MAKING A GHOST CAM

GUILLAUME ROCHERON ON CREATING THE CONCEPT OF THE GHOST CAM

When they first met to talk about Ghost in the Shell, filmmaker Rupert Sanders, cinematographer Jess Hall and visual effects supervisor Guillaume Rocheron explored the concept of the Ghost Cam.

“The idea for each Ghost Cam came from discussing the ins and outs and finding interesting vantage points in the city,” explains Guillaume. “For this I used some Google Earth screenshots to show Rupert a couple of options of where the camera would go. Then I did the previz myself on all of Ghost Cams because I wanted a specific quality to the speed and float on the camera. For example, the one in the red-light district was inspired by falling leaves, where the camera drops, spins and drags in an organic way. I then passed over the scene files to MPC, where the architecture got refined and solograms positioned, which dictated slight camera timing adjustments to read them.”

The opening Ghost Cam shot encapsulates the entire creative journey. “As a piece of storytelling, it incorporates all of the challenges and shows the unique vision for the visuals of Ghost in the Shell, which is great.”