 |
|||||||||||||
Creating an Illusion... |
|||||||||||||
| The essence of making Memoirs of An Invisible Man work on the big screen lay in its ability to convincingly render Nick Holloway’s invisibility. "This was the key to the entire movie," explains Carpenter, "because in order to empathize with Nick’s predicament, the audience has to see how Nick experiences his environment once he’s invisible. They have to share his confusion and discomfort, as well as his sense of triumph when he figures out how to turn things to his advantage." The production team turned to the filmmaking industry’s pre-eminent talents at bringing the unbelievable to life: the special visual effects team at Industrial Light and Magic. Created by filmmaker George Lucas to provide effects for his Star Wars trilogy, ILM has since become responsible for award-winning images in some of the best-known films of the past two decades, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Field of Dreams, and Ghost. Under the supervision of two-time Oscar-winner BRUCE NICHOLSON, the ILM team created some visual effects never before seen, many with the help of a computer technique called digital compositing. Explains ILM’s Digital Effects Manager STUART ROBERTSON, "Digital film technology allows a move to be scanned into a computer and then converted to image digits. Each frame of film can then be manipulated on the screen like electronic clay, re-colored, re-sized, replicated or, as in the case of Chevy Chase’s body, eliminated completely. The new pictures are then converted back into film and a new negative is run out of the computer." This technique allowed invisibility to be portrayed onscreen in a newly sophisticated way, so that backgrounds could change and move while the character’s invisible self was in the foreground. "Some of the moments of outright physical humor would not have been possible without this technology", says CHEVY CHASE. "There’s a scene where I’m being pursued by Jenkins’ men and I have to take off my clothes in order to disappear from their sight. Using this technique, my invisible self was able to peel off clothing and keep running until nothing was left except my voice." The blue-screen process, which allows certain images to disappear or become superimposed on others in filmmaking post-production, also played an important role in creating the illusion of invisibility. Chase spent two painstaking weeks of process work at ILM’s studios in San Rafael, California, varying his wardrobe and makeup to fit the scene: blue bodysuit, hood, makeup and special contact lenses and black wardrobe and makeup which included blackening his teeth, tongue and hair. The black contact lenses were designed to completely cover his eyeballs and could be worn for no more than 15 minutes at a time. "Shooting special effects is always demanding," comments Carpenter. "It requires a different attention span and focus than directing a regular scene. You have to be very patient and technically minded. At the same time, you have to retain the aesthetic of what you’re trying to do." |
|||||||||||||
About the Story... |
|||||||||||||
About the Production... |
|||||||||||||
Locations, Real and Otherwise... |
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||