Peter Biziou: 4 Second Sunrise

From American Cinematographer, This Is Your Life by Eric Rudolph (June 1998)

Another combination of in-camera and digital work occurs during a frantic nighttime search for Truman after he somehow eludes the ubiquitous cameras and disappears. Christof tells his staff to bring up the sun, even though it is still nighttime by the show's internal clock.

"We actually brought up the sun physically. Our key grip and the chief electrician mounted about 300 Par 36 bulbs into three large banks mounted on a tube frame on a crane hoist. We then jerked these lights up 60' in the air in about four seconds. We had an enormous black flag stretched between two cherry pickers just in front of the lights when we popped them into the air. The shadows of the people and the trees shortened quickly, and the horizon line washed across the buildings. It was quite an effect, and it worked well in combination with Mike McAllister's amazing impressionistic digital sunrise. Mike McAllister digitally added a little fill and diffusion in the last seconds of the shots depicting the effects of the rapid sunrise, just to help the fake sunlight look more like daylight."

- Peter Biziou, BSC