 During one of the most intense scenes in the pod ("I had no  idea...") Jodie Foster (qv) shows a wide range of conflicting  emotions. Director Robert Zemeckis (qv) had asked her to repeat  the scene six times, each time with a different expression (intense  joy, fear, sadness and so on) and then the SFX crew quickly morphed  her face from one take to the next. For a brief moment they also  used the face of Dr. Arroway as a child. When Dr. Arroway starts  receiving the alien signal, we follow her from the parking lot to  the lab in what appears to be a long, continuous shot. Actually the  scenes were shot in two different locations, and then digitally  composed to make them appear seamless.