1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. You know that disturbance in the 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 1: force isn't an illusion. It's the beginning of another episode 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: of tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette, and I 5 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 1: am an editor here at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: Apparently deceived into thinking that would be a cool new intro. 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as usual is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: Hello from a podcast from long long ago and far 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: far away, and far far away. I am pretty far 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: out there, so yeah, we wanted to talk today about 11 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: a special visual effects studio named Industrial Light and Magic. 12 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: And the reason why we decided to cover this particular 13 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 1: topic is that, well, Industrial Light and Magic is part of, 14 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: well one of the many things that George Lucas created, 15 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: including things like Lucas Film. And that's been the news recently, 16 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: because that's the recording of this podcast. It has not 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:08,479 Speaker 1: been that long since Disney announced its intention to acquire 18 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: Lucas Film for the parents lie some of four point 19 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: zero five billion with a B dollars, mostly all of 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: which apparently will be donated to George Lucas's educational charity. Right, Yeah, 21 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: it's pretty phenomenal George Lucas back in Twousen pledged that 22 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: he was going to dedicate his wealth to philanthropic endeavors, 23 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: mostly due uh to um more, mostly towards education, which 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: kind of it's nice and it shows that he's following 25 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: in the same sort of vein as other notable rich 26 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: people and philanthropists like Bill Gates. Yeah, and that's not 27 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: really what the the podcast is about. We're not talking 28 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: about George and and things. But I did want to 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: throw that in there simply because that was a pretty 30 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: amazing thing to do. It's a very kind of bone 31 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: would do that, very cool thing to do. Uh. It 32 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 1: almost makes me not want to criticize him for some 33 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: of the decisions he's made. Well, I think it gives 34 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:11,519 Speaker 1: us a picture of who he is as a person, 35 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: and although he does see himself, I think as a 36 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: as someone who is empowered to revise things that were 37 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 1: previously released and then that that does infuriate a lot 38 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: of people, among other things that he's done. But you know, 39 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: I get the sense to that, Hey, he's not a 40 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:32,959 Speaker 1: bad guy. Of course that's what he wants us to think. 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: But come on, come on, how who's going to go 42 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,079 Speaker 1: to the extent of of donating the majority of their 43 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: wealth to education in order to convince the world they're 44 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: not a bad guy. He's clearly a good guy. Yeah, 45 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: I would say so. So he's a better guy than 46 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: I am. So so well, well done, Mr Lucas. But 47 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean he's he's also the same kind 48 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: of person that is driven creatively. He's he's willing to 49 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: come up with complete new uh businesses to support his 50 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: creative habits. We might say, even though we may not 51 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: necessarily agree with them. I would I would say personally 52 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: for me that you know, his heart's in the right place. 53 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,360 Speaker 1: He's trying to create a good story and it doesn't 54 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: always pan out. Sounds like you gotta remember back, all right. 55 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: So he founded Industrial Light and Magic. Yes in Yes, Now, 56 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: that's two years before the release of Star Wars A 57 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: New Hope, one of the best documentaries ever to be made. Well, 58 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: he um as a filmmaker, and his his filmmaking career 59 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: began before that. Um but he you know, American Graffiti 60 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: wasn't exactly um a, it wasn't as it wasn't a 61 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: positive experience, wasn't It wasn't a special effects driven masterpiece. 62 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: You know, it was a very good film. I liked it, 63 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: but um, you know, it wasn't It wasn't the kind 64 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: of film that that George Lucas is come to be 65 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: known for. Well, he make a super effects blockbuster, which 66 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: uh many would argue that he is responsible for and 67 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: in part due to industrial Lite and magic. Really, the 68 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: the two people I think who are responsible for the 69 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: blockbuster special effects extravaganza are Lucas and Spielberg. And of 70 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: course Spielberg has had quite a bit of involvement in 71 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: uh several of Lucas's endeavors. But anyway, Yeah, he so 72 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,799 Speaker 1: he founded this visual effects company, and it was partly 73 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: because Lucas, uh he he knew he wanted to do 74 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: things a certain way, and in order to do that, 75 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:39,919 Speaker 1: he wanted to limit his dependence upon other companies as 76 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: much as possible. So he started to make stuff. He said, well, 77 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: there's no visual effects company out there that is going 78 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 1: to do the stuff I need to have done, so 79 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: I'm going to make it myself. And uh so he's 80 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: kind of a hacker. Yeah, it really is a lot 81 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: of ways, and and this was all due to necessity, 82 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,160 Speaker 1: you know, he wanted to have as much control all 83 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: over the project as possible. In order to do that, 84 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: and then that he had to build all this stuff, 85 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: and so he set out to do it, and that's 86 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: exactly what he did. It's kind of amazing. Well, there's 87 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: a you know, the industrial light and magic has been 88 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: responsible for many different advances in movie making technology over 89 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: the years. Back in nine, one of the first things 90 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: they developed was the Dixtra Flex camera system. That's named 91 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: after John Distra, who was actually the lead designer on 92 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: this camera design. Uh. And it's it was made because 93 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: if you if well it's kind of hard to say, 94 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: like if you if you saw The Star Wars and 95 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,719 Speaker 1: New Hope back in its cinematic release version, this is 96 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: pre special edition. All the effects there for things like 97 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: the ship battles and stuff, all the all the ships, 98 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: all the the Death Star stuff, all that was made 99 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: with practical effects, practical miniature models that so, so the 100 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: X Wings going through the trench and Death Star that 101 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: was all done with managers. So this is pre computer 102 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: generated special effects in that sense. Yeah, and the sound 103 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: to the the orchestra, Uh, would you know they would 104 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: put these models on the Dolly and then the orchestra 105 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: will be on the dolly behind them playing the music. 106 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: No let's go a little too far there, Chris, but 107 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: but this long way to go for a bad joke. 108 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: This this camera, this camera was was special because in 109 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 1: order to get the effect that Lucas wanted, he wanted 110 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: the spaceship scenes to look like um, like dog fights, 111 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: like airplane dog fights from World War two movies. Yeah. 112 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: And and the reason that those uh that that film, 113 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: uh and we're talking about existing film. Yeah, the reason 114 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: that that film is so effective, I think is because 115 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: it's been it was shot by another airplane in the 116 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: air at the same time as a dog fight. And 117 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: this this motion control photography that I LM developed for 118 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: this UM used uh, basically was using cameras that moved 119 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: in with the spaceship models, so it appeared that you 120 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: were flying in the in the dog fights between the 121 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: different fighters or the Millennium Falcon and the Tie fighters. 122 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: So it was there was a real sense of movement 123 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: right right. The camera was mounted on a crane, and 124 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: the crane was mounted on a dolly track, So they 125 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: don't do a Hello Dolly joke. I didn't anyone, Okay, 126 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: So the so the crane could move back and forth 127 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: along this track. The camera could could move in various 128 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: ways to adjust the the pitch or the tilt of 129 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: the of the camera's angle, so it could follow the 130 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: motions of the miniature and make it you have this 131 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: this really swoopy effect, where like Chris was saying, you're 132 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: following the action very closely. And uh, it was a 133 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: necessity for him to achieve the effect he wanted. So 134 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: he builds this thing. Actually, he puts John Dixtra in 135 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: charge of it, and John and his team built it. 136 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: I call him John Smart. Uh, and they they shoot 137 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: the movie and in nineteen seventy seven, Star Wars New 138 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: Hope hits theaters and becomes an amazing success. The two 139 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: movies that that really launched the era of blockbuster summer 140 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: hits were Jaws and Star Wars. Yeah, um, and uh, 141 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: you know what you get when you come up with 142 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: a new kind of special effects technology an Academy Award. Yes, 143 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: it won that for vis Visual Effects in nineteen seventy seven. 144 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: John Steers, I think of him as dikest, John Dikes, 145 00:08:53,440 --> 00:09:00,120 Speaker 1: Richard Grant mc grant mckeun, and Robert Black that can't 146 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: say any of their names, I'm just gonna call him. 147 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: They're all John now. Yeah, it's a matter of fact. 148 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 1: They also got a Special Achievement Award in nineteen eighty 149 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: Visual Effects. Right, but before we get to nineteen eighties, 150 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: something happens in nineteen seventy nine that I want to 151 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: talk about something, something special. There was a special division 152 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: formed in nineteen seventy nine and Industrial Light and Magic. 153 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: That division was called the Graphics Group, Uh, specializing in 154 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: computer animation and effects. Wait, I feel like I should 155 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: know who these guys are. When we get to nineteen 156 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: eight six, it'll all become clear. But yeah, in nineteen 157 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,559 Speaker 1: seventy nine, the division, the Graphics Group, forms an Industrial 158 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: Light and Magic. That division will become incredibly important and influential. 159 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: And but oddly enough, their most influential days will be 160 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: after they leave Lucas Filmy and Industrial Line Magic. So 161 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: moving on, uh, nineteen eighty that's when Empire strikes back, 162 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: the second greatest documentary. Actually, I think that people would 163 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: argue that's better than Star Wars people, and you know, 164 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: I actually prefer a New Hope to Empire. But I 165 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: really love Empire too. It's just one of those things 166 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: where you know, a new hope really resonates with me. 167 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: But Empire is great, so Empire Strikes Back comes out. 168 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: They do win the Special Achievement Academy Award for Visual 169 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,439 Speaker 1: Effects for that. The one Indiana Johnes and Raiders The 170 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: Last Start Comes Out Now, that was another UH the 171 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: project that UH had Spielberg's involvement, and they won the 172 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: Academy Award for Visual Effects for that. They also made 173 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:41,440 Speaker 1: a movie Did you ever see Dragon Slayer? Okay, so 174 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: I saw Dragon Slayer back when I was a kid. 175 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: Dragon Slayer is a fantasy film and it's pretty much 176 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: what you would think it is. It's a story about 177 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 1: a young hero who UH sets out to slay a dragon. 178 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: It's a little more complicated and that, but that's yeah. 179 00:10:55,960 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: So they designed a new kind of filmmaker for this 180 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:05,120 Speaker 1: as well. They decided that there's a problem with working 181 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: with practical effects for monsters that are um the go beyond, 182 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: like something someone in just a suit, right, because one 183 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: of the things you could do is you could do 184 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:20,360 Speaker 1: stop motion animation to create a monster effect, because it's 185 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: it's hard to build a giant monster, so and it 186 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:27,679 Speaker 1: it really it's hard to make it look right too. 187 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,680 Speaker 1: It takes a lot of work. If I've shown my 188 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: kids older monster movie bits, and it's kind of easy 189 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: to on the one hand, when you grew up with 190 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: pre I l M movies and technology and Jonathan and 191 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: I probably barely qualify for that. But you know, you 192 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: look at some of the old monster movies and you 193 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: could see the zipper marks in the costumes and the 194 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: older stuff. You don't, you're not freaked out by that anymore. 195 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: But you know, the practice coal effects m could be 196 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: done very very well, and even when they're done very 197 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: very well, it still doesn't have the same effect that 198 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: the newer ones do. And just it's it's just weird 199 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: to think about now. But yeah, I mean, looking at 200 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: the new stuff, it looks so very very real. Yeah. Well, 201 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: back then, you know, with the practical effects, that's pretty 202 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,439 Speaker 1: much all they had at their their disposal at this point. 203 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 1: Back they developed something called go motion and go Motion Uh. 204 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: The way that they explain it on the Industrial Light 205 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: and Magic website is that it worked by fusing quote, 206 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: both electronic and mechanical components into a device that could 207 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: record the dragon in Dragon Slayers movements based on an 208 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: animator's design and play them back so the camera could 209 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 1: capture them as they occurred. So the reason for this 210 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: is because if they if they were to do it 211 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: in traditional stop motion, there'd be no motion blur when 212 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 1: something moves quickly, because because all you're doing is just 213 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: taking a bunch of individual photographs really of objects that 214 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,199 Speaker 1: are not in motion, and then you're playing them back 215 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: to make it look like the object was in motion. 216 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,600 Speaker 1: To get motion blur, the thing actually needs to be moving. 217 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: It helps, but that's not how stop motion works, because 218 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: the name stop Anyway, it was an interesting development. It 219 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:29,960 Speaker 1: was something that they had um created two again to 220 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: meet the needs of the project that without having to 221 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:40,199 Speaker 1: you know, completely reinvent everything. Two They they got another 222 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: Academy award. Um, I'm not gonna go through every Academy 223 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,480 Speaker 1: award Industrial Line Magic has won because that would be ridiculous. 224 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: But they got it for one of my favorite films 225 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: as a kid growing up, which was Et the Extraterrestrial. Y. 226 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: I loved this movie as a kid. I think I 227 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: must have seen it three or four times the summer 228 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: that it came out, and I probably cried my eyes 229 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: out every single time. I watched it because I'm a sap. 230 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: I'm gonna sap all my life. I still am a sap. 231 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: I probably could watch ET without crying now, but back 232 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: as a kid, there was just no hope. Um. Anyway, 233 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:20,560 Speaker 1: that that was another very popular film made by h 234 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: Lucas and Spielberg. So uh, and of course we should 235 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: point out, uh, Lucas's involvement in some of these films 236 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: is more of a kind of advisory sort of role. 237 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: Industrial Light Magic worked on lots of projects, not just 238 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: lucasfilm projects, which is why you know Et is an 239 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: Amblin project, not lucasfilm. Well. I wanted to point that 240 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: out too, that it would have been easy for George 241 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 1: Lucas to restrict Industrial Light and Magic to working on 242 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: his films. Yeah, but then we would have hardly any 243 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: of them because he didn't do very many. Well, I mean, 244 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: that's that's part of it. But I mean he could have. 245 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: He could have done, say, uh, the Indiana Jones films 246 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: and the Star Wars film stuff that he was intimately 247 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: more intimately involved with, um, you know, the projects that 248 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: he and Spielberg worked on together in some capacity, but 249 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: he you know, they decided to spend this off into 250 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: its own company, and in doing so they made I 251 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: would argue that they made film richer for it. I 252 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: mean you could say that, you know, working on on 253 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: Star Trek two, um, you know and one of the 254 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:35,680 Speaker 1: greatest documentaries ever made ever boy. Um, So you might say, well, 255 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: you know, start there, there's this whole Star Wars versus 256 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: Star Trek, which I think is stilly anyway, um personally, 257 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,080 Speaker 1: but you know they You might say, well, you wouldn't 258 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,280 Speaker 1: necessarily you might want Star Wars to be the dominant 259 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,240 Speaker 1: uh science fiction space franchise. You know, why would you 260 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 1: let him work on Star Trek. Well? I think, like 261 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: I said, it really populated film them with the DNA 262 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: of Industrial LIGHTE and Magic and made them the powerhouse 263 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 1: that they are now. Um. And yeah, I mean they 264 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: got a nomination for that too. Um. They did other 265 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: work for other uh of the Star Wars and Star 266 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: Trek films and going through you could see this in 267 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: their the timeline on the Industrial LIGHTE and Magic website. Um. 268 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 1: But yeah, they really and they got involved in stuff. 269 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: Now you would say, also, these films are going to 270 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 1: be heavily dependent on uh special effects, and you would 271 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: expect that to be so, but um on other stuff 272 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: like um, you know you would see it too, for 273 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: things like Back to the Future, the Back to the 274 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: Future franchise. But he also worked on the Industrial LIGHTE 275 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: and magic, also worked on stuff like Out of Africa 276 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: and Young Sherlock Holmes. Uh, stuff that had special effects. 277 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: But some of this stuff is less special effect driven. 278 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: The special effect the special and special effects in this 279 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 1: case is making it look photo realist take rather than 280 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: looking fantastic. Yeah, um yeah, I agree the uh and 281 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: and you know there are other analogs we can compare 282 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: this to, like the wet A Workshop, which did all 283 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 1: the work for the Lord of the Rings movies, and 284 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:21,160 Speaker 1: the Hobbit has also done work for other other production companies. 285 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: That's so they have done designed for lots of stuff, 286 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 1: not just the Peter Jackson productions, so there are other 287 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: similarities there. I'm glad you mentioned Young Sherlock Holmes. In 288 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,879 Speaker 1: five I LM achieved something no one had done before. 289 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: They created the first computer generated character in a film, 290 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: fully computer generated character. Uh. That Stained glass Man Stained 291 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: Glass Man from Young Sherlock Holmes. Uh. In this case, 292 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: what's happening for those of you who have not seen 293 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,400 Speaker 1: Young Sherlock Holmes, which is a pretty good movie that's 294 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 1: slowly paced, but it's I enjoyed it. Uh it's it's 295 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: got a lot of cute ref princes in it that 296 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: clew you into the man that Holmes will become and 297 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: actually the man that Watson will become as well, though 298 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: it really messes up their ages anyway. Uh, there's there's this. 299 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: The plot involves this stuff, this substance that causes people 300 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: to hallucinate, and they hallucinate these terrifying visions that drive 301 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: them to essentially suicide. And in this particular case, it's 302 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: a character who is looking he's in a building with 303 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: stained glass windows, and one of the stained glass figures 304 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: comes to life, jumping out of the window and it's 305 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: a night that is made out stained glass that stalks 306 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: the guy. So that's the scene, and that was the 307 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 1: first use of a computer a fully computer generated character 308 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: in the film Who's stalking Nice. So in n six 309 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: here's where the spinoff happens. That um that I mentioned. 310 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: So back in seventy nine they had the Graphics Group 311 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: division and eighties six lucasfilm spins off the Graphics Group 312 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: Division as its own company, with a healthy dose of 313 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:11,360 Speaker 1: funding from a certain Mr. Steve Jobs who had kind 314 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 1: of lost his job. Yeah he was, he had a 315 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: gig and then they cut him loose. Yeah he he 316 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: he had just founded Apple and then got pushed off 317 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: to the very edges of that company and essentially they 318 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: kind of fired him without saying he's fired. And then 319 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,840 Speaker 1: he said, all right, I guess I'm going and he left. 320 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: And then but yeah, he poured in a great deal 321 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: of money to the graphics group, which became Pixar. So 322 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,200 Speaker 1: Pixar at this time was again really kind of pioneering 323 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: computer graphics, computer animation. It would of course be several 324 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:55,400 Speaker 1: years before um Pixar would enter in it's uh, it's 325 00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 1: long and fruitful relationship with Disney. Yes, so, but that 326 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: that did have its you know, start way back then. 327 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: And yeah they were um of course they weren't what 328 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,600 Speaker 1: they are now. But you know, and you might say, 329 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: I can't believe that George Lucas allowed this to happen, 330 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: But at the time it probably wasn't so clear cut, 331 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: and it was very expensive to do what they were doing, 332 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,199 Speaker 1: and there there were there were no clear indicators at 333 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: that time I mean, computer hardware wasn't what it is 334 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: now either. It would be a good long decade before 335 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: you start to see this really kind of payoff, But 336 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: BOYD did it. So Industrial Line Magic entered in with 337 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: a partnership with a little company called Kodak, which uh, 338 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: of course has seen some hard times recently, but Kodak 339 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 1: and I LM produced the first high resolution film input scanner. 340 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,159 Speaker 1: Now this was important because what I could let you 341 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: do is digitally scan film, then you could edit it 342 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: the computer, and then you would print it back out 343 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: onto film, and uh, you wouldn't have to do all 344 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: those edits manually using the traditional methods of cutting film 345 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 1: and editing that way, so it gave a lot more 346 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 1: versatility to the editing process. And you guys may not 347 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,199 Speaker 1: be aware of this, but it really is true that 348 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: films are made in the editing booth. That you can 349 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: shoot hours and hours and hours of footage of actors 350 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:36,400 Speaker 1: doing lines and and uh and running around and explosions 351 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 1: and whatever. But until you get into the editing booth 352 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: and put it all together, you do not have a movie. 353 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:47,199 Speaker 1: And in fact, I have seen evidence of amazing films 354 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,680 Speaker 1: coming from what you would imagine to be um worthless footage, 355 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,719 Speaker 1: and it's all due to a really creative editor finding 356 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: ways to make something interesting when before, like might watch 357 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: a sequence that originally was twelve minutes long and you think, wow, 358 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: this is unusable, and then editor gets ahold of it 359 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:10,320 Speaker 1: and cuts it down to like seven and a half minutes, 360 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: and suddenly it's phenomenal. And so, uh this is one 361 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: of those important developments in the industry. Now, granted, this 362 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: is only important as long as film remains a factor, 363 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,919 Speaker 1: and of course that doesn't always hold true. We've got 364 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:26,879 Speaker 1: a lot of digital productions out there. In fact, almost 365 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: everything is digital now yea, and now of course, uh 366 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: thanks to who was that anyway? Um foreshadowing. Uh yeah, 367 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: although this device used charged couple device UM image sensor, 368 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: it was not a digital camera in the way that 369 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: we think of now. You know, this was a scanner, 370 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: so it was you know, you you you you did 371 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,440 Speaker 1: use a film camera first and then use the scanner 372 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,160 Speaker 1: and then it would again put film out, so that 373 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: you know, the projectors, the projectors we use were film projectors. 374 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:00,719 Speaker 1: They weren't digital yet, so uh yeah, going fully digital 375 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,159 Speaker 1: was not a viable option at this point. Um I 376 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: d A nine. They created the first computer generated three 377 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: dimensional fluid based character. And boy, how many fluid based 378 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: characters I have loved in the cinema over the years. 379 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: I can't think of any right now, apart from the 380 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: alien water creature from the Abyss, which is what this 381 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: is talking about. Yes, now, I saw well, I don't 382 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: know if you if you argue that the terminators being 383 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: sort of liquid, okay, yeah, and we'll get to the 384 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,239 Speaker 1: terminators as well, but yeah, I guess so so the 385 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: T one thousand's that's really higher? So liquid metal? You know? No, 386 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: it was. I remember I saw The Abyss in the theater, 387 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: and I remember not thinking as much of the plot 388 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: as I would have liked to have. But the effects 389 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: were amazing. The effects were amazing, And I still remember 390 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: watching Um, well, I shouldn't I suppose I shouldn't give 391 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 1: away one spoiler, but the pseudopod at actually gets um 392 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: it's it's a movie that came out in Okay, spoilers 393 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: don't apply anymore. When the door shuts and cuts the pseudopods. 394 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: I got to that point yet, I just get the 395 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:13,920 Speaker 1: point where the doors open and the pseudopods, right, there 396 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: and it's friends, and I thought they were all going 397 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: to have a picnic, and so the pseudopod when it 398 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: gets cut, turns into real water and hit fo um. 399 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: Just it was amazing, It was fantastic. Well yeah, and 400 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: that that was one of those challenges. I mean, there 401 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: are several things that have been challenges for computer graphics 402 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: artists to recreate in a photo realistic way. Water was 403 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: one of them. Fire is another one. Hair is a 404 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:45,280 Speaker 1: big one. So there are a lot of a lot 405 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: of that that that various people working on computer graphics 406 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 1: I've had to try and find a way of of 407 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,200 Speaker 1: designing so that it has that realistic feel on camera. 408 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 1: And of course Pixar was doing a lot of this too, 409 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,440 Speaker 1: kind around the same time. So in ninety one they 410 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: created the first computer graphics main character. This is the 411 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: one you were referring to, the one that was in 412 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: ninety one and in Terminator two Judgment Day, which I remember. 413 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: I liked it a lot when it came out, and 414 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: as the years go on, I start to change my 415 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: opinion on that, mainly because of my love for the 416 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: first film, even as schlocky and goofy as it is, 417 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: because they kind of totally changed the t character Terminator 418 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: character in that one. Anyway, ninety two they won their 419 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: twelve Academy Award for Computer Graphics Work, which is pretty amazing. 420 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: They also had the first time they with human skin 421 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: texture computer generated human skin texture. This was for the 422 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: movie Death Becomes Her. Did you see that one? No? 423 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 1: I I have great effects and it's an interesting concept, 424 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: but I don't know. I just did not click with me. 425 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: But but again, people, the effects were amazing, so that's undeniable. 426 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: The actual film, however, it left me a little cold. 427 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: Death Becomes the Stiff, Yeah, there wasn't. That was a 428 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: short time later when they actually created a character that 429 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: seemed to breathe with skin, muscles and texture. This is 430 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: a Jurassic Park now. Jurassic Park was one of those 431 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: movies again that when it first came out, I remember 432 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: that people were just completely stunned with the quality of 433 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: the of the digital dinosaurs and that those movies you 434 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 1: would watch scenes and you'd think, Okay, that had to 435 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 1: be practical. They must have built a giant robot dinosaur 436 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: for this scene. And then most times that was not 437 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:52,680 Speaker 1: the case. It was all computer generated. Uh. From today's standards. 438 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 1: If you were to go back and watch Jurassic Park, 439 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: I say it largely holds up. But there are definitely 440 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: bits where you'll think, Okay, I can kind of tell 441 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,679 Speaker 1: that's computer generated. Apart from the fact that, yes, we 442 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: know that dinosaurs aren't walking around right now, beyond that, 443 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,199 Speaker 1: I can tell its computer generated. Uh, And there are 444 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: a couple of scenes that are more obvious than others. 445 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,240 Speaker 1: But you gotta thank you, know, for it was a 446 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: pretty phenomenal achievement. And like I said, it more it 447 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: holds up more than it doesn't. Right now. Again, another 448 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 1: short jump to a film where they did their first 449 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 1: computer graphic photo realistic here and for Yeah, and uh, 450 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 1: it's interesting because they had a great model to work 451 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: from with Robin Williams, who is probably the haryest, furiest 452 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: man on the planet. You're looking at me, funny, that 453 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: was a That was a joke. That was a joke. 454 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: He's a hairy man. But that's a joke. Make jokes 455 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:57,160 Speaker 1: about that. They created the effects for all these computer 456 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: generated animals, and these animals were supposed to look not 457 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 1: They were supposed to like almost a slight fantasy version 458 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: of the real animal. Because the idea was these were 459 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: all generated from this magical board game, and so it 460 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:15,360 Speaker 1: wasn't They didn't need to look exactly like the real 461 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: world version of those animals. They need to look a 462 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: little hyper realistic, but not so much as to be distracting. 463 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,640 Speaker 1: So that was the goal they had for that film. Um, 464 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,959 Speaker 1: they also created uh, the first synthetic speaking character with 465 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: distinct personality, so how they word it on their timeline, 466 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: that would be Casper from Casper the Ghost, which uh 467 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: gooda ghost I did not watch, but now these were 468 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: This was a case where you're talking about the computer 469 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: generated character that not only appears on screen, but has 470 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: a large, an important presence in the film and has 471 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: to be able to convey emotion and meeting and motive. Uh. 472 00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: And so that's you know, that's more challenge jing than 473 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:02,880 Speaker 1: creating something that looks real. You have to have something 474 00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: that's behaving in a realistic way and a believable way 475 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,959 Speaker 1: so that the audience has an emotional connection with that character. 476 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: And that that's not easy to do. I mean computer 477 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 1: animators and animators in general will tell you, you you know, 478 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: once you develop that kind of style where you can 479 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: create that on a reliable basis, it's an amazingly effective 480 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,600 Speaker 1: and useful tool. And before you get there, it is 481 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:32,479 Speaker 1: just a painstaking process thinking, well, you know, I created 482 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: this character and the sad thing happens to this character, 483 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: but no one seems to care. It's I mean, it's 484 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: a tricky thing to to be able to invoke empathy 485 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: in your audience. Eight they were awarded to I l 486 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: M was awarded to patents for some techniques. One was 487 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: for hair, fur and feathers. Uh. In this case it 488 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,280 Speaker 1: was the hair fur and feathers effects they made for 489 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:01,239 Speaker 1: another movie, Mighty Joe Young, which was a Yes, I 490 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: saw the original Mighty Joe Young way back when I 491 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,000 Speaker 1: didn't see the remake. Um, this one was hair raising, 492 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: I'm sure it was. And the other one was for 493 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: facial animation, which was again created originally for the film Casper, 494 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:20,360 Speaker 1: but was also used on other movies like Men in Black. Nine, 495 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 1: they created the most realistic digital human character ever seen 496 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: in film, which was not the Daddy. It was the Mummy. 497 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: Chris is not having a great morning right now. Hey, 498 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: I just listened by the way slight tangent. I just 499 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: listened to one of our older episodes and uh, and 500 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 1: you ground my my will to live into the dirt 501 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: with your puns. So you're gonna sit here and you're gonna, 502 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: you're gonna, you're gonna endure this, all right. Two thousand um. 503 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: That was with the the real time on character motion 504 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: capture system developed for Star Wars episode one. So this 505 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: is this is where they have someone favorite movie of 506 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 1: all thank you, yeah, Star Wars episode one the phenominas, 507 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: which I'll say this, I think it's the best of 508 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: the prequels. All right, that's as much praise as I 509 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: can give it. But anyway, also it has jar Jar, 510 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 1: so do the other two prequels. It also has Darth 511 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,719 Speaker 1: Vader saying yippie. And I still say it's better than 512 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: the other two. Um, but that's neither here nor there. 513 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: What they developed was this motion capture system that worked 514 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: in real time. Now this is really useful, and that 515 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: you could get an actor wearing a special suit that 516 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,440 Speaker 1: would have sensors on it, or really it's not even sensors, 517 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: it's just points of reference so for a camera to 518 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: pick up um, and then the actor could physically portray 519 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: a performance within a space, and then they take that 520 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: information that the actor has created by moving through the 521 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: space and the camera picks up. They feed it through 522 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,880 Speaker 1: software and that becomes the guideline for the computer generated 523 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: character that will replace the physical actor who was moving 524 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 1: through there. Jar Jar is an example of that. That 525 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 1: was one of the characters that that used this um, 526 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: this technology to create the performance. Now, while I do 527 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: not much care for the character of jar Jar, I 528 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: do admit that it was an interesting use of technology 529 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 1: to be able to give a computer generated character more 530 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 1: of a physical performance by actually mapping it to someone's 531 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: real movements, because otherwise you've got animators trying to simulate 532 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 1: real movements as best they can, and sometimes it works 533 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: great and you watch and you think, oh, well, that 534 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: looks real, and sometimes you're like, huh, that doesn't look 535 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,040 Speaker 1: right at all. Yeah, they're gonna use this technique again 536 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: in some of the movies that are coming up to 537 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: to pardon my pun, great effect, um some of my 538 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: my favorite recent more recent movies. Yep. They also began 539 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: to develop other stuff. In two thousand and one, they 540 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:13,320 Speaker 1: developed ambient occlusion. Yeah that's uh, that's just what it 541 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: sounds like. Which there you go. They actually used this 542 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: in the movie Pearl Harbor like it's just what it 543 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 1: sounds like. I have no idea what you mean. Basically, 544 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: they were using a combination of light and shadows that 545 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:32,480 Speaker 1: made the lighting appear realistic through the use of computer graphics. 546 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: And they really it really showed uh, showed up for 547 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 1: the first time in Pearl Harbor, the movie, not not 548 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: the actual actual Pearl Harbor, not the place nor the 549 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: historical event. Yes, but they Yeah, I mean with the 550 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:49,000 Speaker 1: the planes in the attack on the the American fleet 551 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: and that you know, in the early morning hours. Um, 552 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: you know, it required a lot of clever lighting. Yeah. 553 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 1: And shadows. Yeah, you're talking about explosions, You're talking about 554 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: shadows being cast by lots of different objects. You're talking 555 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: about smoke. I mean, there's there are a lot of 556 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: effects here that we kind of you know, you take 557 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:08,000 Speaker 1: for granted when you watch it on a film, but 558 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: to be able to recreate it realistically in a computer 559 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: environment is not easy, and that that's why a lot 560 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: of this technology went toward. That same year, they also 561 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: created onset visualization processes that would allow a filmmaker to 562 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: put actors into an environment, let's say, like a big 563 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: green screen environment and look at the virtual sets around 564 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: the real actors, complete with the actual camera motions. UM, 565 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: this was this is useful when you're making a movie 566 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: where a lot of the backgrounds you create are digitally inserted. 567 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: It's not it's not a computer animated film. It's still 568 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:53,120 Speaker 1: a live action film. But the the the sets might 569 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:55,200 Speaker 1: be virtual. And we saw this in a lot of 570 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 1: the movies, like a lot of the Star Wars prequels 571 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,920 Speaker 1: had it. The example they give specifically within the Island 572 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:07,320 Speaker 1: timeline is with Steven Spielberg's movie AI Artificial Intelligence. Uh, 573 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,680 Speaker 1: there's another let down. A lot of movies here that 574 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:13,759 Speaker 1: I didn't really care for so much. Yeah, but back 575 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:16,759 Speaker 1: to the Future I loved. So there's there's that addressing park. 576 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,800 Speaker 1: I love that too. So it's okay, I'll just keep going, 577 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:23,279 Speaker 1: all right, two thousand three or do we were about 578 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: to say something. I'm sorry, Well, I was going to 579 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 1: point out that the uh for the ambient occlusion thing. 580 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: They do point out that. UM a few years later 581 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,879 Speaker 1: in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave 582 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,479 Speaker 1: them a cy Tech Award for the ways in which 583 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: ambient inclusion helped advance computer graphics in the motion picture industry. So, 584 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,600 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, looking at it in retrospect, it 585 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:49,839 Speaker 1: may not have seemed like a big deal at the time. 586 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,879 Speaker 1: It may have seemed all that that movie is lit 587 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:55,480 Speaker 1: and you know, shadowed very well. But it has played 588 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: a significant role in many, many other films since then. 589 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:00,759 Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I mean there's what before we went 590 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 1: too far? Sure, these these developments they're making are things 591 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: that are are pushing forward the filmmaking industry across the 592 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:12,160 Speaker 1: entire industry, not just for a single movie. Uh, it 593 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:15,760 Speaker 1: really I l M has done a lot to shape 594 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 1: the way movies are today. Uh. Without their influence, I 595 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,920 Speaker 1: would say that we'd be we'd have very different films 596 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: right now if it were not for industrial line magic. 597 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:29,439 Speaker 1: Doesn't necessarily mean that they would be better or worse, 598 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: but they would certainly be different. It would look so yeah, 599 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,400 Speaker 1: you mentioned the two thousand three or you mentioned the awards. 600 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: They also got an award for the way that they 601 00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:45,239 Speaker 1: found to render skin or translucent materials, uh, from the 602 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:47,879 Speaker 1: the good Old cy Tech Award. They also in two 603 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 1: thousand four created a digital baby for a lemony snicket. 604 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:57,799 Speaker 1: It's a series of unfortunate events and it was this 605 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,719 Speaker 1: marked according to I l M the first time that 606 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: you had a computer generated human character shown an extreme 607 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:09,440 Speaker 1: close up. So we're getting to the point now where 608 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:15,239 Speaker 1: photo realistic computer generated characters are within the realm of 609 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:19,680 Speaker 1: possibility for a serious filmmaker, um to the to the 610 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 1: point where it's not necessarily going to be distracting when 611 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 1: you watch it and you think, wow, that does not 612 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: look real. Doesn't mean that everyone pulls it off successfully 613 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,120 Speaker 1: these days, but at least it's much more possible. Two 614 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:34,880 Speaker 1: thousand six, they developed imo cap, which was an image 615 00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,360 Speaker 1: based performance capture system, and this was for one of 616 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And that same year, 617 00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:47,440 Speaker 1: two thousand six was when Disney made an acquisition. Disney 618 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: purchased Pixar. So you remember back in that's when Pixar 619 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:54,800 Speaker 1: struck out on its own, not not struck out in 620 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,440 Speaker 1: the baseball sense, but set out as its own company 621 00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:03,080 Speaker 1: under the the the financial support of Steve Jobs. While 622 00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 1: two thousand six, Disney makes a move to acquire that company, Pixar. 623 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,680 Speaker 1: Disney and Pixar had already been making several movies together 624 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,279 Speaker 1: for several years, and uh it was it was a 625 00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: strategic move to guarantee that Pixar would remain under the 626 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 1: Disney family. And that also it was kind of a 627 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,400 Speaker 1: talent grab because John Lasseter, who was the head of 628 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,359 Speaker 1: Pixar at the time, would become the creative head of 629 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:36,040 Speaker 1: Walt Disney Animation as well as a imagineering So um 630 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: that that little acquisition was made for seven point four 631 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:45,040 Speaker 1: billion dollars in stocks and other assets. So that made 632 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney at that time 633 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: and put him on the border directors to seven point 634 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: four billion. Now, that to me is interesting because we 635 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:59,120 Speaker 1: already mentioned, you know, Disney's buying or trying to buy Lucasfilm. 636 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:00,880 Speaker 1: As of the recording of this put guest the deal 637 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:04,520 Speaker 1: has not been approved, but a Disney would be purchasing 638 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: them for four point oh five billions. So you've got 639 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:12,719 Speaker 1: a division, a former division of Lucasfilm sold for uh, 640 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,280 Speaker 1: not quite twice as much as what the parent company 641 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:23,879 Speaker 1: sold for. That's interesting. So two thousand seven. Uh, at 642 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:29,040 Speaker 1: this point, I LM is working on creating a system 643 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 1: to simulate fluid motion and this again is tricky. You know, 644 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:38,560 Speaker 1: we talked about getting a water effect is challenging, and 645 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:44,120 Speaker 1: that's true. It's also challenging to simulate fluid mechanics, especially 646 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 1: you're talking about huge quantities, you know, with with the 647 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: Pirates of the Caribbean movies, you're talking about ships on 648 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,600 Speaker 1: the ocean, So you need to be able to simulate 649 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,880 Speaker 1: the way the ocean really moves and the way that 650 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: objects floating or otherwise you know, somehow in the water, 651 00:39:58,680 --> 00:40:02,320 Speaker 1: how they would move as well. So they did of 652 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,400 Speaker 1: a lot of work in two thousand seven to perfect 653 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:09,200 Speaker 1: that technique. Yeah, they actually used a particular system that 654 00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:13,480 Speaker 1: they called Zeno and UH an engine a graphics engine 655 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:17,799 Speaker 1: called fiz bam UM and this UH this was the 656 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:21,239 Speaker 1: series I was mentioning a few minutes ago, because they 657 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: modeled these effects within what they were calling a virtual 658 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,560 Speaker 1: water tank. But of course in the in the last 659 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:32,040 Speaker 1: in the second and third movies, in the installment UM, 660 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:36,560 Speaker 1: there were lots of appearances by Davy Jones and his 661 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:44,040 Speaker 1: UH daydream Believers UH his crew, which were who had 662 00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:49,359 Speaker 1: taken on aspects of sea life. They lived underwater UM 663 00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:53,000 Speaker 1: and they there's a really cool picture out there where 664 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 1: they show the UH Motion capture UM sticker things that 665 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,799 Speaker 1: they put on that the actors to UH while they 666 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 1: are you know, pretending to be or they're acting as 667 00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:06,680 Speaker 1: the crew and it's it's kind of cool because you 668 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: can get weight. They don't have giant fish heads on um, 669 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,120 Speaker 1: but that's you know how they did that, and the 670 00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,920 Speaker 1: amazing sea battle effects and all the things, the giant 671 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:22,400 Speaker 1: maelstrom um just amazing stuff. And then of course you 672 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,760 Speaker 1: know the YEP. And in two thousand and eight they 673 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:30,680 Speaker 1: began to work on Fez because fezes are cool. They 674 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:35,160 Speaker 1: are according to a doctor I know, yes, but no, 675 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: Fez was the name of a facial animation system that 676 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 1: they had been working on. And again this is to 677 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:47,840 Speaker 1: refine that that ability to capture an actor's performance to 678 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:51,560 Speaker 1: translate it to a computer generated character. This is one 679 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:55,600 Speaker 1: of those things that really is problematic. It's interest. It's 680 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,239 Speaker 1: an interesting question to ask who is ultimately responsible for 681 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:05,680 Speaker 1: a computer generated character's performance? Um, Because if you have 682 00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:09,200 Speaker 1: a performance within a film that is award worthy, but 683 00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:12,000 Speaker 1: it's a computer generated character, who do you give the 684 00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 1: award to? Do you give it to the animator who 685 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,720 Speaker 1: built or the people who built the textures and rendered 686 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,640 Speaker 1: everything and made it you know, that made sure they 687 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:25,040 Speaker 1: made all the tweaks to make the character look exactly 688 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: the way the character looks? Do you give it to 689 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:31,640 Speaker 1: the actor who physically portrayed that character and it's that 690 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:37,240 Speaker 1: actor's movements that you are watching, even though it's a different, uh, 691 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:41,040 Speaker 1: computer generated body that's doing the motions, Ultimately it was 692 00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,480 Speaker 1: an actor who went through those motions. Uh. Is it 693 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,000 Speaker 1: the voice actor who may or may not be the 694 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: same person who did the physical motions. It's a it's 695 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:52,560 Speaker 1: a complicated question because the performance comes from so many 696 00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:56,640 Speaker 1: different people working together to create this thing you're watching. 697 00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: And I know that that was one of those questions 698 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:01,440 Speaker 1: that came up during the Lord of Rings movies because 699 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,200 Speaker 1: there were people who were saying that Andy Serkis should 700 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:09,840 Speaker 1: be nominated for his performance as Gollum in those movies. 701 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: But how much of that performance would you say is 702 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:19,280 Speaker 1: his versus the animators who created the Uh? I hesitate 703 00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:21,839 Speaker 1: to use the word physical, but the the visual version 704 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:24,240 Speaker 1: of the character that you see on the screen. And 705 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:26,439 Speaker 1: it's I don't think there's an easy answer to that question. 706 00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:28,959 Speaker 1: It may very well mean that one day we'll see 707 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,880 Speaker 1: a new category of award come up where it's best 708 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,360 Speaker 1: performance of some sort as opposed to just best actor 709 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:42,240 Speaker 1: or Best supporting actor or actress. Yes, wow, you waited 710 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:44,080 Speaker 1: all that time just to do that, all right. Two 711 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:49,319 Speaker 1: thousand nine we had the very GPU engine which was 712 00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:54,000 Speaker 1: designed to create firestorms. So again you know, looking at 713 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:58,400 Speaker 1: the stuff that's hard to make look real on computer graphics. 714 00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:01,120 Speaker 1: You know, fire and water, those big and for those 715 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:04,200 Speaker 1: are the big ones. Well, they they're working on the 716 00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:08,360 Speaker 1: Harry Potter series of movies and they for the sixth film, 717 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: they really needed to be able to have realistic fire effects. 718 00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:15,399 Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's the I l M way 719 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: when if you don't have a system that already doesn't, 720 00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:21,239 Speaker 1: go build one. Well and they did, and so this 721 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,279 Speaker 1: kind of wraps up where they are today. I mean 722 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:28,600 Speaker 1: I M is not the only property outside of Lucasfilm 723 00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:31,719 Speaker 1: that will be acquired by Disney if this deal goes through. 724 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:36,120 Speaker 1: Skywalker's sound is also in there. And you know, Lucas has, 725 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:39,960 Speaker 1: like we said, he's had a huge influence on the 726 00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:44,480 Speaker 1: way movies are shown today. I mean th h X 727 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:48,919 Speaker 1: is another example, uh, which Disney I was also going 728 00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:53,000 Speaker 1: to get. So really, when it comes down to the 729 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:59,440 Speaker 1: the technology behind filmmaking and film projection, film screening, Disney 730 00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,919 Speaker 1: is making a huge move here and and some people 731 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:04,600 Speaker 1: are a little nervous about it. I've got friends who 732 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:08,640 Speaker 1: work in effects. They work for for affect houses that 733 00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:13,359 Speaker 1: often will get contracted to work on companies UM, and 734 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:15,960 Speaker 1: some of these friends of mine are a little nervous 735 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,720 Speaker 1: because this is sort of showing a consolidation of effects 736 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:25,360 Speaker 1: houses and that could mean less competition and fewer opportunities 737 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:28,880 Speaker 1: for these artists. So there are things to worry about, 738 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:33,840 Speaker 1: depending upon what field you are in. Yeah, But nonetheless, 739 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:36,359 Speaker 1: I still think it will be interesting to see. And 740 00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:41,080 Speaker 1: if some of the people leave UM, you know, they 741 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:45,160 Speaker 1: may very well take the ability to uh do these 742 00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:47,479 Speaker 1: complex the knowledge that it takes to to build these 743 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:52,640 Speaker 1: complex effects with them, making the acquisition less valuable. There 744 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:55,399 Speaker 1: could there's always a chance that people could strike out 745 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 1: and create their own uh companies as well and start 746 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:01,839 Speaker 1: competing at their old company. I mean that's happened several 747 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:04,680 Speaker 1: times in the past as well. So it's too early 748 00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:08,359 Speaker 1: to say. But some of the movies Alam has worked 749 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,920 Speaker 1: on we've talked about, of course, the Star Wars series 750 00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:15,239 Speaker 1: all the way from episode four through six and then 751 00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:20,080 Speaker 1: one through three. Uh, the several Star Trek films generations 752 00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:23,400 Speaker 1: first contact on Star Wars are Star Trek Wrath of 753 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:25,640 Speaker 1: con which is my favorite of all the Star Trek 754 00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:32,600 Speaker 1: films because it's very cold. It's space is fine. Corinthian leather. Yeah, 755 00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:36,000 Speaker 1: the Jurassic Park movies. Uh, you know had the mask 756 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:40,520 Speaker 1: Forrest Gump, Twister. Never had I felt that a cow 757 00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:43,960 Speaker 1: really did fly past someone's windshield until I saw Twister. 758 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:49,840 Speaker 1: Mission Impossible three. They've they've worked on many, many, many movies. 759 00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 1: I mean, if you if you watch any film has 760 00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:54,640 Speaker 1: a lot of special effects in it and you wait 761 00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:57,680 Speaker 1: to the end. Uh, it's amazing how many of them 762 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:00,279 Speaker 1: have Industrial Light and Magic listed as at least part 763 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,160 Speaker 1: of the team that worked on the effects. Also, it's 764 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:07,480 Speaker 1: it's interesting to realize how many films you may not 765 00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:09,960 Speaker 1: have realized have a lot of special effects in them 766 00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:13,120 Speaker 1: because the special effects are to make the film look 767 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:16,560 Speaker 1: more like real life. Uh, Forrestcump is a good one. 768 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:20,120 Speaker 1: Although you could argue that no, no, that's clear because 769 00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:22,279 Speaker 1: you know, Tom Hanks never actually shook hands with that 770 00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:26,960 Speaker 1: many presidents still. But but even so, that's that's one 771 00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,320 Speaker 1: of those where the special effects are there to create 772 00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:33,239 Speaker 1: the story. But they're not. You know, it's not spectacle 773 00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:35,280 Speaker 1: the way it would be in a big science fiction 774 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:38,880 Speaker 1: film or something. Right. So, yeah, they have had a 775 00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:42,719 Speaker 1: monumental effect on the movie industry, definitely, and uh, I'm 776 00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,000 Speaker 1: sure they will continue to do so. Even whether whether 777 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:48,960 Speaker 1: Disney's deal goes through or not. I'm sure it will 778 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:54,680 Speaker 1: remain a big player in the the effects industry. Now, 779 00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:59,680 Speaker 1: as for my own opinion about Disney trying to to 780 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:03,800 Speaker 1: pert Is lucasfilm, I'm all for it. Disney purchased Marvel 781 00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:09,160 Speaker 1: and then we got The Avengers, so I'd be happy 782 00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:11,440 Speaker 1: to see someone take a stab at making a new 783 00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:13,200 Speaker 1: Star Wars film. You know what Star Wars movie? I 784 00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:15,040 Speaker 1: really want to see. What I want to see a 785 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:17,239 Speaker 1: Star Wars movie where we find out how Anakin became 786 00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:22,200 Speaker 1: Darth Vader. That's what I want to see. How that's 787 00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:25,279 Speaker 1: a burn. Okay, Guys, if you have anything you would 788 00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:28,120 Speaker 1: like us to cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, 789 00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: I highly recommend you get in touch with us. Send 790 00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:33,760 Speaker 1: us an email our addresses tech stuff at Discovery dot com, 791 00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:37,120 Speaker 1: or you can contact us on Facebook or Twitter or 792 00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:40,160 Speaker 1: handle at both of those locations. Is Text Stuff, H. 793 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:42,400 Speaker 1: S W and Chris and I will talk you again 794 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:47,720 Speaker 1: really soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 795 00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:53,239 Speaker 1: Is it how staff works? Dot com