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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The running scene in Contact

T

Truls Skare

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Just saw this movie again, its been a long time since a saw it last and I had completley forgotten this scene.

The scene starts with tracking Eleanor facing the camera as she runs up some stairs through a hallway to a cabinet to get medicine for her father while the shot is ramping into slow motion. The scene ends seamless into the mirror image on the mirror of the cabinet.

As I understand they used a bluescreen on the mirror of the cabinet and combined the two shots.

The scene is in fact so perfect that it is easy to overlook ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjqGOekw00
 
I didn't notice that. Great shot! So the girl had to match her movement of opening the mirror cupboard (with a greenscreen as a mirror) so that the shot and the opening of the cupboard would look identical, right?
 
Holy Balls! That's amazing. I think for the long steadicam shot, they had her probably reaching for a green ball or something where the mirrors knob would be, then matched it up with a practical shot they did where she is running towards the mirror. They probably shot her reflection in the practical shot too, for reference. Then somehow, using magic pixie dust, the shot turned out amazing.

(If you look closely right before she opens the mirror, you can see where the digital gently transitions to the practical.)
 
You guys should send an email to Don Burgess via the asc and he will tell you exactly how they did it. It is a beautiful shot and one of the very first things I asked him after seeing the film. Send your email to kim@theasc.com Kim Weston is the assistant to the President. She will pass it on to Don and he will give you the details. Sharing information is one of the things we do at the asc. Best, FKenny, ASC
 
I have always thought Zemeckis is an incredible visual director. This is a great scene. I don't know how it was done, but you could do it by having two shots. One being the steadicam shot where the girl is running, reaching her hand out. The second being the actual opening the mirror door. Instead of the mirror, you have a bluescreen. Compositing the first shot on this bluescreen and with some digital trickery, you could have this shot. If you notice carefully, the reaching out does not exactly match as a reflection - but is convincing enough in motion.

Of course, it could be done in a different way I'm unaware of, but this is my guess.
 
Contact

Contact

The extras menu on the DVD shows exactly how it's done along with all the other fx stuff. In effect, they did exactly as above - the actress matched her actions opening the mirror door (which was blue/green - I forget) to the plate shot that was done on Steadicam. I recall they even recreated the bevelled edges of the mirror in post for reality. One of my all time favourite movies.

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery - I did a poor man's version of it on a show that I shot and it worked very well.
 
What's missing here is the beautiful way they held the shot on the cabinet for a little while enforcing the idea that she grabbed the wrong bottle. I love this movie.
 
I remember watching this in the theaters and thinking about the shot for a very long time. Actually til it was released with the behind the scenes. Quite amazing to even come up with something like that. it's either Zemeckis or Fincher always going through something.
 
Had to go back and watch the entire movie yesterday after seeing this post. I would say it has much more than its fair share of amazing shots!

It's like every third shot was impossible. I particularly like where we see Jodie Foster sitting at the edge of a cliff and then the camera swings around to show her face on. I know the cliff was chromakeyed and the camera wasn't going over the edge, but just to go to the effort shot after shot is really commendable. You'd think they would get tired and say "can we please just get a static for once?" :biggrinjester:

The special features on that DVD are like a crash course in VFX.
 
jimhare said:
Had to go back and watch the entire movie yesterday after seeing this post. I would say it has much more than its fair share of amazing shots!

It's like every third shot was impossible. I particularly like where we see Jodie Foster sitting at the edge of a cliff and then the camera swings around to show her face on. I know the cliff was chromakeyed and the camera wasn't going over the edge, but just to go to the effort shot after shot is really commendable. You'd think they would get tired and say "can we please just get a static for once?" :biggrinjester:

The special features on that DVD are like a crash course in VFX.
Click to expand...

Actually I think that was a crane shot. The compositing was to add dishes in the background.

Another amazing shot is the seamless blend between Steadicam shot on location at the real VLA into Steadicam shot on the interior VLA control room set, when Ellie is running from her car inside after hearing the signal in the desert!

I'm sure Tom L will have something to add. He seems to admire this film as much as I do when we were talking about it in the "single greatest shot" thread!! :smile:
 
I'm thinking about buying the blu-ray. I wonder if it has the same special features as the DVD or maybe more? :)
 
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