Pre-1989 Set extensions - Superman 1978

With the new release of the Batman V Superman movie, I thought it would be appropriate to write about a film that would be fitting, and that would be Superman (1978), directed by Richard Donner. The main reason for choosing this film was its cutting technology (of its time) of front projection. I remember watching a TV program of paramount studios talking about how it was done and when I heard we had this project I went straight to this film. In my essay I will be talking about how I thought it was done, using what I've learnt during the year about VFX and how it would be done in the modern age of film. Then I shall talk about how it was done and comparing the differences to what has changed between the times. For example of films I'll be using the current Man of Steel, directed by Zack Synder.

Superman (1978), even though it was made well over 30 years ago, I feel that a lot of effects and way of shooting tends to stay some what similar to what they used to, but just refining and increase in VFX/CGI in action movies.

A lot of the films that I end up watching, especially VFX heavy films, I like to see if they have a showreel or a breakdown/behind the scenes to see how they have done it. I found that in Man of Steel they used this platform for the heroes and villains to create the illusion of them flying. Then in post they would key out the green and roto out the rest of the platform and do touch up to the the actors bodies. However I think that this method could also have been used in the 1978 Superman film, but without the use of the green screen and the VFX of the backdrop. In Man of Steel they also used a mass amount of wires, which was another technique to create the illusion of flying, which in post would be a lot easier to clean up, but I doubt that they would have used this as much as they would have done in 1978.

My main idea for how the Superman (1978) was done, brings me back to one of the first month or so of coming to university and learning about George Melies and his "The Four Troublesome Heads" film, this films of his is very short, but it shows himself taking his head of multiple times and placing them on the table and they keep on moving.

Video of "The Four Troublesome Heads" by George Melies :

From what I understand on how he did, was that he would expose certain parts of the film and and covering up the parts with black pieces of card so that part would no be exposed, in which that part being his head. He would then use a prop head to take to the table and then use simple cuts from him taking his head off and putting it on the table, cutting from the prop to his real head again.

Using the parts that were exposed and weren't he could have created mattes to remove his head from the shot.

I think that a method very similar to George Melies could have been used in the Superman (1978) Film. Simply by creating a matte for the background and over exposing the actor you would be able to create a matte. However I'm not sure this would be possible with just one camera. I think that they would have had to use at least two cameras to create this effect.

One of the most interesting things that I found while watching the footage for the Superman (1878) flying scenes was when they would shoot him flying, they mainly tried to keep the shot above head height or close ups on his face. I think this was done so it was less work trying to remove the platform he would lie on.

Putting these together, all you would have to add would be the backdrop, which could pre-recorded from helicopter with a camera to get the aerial shot to give the illusion of superman flying.

How it was actually done ?

Front projection was originally used as an alternative to back projection for live action compositing because it was more efficient.

"It used the same pin-registered projector with the addition of a beam-splitter mirror in front of the projection lens and a camera support (in much the same way as the first digital scanners consisted of a standard optical printer with a digital camera mounted in place of the film camera – a good example of evolution). Specially designed front-projection units came later equipped with nodal heads enabling the camera to pan and tilt across the composite image and even pan off the beam splitter onto an extended foreground set. It was still essentially a fixed set up just as back-projection but it required much less stage space" - https://www.fxphd.com/blog/effects-of-days-past-making-superman-fly/

The Zoptic Flying Rig :

Another addition on Superman II was the Zoptic Flying Rig which was suspended from the ceiling and had a 360 degrees rotation in addition to pan and tilt and could be operated manually or remotely. (We also had a motion control computer control unit that could record and playback the Flying Rig moves but soon discovered its limitations for most live action shots). I designed this rig and had it built during the hiatus between the end of production on Superman and the “resumption” of shooting on Superman II (The major portion of Superman II had already been shot by Richard Donner back-to-back with the first movie except for visual effects).

- https://www.fxphd.com/blog/effects-of-days-past-making-superman-fly/

I first came in contact with front-projection on 2001 – A Space Odyssey during the shooting of the ‘Dawn of Man’ sequence. The equipment was devised by Tommy Howard and used to project large format stills taken in Africa. It was an unwieldy, cumbersome contraption but the results were incredible. (The set was built on a rotating stage to facilitate changes of angle, with a large front-projection screen behind it.)

- https://www.fxphd.com/blog/effects-of-days-past-making-superman-fly/

Front projection, even though it is quiet old and isn't used much, there was a case in that it was used a a current film called Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nollan. In many of Nollan's films he uses a lot of practical effects and if he can do it practically he will do. Therefore he used front projection for the actors to look out the windows of the space craft. In post they ended up removing most of the projections and replacing them with VFX/CGI models, it gives the actors a chance to sell the shot more than they would have been able to have when just looking at a green screen.

Superman flight scene :

How could have it been done these days ?

Earlier in the essay I wrote about the Man of Steel film, which was shot in a similar way, using some of the same techniques in this film. For example the platform and the wires that they used in man of steel was also used in superman (1978) to give the effect of superman flying. However in the current man of steel they use a green screen behind the actor in which they use a program, such as nuke to make a key to remove the green. In case of them removing the wires or platform, they will roto them out, or in some programs they have a plugin or an effect that removes them.

For the background where the green screen was they will normally create a whole 3D scene in Maya. Creating these scenes take a long time and will have multiple people working on these shots for months. Once the scenes and models that have been created they will then be working with the animation team that will animate the character flying through the scene and also mapping out the camera angles. Then this is taken into some sort of rendering plugin and rendered out. To finish everything off it would most likely be brought into to a compositing program, such a Nuke to add in the final touches, such as grain, lens distortion and chromatic aberration and colour correction.

"MPC was responsible for developing the digital versions of Superman and Faora-Ul. “It took us half a year to build detailed high resolution CG doubles so they would hold up full-frame on the camera,” states Guillaume Rocheron. “If you look at a digital Superman and the face doesn’t look like him it breaks the illusion."

- http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2013/07/fight-flight-making-of-man-of-steel/

Could this have been done in 2.5D ?

I believe some of the shot for Man of Steel could have used 2.5D in some of there shot and most likely did do. I think shots like this one below may have done.

Using this shot as an example this could have used 2.5d in its final shot. Using a key to removing the green. I believe the shot would have been at a different angle so he would only have to be keyed out instead of rotoed, but if not they would of had to rotoed around the actor as well. Then it would be as simple as filling in the background. the floor would have most likely been extended using a 3D program, such as maya and then in the distance would be filled with the sky and mountains. As the sky and the mountains are so far in the distance it would be no use for them being done in 3D, or at least tracked and put in place.

Conclusion:

In conclusion superman has changed a lot over the years in terms of VFX, however has also stayed the same. They still use the some of the same techniques still in current films and no doubt will continue using them. The idea of front projection in the 1978 Superman even though isn't really used anymore, the use of it in interstellar gave the actors something to look at, which I believe can make them fool the audience into believing the reality of the film even more so that usual. The idea of them using a platform and wires still hold up in the current film of superman today and is clearly seen it was also used in the 1978 version as well, even though something change in film, others wont. VFX continues to grow as the years go by, quickly evolving and new technology coming around the corner. For which in many people would agree with me that VR (virtual reality) is becoming very big in games and videos on the internet and surely will be coming to film sometime in the near future.