The Shoot

The careful digital planning paid off when real actors were shot during nine weeks of principal photography in London.

“We lived and died by the previsualization that we did,” says Conran. “Essentially, we had an animated version of the film before we ever shot it. It’s fun now to look at how accurately the live action follows the animatics, including how some of the live actors picked up mannerisms from the animated characters.”

Conran says that while the challenges of working on empty blue stages were significant, directing “wasn’t hard with these actors. With Jude Law in particular, there was never a moment, even when he was standing in the middle of blue nothing, when you didn’t believe he was somewhere.”

The Cut

As in Conran’s apartment, Mac workstations carried much of the weight of post production, especially on the 2D side. Special effects supervisor Darin Hollings, whose previous experience was chiefly in Linux and Windows, makes it clear that no solution but a Mac would do for Conran.

“It’s fun now to look how accurately the live action follows the animatics, including how some of the live actors picked up mannerisms from the animated characters.”

“Kerry is the biggest Mac fan on the planet,” says Hollings. “Our primary Mac packages were After Effects in compositing and Final Cut Pro in editorial. We had 7 Final Cut workstations set up, doing both the visual effects editing as well as the production editing. Final Cut was a real boon, because we shot this thing digitally.”

Hollings says that Conran’s evangelizing worked on the editors. “We actually had converts in the editorial department. Sabrina Plisco, our main editor, was an Avid person. We switched her over.”

The Tab

Although “Sky Captain” looks like a budget-breaking film, producer Avnet says that in this case, looks are deceiving. “The film is an enormous success on a financial level alone, meaning this would have cost $50 million more in any kind of traditional way of doing this movie. That’s because we did so little, and made up so much. And Kerry got the large canvas he wanted.”

Conran agrees, and hopes the methods pioneered on “Sky Captain” will help even indie filmmakers get their movies made. “If you’re shooting a romantic comedy in someone’s home, you don’t need this. But if your audience wants to see a world created, you’re going to have to raise that bar and not spend half a billion dollars. Our biggest innovation was that we cost a fraction of what a conventional movie would cost to do the same sorts of things.”

Wrap

After 10 years of work, Conran, an obsessive reviser, says he is pleased with his results, although he had a hard time letting go. “One thing I learned, is that you never have enough time. But we tried to do something special with the film, a little more artistic and stylized, and in that regard I think we did succeed.”

And although his film has changed enormously, his life has not changed at all. “It’s strangely not that much different. I’m still in the middle of all this, and the film is yet to come out. I think that the whole process has been something of a miracle, and I’m thrilled that I got the chance with what we created. But I’m still pretty much the same schlubby guy who wouldn't leave his apartment.”

What has changed most, he says, is that the digitally-enabled world of today is almost certain to be kinder to other Kerry Conrans. “I think there’s just so much opportunity for people now. The current tools are really quite sophisticated, pretty amazing. And, well, if I can do it, anyone can do it.”