GSA SHOOTS FOOTAGE FOR FINCHER’S “GONE GIRL”
“The notion of cajoling real animals to perform during 1st unit production gave me nightmares of raccoons and deer running loose down Cahuenga Blvd. GreenScreen Animals was the perfect post-production solution,” Said Cean Chaffin, Producer of “Gone Girl.”
One of this year’s highlights was working on David Fincher’s phenomenally successful feature, “Gone Girl.” Fincher is one of the most talented directors in Hollywood and a true craftsman. We were very excited for the opportunity to work with him in person.
The project began when Cean Chaffin, David’s producer for many years, called and said that Fincher had heard about GreenScreen Animals and liked what we were doing. Cean explained that they needed a deer and raccoon for the opening montage of the film to set up a fictional town in Missouri where the story takes place.
Live production with animals is time-consuming, costly and challenging at best. In this case, the filmmakers didn’t want the CG look and our custom shoot proved to be more cost effective, so it was a win-win for all. GSA prides itself on providing high-quality, alternative solutions and the “Gone Girl” project is a great example of this.
After discussing the filmmakers’ needs, we agreed to a one-day shoot on Stage 12 at Hollywood Center Studios. The pre-lit green screen stage is always a huge time saver and the facility can easily accommodate our group of about 25 people. For custom shoots, GSA runs all elements of production: crew, equipment, animal casting, payroll and insurance. In addition, we had the added bonus of using the films Red Dragon 6K camera as well as a camera assistant from the film and a gaffer who had worked on numerous Fincher films in the past. This kind of familiarity provided Fincher and Cean with an added level of comfort.
When meeting with Fincher, he provided us with extremely detailed lighting and technical specifications. He’s known in Hollywood for his precision and attention to detail so we followed his instructions with complete accuracy and trust. His input was ever-present to the point of attending the shoot. On past film shoots, we’ve worked with the 2nd unit Director or the Visual Effects Supervisor, but for “Gone Girl”, we worked with Fincher directly. That really demonstrated the level of professionalism and dedication he has for his projects. It was great to have him on set to communicate his wishes with us directly. Mark Shockley, GreenScreen Animals Co-Founder and head of production, acted as David’s Assistant Director for the shoot, liaising between Fincher, Director of Photography Steven Sheridan, and the crew.
Casting the animals and choosing the most responsible trainers is a big part of what GSA does for its clients. We have relationships with a handful of companies, which we consider “the best”, and we pride ourselves on responsible practices and decisions. All of our shoots are monitored by American Humane’s Film and Television unit, which insures the animal’s welfare and safety while on set.
The challenge for us is that we never really know how the animal will perform on set. Even though the animals are trained by experienced handlers, there is always an element of unpredictability on these types of shoots. In order to offset this risk, we make sure we hire animal ‘teams’, so if one animals doesn’t perform or loses focus we can rest them and bring in another. This is very similar to using twins when working with child actors.
Our deer, which was given to the trainers by the Department of Fish & Game after its mother died in a fire, completed her behavior perfectly. The lighting set-up took about 3 hours and she was wrapped in 45 minutes. We then set up the steel decking and adjusted the lighting for the raccoon, which took us about an hour. The entire steel deck platform was assembled on an incline to mimic the back plate of a hill. We then assembled the steel deck on rollers so we could spin it around for any on-the-fly angle adjustment. We had no room for error, the plates were already shot and we needed to match them exactly. We spent about one-hour shooting the raccoon but he was young, energetic and not interested. So we brought out our backup, an older male, and he performed like a champ. He scurried across the stage, just like you’ve seen numerous times in your back yard.
“Gone Girl” was undoubtedly our favorite project of the year and the bonus, of course, was working with David Fincher in person. As it turns out, both shots made it into the film and are used in the opening montage to establish the environment. No matter how hard you try, you can’t tell these animals were shot on a stage.
Following the “Gone Girl” shoot we captured additional deer and raccoon footage, which we have added to our library and is now available to our customers.
Click here to read what Adobe has to say on composting our footage.
Click here to watch the trailer
