Erasing wires in movies in the pre digital days (1 Viewer)

[Michael Rogers]

Back in the day, it was called "Painting out wires". I had heard the term back in the day and as I got more and more into films I came to believe that "painting out wires" were a myth because I'd often spot wires in movies like The Exorcist.

But something was definitely done to the wires in Superman:The Movie. The documentaries I saw were a bit vague about it.

So, does anyone know what they actually did to erase the wires back then. Did someone actually go over frame by frame of film and retouch the wires out?

Or was it a process of rotoscoping around Chris Reeve's shoulders to matte in the background above him over the background that showed the wires??

 

[Yee-Ming]

Dunno about painting out wires, but I thought Reeve was actually shot standing straight up on a small platform, with the camera on its side? And with a fan blowing at him from top down to simulate air flow and to get the cape moving?

(At least that's what I remember at the studio theme park's exhibit and demo.)

 

[Michael Rogers]

Yes, they used that, but it was one of many methods to do his flying scenes. Another method they used a lot was a synchronized zoom back (or front) projection method. The zoom on the camera was synced with a zoom on a projected plate. Chris Reeve was on a support blocked from the camera usually by his own body. In the shot the camera lens zoomed into Chris while the projected plate zoomed backwards. The camera saw Chris flying towards the camera while the background remained static.

For take offs and landings, this is when Chris Reeve was usually on a harness with wires and the wires had to be erased.

 

[Edwin-S]

Here is a bit of an explanation of some the wire "removal" tricks used on the Superman films. Sounds about right but it is an internet article, so you have to assume that it is accurate.

Special Features - Look MA! No Wires

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Most of the flying shots in the Superman films were done with a rig in front of a projection screen (as you mentioned, Michael). Reeve was suspended several feet above the ground, and optical effects projected on the screen were used to convey motion. Helicopter shots without zooming would be used to show Superman flying distances, while shots with zooming would be used to show Superman blasting toward the camera. I believe on the original Superman: The Movie DVD, it was mentioned that the wires used were similar to fish wire (ie. almost invisibly thin) and that film processing tricks were used to bleed the color over them and out of existence.

 

[Leo Kerr]

Huh, interesting article.

Not having seen the Superman films, I'd have thought that they'd do traveling-mattes of some sort (aka blue- or green-screen,) and put Superman and the other flying people/things in later. You have to be a little careful about how you do it, 'cause your super-man is either going to be on blue or green wires or a blue or green post, that, hopefully, the interface will be out of the shot.

Something I also vaguely remember was that in Return of the Jedi, when they were doing the walking stedicam shots through the forest (speeder-bikes,) there were guide marks and posts for the camera-man to follow. I remember seeing a reference somewhere to "they would have to be Vaselined out of the shot."

The only way that that seems... potentially effective might be to, in post, shoot the film through an aerial-image projector (similar to an optical printer,) with a largish plate at the virtual image plane. And on that (glass) plate, trace out the wires with a thin skim of Vaseline or some other suitable jelly, and gently diffuse the wires out of the shot.

Note: I have no idea if that is what they mean, or if it would even work, but based on what I do know, it might. Be tedious, of course, but even now, hand-painting out the electronic frames is tedious, too.

Leo

 

[Michael Rogers]

Although they did do traveling matte shots in Superman, they tried to avoid them because the Superman's suit had to be changed from a proper blue to an greenish blue and the color couldn't entirely be corrected back then (although it has been since 2000).

A particular example of a blue screen traveling matte shot is Superman rushing to the Dam to save Jimmy Olson. Before 2000 and the corrections done to both the extended version and the theatrical versions used for cable and later DVD, the blue in Superman's suit was murky and greenish. It's a great shot though, combining the shot of flying Chris Reeve with a real outdoor background and then as he came to Camera and the camera followed him he passes over a briefly shown matte painting serves as a bridge to the footage of the Dam model being damaged by the Earthquake. In post 2000 restored prints, the blue in Superman's suit is restored.

I don't know if green screen (as an optical process) existed back then but it puzzles me why they didn't use the sodium yellow matte process that was used a lot in Mary Poppins since the blue of the suit would not be a problem in that process.

 

[todd s]

Dude! He's Superman. He doesn't need wires.

 

[Mr. Film]

I could see wires in all the Chris Reeve Superman films. They were very visible on Blu Ray.

 

[Nick Martin]

A film much closer to the digital days was "Batman Forever" and during the scene when Batman crashes through a skylight and onto a fountain, the wires are removed but the harness is clearly visible, making Batman look like he has cables coming out of his shoulders.

The featurette on that stunt really got me focused on that after not noticing it much before.