For David Fincher's thriller Panic Room, visual effects company Pixel Liberation Front provided a way to pre-visualize about two-thirds of the movie in computer-rendered 3D. Martin Sargent interviewed Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker, who star in the film, about the movie, the pre-visualization technique, their views on tech and more, as you'll see on "The Screen Savers" tonight.

Only part of Martin's talk with Foster and Whitaker was aired on the show, but you can see the complete interviews here. Just click on "Jodie Foster Interview" and "Forest Whitaker Interview" in the Video Highlights section above.

Animated storyboards

PLF's pre-visualization services allowed Fincher and his cinematographer to work with animated, interactive 3D storyboards in which they could move 3D characters representing the actors around highly accurate representations of the set that would be used. The system would keep track of both camera positions and character blocking and movement, so Fincher could try out various shots, movements, camera angles, and lenses -- all before any actual shooting took place. About two-thirds of the film was pre-planned in this sophisticated way.

Take a look at the screen shots below and view the video clips "Panic Room 1-4" to see what the pre-visualization process is like. Then visit PLF's website to find out more about what the company does.


Click on the images below to see the full picture