I felt that soft-edge mattes would be the only means of achieving composites free from matte-lines. We therefore eliminated 5369 High Contrast Stock from our list. With a fast moving subject, like the spaceships we were dealing with on Empire, the lower contrast stocks seemed to solve many of our edge problems without sacrificing the blurred motion we needed to maintain the dynamic of the shot. We utilized 5302 (Kodak black and white release print), and 5235 (separation stock) for matte generation throughout the show. These stocks were Estar-based so as to prevent shrinkage and distortion.
Empire also presented the optical department with the problem of having to composite 415 shots in less than one year. We utilized an "Apple II" computer to help streamline our line-up system. Through the programming skills of Jim Veilleux (ILM stage cameraman) and Dave Berry (optical printer operator), we were able to have our count sheets printed out on the Apple. This newfound capability eliminated many of the computation errors associated with generation of separation positives and their corresponding mattes, saved us time and eliminated much of the monotony involved with the task.
When a new shot came in to optical, all the line-up persons had to do was to take his sync counts from his work prints and original negative, noting any crossover information, feed it into the computer, and his count sheet would be printed out. Our line-up department, headed by Warren Franklin and Mark Vargo, successfully applied this system to the most complicated shots in the show.
The white background plates that were used for most of the snow battle sequences were shot in Norway during one of the worst winters in the past 100 years. The crew was forced to shoot on extremely stormy days with only a few days of sunshine available the whole time they were there. Also, there were helicopter plates shot without an ultraviolet absorbing filter which further disturbed the continuity. This created considerable problems for optical. Through filtering during the composite process, we were able to eliminate many of these mismatches, while matting in various foreground material in the same shot.
It took every ounce of ingenuity our crew possessed to make these sequences work. Discussion, planning and storyboarding were a key to the successful realization of these shots. After one-and-a-half years of extraordinary labor, ILM's optical crew composited a total of 415 shots, making George Lucas' The Empire Strikes Back a cinematic reality.
