Movie Magic
With ‘Last Jedi’ coming out, I want to take a look at the present and past to see how movie magic happens.
The power of imagination (and computers)
Looking through the movies as a computer scientist gives a real different perspective on the work ILM has done to revolutionize the industry. I took (and failed) an intro to computational geometry last quarter, and the genius required to do what they have done is just mind boggling. To help give perspective to this, imagine an animation of a CG tree falling down. These guys make it seem so real, it seems straight forward. you put a tree in a virtual scene and move it. To really think about it, start at ground zero. How do you even display a 3D object on a 2D screen? How does a 3D object move in a 2D space? How do textures interact with light? how do the leaves move in a way that is uniform, but not static? How does the tree react to the ground when it hits? Every single one of these details was programmed and tweaked to make CG look real.
Continuing into the Future
ILM has recently been working on some projects That are very exciting. Last year, they teased their new ambitions with Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine a virtual reality experience for the HTC Vive. (It is so friggin cool….)
These are just their first steps. The end goal is the first Virtual Reality ride in Disneyland. The trailer for it looks very, very cool.
ILM is continuing their lifestyle of pioneering, and yes, I will be buying tickets for this as soon as I can.
Looking Back
While watching the ILM documentary, Steven Spielberg referenced using CG over the “werewolf method”. the Werewolf he was reffering to was the grotesque scene in “American Werewolf in London” where the transformation is caught on camera.
The effect was done with impressive puppetry, model making, and special effects. In a way, it’s a little sad to see the creativity and the art of these kinds of effects losing popularity in films. I really do love the power of CG, but in too many movies, it’s used as a cheaper alternative, and not as an art form.
when you see examples of films shot almost completely in CG, it can honstly look lazy. Movies that use CGI as a tool, and not a cheaper alternative, while mixing in practical effects, like Jurassic Park look stunning.
I’m sure if Lucas had made American Graffiti in the last decade, the scene with the police car losing it’s bumper would have probably been done in a computer, and would have lost some of the tangibility.
To wrap up, I don’t hate CGI, and in movies where they don’t rely on it, it can look stunning. There is just something fantastic about movie producing that existed before the digital age that adds a visceral feel to things that is lacking in the CGI dominated movies of the 21st century. In defense of CGI, the blooper reels are hilarious.
