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Next-Gen Indy

May 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Michael Goldman

New techniques deliver traditional looks on the latest in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Spielberg's Take on Visual Effects

In February, as he took time out from posting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society (VES) (see digitalcontentproducer.com/podcasts/audio/ves_lifetime_achievement_spielberg_0211), Steven Spielberg sat down with millimeter for an exclusive conversation about his relationship to, and influence on, the visual-effects community. Here are excerpts of his conversation with senior editor Michael Goldman:

millimeter: What have you learned from many of the luminaries in this industry, such as Dennis Muren and Pablo Helman, with whom you have worked closely over the years?

Spielberg: The thing I learned most from Dennis is that nothing can't be creatively accomplished. Dennis was the one who fearlessly led me into the land of digital dinosaurs when I was perfectly happy to do it the [Ray] Harryhausen way with Phil Tippett, the brilliant effects artist, doing some of our dinosaurs [for Jurassic Park]. But when Dennis showed me some of the technology he was working on, I basically made a decision to direct the first picture where all the stars, at least all the box-office stars, were going to be digital stars.

I knew [this was changing filmmaking]. I could see it happen before my eyes. We all were experiencing a tectonic shift with special-effects plates. It was kind of amazing, because I was both in awe of that technology and thrilled with the opportunity, but also a bit in mourning for the past. I'm kind of a sentimental kind of guy, and I was sad to see what was going to supplant all the tactile artistry of hands-on go-motion — the movement of the armature, which had been the state of the art for decades. I was sad to see that go. As a matter of fact, I showed the test that Dennis did for me to Ray Harryhausen the first day that I met him, and Ray joined me in saying goodbye to the past and welcoming the future with open arms.

Had digital technology been available back in the 1970s, though, would a movie like Jaws, for instance, have been the same movie? Or does it change the basic creative intent of a piece?

Well, no, Jaws would not have been the same movie with CG, because I could have accomplished all my shark shots according to all the hundreds of storyboards I had drawn. What helped make Jaws a really good movie, from just a pretty good movie, was the fact that the shark didn't work at all and I had to fall back on a Hitchcock trick, which convinced the audience they were seeing what was not visible to the naked eye. And that cranked up the suspense in a way that, had I had the shark in every shot, the suspense would not have been there. So my feeling about that basically is that Jaws was always meant to be Jaws, and it was only really going to be successful before the digital times.

But there are other movies that would have been, I think, equally enjoyable. I think ET, had we had a digital extra-terrestrial instead of a mechanical one, I don't think it would have changed the movie that much. The only difference would have been the kids would not have been as good with their reactions to what was physically on the floor right there with them, evoking those tremendously deep emotions from [actors] Drew [Barrymore] and Henry [Thomas] and all of my cast. They were really involved in acting with another actor, who happened to be a mechanical one. A digital ET would have been a stand-in puppet that would not have blinked. The kids would have had to use their imaginations, which would probably have created a lot of distrust, because actors need to trust to be honest emotionally. And ET really brought the performances out of those kids.

How important are digital tools in helping you visualize shots and illustrate them for your collaborators?

I first used digital previsualization technology on a concept shot for Minority Report when the spyders scanned a tenement building in the urban sprawl. That was a very good experience for me, and I've been using digital previsualization ever since. However, I think I need to point out that I still do my own storyboards. So not all of the storyboards [for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull] are being done the modern way. Even though every effects shot on Kingdom had a previz storyboard that we all worked from, I still hired several conventional storyboard artists to first sketch my angles flat 2D before [Previsualization Supervisor] Dan Gregoire's team rendered them in 3D.

Despite your pioneering work in visual effects, you remain by your own admission, a traditional filmmaker from a production point of view. Have your views on digital filmmaking changed any since your last chat with millimeter? (See digitalcontentproducer.com/digitalfilm/video_spielberg_goes_retro.)

Like I've always said: I'll happily attach my caboose to this large freight train if all theaters get rid of 35mm [projection] systems and put in digital systems. I want to keep making movies, but I'll be the last car on the train. I love that Luddite quality of being respectful of the people who taught me how to be a better director — people who only knew film and only knew KEMs and Moviolas. In honor of them, and because I love the past, and especially the old guys who made the great films in the '30s and '40s and '50s, I do not feel it is a dichotomy for me to be shooting on film, but digitally working in special effects. It's a great marriage.

But [even then], if a day comes when I have to shoot a digital movie because there is no other exhibition technology to get it out in the theaters, then I will simply make a second digital pass and put back the grain and the scratches. And we're going to stay cutting on film.

Because that is your chosen path, what advice would you give to other filmmakers about the best path to choose — traditional or digital?

I would just say that everybody needs to find their own path. It's nothing that I can suggest. I can really neither advise nor consent with another filmmaker, especially those that work for my company, DreamWorks, on what process they want to make their movies in. They have that freedom of choice. If they are filmmakers that were brought up on a digital camera, or a video camera that later went into the digital realm, then they will probably want to shoot their first feature digitally, which is fine by me. I can only account for myself, and I can't impose technical tools on any filmmaker.

Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
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