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Titanic History Thursday, October 17, 2024 |
| 1937 - 1st class survivor Mr Joseph Bruce Ismay died of cerebral thrombosis (stroke) in Westminster, London, England, UK at the age of 74.
1876 - 1st class survivor Mr Spencer Victor Silverthorne was born to Daniel K. Silverthorne and Elizabeth Johnson Silverthorne in Greenville, Michigan, USA. 1951 - 3rd class survivor Mr Ernst Ulrik Persson died of heart failure / disease in Hammond, Indiana at the age of 65. 1918 - 3rd class survivor Mrs Johanna "Hannah" O'Brien died. 1917 - Able Seaman and survivor Mr Ernest Edward Archer died of tuberculosis. |
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Corey's Interviews: Fred Tepper
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A few months back I had the pleasure of meeting Fred Tepper, whom was a very
special part of "Titanic." Read further to learn some interesting tidbits about Titanic, and what it was like to be a part of the crew. Q: Who are you, and what part in the making of Titanic did you have? A: I was the "Digital Ship Model Lead." I created the digital version of Titanic that was seen throughout the film (and used elsewhere in the making of the film). Q: Why did you choose to work on this film? A: I was working at Digital Domain, and I knew Jim Cameron was trying to get a Titanic film made, so I did everything I could to be involved with it. I created some images that ended up being used as part of the materials Jim used for the final pitches to Fox to get the film greenlit. Q: What was your typical day like? A: There *aren't* any typical days in visual effects. Each day brings new questions, tasks and problems. For a few months, we were working 10am till 3am, seven days per week. Since I was modeling the ship in the computer, I had to provide everyone else with what they needed at any time. If someone needed a lifeboat for the digital people to ride in, I either had to model it or assign someone else to do it. Luckily, the modeling team was top notch. I modeled the everything above the yellow line (all of the decks), and Richard Payne modeled the hull. We also had people for specific tasks when needed. For example, I didn't do the original model of the stacks, they were done by Glen Miller, then I modified them and remodeled parts. Q: Was James Cameron as bad as he is said to be? A: I never had a problem with him. He was the kind of director I like: he knew what he wanted, and he had no trouble telling you what it was. There are a lot of directors who want to see you do something ten different ways, then they'll pick the one they want. That's fine for some people, and in some situations, but I generally prefer it when the director says "I want it to be 24 feet long, light blue, like this picture, and I want this, this, this and this to happen on this, this, and this frame." I'd work with him again in a second. He also said some very nice things about my work when I wasn't there. An example of how specific he was about what he knew he wanted: I was on the team to do the animation of the sinking that they show to Rose near the beginning of the film. That animation was originally one and a half minutes (part of it was eventually cut, but appears on the CD-ROM), but the meeting for it at Lightstorm lasted just over six hours! Plus, there was a follow-up meeting at Digital Domain a few weeks later that lasted another three hours! Those meetings involved going over tons of research material to come up with a timeline and theory (like when and how did it break?) that was as accurate as possible. They were also attended by Marschall and Lynch. There's a lot of conflicting evidence though, so a) it's hard to make everyone happy, and b) it's hard to know what the *exact* truth really is for certain events. I suspect that it's the fact that Jim knows so exactly what he wants that makes it difficult for actors on the set, especially if they don't really understand what he means. I don't doubt that he's tough on the set. Q: How long was it until you viewed the full movie? Did you like it? Despite talking to Jim about it right when the first rough cut was finished, I didn't get the chance to see the complete film until the crew screening, which was, I think, in November '97. It was difficult watching it that first time because it was so distracting looking at the effects. It was also distracting looking for things that were cut. I liked it much more the second time. (Which is not to say I *didn't* like it the first time, just that I couldn't get into it as much.) Q: If you could have met anyone from the RMS Titanic, who would you meet and why? A: That's too tough to answer. I don't think I could narrow it down. There are certain crew members and certain passengers who I would have liked to talk to. Maybe, off the top of my head, the list would include: Smith, Andrews, Murdoch, Fleet, Astor, and the baker, Charles Joughin. Q: Did you have any previous interest in Titanic, or was it "just a job." A: I had a mild interest for a long time, then when I decided to learn computer effects, I decided to model a sunken version of Titanic. That was in October/November '92, and I had the Lynch book, as well as a Ballard book. I chose that to do because I was looking at getting a job on seaQuest, which a friend of mine was building an effects company for, and they were getting ready to do the pilot. I figured that doing something so complex would show off my abilities quickly. Interestingly, when I got on the show, I got to meet Ballard, who was a consultant on it. I was able to spend a pretty good amount of time talking to him and showing him my images. Then, on the movie, I got to meet and work with (to some degree anyway) Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, whose book had helped me so much years before. (And further coincidence: Ken Marschall turned out to be the brother of a woman I was friends with.) That Titanic that I modeled in '92 ended up being slightly modified and used as the "King George" in an episode of seaQuest that was centered around an old sunken passenger ship. Q: What was your favorite aspect of your job? Least Favorite? A: I really enjoyed putting in all of the details on the digital ship. It was a lot of fun showing it off to everyone. I also enjoyed all of the people who worked on the show. Least favorite? Finishing. Q: Did you meet any of the actors? Isn't Leo a dream? (JUST KIDDING! =) ) A: I met a few. Bill Paxton stopped by some time after the location shoot was done (before Mexico). I met Billy Zane at the wrap party and he was very nice; very friendly and humble. I also met Nick Cascone, but that was fifteen years ago when we were friends in college! It was quite a nice surprise to see him up there on the screen. I was reunited with him at opening night at the Chinese theater in Hollywood. Q: If you could have changed one thing in the movie, what would it be? A: There are a few lines of dialog that, while I think they're perfectly fine within the context of the movie, a lot of people seem to pick on as things to complain about. I also wish that the American release had the 20th Century Fox logo instead of Paramount. Nothing against Paramount, but to me, it was a Fox picture, not Paramount. I understand the reasons, and I'm not faulting anyone; it's just a personal thing. I did get to see the Fox logo on the front of it at the crew screening though. Q: Do you have an Oscar? Have you seen one from the movie? If so, what do you do with it? A: We had one of the Oscars at Station X Studios for a while, but it's gone now (it belonged to one of the supervisors, but he's gone on to other things). It was one of the actual original ones that was handed out at the show, not a copy. They actually do weigh a lot, so when you see stars commenting on that, they're right! Q: What is your favorite song from the movie, and why? A: I think the "Nearer My God to Thee" sequence is the best within the movie. If you want to know exactly what a director does on a movie, that's a great sequence to watch (2 hours, 30.5 minutes in; DVD chapter 24). Watch what Cameron does with the sound and story during that sequence. It starts in "reality", with the music and all of the background noise, then it moves to just the music, with no sound, showing the final "quiet" moments of the ship-- the Captain, Andrews, the couple in bed, the "Tira Nog" story, the painting-- then, as things get more and more hectic on the ship, the background sound starts to creep back in, until, just when things are really crazy, you can hardly hear it. The combination of music and visual storytelling works wonderfully in that sequence. Whatever you think of the rest of the film, that sequence is perfectly done. The music goes from fitting, in terms of being quiet and moving, to ironic, in that it's such a juxtaposition between it and the visuals, then blends into ironic _and_ fitting (because they *are* all going to be nearer to their God pretty soon). It's sort of the bridge between the calm mannerly time and the all hell breaking loose time. THAT is great directing. (Previous versions of the sinking seemed to show the calm, mannerly thing for the whole sinking, but I agree with Jim that it was probably closer to how it is in this version.) There was quite a bit of complaining about that song when the movie came out. People said it was never played, or if it was, it wasn't that version. Well, to me, it doesn't matter, because I see the movie as an entertainment based on reality, not a completely accurate depiction. It may not be the right song, but it's the song that "needed" to be there. Q: When people know who you are, what is the first question they ask? A: Well, it's not like I'm any kind of celebrity, so they don't ask anything about me. I guess if there's anything that could be the number one question I get asked about Titanic, it's "did you meet Leo?" Q: Did you sell your crew jacket? Or are you planning on holding on to it? A: I was Mr. Souvenir on Titanic, let me tell you. I have just about everything, shirts, hats, jackets, etc. I knew the film would be hugely successful, so not only did *I* buy things, but I convinced a lot of other crew members that even thought they were burned out on it, they'd regret it later if they missed out on buying these things. Of course I'm going to hold onto this stuff. In fact, I have a light summer jacket that I still wear constantly because it's the only light jacket that I own (and this *is* L.A. after all, so it's always warm). Q: Do you own the movie? What parts do you fast forward through...what parts do you watch? A: I do have it, but I haven't watched it all the way through on video yet. I just looked at each format (VHS, laser, DVD) in parts to see how certain things looked. Q: Do you regret working on Titanic? A: Not at all! Q: Any parting comments? A: I'm just glad that the film was as well received as it was. Q: OK, one last question...if you were invisible for a day while Titanic was still in the works, what part of the process would you want to observe (I.E. the filming, the editing, the stunts). A: I guess I would have liked to been down in Mexico when all of the extras were out walking around on the decks. I did get to go to the set, but it was empty at the time. It would have been nice to see all of the people and imagine what it must have been like in 1912. There you have it folks, a tale from the inside! Thank you Fred, for answering my questions, and being oh-so-wonderful-and-patient! |
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Corey's Interviews
robert ballard
fred tepper
jeff desario
judy prestininzi
nick cascone
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history with kelly
copal's queue
site of the month
the flub report
wallpapers/quotes
graphic sets
characters
scenes
downloads
rare pictures
facts
books
columns
Corey's Interviews
robert ballard
fred tepper
jeff desario
judy prestininzi
nick cascone
gary young
liam tuohy
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