Clint Eastwoodís ""Space Cowboys"" Employs HDTV

The set of Clint Eastwoodís latest film, the space shuttle action adventure ""Space Cowboys"" is using HDTV-transferred scene shots to create the authentic look of the elaborate set of NASAís Mission Control in Houston. The set, created by OscarÆ-winning production designer, Henry Bumstead, is housed in Stage 22, at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California.The set faithfully reproduces the NASA control center, said ""Space Cowboy's"" Video and Computer Graphics Supervisor Liz Radley. Faced with the technical challenges of shooting scenes in Mission Control - where Eastwood and the other astronauts, played by James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones, and Donald Sutherland, communicate with the ground crew via the giant video screen - Radley used high-definition video technology for the first time in a Hollywood feature. Scenes shot on film are transferred to HDTV and projected on to the big screen. ""Normally, when you have graphics next to video like this it makes the video look soft,"" said Radley. ""But this way everything is sharp. In fact, the detail is such that when we first started using it we found we had to improve parts of the set that looked bad."" Space Cowboys is slated for release in May 2000.