The Director’s Method in Contemporary Visual Effects Film: The Influence of Digital Effects on Film Directing Gianluca Balla PhD University of York Theatre, Film and Television September 2016 Abstract The director’ s method – meant as the organisation of the filmmaking process – is usually characterised by common procedures such as work on the script, shot design and the actors’ performance. For films involving a large-scale use of digital effects, directors consistently approach such procedures with a particular attitude dictated by the digital pipeline, the step-by- step technical procedure through which computer-generated images are created. In light of this, the use of digital effects might influence the director’s method. This thesis aims to define what is considered to be a consensual methodological approach to direct films with no or few digital effects and then compares this approach to when such effects are conspicuously involved. This analysis is conducted through interviews with working directors, visual effects companies and practitioners, and integrated with the current literature. The frame of the research is represented by a large spectrum of contemporary films produced in western countries and which involve digital effects at different scales and complexity but always in interaction with live-action. The research focuses on commercial films and excludes computer-animated and experimental films. The research is intended to address an area in production studies which is overlooked. In fact, although the existent literature examines both digital effects and film directing as distinct elements, there is to date no detailed analysis on the influence that the former has on the latter. In light of this, this dissertation seeks to fill a gap in production studies. The research looks to argue that the director’s method has been changed by the advent of digital effects; it describes a common workflow for digital effects film and notes the differences between this method and the method applied when digital effects are not involved. This is of significant importance for a film industry which is heavily dependent on such effects, as the analysis on contemporary filmmaking reveals. 2 List of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ 2 List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. 6 Preface .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 10 Author’s Declaration ................................................................................................................ 11 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter One Methodological Approach to the Research ............................................................................. 18 Questions Motivating the Research and the Method Adopted ................................................ 18 Defining Categories of Films to Frame the Research ............................................................. 20 Impact of the Research on Academia and the Film Industry .................................................. 22 Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 24 Acquisition and Interpretation of Data .................................................................................... 31 Terminology ............................................................................................................................ 34 Chapter Two The Director’s Task: Method and its Adaptation .................................................................. 36 Construction of the Director’s Role in Academia and the Film Industry ............................... 36 Industrial Directing Models .................................................................................................... 42 Directing Practice and Key Creative Relationships with Other Roles .................................... 48 The Method as a Procedure to Avoid Inefficiency ................................................................. 51 Style and Method: The Decision-Making Process Described in Industrial Accounts ............ 55 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 58 Chapter Three Filmmaking Involving Digital Effects: A Unique Process ..................................................... 60 An Introduction to Digital Effects Creation ............................................................................ 60 A Brief History of Visual Effects and the Digital Era ............................................................ 63 Digital Effects Creation in Contemporary Film: The Digital Pipeline ................................... 69 The Visual Effects Supervisor ................................................................................................ 83 3 How the Viewer Perceives Digital Effects .............................................................................. 88 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 91 Chapter Four Pre-production with and without Digital Effects .................................................................... 92 The Development Phase .......................................................................................................... 92 Working on the Script as the First Task for Film Directors .................................................... 93 Script Analysis: A Common Approach ................................................................................... 99 Visualisation: Where Digital Effects Start to Influence the Director’s Method .................... 106 The Visual Effects Supervisor as Proxy Director: Differences with the Production Designer ............................................................................................................................................... 118 Pre-production for Spy Kids 2, Life of Pi, The Hobbit and The Dark Knight Rises: Four Case Studies ................................................................................................................................... 121 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 126 Chapter Five Principal Photography with and without Digital Effects ..................................................... 129 Cinematography for Digital Effects Films ............................................................................ 130 Three Case Studies: Love Streams, Festen and Apocalypse Now ......................................... 139 Staging before Shooting as a Methodological Phase of the Digital Effects Film .................. 146 The Actor’s Performance with Digital Effects: A Different Approach ................................. 152 The Jungle Book as a Case Study: Can Digital Effects Films be Directed like Other Films? ............................................................................................................................................... 158 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 162 Chapter Six Post-production with and without Digital Effects ................................................................ 165 Post-production as a Variable Process ................................................................................... 165 A Link Between Editing and Blocking .................................................................................. 169 Compositing, CGI Inserts and Live-Action Digital Corrections ........................................... 177 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 183 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 185 Research Question One: What Does the Director’s Role Entail? .......................................... 185 Research Question Two: What Elements Identify the Director’s Method for a Film which does not Involve a Significant Amount of Digital Effects? ................................................... 186 4 Research Question Three: Does the Incorporation of Digital Effects in a Film Influence the Director’s Method? ............................................................................................................... 187 Research Question Four: How Do Directors Adapt Their Methods in Directing Digital Effects Films? .................................................................................................................................... 188 Research Question Five: Do These Changes Represent a Fundamental Change in the Nature of the Director’s Method? ..................................................................................................... 190 A Final Thought