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Released by :
Equinox Entertainment
Equinox Entertainment
Director :
Alberto Sciamma
Alberto Sciamma
Produced by :
Kate Robbins, Jonathan Vanger, Pierre Rene, Jason Piette
Kate Robbins, Jonathan Vanger, Pierre Rene, Jason Piette
Starring :
James Caan, Jennifer Tilly, Genevieve Bujold, Marible Verdu, Peter Keleghan
James Caan, Jennifer Tilly, Genevieve Bujold, Marible Verdu, Peter Keleghan
Shooting locations :
St. John (New Brunswick)
St. John (New Brunswick)
Related links :
Jericho Mansions
The Quebec film industry is a fire that is waiting to be ignited. With scores of talent burgeoning from all fields of the business, it comes as no surprise that some of the most innovative visual effects are being created and produced in Montreal. So when Carole Vayancours, director of production for the upcoming film Jericho Mansions, approached Montreal based Camera e-Motion and its president Marc Cote to create and oversee all visual effects for the picture, it's no coincidence that sparks began to fly. With a hectic time table, an off the beaten path location in St. John NB, and a limited budget the heat was on. However, not discouraged by the challenge, Camera e-Motion did just what heat does best, it rises.
Jericho Mansions is a joint British-Canadian venture highlighting director Alberto Sciamma's portrayal of a reclusive, soft spoken caretaker for Jericho Mansions named Leonard (played by veteran actor James Caan) and his social undoings with the people around him. Leonard has, as far as anyone knows, never left the sanctity of Jericho Mansions and spends most of his time tucked away in his basement apartment constructing a bridge to the last detail with paper clips.
However, just as it seems things have come together for Leonard, no sooner do they come undone as a series of events unfold. Constantly plagued by the ridicule of his recently widowed land lord, Lilly (played by Genevieve Bujold), and surrounded by the civic decay of conflicting lovers, a drug addicted sociopath house wife, an intriguing but beautiful masuse (played by Jennifer Tilly) and finally the murder of a prominent resident, Leonard finds him self neck deep in a psycho-drama which eventually ties his mysterious past with his ambiguous present.
By nature of theme and story, Jericho Mansions did not require the stunning visual effects that were present throughout the film, particularly in the opening shots. There are no moments of explosive action and sweeping vistas, but rather tense drama and scenes of character development. The initial concept behind employing Camera e-Motion to do visual effects for the picture came with an idea that motion control could be used to enhance fluent camera movement and visual effects could help enhance the mood and atmosphere of the twisted psyche which envelopes Jericho Mansions. However, the visual effects ended up playing a much larger role in the film than initially expected.
Through use of compositing images, motion control and flame art, came the idea the the Mansion itself could be born into a character and play a distinct role in the picture. Through out Leonard's opening monologue after the opening credits, the audience is guided gracefully throughout the mansion, from apartment to apartment, character to character without a single cut. The mansion essentially becomes an entity, and the ventured walls and ceilings become the connecting veins between its inhabitants.
With a similar style to that of 2002's Panic Room, where the camera sweeps throughout the house and establishes to the viewers the grand scale of fortification within the occupancy, the effects successfully instill a sense of isolation. The visual effects in Jericho Mansions, instead, highlight the relationships (or lack there of) between the people who live within the mansion, and assert to the audience at a very early stage in the film that there will be a great element of cause and effect between the characters.
To create the mood enhancing visual effects in Jericho Mansions, it was required that Camera e-Motion's motion control robot, MILO, be transported from its home in Montreal to shooting location in St. John, New Brunswick. Easier said than done as MILO weighs more than 3000 pounds and needs to be suspended on special tracks, each ten feet long and weighing in at 200 pounds a piece. While MILO, by nature, is the most rigid and versatile motion control apparatus on the market, to complete the vital interior shots required for Jericho Mansions it was required that MILO stretch the limits of its normal operating conditions and adapt to the demanding sequences as dictated by the director, the D.O.P. and a cramped and enclosed shooting location.
When Camera e-Motion crews first arrived on set in October of 2002, it became quickly evident that no doors which access the building would accommodate MILO's bulky size. This led to motion control operator Marc Cote, and his assistant Shawn Bonkowski to systematically disassemble MILO into hundreds of different parts, make sure none of them got lost or damaged, and carry them all by hand to every individual shooting location in the building and reassemble as required.
Marc Cote elaborates, “This scenario made work particularly challenging, as MILO is usually operated in a studio or open location. With such high visual effects expectations at such a low budget, we [Camera e-Motion operators] really had to find a good working niche to make it all possible. I am however disappointed in the lack of time we had at our disposal. I'm positive that with another week or two of filming, we could have taken cinematography in this picture to new heights.”
Jericho Mansions is a joint British-Canadian venture highlighting director Alberto Sciamma's portrayal of a reclusive, soft spoken caretaker for Jericho Mansions named Leonard (played by veteran actor James Caan) and his social undoings with the people around him. Leonard has, as far as anyone knows, never left the sanctity of Jericho Mansions and spends most of his time tucked away in his basement apartment constructing a bridge to the last detail with paper clips.
However, just as it seems things have come together for Leonard, no sooner do they come undone as a series of events unfold. Constantly plagued by the ridicule of his recently widowed land lord, Lilly (played by Genevieve Bujold), and surrounded by the civic decay of conflicting lovers, a drug addicted sociopath house wife, an intriguing but beautiful masuse (played by Jennifer Tilly) and finally the murder of a prominent resident, Leonard finds him self neck deep in a psycho-drama which eventually ties his mysterious past with his ambiguous present.
By nature of theme and story, Jericho Mansions did not require the stunning visual effects that were present throughout the film, particularly in the opening shots. There are no moments of explosive action and sweeping vistas, but rather tense drama and scenes of character development. The initial concept behind employing Camera e-Motion to do visual effects for the picture came with an idea that motion control could be used to enhance fluent camera movement and visual effects could help enhance the mood and atmosphere of the twisted psyche which envelopes Jericho Mansions. However, the visual effects ended up playing a much larger role in the film than initially expected.
Through use of compositing images, motion control and flame art, came the idea the the Mansion itself could be born into a character and play a distinct role in the picture. Through out Leonard's opening monologue after the opening credits, the audience is guided gracefully throughout the mansion, from apartment to apartment, character to character without a single cut. The mansion essentially becomes an entity, and the ventured walls and ceilings become the connecting veins between its inhabitants.
With a similar style to that of 2002's Panic Room, where the camera sweeps throughout the house and establishes to the viewers the grand scale of fortification within the occupancy, the effects successfully instill a sense of isolation. The visual effects in Jericho Mansions, instead, highlight the relationships (or lack there of) between the people who live within the mansion, and assert to the audience at a very early stage in the film that there will be a great element of cause and effect between the characters.
To create the mood enhancing visual effects in Jericho Mansions, it was required that Camera e-Motion's motion control robot, MILO, be transported from its home in Montreal to shooting location in St. John, New Brunswick. Easier said than done as MILO weighs more than 3000 pounds and needs to be suspended on special tracks, each ten feet long and weighing in at 200 pounds a piece. While MILO, by nature, is the most rigid and versatile motion control apparatus on the market, to complete the vital interior shots required for Jericho Mansions it was required that MILO stretch the limits of its normal operating conditions and adapt to the demanding sequences as dictated by the director, the D.O.P. and a cramped and enclosed shooting location.
When Camera e-Motion crews first arrived on set in October of 2002, it became quickly evident that no doors which access the building would accommodate MILO's bulky size. This led to motion control operator Marc Cote, and his assistant Shawn Bonkowski to systematically disassemble MILO into hundreds of different parts, make sure none of them got lost or damaged, and carry them all by hand to every individual shooting location in the building and reassemble as required.
Marc Cote elaborates, “This scenario made work particularly challenging, as MILO is usually operated in a studio or open location. With such high visual effects expectations at such a low budget, we [Camera e-Motion operators] really had to find a good working niche to make it all possible. I am however disappointed in the lack of time we had at our disposal. I'm positive that with another week or two of filming, we could have taken cinematography in this picture to new heights.”