There are still several months to go before the crew of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" steps onto the set to start filming. But director Andrew Adamson and a crew of artists in Glendale have been sitting in front of their computers since October, planning precisely how each frame will look.
One team of artists, relying on photos from geographical surveys and NASA satellites, has mapped a digital replica of a 5-square-mile area of New Zealand, where the film's climactic battle sequence is slated to take place. Another crew is placing virtual warriors and other creatures on this map, orchestrating every movement. A third group is animating sketches of how these digital Narnia creatures will interact with human actors.
By the time filming begins in December, a rough version of the entire film will be complete.
"When you have a movie where the budget's about $175 million, it's good to know what you're doing before you get on set," said storyboard artist David Duncan, who is working on the project. "You can't get to the set and just wing it. You have to know what you're doing way ahead of time."
That sentiment is taking hold in Hollywood. With more complicated stunts and cutting-edge visual effects, and with studios increasingly focused on the bottom line, a growing number of movie crews are using computers to create a blueprint of each shot.
Known as previsualization, the process is essentially a high-tech version of traditional storyboards -- drawings resembling panels of a comic book -- that filmmakers have long used to outline the action.
Andy and Larry Wachowski, the directors of "The Matrix" trilogy whose roots are in the comic book industry, have each film captured in thousands of boards drawn in painstaking detail.
The artwork is gorgeous, but the boards lack motion and depth. A director can't see the sides of the props, or the ceiling, or what's just around the corner. All they have to work with is what's facing them, said David Nakabayashi, creative director for visual effects giant Industrial Light & Magic.
Animators were "among the earliest people to start using previsualization because it was so similar to the way they would normally block out the scenes of an animated movie," Nakabayashi said.
Hollywood's live-action filmmakers have been yearning for such blueprints. Directors saw the potential for the technology long before it could be delivered. In the late 1970s, for example, George Lucas cut together movie footage of World War II dogfights and used it as reference material for the final battle sequence in the original "Star Wars" movie.
"I've seen tapes of [artist] Joe Johnston and [visual effects supervisor] Dennis Muren using dolls, mini storm troopers and a mock speeder, and shooting video footage to figure out a chase sequence," Nakabayashi said. "Clearly, the technology has advanced."
For directors, previsualization means they can illustrate their vision in minute detail -- the smallest prop, the biggest spotlight, the motion of an actor and the angle of the camera. They can figure out how they want to shoot a scene and whether it's technically possible.
For cinematographers, the video clips can alert them to technical problems and hurdles.
For actors, particularly those working on a bare stage or against a blank screen, the rough drafts can ease preparation by offering clues about what embellishments visual effects artists will add later.
"The point isn't to tell people how to do their job," said Jonathan Rothbart, president of postproduction for San Francisco visual effects firm Orphanage. "The point is to save time by letting people see their options."
The previsualization process is not cheap; costs range from $15,000 for a simple shot to $500,000 or more for an entire film project. Still, many producers and directors agree that the system can save time.
And in the world of making movies, time is money.
Producers say a typical day of shooting on a Hollywood film costs about $100,000, which translates to an hourly rate of $5,500 to $7,000. That means even a 10-minute conversation for a director to clear up a simple question with the crew can cost $1,000.
Directors say previsualization can help them decide how much of the budget should be spent on set design and production equipment.
"From a logistical point of view, you don't need to build a 360-degree set if you can get away with shooting only 170 degrees or 280 degrees," said "Lion" director Adamson, who also used previsualization extensively when he directed the animated hit "Shrek."
"What happens if you rent an 8-foot crane for the camera crew, and you really needed a 20-foot crane? What happens if there are no 20-foot cranes available? Or that the closest one is in Iowa?" Adamson said. "You're stuck, wasting time and money. On these big-budget films, the less money you waste, the better you're off."
Project Go-Ahead
The drafts also can help directors persuade a studio to greenlight a project or boost its budget.
