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MillimeterThe Two-hour pilot for Fox's newest action series, Dark Angel, debuts in October with inevitable fanfare, largely because the program was co-created by James Cameron, who also co-wrote and co-produced the show with partner, Charles Eglee. The pilot and the series, which take place in Seattle in the year 2020, focus on the adventures of a genetically enhanced young woman as she battles the mysterious forces behind a major economic disaster.
The pilot, directed by David Nutter, was filmed over the course of 30 days in Vancouver this past spring. Largely because of Cameron's involvement and the $10 million budget (including money spent ot conform an HD version at Encore, Hollywood), it was clear from the early days of production that the two-hour pilot would air. But not even Cameron's reputation could insulate filmmakers from the arduous process of earning a series commitment from Fox executives for the 2000 season. The method that they used to win an 11-episode commitment is both instructive and a testament to what co-producer/creator Eglee calls "efficient filmmaking."
Initially, filmmakers presumed they had time only to craft a 20-minute highlight presentation for network executives. The efficiency of the Vancouver shoot and its resulting dailies, shot by Canadian DP Peter Wunstorf under Nutter's direction, however, provided Avid editor Steven Mark with enough material (Digi-Beta, standard-definition video, downconverted from original film-to-HD transfers) to begin work on the rough cut even before the shoot was complete. "We shot it in about 30 days and had about two weeks after that to put the presentation together," says Eglee. "What gave us a shot was the fact that [Mark] gave us a rough cut of the entire two-hour show just four days after we finished shooting up in Canada. That quick work gave our creative team almost two weeks to evaluate the material and improve it, in time for our meeting with Fox."
Filmmakers decided to present the entire rough cut to Fox executives, rather than a highlight presentation or trailer. "In the past," says Nutter, "the only pilots I had been involved with that did not sell were ones that were pitched with trailers or short presentations." Nutter secured Cameron's agreement to go with a rough cut.
"I figured," says Mark, "that since I was getting film daily, I should cut daily for the final show. So I was cutting material as it came in. They finished shooting on a Thursday, and while I'm doing this, James Cameron popped in to see me on Saturday. At that point, he was still talking about making a trailer for the network, and I mentioned that most TV shows I've been involved with required a more substantial presentation. On Sunday, I showed Cameron, Nutter, and Charles Eglee my rough cut, and we all agreed we should show them the whole show, even with temp music and effects."
In the two weeks prior to their network meeting, the notoriously meticulous Cameron worked closely with Mark to massage the edit into his original vision for the show. Mark says that Cameron even handled the Avid himself. "Keep in mind, the guy earned his first Academy Award for editing," notes Mark. "One day, Cameron came in and worked on the early part of the show himself, using the Avid well into the late evening. He was particularly concerned that the lead character, Max [portrayed by Jessica Alba], be portrayed subtly. She's a genetically enhanced character, but not super-powered, so he wanted to demonstrate her skills in a particular way. By the end of that evening, with myself providing support, Jim had plowed through the opening and the first two acts." Cameron, understanding that they would not meet the delivery date if he meticulously poured over the entire rough cut, then turned the controls over to Mark who completed the rest of the edit in time for network presentation.
Nutter, a veteran of several pilots (Millennium and Roswell among others) and currently working on the Steven Spielberg-produced HBO miniseries, A Band of Brothers, says Dark Angel proved to him that with the right team and plan, one can produce polished material quickly. "Dark Angel is the most polished pilot I've done, and we had less time on this project than any of my others," he states. "We produced a two-hour, close-to-finished pilot in less time than most one-hour pilots are produced."
Sidebar 1: Space Needle in CG
The signature shot in the Dark Angel series shows heroine Max [Jessica Alba] at the top of a decaying Seattle Space Needle looking down on a cityscape of the near future. The motion-control shot, which starts tight on Alba's face and then pulls wide to give a panoramic view of Seattle from high atop the Space Needle, typifies the type of visual effects featured in Dark Angel: shots designed to enhance reality.
The Space Needle shot, like several others among the two-hour pilot's 65 digital shots, was created by Rainmaker Digital, Vancouver. Rainmaker collaborated on that shot and several others with Encore, Hollywood, who also performed the color correction, online edit, and HD and NTSC conforms. (At press time, Hollyood Digital was slated to perform final assembly and color correction work on the upcomng series, while Rainmaker Digital was scheduled to share visual effects work on the show with Riot, Encore, and several other Los Angeles-area facilities, according to producers.)
Elan Soltes, the show's visual-effects supervisor, says that the Space Needle shot was central to setting the tone for the entire Dark Angel series. "In the story, Seattle is suffering from economic decay, and the city is darker and more depressed," Soltes says. "We agreed to create a virtual Seattle landscape and a CG Space Needle. Our original desire to shoot the Needle live and then alter it digitally in post wasn't very practical, since the shot pulls out 400 to 500 feet away from the Needle."
Soltes, animators from Rainmaker Digital, director David Nutter, and producers James Cameron and Charles Eglee paid several scouting visits to the Needle and won permission from Seattle authorities to climb around on the Needle's sleek outer surface, secured by harnesses, while taking reference photography.
Using those reference photos Rainmaker created an elaborate previsualization of the shot in LightWave version 5.6. That work permitted DP Peter Wunstorf to shoot Alba's character on a platform in front of a large green screen on a Vancouver stage, using a motion-control rig that pulled about 40 feet away from the actress.
"In the real shot, of course, the camera had to pull between 400 and 500 feet away from her, a lot farther than the motion-control rig had room to do on the stage," says Brian Moylan, Rainmaker's director of digital imaging. "We kept rolling film from 40 feet away, and later in our Inferno bay, we moved her within in the comp to make it appear the shot pulled away more dramatically. We built a CG Space Needle in LightWave, based on our scouting trips there, and worked out the rest of the camera move based on our previz work."
Sidebar 2: James Cameron on TV
James Cameron's role as co-producer/creator/writer for the Dark Angel pilot - the beginning of what he hopes will be a significant television career - presented a significant learning curve, even for a filmmaker with Cameron's pedigree. Cameron recently told Millimeter that this transition into television writing and producing is long overdue.
"I've always considered myself a writer who sort of has to direct to tell the stories I want to tell the way I want to tell them," he says. "Consequently, I view the move into television as a natural extension for me - an alternative means for telling stories."
Cameron, however, readily admits that he needed a television expert to guide him through the medium. Therefore, the timing of Dark Angel's debut revolved around the availability of his old friend, producer/writer Charles Eglee. Cameron worked with Eglee early in his career under low-budget film guru, Roger Corman. While Cameron went on to features, Eglee won Emmys for his work on Moonlighting, L.A. Law, NYPD Blue, Murder One, and several other shows.
"Television is a complex medium, and I knew I needed to partner with someone experienced in this area if I was going to have a shot at success in this new endeavor," says Cameron.
With Dark Angel, however, Eglee yielded to Cameron's experience with the sci-fi genre. "[Eglee] made concessions to me in going for a genre that I have a lot of experience and comfort with, but which was new for him," says Cameron. "As we got deeper into it, I think we realized science fiction doesn't have to be about gadgets, cyborgs, aliens, and unrelatable, distant futures. We made the sci-fi elements of Dark Angel provide an interesting backdrop for our action and a back story for our lead character."
Cameron concedes that Dark Angel and his future TV work will draw inevitable comparisons to his theatrical work. But he resists suggestions that television is too "limiting" a medium for a filmmaker with his well-documented impulse for perfection.
"Everyone keeps asking me how I'm dealing with the limitations of television - the tight schedules, slim budgets, and immutable delivery demands," says Cameron. "From my perspective, that is a small and manageable price to pay for the many liberating aspects of the medium. I look at this as an opportunity to grow characters, explore new worlds, and develop relationships over at least 13 hours (the series' initial run), versus the two to three hour absolute limit on any theatrical presentation. Television also gives you a chance to experiment, take chances, and make a few well-intentioned mistakes."