Production Companies New Line Cinema, Hard Eight Pictures, Kumar Mobiliengesellschaft mbH & Co. Projekt Nr. 1 KG, Matinee Pictures, Practical Pictures, Zide-Perry Productions
Finding a roller coaster to match the one that James Wong and Glen Morgan envisioned in their script proved impossible. “If you’re going to crash a roller coaster, the best possible scenario is to crash the roller coaster,” says visual effects supervisor Ariel Shaw. “Since that wasn’t an option, we extrapolated elements to build our digital model from the roller coaster in Vancouver where we planned to shoot, as well as another roller coaster in California. We combined these two coasters and then added other pieces. So now we have this ‘Franken-coaster’ that’s pretty cool, but it still doesn’t satiate all of the beats that are in Jim and Glen’s script. The script describes a 250 ft. climb and then a corkscrew drop – then another climb almost as high as the first one, so we made further modifications until we got it right. Then we actually composited it into the environment of the fairgrounds, which required a full scan of the fairgrounds that we could then manipulate in CG,” Shaw explains.
From this point on, Shaw worked closely with director of photography Rob McLachlan, the art department, special effects, stunts, and various other departments to explore the complexities of each specific element in the sequence. “We did a pre-visualization of the sequence that allowed us to work out the mechanics of each scene and see how we were going to shoot it,” he continues. “Would we need to be on a crane? What kind of lens would we use?”
“One of the first things we had to figure out was where and how we would mount the cameras on the coaster,” McLachlan explains. “The clearance on the cars is actually pretty narrow when it’s running through the superstructure of the rollercoaster. We tested it by using large pieces of high density foam mounted in various positions. We ran the coaster and watched as chunks of foam were snapped off. We did this until pieces stopped breaking off, and then we knew how far our cameras could stick out in various positions on the coaster.”
McLachlan also faced the challenge of coming up with a wide variety of shots that would map the trajectory of the coaster while building tension in the scene. “One of the things that keeps an action sequence going is a progression of shots, so that you never revisit the same shot twice…so that you’re always moving on to something new and different. We used remote control camera systems in a way that I don’t think they’ve been used before, and is quite impressive. We shot with two or three cameras most of the time and used some old movie tricks like having a mirror reflect an object so that it looks like it’s going to run right over the camera.”
To seamlessly create the illusion of all hell breaking loose on the coaster, ingenuity on the part of all was required. “I think the best way to sustain the illusion with stunt work is to come from a different angle for each gag,” says stunt coordinator JJ Makaro. “Where you pull a person for one gag, you drop them for another, and spin them for yet another.”
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