note the cobwebS hanging In tile ar.hway. The effects CI'\!W ~iIt

20 ClNEMAG/C-23

Miller stayed together as an effects team after we finished shooting Zyzak. They helped to raise the production value of severlll films made at USc. After Zyzak. they stl!lrten rh8rging lOr their servi~s. I was the only filmmaker lucky enough to have these talented people create effects for free. Tassilo Baur is a maSlerat casting plastic and latex. He made many of the props as well as acting 85 FX director and optical compositer. He's better than alOI of professionliis out here in Hollywood, although I Imagine that by now he's 8 pro­reslonal himself."

There are seYeral optical shots in lyzak that also add to the slick look of the film. One shot lit the end of the film shows Zyzek at the summit of a mountain with his beautiful woman by hisside as he pro· clllims himself king. He lifts his sword skywllrd and it is struck by lightning, but they are unharmed. The lightning bolt was the gods forging a superior weapon for the great warrior.

"We shot the opticals on 35mm to help reduct: generation loss," Stegman reo members. " It was the first time In many. many years that the USC optici!ll printer hi!ld been used for 35mm work. The mounti!lin was really only three feet high. The whole foreground of the mountain was a glass painting done by Steve Koch. The clouds were also glass paintings, lInimated in multiplane for perspective. There lire three sepi!!rate planes of clouds In the shot, all moving at slightly different speeds. A hand.painted rotoscoped hold· bllck matte WliS ne<:essary to composite ZyzlIk Into the frame. We shot the scene on an old 35mm Mitchell with dual registration pins. The camera was an· cient, It hand't seen the light of day for years. We worked with short ends to save money, and as a result the color on the ef· fectsscenes isn't perfectly matched, but It's not all that noticable and quite acceptable.

"In lIddition to having a full time effects crew, which was unheard of at USC, we also had a full time costume person, Valerie Bonne, who was a beginning cinema student. She also did the glamour mi!lkeupon the girl, and she did fanti!lstic costume work,

MUSICAL SCORE "The music for Zyzak is an original

score composed by a USC music student named Mike Abels.. We used the largest orchestra ever assembled to record the soundtrack for a student film at USc. We used between 25 lind 30 musicians on the soundtrack-all of whom were USC music students. The soundtrack was re<:orded in a room in the music building. Although the capabilities existed at USC at that time to record music soundtracks In sync with the film, the equipment was very old and forced you to be creative to achieve the results you wanted, Al l of that

is going to change in the very near fu ture alUSC and things will be quite dirferent than when I madeZyzak.

CINEMA CENTER "USC is about to get a brand new

cinema center tnat will consist of three new buildings. The old cinema «;nter is anc ient. It dates back to the twenties and most o f the equipment Is fairly old. The new fllcility will be called the Luclls Cinema Center because George Lucas donoted lots o f money to the project and bealuse he's one o f USC's most visible alumni. Uther notable film InduStry peo. pie who also contributed to the project are Steven Spei lberg and producer Howard Koch. The new facilities wil l rival what the big studios out here in Holly. wood have. The new Cinema Center will include a state·of· the·art music scoring stage, and plenty of amazing new equip. ment. USC'sHlm school is real ly moving up in the world with its new Cinema Center.

SOUNDFX " Even though most of the equipment

available to students at the time I made Zyzakwas old, USC still had everything [ needed to achieve the results I wllnted. it just took longer. Some of the more in· teresting sound effects in the film in· volved the voices of some of the chllracters. For example. Zyzak's voice was run through a synthesizer. We mutated his voice from normal to a menacing synthesized voice by having both a normal and a synthesized sync track. The synthesized track was made by taking the normal sync tack and running it through the synthesizer. We ran both tracks in sync and cross faded from the normal to the synthesized track. causing Zyzak's voice to mutate.

''The Balrog's voice was synthesized on a digi tal Eventide Harmonizer, which is the standard method of creating an extra· terrestrial's voice for science fiction films. Zyzak 's voice was recorded in sync, but the Balrog's voice had to be luped ~ause the actorcouldn't speak through the articulated mask-it would have sounded like a muffled mumble. The Bal rog's voice had to be post·synced by cutting frames out of the fultc:oat to match the movement of the mouth on the articulated mask.

" Bo th the sound man and I took syn· theslzer courses to allow us access to equipment. We were able to get thou· sands of dollars worth of synthesizer time for free because we were taking the courses. [took every synthesizer course thtttUSC had to offer, which meant that I had a synthesizer course every semester for about two years.

GOING BACKWARDS "We also had some reverse film effects

in Zyzak." Stegmen recalls with a boyish

grin. "The scene where ZYZltk gets shot by a crossbow was shot in reverse, Tassilo BlIur made a latex appl iance of the arrow in Zyzak 's chest-covered wi th blood of course-and we yanked it o ffwith a wire whi le fi lming the scene in reverse. We cut out the only frame In which the wi re showed, and no one is the wiser." [See "Going Backwards Made Easy" in C1NEMAGIC ·8 for t ips on reverse fllming.[

THE asc EDGE "Going toUSC has advantages over go·

Ing tootherfilm schools be<:ause you're right where all the action is in Hollyv.-ood and there's a good network once you get out," Stegman asserts. "You can spend your years in film school making contacts in the industry so that you can be well· connected by the time you get out. and hopefully one of your connections wil l lead to a job In the industry. There's also the advantage of having access to all sorts of f ilmmaking equipment available for rental. Some o f the students get access to amazingly sophisticated equlpmenl­dollies, cranes-you name it. One kid even shot a class lIssignment with a panaflex camera-try that in some midwestern film school.

FUTURE PLANS "Now that I've finished the graduate

program at USC's Cinema Department, I'm out writing scripts and workingon low budget films," Stegmen reveals. " I think my main interest lies in wr iting-al· though I love driecting as wel l. I've been taking some of my scripts around. trying to get a feature produced. I have a feature length version of Zyzak that I've been tak· ing around, as well as a feature about a college football team and the relation· ships between the players.

"As far as the short version of Zyzak is concerned, I've shown it around and got· ten prelty good reactions to it. I showed it at Forry Ackerman's birthday party and everyone loved it. John Millius(director o f Conan) showed it 10 his scriptwri ting class at USc. He couldn't believe that it was made as a student production. most· Iy because of the quality of the spe<:ial ef· fects. wh ich liS I've said lowe to Tassi lo Baur, Steve Koch and Ralph Miller. I'm busy now trying to generate interest in my feature·length scripts and in my script. wr iting abilities. I'm also thinking o f ap· plying for an AFI grant. wh ich would be the only way that I could afford to make another short film now that I'm out of school ."

Hugh Stegman is a young f ilmmaker with the talent and the will to succeed. like many other talented young filmma· kers, he'sdoing what he should be doing pursuing his career in Hollywood, the "dream capital of the world." where-if you will it -your own dreams can come true. (J(

I Make Magical Special Effects I

SilENT

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PRESERVATION! PrOlect,oor preoous c.ooon 01 CIN£MAGJC. wholl! keepot'C lhem on hoand lor usyrelf<ence W1 cuslom-aalled leatherene 1,Ie cases or ~lone bonders embl)Slotd 'n gold w«h the CIN£MAGIC logo The!oe h;anchome c.ar.es el'l;lble )OU to $lop )'CU. o;oooesol CINEMAGIC lI'I~ndwt Indlvodually. whole the mel •• rQd bonders hokl ytNr coooesol CINEMAGIC logeltoer . lI'ItK1 • • ke iI large book. illlowll18)ou 10 te.a11i'!'OUan lUI.>e aller MUe W1 chl~1 ordter Etch I»r'deror tilse IIoIds 1...0 yeal '~ 11oSUe'S' Ubrlf)' C ... : 5~95ueh. 3 lor $17.00' 6 lor 53000 Poslpaod 8~$: 57 5OtKh. 3 lor 521 .15 and 6 lor 54200 Postpaod u.s.A. OROERS ONt Y - S.hStactlOl'l ' ...... anlee<! or money ,~I)' ,efunded Pluse.ibw 4 106 weeh lor deIrvery Mad order 10.nd I'I1iOke d'IedIs payable to; Jesse Jones 80. CorP .. P 0 80. 5120. Ph.Ii .. PA 19141 Foreip Orde,,: Add 52.50 per Ul'lllior iIdd~1Ol\iII IIO$lage and h;aldrrc OUISlde the US."" Prepay· ment mUSI be !II US Iundsonly

ClNEMAGIC-23 ~ I

.

Stop-motion

STUDIO

Armatures For

Less ByJOHN DODS

You·ve probably heard about those stop-motion ar· matures that cost thousands of dollars to build. This onec::osts $19722 and it's good. What's more, that price

includes the cost of the drill press used to make it. Using II guardian " OP-Mini " $85.00 drill press, a $20 vise

and about $55 worth of drill bits, counter sinks, and rottlry files. Ken Walker fabriClited his first armature-for a model Allosaurus-from a design by Ken Brilliant. AJlIHmllture materials were purch8sed from Small Parts, Inc. 6901 N.E. Th i rd Ave" P.O. Box 381736, Miam i, FL 33138, for til modest Am\aIUi'l desIQIW Keo BriIan4 puI a bel joi1I in IhI jaw 10 allow lor side 10 SIde and ci'. cost of $40.27. (If culatgriMing f!IO\ftITI8f1t$

22 ClNEMAG/CII23

Vbrabon on SIIIaI drt press PfMnted Ken's successIJA use 01 'ball and '-10 make scdeCs II the plates, InsINd Ken used I fOUnd rtUty lie WIllI libefill amounlli a/ eutnng 1kId W!Ih very IIOOd 1MUIts.

Tapped plates are held togeIh8r USInQ SOCkeI head tap screws WhIch do no! teqUII't nu1S when they ara lined m tapped holes, The cap satWS are tightened with a hex Mench,

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Producers'

BULLETIN BOARD Please forward ~ 0( tum ~ In cwrent produdlon or nelJ/'compIetjon to CiNEM.A.GIC, c/o O'QuM Sludio$, Inc., 475 PNt Av6!ue Soolh, New Yorlr, NY 10016. Please Include " phot.ograph of some pIwe of the production 1/ po5Slb1e.

Elysium. A group of soldiers fighting in a future jungle war­fare situation discover that they're kill ing the same enemy soldiers oller and over again. They soon realize that the enemy is using witchcraft to bring their dead back to life. Horrified, they send a video journalist back to a nearby out· post with solid recorded evidence of their awful discovery only to find in the end that their own side is bringing /hem back to life. Producers: John Woods and Mike Lyddon. Di· rector: Mike Lyddon. Script: M ike Lyddon. Cinematography: John Woods. FX: Mike Lyddon. Jon Giba and Jim Bays. Cast Jim Bays, Shane. Ron Kostas, Jon Giba, John Woods, AI Williamson and Aubrey Saxon. (Mike Lyddon. 11822 Rexford Rd. , Garden Grove, CA 92640.)

Da Drommen Brast (The Day the Dream Shattered). A romantic fantasy about a kid who grows up in a big ci ty and has a series of strange dreams in which he kills o ff his schoolteacher with a magic sword and gets the girl. The dream sequences are set In ancient· looking locations shrouded in velvet·black fog and eerie lighting. Director: Jan Rasmussen. Writer: Nicolas Barbano. Camera: So Odengaard. Makeup/Sound: Ken Raven. Original Music.: Benn i Le Fay. Video, color, sound. Running time: 30 minutes. (Herlav Videovaerksted, cia Jan Rasmussen, Hojbj ergvej 35, 2730 Herlev, Denmark .)

Dream Reaper, Twilight Zone style of drama and horror. A young boy has a dream about a cloaked person warning him that his drellms can and will relellse h is own evi lness. He aWlikes to find a demon murdering his friends. Of course, a surprise ending. Producer/DirectorlWriter: Mark Tureski . Cast : Darryl Yaworski , and Vicki and Alison Holder. An Image Design Co. film. Super·B, color, sound with origi nal music score by Mike Turesk i. Running time: 20 minutes. (Image DeSign Co., do Mark Tureski. I Prince Phillip Dr .. St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada L2N 3H9.)

Necromancy. The story of a psychic who summons human beings to his deranged household, to make them into demons who will do his bidding . But his fate is yet to com e! Producer: Eagle Mountain. Director: Wilton Keor· nig. Makeup: Grady Holder. Cast: Wilton Koernig , Grady Holderand Todd Wulfmeyer. FX Include: special makeup, energy bolts lind miniatures. Super·B, color. Running time: 15 to 20 minutes. (Grlldy Holder, 6064 So. Fairfield St., Littleton, CO BOI20.)

SHOAT fLM SUACH This year's winners of the CINEMAGIClSchool o f Visulil

Arts Short Film Search will be aired on the world 's highest·rated cllble television series, Night Flighl. This nlltionwide broadcast wlil be on Friday, November 25th beginning lit 11 PM Eastern Stllndllrd Time, BPM Pacific Standard Time. The second half will air Saturday. November 26th beginning at the same times. Night flight can alwllys be seen on the USA ClIble Network at 11 PM, EST and 8PM PST, liS a four·hour broadcast, every FridllY and Saturday night. Today, cable TV, tommorrow the world!

Escape, Steve Deneri , America's top scientist. is taken captive by EI Salvadorian rebels In his home in Penn· sylvania. The rebels are using Steve as a tool to get the United States Government to give in to their demands. Steve's brother, Martin, and government agents try to ht:lp Stt:ve escape, but their plan ralls. Things begin to look hopeless, but Steve is a survivor and he escapes his home 01 captivity and wanders out into the st reets of his evacuated neighborhood, only to f ind the area well guarded by the EI Sa lvadorian rebel forces. Great action scenes as Steve tries desperately to escape. Producer: Skaldun Pictures. Writers/Directors: Stan Skalski and Dan Dunn . Camera: Stan Skalski. Dan Dunn , Don Martin, Dave Noble and Mike Greco. Cest: Stlln Skalski. Olin Dunn, Dave Noble, Don Martin , Eugene McKnight , Caren Skalsk i, Mike Greco, Bo Skalski and Gideon SkalskI. FX include: great action scenes, some violence, makeup and real weepons end wllr costumes. Super·B, color, sound. Transferred to VHS and Beta video. Running time: 45 minutes. (Ska ldun Pictures. do Stan Skalski, 207 Green­dale Rd ., Philadelphia, PA 19154.)

Help Wanted. Comedy of commercials, special effects and oUHakes from earlier SR Film Productions films. Music from Styx, Men at Work, Pink Floyd and Cheech and Chong: used by permission. Director: Shannon Richardson. Writers: Shannon Richardson, Kirk Davis, and Chris Hinders, FX Include: lap dissolves, laser effects, blood makeup effects, animation and floating objects. Super·B, color, sound. Running time: to minutes. (SR Film productions, do Shannon Richardson, 2903 Harrison, Amarillo, TX 79109.)

A Tale of Two SIllies. A Masterpiece Theater presenta­tion. The story of haughtiness, paranoia, and the death of two kingdoms: The Disunited States of Armamenta and tilt: SuyIJt:"n Union. Animated with cut outs. Directed, written and animated by Kenneth Devoy "with a little help from his friends", John Hegland (artist), Jeff Pharr (the best to-let animator in the business). Gary Terry (fellow in· somniac). Super·B. color, separate sound on cassette. Run· ning time: about 2 minutes(Walrus Productions, do Kenneth Devoy, 754 Pine Ave .. WlIynesboro. VA 229BO.)

The Loner. A story about survival lind friendship in a post holocaust nomad anarchy. Which is more important, and why? In II world without hope, al l that the survivors have left Is their dreams, and the desire to make them come true. Producer/DirectorlWriter/Editor: Jeffrey Kaplan. Cast: Jeffrey Hock, David Black. James WlIlker. Lisa Morrissey and Anthony Faggann!. Super·B, color, separate sound (narration) on cassette. Running time: 10 minutes. (Jeffrey Kaplan, 37 Red SlIrn ume, Middletown, NV 10940.)

Planet Claire. A surrealistic interpretation of the song of the same name as performed by the B-52·s. Producer: Uttle Bray Studios. Oirector/FX: Elizabeth Warren. Cast: Leicha Heathcoal FX include: psychedelic imagery and several subliminal shots. Super.a. color. sound. Running time: 4 minutes. (Elizabeth Warren, 26 Hollen Circle, Fairmonl WV 26554.)

Forbidden Zone. The story of a spy who dared to trespass into the Forbidden Zone. and found himself trapped in an eternal living hell. Producer: Robert Smith. Director; Stephen Popule. Writer: Doug Astarita. Makeup FX.: Greg DeSanto and Joe Currie. FX include: prosthetic mutant makeups, blood and superimposed titJes. (Silver Screen Productions, 36 Sylvan Ave .. Tuckahoe. NV 10707.)

Angel With a Dirty Spaceship ..... spoof on almost every fllm to ever come out of Hollywood. Our hero. Cagneus. Is just looking for a good time. A beer gunling. junk rood chomping TV freak. he takes on the goyemment and learns how to drag race In space. Producerl Director/Wr1ter. Michael Grodroer. Cast: Ron Brill. FX include: Miniatures, animation. explosions and more. Super-8. color, silent. In pi"eproductlon. (Michael Grooner. 68-37 Yellowstone Blvd .. Forest HiUs. NY 11375.)

Magaglop \IS. Gumzllla. The peaceful quiet of a small town is brutally destroyed by the: sudden appearance of the giant creature known as Megaglop. With even the army totally helpless. can Gumzilla halt this dreaded juggernaut in time? Producer: KlIren Spaghetti for Penny Arcade Produc· tions. OirectorlWriter: Mark Der Marderosian. Stop-motion animation. Super·B, color, sound. Running time: 3 minutes. (Penny Arcade Productions, 16 Murray Terrace. West Newtown, MA 02165.)

InvasIon of the Uttle Space Guys. A young girl's home i!> invaded by fiendish little spacemen in this tongue-In-cheek parady of 50's B horror!sf films. Producer: UttJe Bray Studios Director: Bob Tinnell. Cast: Elizabeth Warren. Super-8, color, sound. Running time: 3 minutes. (Uttle Bray Studios, % Bob Tinnell, P.O, Box #"1, Rivesville, WI/ 26588.)

FrIends. Chlldren's story, Two very close buddies get in· to lin lIrgument about a destroyed tree. A fight begins and it gets worse until one buddy dies in the conflict. The sur· vivor Is haled throughout the land and turns evil. He becomes so evil that he can't stand himself, so he turns back to being normal and his buddy miraculously comes back to life. Producer/Director: Mike Turesk1. Writers: Mike and Mark Tureski. Sets: Ron Schaffner. An Image Design Co. film. Super-B, color, sound. Stop· motion anim"lion. Running time: 10 minutes. (Image Design Co., do Mark Tureski, 1 Prince Phillip Dr .. St. Catherines, Ont"rio, Canada L2N 3H9.)

23 Is 2 Phaar Awelgh. A visual fantasy salute to Robert A. Wilson lind the number 23. the mysterious number which is somehow connected to the Dog Star. Sirius. and is discussed in Wilson's book "Cosmic Trigger." Producer/ Directorl Editorl Sf)(: Brian Short. Cast; Jeff Ball and Brian Short's hand. FX include: extensive use of time lapse. animation and pixilation, spe<:ial rnakeup effects. Super-8, color, sound. Running time: 4 to 5 minutes. (Brian Short, 915 177 Ave. NE, Bellevue, WA 98008.)

The Invisible Chess Game. Two invisible twins. Afi and Peaches. set out to compete against each other in a champion­ship chess match. Since Peaches has a nasty temper the game Is planned to be rough .. . Producer/Director/Writer/FX; Mark Bernard. FX include: double exposures. titles and rotoscoped outlines. Super.8, color, separate sound on cassette. Approx­mate running time: 15- 18 minutes. In preproduction. (Mark 3ernard Production~. 32 Wilk Rd .. Edison, NJ 08837.)

Battle Beyond the Sun. Jason Star and his star warriors chase a splice pirate ship to the planet Terra IV. There they encounter deadly monsters, plants. and weird weather. When they reach the pirates' base they have" Il1ser shoot-oulllnd Jason fights the pirate leader with energy swords, The leader escapes in his starfighter with Jason chasing lifter him. ProducerlDirectorlWriter: Clay Menzik. Camera: Clay Menzik, Tony Prettenhofer and Mark Menzik. Cast: Clay Menzik, Mark Menzik and Tony Prettenhofer. FX include: explosions, miniatures, animated lasers and more. Super·B, color, sound. Run· ning time: 10 minutes. (Menzlk Productions, do Clay Menzik, BIO Wauconda Rd., Wauconda, IL60084.)

Dr. Carrass' Hobby. An animlltion movie about a doctor who removes his wife's fetus from her womb and tries to keep it alive In his laboratory/ greenhouse on a homemade life suppan mllchine. The fetus dies, but Dr. Carrass is not discouraged, liS he sets off in search of other pregnant women. ProducerIDlrectorlWriter/Modeler/Animator: An· drew J. Cook. Video tape. color. sound. Running time: 12 minutes. 42 seconds. (Andrew J. Cook. 121 Caversham Valley Rd. DunedIn, New Zelliand.) ()(

C/NEMAG/C-23 25

Cinemagic Back Issue Guide CINEMAGIC INDEX-TITLES

"The ABC's Of "'·8 Roiling" .... Coldwell. Jllmes F. "Aerllli lmege OptiCllI Printer,

Plln I" .................. Cosentino. John "AerJallmege OptlCllI Printer,

Pllrt 11" ....•.••.••••...•• Cosentino, John "A Filish In Space" ........... Farino, Ernest "All The Circuits Money Can Buy" Welker, Kenneth "Sackwindlng Super·S Film" . •. COlIcnl lno. John "Build Your Own Aerllll Brace" .. Rae, Ted Rlch"rd "Building A 01.1111 Voltage

Regulated Power Supply" ... Stevens, Chris E. "Building Super Soundtrllcks" .• De La Vildes, Michael

Dohler, Don "Building Your Smoke

Generator" •••..••••••..• TII)'lor, Oon "Building Your Sj>lIceshlp" •..•• Walker, Kenneth "C"reers: George LuO!ls" ••..••• Hutchison, devld "Careers: Frank Ven def Veer" ... Hutchison, David "Cartoon ... nlmation: The Baslcs .. ... lllson. Richard ··ClnemagicJSV ... AWlirds Show': . Clayton. John 'The Chinon 200·8 XL:' • •...••• Caldwell. Jllmes F. Close·Up: "Bloody Hair Hunks" .. Stover. George Close.Up: "Creating An Old

Yellowed t'\ewspaper Clipping" .... , ..•.. , •.•• Dohler. Oon

Close·Up: "CN:llting ~cerations" Shinnick, Kevin Close·Up: "Creating Ught Beam

Effects" , , •••. , , ••.. , ' •.• TlI)'lor. Oon Close·Up: "Foreground

Miniatures" ••••••••• , ' ••• Oohler. Oon Close·Up: "Kaleidoscopic

Effects" , ' , ... , ..•.• , , ... lmes Jr .• Jllck Close·Up: "Pen Set BeU ... nd

Socket Joints" ..•••• , , •••• Caldwell. James F, Close·Up: "The Saturn Machine" .llTM!s Jr., Jack Close·Up: "Smoke"'nd Fog

Effects" , , , ••• , , , ••• , ' ..• Dohler, Oon Close.Up: "Zap From Bubbles" .. Dohler, Oon "Constructing A Wire "'nimlltion

Model" " •... , ....• , •••• Renwick, David "Creating'" Monster" •• , , , , ••• Pohl. Keith "Creat ing Mini Ellploslons" .... Dohler, Don "Creating UFO Effects" ." .••. Poilluotto, Jeff 'The Crimson Effect" ••• , , , ••• Oohler, Don "The Dream Screen Effect" , ' ..• Imes Jr .. Jeck Electronic Special FX: "Boll Full

Of Sound" •••• , •••• , , , ••• Stevens, Chris Electronic Special FX: "ChasIng

Light" , •••••• , , •••• ' , ..• Stevens, Chris ElectronIc Speclal FX: "Ught Se·

quenc;<:r Circuit'" •••• " ... Wolker, Kenneth Electronic Special Effects: "Mo·

tlon Control Photography" ,. Walker, Kenenth Electronic Special Effects: "Se·

quentlallightlng" ••.• , , ••• Walker, Kenneth Electronic Special Effects:

"Strobe FX" .• , ••••• , .... Stevens, Chris Electronic Special Effects:

"Three lighting Devices" ••• Stevens, Chris "Film To Videotape Transfers" .• Oohler, Don "First Steps"'s"'n ... nlmator" .•. Laybourne. Kit "Fluid Mt" ' ...•• , .••••••••• Hart, Kelly "Forced Perspective" ••• " •••• Price, Brick "Frontl ightlBackllght

... nlmatlon" ... , , .••.• , ••• MlIgUocheltl, ... 1 "Glass Shots" ••••. , , ••• , •••• Oohler, Oon "Going Backwards Made Easy" .. Brady, Kirk

26 CINEMAGIC"'23

'4128

'416

"'5/6 "2124 '6/30 "'1120 111126

'2132 '2J9 "'15126 "'16126 "716 "'1915 "7130 '11/34

"9/34 '8/34

'2133

'6/34

"'7/34

'4/34 '12134

"'4/19 *21123 "'11114 "'13120 "2128 *20128

"'17121

'J/22

'5121

"'41Jl

"'21120

"19124 '8/6 'J116 "'3118 '5116

"Hitting The Big Time" .. , •••. ,Sutton, Missy "How low Can You Go?" , , , •• , ,Conflno, Larry "How To Build A Robot" , , , • , , ,Bailey, Clayton "IT: Flashing LED" .. , , .... , , . Stevens. Chris "I Was A High School Werewolf ' • Carter, Joe "The Irwlslble Wino Returns" ". He~th, Bob ':Joe Riner: Shooting in the

Streets" •. , , .•• , , ..• , •••. Clayton, John 'The Jolntworks" •••... , ••... Seldon, Nichoills ·:.Journey Through Time And S~ ...... , , ... , .. ' , , ... Hutchison, David

"llItex Masks" ••••. , .. ,', ... Br~dy, Kirk "Low Budget Devllstlltion" " ••. Slppln, Steven

Smith. KeYln "Makeup Magic With Fllntasy

Faces" •• , •.•• , , •. , ..••• ,Reardon, Craig "Milking Monsters" • , •• , .•... ,Dods. John "Making Spaceship Interiors" •• , Imes Jr~ Jllck "Making Stop Mollon Models

Talk ' • , , , •••. , , • , , ..... , Hutchison, OitVid Dods, John

"Masks And MlIkeups That Move" Dods, John "Movie Sync: Strobe" ....... , , • Stevens, Chris " New And Improved Box Full or

Sound" •.••. , ••. , ..•• , , • Stevens. Chris "The New Merlins" ••••••.. , , . Short, Robert "The Nlghtbeast Wlllks" •• , . , •. Dods. John " Pogo Comes ... lIve" . , ... , , , .. Hutchison, David Product Revievr. Super8 .• , , ••• Cllidwell, Jllmes F. ProfJIe: Dllmon Santostephano .. Clayton. John Profile: ..... nlmators On The

Move" ••• , , ••• , •••. , , ••. Clayton. John Profile: ·Spawn of the Suburbs" . De La Vildes, Michael Profile: *Shortcut To Success" •• Cillyton, John Profile: "The Good, The Bad, And

The Furry" ..•. , ••. , .•.•. ,Clayton, John Profile: "Bonnie Borucki" , , .... Clayton. John Profile: "Jerry Pllrlsl" •..•.••. , Clayton, John Profile: "Relph Miller". , , , ••• , ,Clayton. John Profile: "Super·8 Spacemen" ." Clayton, John Profile: 'Super·8 Spoofers" •••• ,Clayton, John Profile: 'AI MagliocheW" •••• , ,Clayton, John Profile: -Joey Ahlbum" , ••••• , ,Clayton, John "Remaking Rocketshlp X·M" . , , . Hutchison, Dllvld Review: EW ... Products ••• , , , •• Caldwell, Jemes F. Review: The EW ... Speclel Fxrrltl·

ing Machine ".,', •••• , •• Caldwell, Jllmes f, Review: Ox Animation Stand , •• Caldwell. Jllmes F. "ScrlptWfltlng For Short Films.

Pan J" ••••••• , , , •••••••• Houston. Oevid "Scriplwritlng For Short FlIms,

Pert 11" •• , ••• , • , , ••• , •••• Houston. Dllvld "Scrlp\wrltlng For Short films.

Pen Ill" , ... ' , ... , Houston. Ollvld "Secrets Of Graphic Gore" •.•. ,Dods, John "Sets On'" Shoestring" , , •••• , Pollizzotto, Jeff "Shoes For Dinosaurs" • , , •.••• Mandell. Peul "Slit 5<:00 Magic Time Exposure" Sharples. .... "Smoothing Oul the Action" ". Wlliker. Kenneth "Spaceships, Lasers.. ... nd Glows" Oohler, Don "Spaceships That Sparkle" ••. , ,Polliuotto, Jeff "Spin Your Own Spiderwebs" , , ,Greenfield. Matt "Storyboardlng.Key To Success' ,Santostefeno, Damon "Super Depth In Dioramlls" ",. Miller. Judith

Miller Ron "Ti tles Thil l Shine" • ' . , ..• ' , •. Caldwell, Jllmes f. "Trlln51110ns" "',.,', •. ,",. McDonough, Britt " Wide Screen Effect,' ••• ,",. Shapps.. Tony "The World's First Claymatlon

Featule film" ••• , , •• , , , •.. Cooper, Rick

"'4124 "'17/9 "'3/6 ·16118 "'19116 '6/22

'14130

"'11120 "'20130 "'20114

"'18122 "'21 130 "'3129 "916 #1114 "'7/14

'8/23 "9122 -11127

'12116 '13116 "'14124 '15130 '16112 "'17117 "'18128 '20/6 "'119 "'3126

·15/6

"'16/6

'17/6 '17128 "9128 #18114 '13/6 "'16128 '1 2124 "'15116 "'19110 "1416

"'15128 "9116 "'6/26 '5126

-7118

CINEMAGIC INDEX-SUBJECTS

Animation Effects Allison, Rlchord "Cartoon "nlmotion

.. <:aId_II, Jomes F. "Close·Up: Pen &l1I·And·

Socket Joints" Cloyton, John "Profile: Animators On the

Move·~Stop motion Cooper, Rick "First Claymlltion Feature

Film Dods. John ''The Nightbeast Walk~J' HllIrt, Kelly "Fluid ArC Hutchison, OfIVld "Pogo Comes Alive

.. "Making Stop·Mot lon

ModelsTalk" Laybourn .. , Kit "Fir~1 Step!: As An

Anlmlllor-developing II style

Magllochett, AI ' Fronlnghtl8lK:k~!ght Animation

Mllndell, Paul "Shoes For Dlnosaurs':"'-tie downs

Seldon, Nicholas ''The Jol nlwork,'!.-bllll· 8nd·socket parts

Art/Storyboards/Scripts Houston. David "Scr lptwr lting For Short

Films.: Part I" "Scriptwritfng For Short

Films; Port II" "Scrlptwriling For Short

Films: Part III" Sanostephano, Damon 'Storyboardlng-The Key

To Success" "Flat Art uploslons"

BulldlnglCreatlng/How To Bailey. Clayton Cosentino, John

De U! VlIde$, MIchael

Dohler, Don

Greenfield. Matt

Imes, Jr. Jack

Pollinotlo, Jeff Price, Brick Rae, Ted Richard

Renwick. David

Slover. George

Taylor, Don

Walker, Kenneth

Walker. Kenneth

Stevens, Chris

Walter, Kenneth

'How To Build A Robot'" "Aerlallmage Optical

Printer. Part]" "Bulldlng Super

Soundtra<;ks" ··Close·Up: Creating Old

Newspaper" " Building Super

Soundtracks" "Creotlng MIni Explosions" "SpIn Your Own

Spiderwebs" "Maklng Spaceship

Interlo..,·· "Creatlng UFO Effects" " Forced Perspective" " Bulld Your Own Aerial

Brace" "Constructlng A Wire

Anlmlltion Mode],' Close·Up: "Bloody Hair

Hunks"' " Bullding A Smoke

Generator" Bu1ldlng Your S~shlp"

"SmoothIng Out The AClion·:....build a camero crone

Electronic Effects "Bulld a Dual Voltage

Power Supply" " Box Full Of Sound" " Flashing LED" " Chasing Ught"" " New And Improved Box

Full Of Sound" ''Three Lights" "Movie Sync Strobe" "Light Sequencer Circuits" "Sequentlol lighting"

'"'7/6

·10134

'8/23

'"'7118 '"'3129

'"'11120 -3/18 .. ,.

-11f20

"19/32

·18114

-20122

'15/6

'1616

"17/6

'41.

"10126

.. 134

"10126 "11114

"19110

"1)120 "\3/20

"4119

"1126

"4119

"11 /3 4

"13127 ·14116 "16/18 "17121

"18122 "19124 -20114

" 3122 "4131

~

·'Ololil griping. JoeyII haYen', gollhe money 10 buy an anTlature!"

Motion Control Photogrophy" "5121

All The Circuits Money Con B,y "6130

Film Effects Brady. Kirk " Golng Bockwards Made

Eosy":""reverse film· Ing techniques "8/14

Caldwell. James F. 'The ABC's Of A·B Rolling" '4128 " Beyond The Corner

Drugstore·:....alter. natIve processing "8/20

''Tltles That Shine" "911. Cosentino, John " BackwlndlngSuper·8

Film" "1120 "Aerial Image Optical

Printer, Part Ir' ,,,. Dohler. Don "Film To Video Transfers" '81.

" Foreground Miniatures" ·6134 "Glass Shots" "1116 "Spaceships, U!~rs

and Glows - Totoscoplng '12124

Farino. Ernest "A Flosh In Space" "2/24 Imes Jr .• Jack Close.Up: "The Saturn

Machine" -13134 "The Dream Screen

Effects" -20126 Miller. Judith (. Ron " Super Depth in Diorilmas" "15128 Shepps, Tony " Wide Screen Effects" "5126 Sherples. A. "Sl1t Sclln Mllgic" "13/6 Teylor, Don " Crellting LIght Bellm FX"' "2133

Film Makers Certer. Joe " I We, A High School

Werewolf' "19/16 Clayton, John Profile: Demon

Santostepheno "'-114 "Anlmators on the ~'. '8/23 Profile: ':Joe Io!itter-

Shooting In the Streets" "10118

Prome: "Shortcut To Sue<:ess" "11127

Profile: ''The Good, The Bad, And The Furry" "12116

Profile: Bonnie Borucki -\J/16 Profile: Jerry Peris! "14124 Profile: Relph Miller "15/J0 Profile: ··Super·8

SpeC"tmen" "16112 Profile: ··Super·8 Spoofer," '17117 Profile: Al Magliochetti "18128 "Clnemagl0iVA Awards

Show "19/5 Profile: Jerry Ahlbum -20/6

ClNE!1AG/C"23 27

De LtI Vndes, Mlcheel Profile: "Spewn Of The "Titles That Shlne':effects with lithographic film "'9116 Suburbs" "9fl2 Review: The EWA Special EffectsITlliing Machine -10/31

Hutchison, David "Remeking Rocicetshfp Close·Upe Pen Set Ball And Socket Joints -10134 x -"," "'/9 C"rter, Joe

·:.Journey Through Time "I Was A High School Werewolr:maker of An AndSpece" "14131 Amer1c4fl Welll:woV III Hl!J/r Sdrool -19116

Ca-eers: George Lucas "15126 Clayton, John Careers: Frank Von der Veer -16126 Proflle: Damon 5!lnlosleph"no ~/14

Sullon. Missy "H ttlng The Big Time" "412' Profile: "Animalors On The Mfy.,te" "'123 ':.Joe Ritter·Shoollng In the Streets" -10118 Lighting Effects Profile: "ShortCUIIO Success':lhe makers of

Imes. Jr" Jack Close.Up: "K.IIleidoscopic ShMCul -11/27 Effects" -7134 Profile: ''The Good. The Bad, The Furry" "12116

PoltiZ10llo, Jeff "SpaC'eships Thel Sparkle" -15116 ProflJe: Bonnie Borucki "13/16 Profile: Jerry Parisi -14/24

MakeupAnd Masks Proflle: Rolph Miller -15/30 Bfedy, Kirk Letex Muks "6/6 Proflle: "Super.8 Spacemen':rhe Making of Dods. John "Secrets Of Graphic Gore" -17128 AsluOlds -16112

"Making Monsters" -1816 Profile: "Super.8 Spoofers':Calgr lfflcs Productions -17117 "Masks And Makeup Thet Profile: AI Magltochettl "18128

Move ·:.....ertlculated "ClnemeglClSVA Awerds Show" -1915 m"sks -20/30 ProfHe: ':.Joey Ahlbum·Bendlts" -2016

Dohler. Don "The Crimson Effect.·:..... Con fino. Lrorry blood formule "m, "How low Can You Go?,:low budget production lips. "1719

Reerdon, Craig "Meke·Up Megic With Cooper. Rick Fllntasy Feces·:..... " The World's First Cleymetlon Fellture Film" "7118 lete" eppliences "1216 Cc»entlno. John

Shinnick. Kevin "Creeling Ulcerlltlons" "8/3, " B"ckwlndlng Super·8 Film" for multiple exposures -1120 "Aerlallmege Optical Printer," Part I -4/6

Production Tips "Aeriellmage Opticel Printer." Pert II "516 Conflno. Lerry "How Low C"n You Go?" De u Vlldes. Michael

- budgeting "17/9 Profile: "Spawn of the Suburbs'=--The ungly Punks "9f22 Dohler, Don "Zero Budgets Sets" -1 0116 " Building Super Soundtracks" -10126 McDonough. Britt ·'Tr!!nsitions·:.....editing Dods. John

techniques "6/26 ''The Nlghtbeasl Walks" -3129 PotliuOlIo. Jeff "Sets On A Shoestring" -9128 "Making Stop. motion Models Talk" "11120

"Secrets Of Graphic Gore·:..... The {)e"cly Spawn -17128 Products "M"king Monsters':The Deadly Spawn "1816

Caldwell, J"mes F, Review: SuperB Sound "Masks lind M"ke-Up That Move" -20130 Recorder "1114 Dohler.Don

Review: The Ox Animation ''The Crimson Effect':reaHstlc: blood for films "212' Stand "4126 Close.Up: "Smoke And Fog Effects" "_ Review: Ewa Products "3126 CIO$e'Up: "Foreground Minlalures" -6134 Review: The Chlnon "Film to Vldeotape·:.....Pros end Cons. ""6

200·8 Xl "7130 Close-Up: "Crelliing An Old, Yellowed Newspaper Review: The EWII Speci,,1 Clipping" -9/34

Erfect.slTltling "Zero Budget Sets" -10116 Machines -10131 " Buildlng Super Soundtr"cks" -10126

"Glass Shots-Add on Effects Made Easy" -1116 Props "Creating Mlnl.Exploslons Without Pyrotechnics" -11114

Dohter, Don Close.Up: "Smoke And Fog "Spllceshlps. LtIsers. "nd Glows·:.....Easy rotoscope Effects" -4/3 4 effects "12124

Close.Up: "Zap From Close·Up: "Zap From Bubbles':""'props from Bubbles" -12134 detergent bolltes -12134

Heeth. Bob "The Invisible Wino Ferlno. Ernest Relurns" "6/22 "A Flash In Space·:.....SF Films logo "m,

Sippin. Steven "low Budget Devastation" -14/30 Greenfield. Mett Smyth, Kevin " low Budget Devast"tlon "14/30 "Spin Your Own Spiderwebs" -19110

Hllrt. Kelly "Fluid Art':""'lne"penslve painted Imegery -3118

CINEMAGIC INDEX-AUTHORS Heath, Bob ''The Invisible Wino Returns·:.....MOYlng props

InviSibly -6122 Issue/Page

Allison, Rlc:hllrd Houston. David "Cartoon Anlmatlon·The BI:Islcs" "716 "Scrlptwrltlng For Short Film~ p"rt I" -]516

Bl:llley. Clayton "Scriptwrlting For Short Films: Pert U" -1616 "How To Build A Robot"' -3/6 "Scrlptwrltlng For Short Films: Part III" -17/6 Br"dy, Kirk Hutchison. David "ute" Masks·an Alternative to FuJi Makeup" "6/6 "Remaking Rocketsh/p X·M' "'/9 "Going BI:Ickwards Made Easy" -8114 "Pogo Comes AJive':Anlmlltion effects. "9/6 Caldwell. J"mes F. "Making Stop.Motion Models Talk" -11120 Product Review: Super 8 Sound Recorder I -1114 ':.Journey Through Time And Spa<:e':Cherles Jones' Review: The Ox Anlm"tlon Slend "4126 filmmaking -14131 Review: EWA Products -3126 Careers: George Luces - 1!W26 "The ABC's of A·B Roiling" -4128 Careers: Fr"nk Ven der Veer -16126 Review: The Chlnon 200·8 Xl -7130 Ime$, Jr., Jack "Beyond the Corner Drugstore':other options of film Close·Up: "Kaleidoscopic Effects" -7/34 processing -8120 "Making Spaceship Interiors" -13120

28 ClNEMAGIC-2J

"Tell you.......nat, Chuckie! We'11et the lib handle thai dissoIYe effect after aI!"

CJose-Up: " The SlI turn Mllchine':Streek ShllrpJes. A, photogrephy. '13/34 "Slit Scen Meglc"-Tlme exposure streek

'The Dream Screen Effect'!Plestic distort ion screen_ "20128 photography. '13/6 llIybourne, Kit Shinnick, Kevin

"First Steps As An Anlmator':Style '3116 Close-up; "Creeting llIcerations" "813' Magliochetli, AI Sippin, Steven

" FrontlighUBucklight Animation" '19/32 " Low Budget Devastetion" '14/30 MlIndeli. Paul Smyth, Kevin

" Shoes For Dlnostlurs·:rledowns for anlmution " Low Budget Devestatlon" '14/30 models. '16/14 Stevens. Chris

McDonough, Bri tt " Building a Duul Voltage Regulated PowerSupply" ' 13127 'Transltlons·: Basic editing techniques. "612. "Box Full Of Sound" '14116

Miller, Judith lind Ron '"IT'!Flashlng LED '16118 "Super Depth In DiorllrTllls" '15128 "Chasing Light" '17121

Pohl, Keith "New And Improved Boll Full Of Sound" '18122 "Creating A Monster':A Frankenstein mask *21123 "3 Lighting Oevices'!Eosy to build. '19124

Poilluotto, Jeff "Movie Sync Strobe" *20114 ··Sets On A Shoestrlng':lnexpensivc design. "9128 Stover, George " Creating UFO EHects" '13120 Close.Up; " Bloody Holr Hunks'!how to make your "Spllceships thllt Spllrkle'!lightlng techniques '15116 own hunks. '1lf34

Price, Brick Sutton, Missy "Forced Perspedlve'!slmulallng distance wi th " Hitting The Big Tlme'!Disney offers three students

limited space '5116 the cl\llnce to mllke films. "412' Rae, Ted Richard Taylor, Don

"Build Your Own Aerial Brace" '1126 " Building Your Own Smoke Generator .. "2132 Reardon. Craig Close-Up: "Creating Light Beem Effects" "2133

"Makeup Magic With FantliSY Faces" '1216 Walker, Kenneth Renwick, David " Building Your Spaceshlp·:Step by step "219

"Construct ing A Wire Animation Model" '4/19 "Ught Sequencer Circuit" '3122 SantostefarlO, Damon " Sequential Lighting'· '4/31

"Storyboardlng-Key To Success" ' 14/6 "Motion Control Pho tography" "5121 "Flat Art Explosions" '16122 "All The Circuits Money Can Buy':off the shelf

Seldon, Nicholas circuitry "6/30 'The Jointworks':Balland socket joints. "20122 "Smoothing Out The Action'!buildlng a balanced

Shapps. Tony camera crane '16128 " Wide Screen Panoramic Effects" '5126 (J/

CJNEMAG/C'23 29

MARK SULLIVAN'S "HIGH RISE"

A C1NEMAG/C Success Story: From Basement Filmmaker to J-/ol/ywood Special Effects Artist

ByJOHN DODS

Mark Sullivan isn't talented he's talented. With $3.000.00, 8 Bolex Rex 4, and seemingly

inexhaustible inventiveness he has created the spectacular Highrfse, a 2Vl minute-long showpiece of special effects and novel storytelling assembled over two years with professional knowhow and determined effort. Looking at Highrise it's hard to believe that its sophisticated mattes and opticals were created enUrely In the camera, and it's difficult to tcll thot a filmaf such apparent physical size and realism was shot mostly in a basement.

THE PLOT OF HIGH RISE With a burst of eel-ani mated fireworks

the words rush forwards: "A Mark Sullivan Cinematic Tidbit." Three establishing shots place the action in a modern city where busy action fills the streets. Heads turn sudden ly upwards toa buzzing hum from above as an alien flying machine passes high overhead.

As the insect·like machine's shadow passes upwards against a skyscraper

Top 01 plUI: Mark SUIiMO'S ptllntlng skih are dramatically IMdenced In ttlis beautiful)' executed painting lor H~. After 1TlIWirlg" HoIyftood, Mark worked as a mane painter on the TV show, BrinQ 'em Back Alive.

30 CINEMAG/C -23

" HIGHRISE" is superedon the building's side.

The fantastic c raft 11Inds atop thl! tllil building liS its insect·llke appendages grasp and dig into the structure's top. sending weirdly violent bolts of white electricity shooting from the bug legs down the building towards the sidewal k below. People flee the Impending via· lence. Massive bolts strike the pavement and the lens flares from the brillience of the lighL The building cracks at the baSI!.

Lights glow and the spacecraft moves upwo!lrds. sti l l clutching the Immense structure. The skyscraper is uprooted In an incredible long shot that suspends dis· belief: reel people and t lafflcmove In the foreground of the shot to reveal the full immensity of the building as it rises up· wards, rubble drops in chunks from the base.

From e blrd's eye view we see the build· ing continue its ascent. Visible In the distance is the gaping hole from which the monollih has been plucked.

The allen craft pulls the building high. er through the clouds lind Into the dark· ness of outer space. Well away from Ihe Earth, it veers off sharply, moving towerds another planet.

Somewhere in the desert an old man crawls across the sand. He Is frightened by the buzzing hum he hears end quickens

his struggle across the deSf!rt. The alien craft decends and speeds over the sur· face, Earth building still in tow. As the camera races to follow the fast action, foreground dunes, ClICti lind rocks are blurred and streekl!d.

Seen from above, an immense shadow covers the crawling man. The lIlien craft releases the building and it plummets downwards.

The camel1llooksstralght up to see the skyscrllper fall. It covers Ihe frllme, land· Ing on the planet with a resounding thud.

Fede In to the old man laying uncon· dous. but not hurt. Hewakes and turns to see that the concretl! form has struck thl! planet only a ff!W feet from his body. He watches as the fl ying machine departs. It rises. turns and with a flare of Its booster engines streaks into the far distance leav· ing behind a tl1liloffading light. The now tiny form of Ihe ship slows, acends through a cloud bank, continues upward and Is gone.

The final shot presents a relf!VlItion. In a widl! master shot we see thot the desert is littered with skyscrapers. They are tilted, battered and crllcked-lIl1l1ppar. ently dropped from lIbove In some biz· zare extraterrestrlll i game o f cat and mouse. Birds fly through this surreal setting.

Just before thl! fade out. one toll struc· ture tilts slightly to bump against a tower· ing neighbor and rubble is knocked loose to fall slowly to thl! desert sand below.

GETTING IT DONEI "It's elways frustrating when you have

en idell for a film and can't get it made," says Mark Sul l ivan. "A lot of people have Idl!as but for SOrT14!! reason theycan't make their nlm. Either they don't have the time or-with some people thllt are mllrried-family obl1gatlons Interfere. I Just wanted to make this mouie. I wantl!d to complete my Otiginal idea and have II film to show. I wanted to prove to myself that I relllly could do it.

"When I was in Columbus High School (in Ohio)", remembf!rsMark, "] spent a lot of time in the metal shop machining ar· maturl! parts and aerial brace pieces. I also used to spend lI lot of time in the art department pa inting and SCUlpting.

"I went to the Columbus College of Art and DeSign which Is one of the better art schools in the midwest. Most o f the te<:h· nlques I learned there seemed to be tak· ing me on a path to lIdvertising or illustrll' lion. By the end orthe third yl!ar I reallz· ed that if I_s going to break Into film I was going to have to break off and make

I I I

e film on my own. Since there wllsn't anywhere to learn that in Columbus-I figured that I was going to have to do some experimenting on my own.

"1 stopped going to Columbus College at the end ormy third year and did some paperback book covers for Simon lind Shuster during the summer of 1980. In between jobs, I worked on Highrfse, I was liv ing at home to save expenses, In January I slarted working lit a billbollrd company painting billboards by day and worked on the film at night I stayed up late and didn't get 100 much sleep."

Mark estimates thllt it would have taken him II full year to complete Highrise even If he could have worked full time on the project; as it was, it took two. " It was rellilya learning experience," says Mark, "There was a lot o f tr ial and error involved,"

MODEL CONSTRUCTIONS

Three models were built in various sizes to represent the alien flying machine. Mllrk explains thllt ''The legs 'Nere articulated with alum inum armature wire. I could have spent more time and machined better joints but it didn't seem like a priority, I learned one important thing during this film li nd I've been re­learning it ever since: establish priorities! You can spend lots of t ime making the best ball-and-socket joint In the world and end up not making any movie!"

The basic forms of the ships 'Nere mllde out or "green folIm" type styrofoam (used for insulation~ After carving and fil ing with a " rasp" type file 10 create the desIred shapes, spac kling compound was

smoothed over the forms and allowed to dry. These were sanded till smooth and palntedwilh enamel hobbYPlllnts, Mark feels that the extreme lIght weight o f the styrofoam fllcilitated the stop motion aerial brace work needed to create the il­!uslons of movement lind flight,

The crllft's Jegs were of wood­chiseled and filed, Fine detailing consist­ed of shapes cut from smooth finish Bristol board lind pillstic model car parts. Many of the delails were simply painted on, Mark found a Dremel tool, a smlllljig saw and a utility knife all useful tools in making these constructions_

To crellte II bird's eye view of the Earth ci ty. Mark began bycollting a 4'x4' sheet of plywood with spackling compound to filii n the grain texture of the wood, Most o f the buildings were little v.ooden blocks cut to the desired shape ina miter box. On some of the blocks. Mark glued small pieces of Illustration board onto which he had drawn window$. Some of the IlIrger bui I dings were blocks of Styro foll m with Illustration bollrd sides_ The realistic ef­fect of this miniature Is largely due to a very careful job of paInting. The streets, for example. are nothing but paint. The people on the sidewalks are little painted shlldows- eilihat was needed to convey human presence in such lin extreme long shot_ Tiny animated cars-painted squares of cardboard-are a typical add· ed touch,

LIGHTNING BOLTS Mark created many effects inside the

camera thllt would no rmally be hllndled through a tab or opticlll house_ Todothis he would often run the same piece offilm

repeatedly through the camerll. Some­times up 10 18 passes were necessary 10 satisfy Mark's desire for slick imllgery,

Mark devised a syslem 10 hold 8"xlO" sheets of clear llcetllte in front of Ihe Cllmerll, This consisted of a wooden box with a standard animation peg bar attach· ed_ Mllrk rendered IIrt work onto the ecetllte lind phologrllphed It either together with the primary background or separately on another run through the camera. The electrical bolts, lens nares and Alien Flying Craft lights of Hlghrlse were crealed using this system_

The massive shafts o f electricity seen at the beginning of Highrise were drawn animation-a series of renderings on acetate using white ink and photograph­ed against black velvet. Each series of drawings WllS run through the camera three times: the first pass was out of focus to give the bolt II soft edge. the second was a littte sharper and the third com­pletely in focu$. The first two passes were shot through gels to introduce some col­or into the outer areas. Mark knew exact­ly where 10 draw the bolts on the acetate so that they appeared connected to the spaceship lind the skyscraper because he made careful notlliions on the acetate while looking through his cllmera at the time the background was photographed_ Later, back in the studio, Mark tl1lnsfered his notlltions-agaln looking through the camera-onto an 8" x1 0" sheet of paper; over this guide drawing the celanimll t ion was drawn_

Relltistic-looking lens nil res were also created by meansof cel art, Mark studied photographic magllzines to see what real lens flares looked like. Then he painted thedeslred effect lind exposed it on a sep-

left: Tile allen cratl aboot 10 land on the SkySCraper and plUCk it out oflhll groulMlkl transport it 10 anolh« planet kl drop on me unfortunate low plains drifter, The Ship Is made of "green loam" type StyrolOam, carved kl shape and OOYered with spackling, palnled and detailed with model kit partS. The building Is a four­loot hiOh miliature and Itle bad<ground Is 0I'Ifl of MarX's brilliantly 8X8Cuted Piinting$. The lightness of the Styrofoam construction IacUiU!ed the aerial-brace animation nectsSaTY ID shOot !he scene. The slllp's legs are made of wood, chiseled and filed 10 Shape, The mlMlment of the legS was artiCulated With aluminum armature wire. Says Marlo:: ''Tile most important thirIg lleamed while making HifI/riw Is establish prlorlries! '1bu can make the best baJI.. and-socket Joint In the whole WOOd and eTld up not making aJPf 1TIlMe!"

CINCMAG/C -23 31

As tile Insect·like alien cralt lands on top 01 t/le SkySClaper, ils legs dig InlO the struclUre's top and weirdly violent boilS 01 white electricity come shooting dt1HJllhe building's side towards tile sidewalk beloW. arate pass through the camera to enhance the desired shot. He graduallyincreased the exposure on the painting to corre­spond toany increase in l ight intensity In the shot. In one shot the lens flare is animated; it gets bigger and follows the ax is of the light source. A ser ies o f paint. Ings was created to animate this effect

SometimesMark could not see the reo suits o f his efforts for months-since he had to complete shooting a 100 foot roll of film before having it processed. "1 would do simpler set-ups at the beginning o f the roll ," he remembers. "And then do a complicated one at the end." This way Mark could reshoot immediately if

32 ClNEMAG/C"'23

necessary since the complex shot would still be set up. Sti li , he says, "Most of the production time was spent tearing down shots and putting them back up again later for re to!lkes:'

When Mark had to devise a way to ere· ate a bird's eye view o f the alien machine _ skyscraper in tow-risIng towards the camera with the Earth city visible in the distance, he chose to use a technique un· common outside the facilities of major studios-a travel ing matte, Since Mark couldn't get the image he needed without making either an enormous cityscape or a very small yet convincingly deta iled alien ship and skyscraper, he chose to

build both minio!ltures about the same size (4 feet In their longest dimensions). He made the building and spo!lceshlp look small in relation to the cityscape by means of a superimposition.

" First i2lnimated the camera tracki ng past the minio!lture building," explains Mark, " The building was agalnsta black background. I had my 20·foot track cali· brated for each frame. After shooting this. I hung a white drape behind the miniature building and went back to each frame po­sition and drew a tracing around the outll ne of the bui ld I ng onto an an I mation eel," Thecells were held in register by the homemade cel holder described earlier, " I spent a lot of t ime inking thecels to pro· duce black mattes and shooting a 'pencil test' to make sure they weren' t quivering or flickering too much. Then. l set up the camera to photograph the track back from the miniature cityscape." Then, on· to the same piece of film already used to record the movement of the buildinglship, Mark photographed the city: each frame of that trackback was exposed through one of the series of holdout mattes thereby allowing al l of the miniature city to be recorded on film except only that area where the bui lding had previously been recorded. The black mattes prevent­ed o!I double exposure over the building. Without the mattes. the effect would have been a ghost building - transparent.

STOP·MOTION BWRRING Object:> I:Inlrnated by stop· motion

technique are normally unnaturally hard· edged and sharp since the objects are or· dinarily stationary during frame expo· sures. To introduce some natural blurring to the movements of the alien craft Mark explains; "I tapped the aerial braced model and let it swing during the expo­sure. That was enough to create blurs:' Mark exposed each frame for about five 5eCOnds(usually at f122~ He found that he did not have to allow for any reciprocity effect in spite o f the long exposures. but simply followed the settings of his vivitar 45 CDS light meter, There was no special equipment-no animation motor. no in· terva lometer-used to Insure consistent frame ellposure, Using o!I 3·foot cable release and a stop watch, Mark made the exposures manuo!llly.l t turned out that a small variation in exposure of V~ or !h second simply did not amount to a per· cept ible difference in the context of a five second exposure, This technique did get a bit tricky as only one hand was available to manipulate the model.

There is an unusual shot in Hfghrise in which the fiylng machine speeds overthe desert planet as the camero!l follows the action seeming to speed rightto left. The Il lusion of rast movement is enhanced by the blurring of the foreground rocks. cacti and dunes. To gel this effect, Mark animated the set; the camera never real· Iy moved. Mark elaborates, "To get the

impression of perspective,l animated the foreground moving past the camera (asler than the more distant levels which were moved in finer gradations. The flH dis­tance wasa painted backdrop and was not moved at all. The foreground element was moved during the framl!: exposure to create blurring. 1 had to do tht: shot "bout 5 tImes-I kept screwing up-but I end· ed up using the first take. Thereare some gliches in the animation but I wanted to get this film finished!"

A SINGLE SHOT There is ashot near the end of Highrise

that typifiesthl!: technlall complexity or the film. In it the insect·like machine leaves the desert planet (presumably off tocol lect another tall building to drop on the unrortunate man). The craft rises In· totheframeand a brilliant light glows in the rear boosters. It shoots forward with incredible speed leaving long slreaksof fading light behind. It slows in the far distance and there are light changes on the rl!:mote mountains it passes by. It oscends and is gone, passing through a cloud bank that has been left touched by rocket light. Sixteen passes through the camera were necessary to create thIs shot.

To record the action of the ship speeding off-apparently miles into the distance-required a switch from model to cel animation. "[ really wanted to make it look it was disappearing into infinity." says Mark. He had a piece of glass posi· tioned between the camera and the ship. F[rst, Mark animated the model ship as far Into the distance as his aereal brace would allow. Then, he looked through the camera and outlined thl!: position of the ship onto acetate. Mark then took this drawing and, using a mechanical device call1!:d a "lucy," created 200utlines of the ship of decreasing s[ze, the last being hardly larger than a dot. Mark then painted color and detail onto each of the outl ines guided by a color Polaroid photo of the ship.

To photograph the 20 cutouts, Mark at· tached them to animation cels that were attached to the glass in front of the camera. With each succeeding frame ex­posure he replaced one cutout ship with a sma l [er one. The effect on film [s of the ship takingoff like a bullet traveling miles ina second Mark adds, "To help hide the substitution of the cutouts for the real ship. I rubbed Vaseline in selected areas on anoLhersheet of glass-one still closer to the camera. It looked like a blur-a big 'swish!-that really helped out."

Fifteen subsequent passes enhanced this Image bycreating varlouseffects with cel art. One pass put in lens flare seeming­Iy caused by the rocket's brillianl light. Another ~sscreated the "energy trail" or streak of fading light left by thedeparting ship. Four passes created the lighl from the rear engines: one pass each for red. orange. bright yellow. and white lights.

The SkyScraper Is uprooli!lld in an lncT!dibie long shoI: thai suspends disbeliel. Real people and traffic ITlOYe in Itle foreground 10 revealltle Immensity oIlhe building as it rises Skyward. as rubble drops from its base. Three passes were used to photograph (Jawsllanlmator)whowasal readywork· swirling paint in an attempt to visualize ing out there. "I had to set a deadline for an "energy force" as the ship leaves. but myself to move out." Mark remembers, " I this is barely evident in the footage. Five do that when I'm working too-I have to passes werl!: needed to simulate light or inertia sets in!" changes on the mountaIns and douds as When he gol to California, Mark found the ship passes by. One pass recorded a that it was necessary 10 have his film shortblastofani!lircompresserlnflourto transfered to both Beli!l i!lnd VHS video create a blast of dust kicked up by the tapes because many places do not have ship's ascent from the desert. 16mm projecters. Mark got some good

A!tll.:tions to his film ond encouragement, THE BIG MOVE but no job offers. Mtltte painter Dave

Ittook2 years, $3,000.00. and30 paint· Stipes refered Mark to renowned stop­ings to do It. but in May 1982 Highrisewas motion animator Jim Danforth. At the completed. Mark decided to move 10 Cal · time, Danforth was looking for help doing ifornia. encouraged by his friend Ted Rae the matte work on the tv series Bring em

ClNEMAGfC-23 33

Above: Miniature cl~ape btJilt for aefial and ground P.OV. Shots. AbCMI right: Mark Sullivan positions the model ~raper rigged on an aerial bna. Right: The alien cl1ft '"fIies" the stolen skyscraper up, up and~. Below: Skyscraper comes in for a landing 00 a desert landscape. built from a background paint· ing and a Ior~round miniature.

34 ClNEMAG/C"23

Back Alive. With Highn'se under his arm, Mark went to see the famed creator of special visual effects. He got the Job. Mark worked with Jim Danfort h for the next 12 months, and most recently has been painting mattes for the tv able station Showtime fortne seriesFaJry Tale Theatre.

"A lotof people have ideas," Mark reaf· firms, " But for some reason they just ain't make their film .ljust wanted /0 makelhis mouier'

Mark Sullivan has left his basement in Columbus far behind. It hasn't been easy getting a start in the highly competitive world of Gllifornia filmmaking. It takes a high power combination of drive. lalent and commitment. .. and a little luck along the way. The luckconsistsor being in the right place at t he right time, but hanging around Hol lywood will get you nowhere unless you have something to show-a good film and the will to succeed. (Jf

•

..

I..tl: Assistin~ Jim DanIOrth, Mark SuHivaIl helped erealllthis mane shot lor TV's Eking '11m Back AIm. BtIft~ A mIJtIpIn: miniature landscape set-up for HJrPriu. Each level 01 !he miniature IarIdscape was anmated at a different speed " give the effect of the camera zoomi"lg aIollllthe terfain, follOwing the alien craft with the buldiog il tow.. TlIs p<e the shot a vet}' realislic ~ with !he begrotnl going bot fas1Br than the backuround. The IIKIreme fore.. ground was IT'IIM!d slightly during each expo5lIfe " ere_ a realistic blulmg effect. The fat baclqjround IeYeI 01 the miniature landscape and \he bactrQround paintillll 'Nett stationary. The glass /\as an airbrushed atmospheric haze effect. BotIom lilt ~ Rae (right) assim Marti: with a background blend for the ''low Plains Gritter" Shots. 10m Sul.van-tne ·lOW plains drlft&r'!...is slttillll (center) and Mart has his back to the camera . Bottom right A detail of ooe of the paintings created for Highris8 .

ClNEMAG/C"23 35

SPECIAL EffECTS, Vol. 1 See the amazing world of minialurM and model animation- from King Kong to Ray Harryhausen and lV's Land Of The Lost. Special blueprint section includes: the Naulilus from 20,m Leagues Under The Sea, Robby the Robot, th e C-570 flying saucer from Forbidden Planet. Behind-the-scenes color photos from 8attlestar: Galacrica, Space: 1999, The Lost Saucer and SF classics like Close Encounters, Flight To Mars, Thunderbirds, War of the Worlds, Star Trek ... morel

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NEW! HIGH· TECH FILMMAKING! Just published, this newest volume in the STARLOG Photo Guidebook series on Special Effects takes you on a trip into the gleaming world of modorn film wonders - the technologies that create Hollywood's special effects for science f iction, horror and fantasy movies. In this exciting book you ' ll read about computer animation, robot cameras and new optical processes. SPECIAL EFFECTS, Vol. 3 lets you visit the shops of many of the technical arti sts who make the "impossible" their everyday job. Lavishly illustrat ed with page after page of photos (many in full color) this new book takes you on the sets of recent films like Star Wars, Flash Gordon, ALIEN, The Empire Strikes Back. Altered States. The Black Hole, lV's Dr. Who. Cosmos, and morel Oiscover the innerworkings of Doug Trumbull's new ShowScan process and the new double-70mm 3-D system. If you are interested in filmmaking. here, in one volume, is your chance to learn about present-day techn iques in special effects- and also glimpse what the futu re holds.

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