July 2024

Forbidden Planet Sketchpad

In his 1955 AC article about shooting the seminal sci-fi feature Forbidden Planet, director of photography George Folsey, ASC gave credit to the design team that was instrumental in planning the visuals in detail during prep. “More than two years of technical research was undertaken on the production by the studio before it was turned over to producer Nicholas Nayfack and director Fred Wilcox,” Folsey noted. “But research did not stop here. Actually, the important pre-production planning began when we started to visualize the sets and the action from the camera viewpoint. With a completely new subject and a locale virtually dreamed up out of fantasy, the production posed a fresh new challenge, photographically.” Largely responsible for...more