a certain type of distortion from "Fear and Loathing"

[aemilia scott]

Hi all,

I recently rewatched "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and saw a type of distortion I'd like to recreate. Specifically, it happens when they are first driving the strip, and the images of the Casino marquees for The Riviera and The Stardust roll past their view. It's a sort of elliptical, rotating distortion. Almost as if the image is projected onto a plane that itself is moving and rotating. I'm hoping, for the record, that this was done in camera.

Thanks much,
Aemilia

[Erik Bien]

"The effects are about as cutting-edge as they can be without being insane," notes [VFX Supervisor Kent] Houston, an associate of Gilliam since Monty Python days, "but our work is meant to enhance the film and not call a great deal of attention to itself. The trickery is only to aid Terry's aims."

An example of this is the establishing shot of Duke and Gonzo driving down Fremont Street to the main entrance of the Mint Hotel in downtown Vegas, which looks vastly different today than it did in 1971. "That's been done as a composite of live action and a computer-generated matte," notes [VF Coordinator Michael] Cooper, "with animated lights, more people and a very stylized sky at sundown."

— Fear and Loathing Production Notes
Dreams, the Terry Gilliam Fanzine