Cinematographer Don Burgess received an early Christmas gift this week. Two of his movies, both with Christmas themes and both starring fellow Palisadians, were number two and three in box office grosses last weekend. ”This past spring, Burgess, ASC, was director of photography for ‘Christmas with the Kranks,’ currently the number two film, where his challenge was to make Downey look like snowy, wintry Chicago. A lifelong Palisadian who has worked steadily on films for 28 years, he shot ‘The Polar Express,’ the number three film, with longtime collaborator Robert Zemeckis in March 2003. The movie took an unusually long time to come to the theaters because of the complex computer animation process involved. ”’The Polar Express’ is the first feature-length film to be made entirely with motion capture technology in which the actors’ performances are digitally captured by computerized cameras and become human blueprints for creating virtual characters. The film, based on the children’s book by Chris Van Allsburg, tells of a doubting boy’s dreamlike train ride to the North Pole to find out if there really is a Santa Claus. ”In ‘The Polar Express,’ the actors were filmed going through the motions on a soundstage. Set up around the room were 65 infrared cameras focused on the actors, who had reflective markers all over their bodies. There were 151 separate tracking markers on the faces of each actor, so that the computer could use that information to render detailed and realistic facial expressions. ”In addition, 12 video cameras recorded the actors’ performances, which took the technology a step further. ‘The animators could watch this live version right next to the animated version they were working on. It took more of the performance out of the animators’ hands, and gave it to the actors,’ says Burgess. ”Unlike with most of his films where lighting is a huge part of his job, Burgess wasn’t involved in the lighting, which was done completely by digital artists. His challenge was to come up with problem-solving techniques for filming in this way while learning a new technology. For example, if an actor sat down on a bed, the bed would have to be made of wire mesh, so cameras could see through it and capture all of the actor’s movements three-dimensionally. ”In addition, because adult actors played child characters (including Hanks, who played multiple characters including the young ‘hero boy’), there were issues of scale to deal with. ”Burgess previously worked with his fellow Palisadian Hanks on several films including ‘Forrest Gump’ (for which Burgess was nominated for an Academy Award) and ‘Cast Away.’ ”’Tom’s a great person, number one,’ Burgess says. ‘He’s very professional, he really cares about the project, he has a wonderful work ethic and he’s a unique individual in the field.’ ”Burgess calls Zemeckis, whom he’s worked with since ‘Back to the Future, Part II,’ ‘one of the great directors working today. It’s very challenging as a cinematographer to work with him. On each film, he is always finding new ways to do a shot.’ ”One aspect of the film Burgess was not involved with was the Imax 3D version of ‘The Polar Express’ [at the Bridge]. ‘I highly recommend it,’ says Burgess, who adds that the effect of snow falling all around the viewer and the amusement park-like movement of the train ride is fun. ”For ‘Christmas with the Kranks,’ Burgess teamed with Palisadian Jamie Lee Curtis in the film directed by Joe Roth and based on a John Grisham story about a couple’s attempt to skip their normal Christmas traditions once their daughter leaves home. ‘Curtis is great, a lot of fun,’ Burgess says. ‘She’s great with the crew, wonderful to watch and a positive person.’ ”The crew built 19 houses and created their own neighborhood streets in Downey. Although this was done by the production designers, Burgess also had a part in laying out the streets so that the light would hit the houses in the right way. ‘The trick was making it look like winter. I brought in a huge crane to hold up a 100×100-ft. silk tarp over the set to make [the light] feel more wintry.’ ”In this film, lighting is a key element and Burgess is always keenly aware of where the sun is and how it will affect shooting. Weather issues, such as fogginess along the coast, are also something he has to constantly assess in order to get the light he needs. ”Burgess has a film crew of 25 to 50 people, but also enjoys the collaboration with all the other departments. ‘I work a lot with wardrobe to test fabrics, we test hair color, test paint colors, we work with all the departments to come up with the look of the film. ”’What I enjoy about the job is the variety,’ says Burgess, who has filmed all over the world. This week, he flew to Canada to scout locations for ‘Antarctica,’ an adventure film for director Frank Marshall (‘Arachnophobia’). When his three kids were younger, he and his wife Bonnie, also a lifelong Palisadian, would take the kids and live in different locations, including Chicago, South Carolina and Israel, while he was filming. ”Now that his children are older, he tries to find a balance between shooting closer to home and on location. His oldest daughter, Lindsy, a nurse, is married to Michael Junger, and the Palisades couple are expecting their first child in January. Son Michael, 21, is a student at Santa Barbara City College who will enter USC Film School in the fall, and daughter Brittany, 17, is a junior at Marymount. ”Don and Bonnie met at the age of 10 when her father was his Pop Warner football coach, and began dating in their 20s. They both attended local schools, including Paul Revere and Palisades High School. ”Burgess, who studied photography throughout high school, attended Art Center College of Design to study film. He mixed his visual and athletic skills to find his niche in the industry’skiing backwards or scuba diving with a camera for TV sports, Olympic coverage and documentaries. ‘I enjoyed going on adventures, carrying a camera, shooting film and getting paid for it,’ he says of his early days in the industry. ‘I had no idea I’d end up being a feature film director of photography.’ ”His current athletic passion is cycling, and for the past 10 years, he’s been a member of the Palisades Literary Society cycling club. The 20 men and women meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:15 a.m. at the library and cycle for an hour and a half on one of several routes. They also have traveled together, such as last summer’s trip to the Tour de France. Ten club members rode on the Tour de France route in the morning, then watched the race in the afternoon. ”Burgess will return to his adventuring days while working on ‘Antarctica’ in which Smithers, British Columbia (750 miles north of Vancouver) will be standing in for the South Pole. He’s also developing a film based on John Grisham’s book, ‘Bleachers,’ which will be his first foray into directing. ”But no matter where he ventures, Burgess always enjoys coming back to his hometown, where his parents moved in the ’50s and together ran Don Burgess Pools. He will return from Canada to spend Christmas in the Palisades with his family. It’s also fun for him to work with so many Palisadians, and have so many of his fellow PaliHi graduates as colleagues in the film industry. ”’When I was nominated for ‘Forrest Gump’ in 1995, so was Rick Carter, the production designer on ‘Forrest Gump,’ composer Thomas Newman, who was nominated for ‘Little Women’ and ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and writer Roger Avary for the film ‘Pulp Fiction.’ All of us went to PaliHi.’
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