A feature story on Apple’s Web site explained how Macintosh and Apple’s Final Cut Pro editing software was used to put together the opening montage for the recently broadcast 76th Academy Awards.
The opening featured show host Billy Crystal in a montage in which he was convincingly inserted into movies nominated for this year’s award, including Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Something’s Gotta Give and Cold Mountain.
Much of the footage was shot against green screen backgrounds, using composites (comps) to make Crystal’s appearances in the movie scenes more convincing. PowerBooks and a Power Mac G5 film editing station were used with Final Cut Pro to create and view the shots as the footage was captured.
Apple’s feature includes a variety of photos from the set, showing Crystal and other actors doing their things in costume, along with the production crew and their arsenal of PowerBooks and other Apple products.