CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH AN EFFECTS MILESTONE

By IAN FAILES

1977 was a seminal year in visual effects. Yes, it was the year Star Wars was released, setting a path forward both for blockbuster effects films and for the studio behind the work, Industrial Light & Magic. But it was another film, Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, that also made waves in the effects industry by pushing forward technological boundaries in miniatures, motion control and compositing still felt 40 years later.

Close Encounters’ sci-fi story about human contact with an alien species was always going to necessitate the use of visual effects. Having contributed to 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Andromeda Strain and Silent Running (which he also directed), Douglas Trumbull, VES, came on board the film to supervise the ‘special photographic effects.’

He partnered with Richard Yuricich to start Entertainment Effects Group (EEG) in Marina del Rey, California a facility which would handle – and simultaneously advance the techniques for – motion-control miniature photography, optical compositing, cloud tanks and the creation of matte elements.

Trumbull and his team capitalized on the needs of the production and his fledging facility to experiment with several visual effects techniques. This included the first use of a real-time on-location system for digitally recording camera motion. The idea here was that the movement of lights used on set for representing the flight of spaceships in the scenes, and the matching camera movement, could be recorded and then precisely repeated in the miniature photography.

Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind made waves in the effects industry by pushing forward technological boundaries in miniatures, motion control and compositing still felt 40 years later.

EEG was the first company to composite motion-control shots in 65mm, for Close Encounters. Indeed, the effects work was captured with 65mm Super Panavision cameras, the larger format negative enabling greater quality of the final image and matching to the 35mm photography after multiple generations and composites.

In addition, EEG would make headways into how a blacked-out ‘smoke room’ could be used to film miniatures with motion control and help add consistent layers of atmospheric mood to scenes of this kind (in this case, the large Mothership made from fiberglass and filled with seemingly miles of fiber optic lighting, built under the supervision of Greg Jein).

Another breakthrough was the facility’s ‘soft matte’ approach that retained the much-needed glows and lens flares of spaceship lights during compositing. It was intended to mimic the live-action effect of lens flares, particularly on anamorphic lenses.

To depict the clouds where the alien spaceships would be hiding, EEG devised a cloud tank effect by combining salt water and fresh water layered between a plastic sheet that, when combined with injected paint, produced the desired consistency. Scott Squires, VES led the development of the cloud tank work (see sidebar).

“The first day on the job, someone said, ‘Okay, so in the movie we have to create these clouds, and we’re looking at different ways of doing it. There are different chemical smokes but most of those are toxic. But when we pour cream in our coffee, that’s kind of like the clouds we want to create but, you know, it can’t be in coffee. We have to see the clouds themselves and we have to be able to photograph it.’”

—Scott Squires, VES, Visual Effects Supervisor/Co-founder, Dream Quest Images

Close Encounters would also take advantage of matte paintings to widen the scope of certain scenes. Matte artist Matthew Yuricich was responsible for several of these paintings that enabled live-action plates to be projected into environments and locations that had been produced on glass.

At the 50th Academy Awards® in 1978, Star Wars would take the Best Visual Effects Oscar. Its only competitor in the final nominations, however, was Close Encounters. But the Spielberg film has remained a constant go-to for other filmmakers in how to craft atmospheric effects and use visual effects to help tell a compelling story.

Notably, the film is often referenced for its ingenious blend of the then latest in effects techniques, coupled with a ‘rubber band and wire-tape’ style of effects that was predominant before the rise of CGI and digital compositing.

That’s pretty impressive for a 40-year-old movie.