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asked the then 24-year-old Dozoretz to help him with his fourth Star Wars movie. “George’s storyboards were fantastic,” says Dozoretz, “but as he got into doing animatics we left many of them behind.” But Lucas wasn’t into the technology for its own sake: “It’s about filmmaking,” says Dozoretz, who originally used Form.Z but now uses Maya with After Effects and Premier for <strong>com</strong>positing. “George knows what filmmaking tools work for him and animatics are one of those tools.” In the end, 45 minutes of Episode I was previsualized in 3D before filming started. By the time it came to work on Episode II, the entire movie was shot in animatics. Narrative and control Lucas uses animatics as a narrative tool: his animatic team headed by Dozoretz concentrate almost entirely on storytelling, plot, and character development. Learning to fly Oliver Hotz took pre-viz and animatics a step further when working on The Aviator. While steps 1-4 show the XF-11 spy plane and the pilot, Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), crashing in Beverly Hills, stills 5 and 6 show Hotz’s motion control camera and motion Above: George Lucas’ remarkably detailed storyboards were left redundant when he discovered what could be achieved with animatics. control base. Shots developed in animatic were programmed into the live action rig and the camera and the sequence was then run. If the rig set-up couldn’t handle the movement required for the shot, the filmmakers But as well as creative control, animatics give filmmakers acute technical control. California-based <strong>com</strong>pany Pixel Liberation Front (PLF) has a reputation for hardcore problemsolving using animatics. The <strong>com</strong>pany has worked on dozens of films, from Disney’s My Favourite Martian to the Matrix series. Ron Frankel was a member of PLF before setting up his own <strong>com</strong>pany, Proof Inc. Frankel says he worked with both creative- and technical-minded directors. Spielberg, he says, wanted to “get the major beats down.” David Fincher on the other hand wanted: “a map for each setup – with equipment, what lens was needed, camera moves, and actor placements,” when he came to make Panic Room. Panic Room is set in a four-storey Manhatten brownstown. The house is equipped with a “panic room”, a refuge in case of intruders. On the first night in their new home Meg Altman and her daughter are burgled, forcing them to retreat to the panic room. The film unfolds from there, as the intruders try to force their way in. The camera is king in this movie, sweeping seamlessly through the building and between floors, ratcheting up the tension. Each shot was meticulously prepared. “David decided to previsualize the entire film,” says Frankel. “We rendered everything out as AVI files … we could load up an AVI file, the director could make changes as he was sitting there and we could hit a button for the next frame capture. Sometimes he’d still be talking when we were able to show him the new version.” A feature of animatic is its un-realism. It means 1 2 3 4 IN <strong>2005</strong>, ANIMATICS IS AN IMPORTANT AND INFLUENTIAL PART OF THE MOVIE-MAKING PROCESS 5 could <strong>com</strong>pensate with camera movement. Hotz says: “For me and everyone on set, that was the most fascinating and beneficial part. The motion control/base worked so well I’m going to use it on every project now.” d 45 animatics 6
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