Douglas Trumbull – FXGuideTV Interview
Right now we got a lot of movies that are out of control. That the directors really don’t understand digital effects. They just assume that someone is going to be able to fix it in post, No matter how many mistakes they make.
FXGuideTV has put out another one of their great interview with one of the masters of visual effects. This time they interview Douglas Trumbull. If any fault is to find the main one would be it’s way to short. I’m always waiting for the VFX interview series in the style of Jeff Goldsmith’s new Q&A series, Kevin Pollak’s chat show or Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast for the visual effect world. The amount of great visual effects artist (practical and digital) with all their stories and knowledge lends it’s self perfectly, IMHO, to the long form podcast interview format. That’s not to say that Ian Failes did not do a good job because he did but 22 minute bit is way to short. And if FXGuide is going to put extra material behind a pay wall like they did on their latest FXguideTV spot featuring Rob Legato I believe there is an opening for such podcast interview series.
It’s safe to say Douglas Trumbull is a legend in the VFX world. He went from being an illustrator working on cinerama projects to becoming a Visual Effects Supervisor during his 2 year stint working on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The list of movies and vfx related projects he has worked on is maybe not long but certainly distinguished. He designed and directed the “Back to the Future: The Ride” for Universal Studios. Some of his seminal works includes Blade Runner (1982), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and he also directed one of my all time favorite sci-fi movies, Silent Running (1972). He is currently working on Terrence Malick’s new movie The Tree of life (2011).
Immersive Cinema
He also talks about his ideas about Immersive Cinema. When Trumbull talks about Immersive Cinema it is all a little vague and ethereal. I have tried to find more about what the idea of Immersive Cinema is all about and I have not really gotten far with it (I tried asking about but with varied results). It seems to me it’s higher frame rates, brighter projectors, higher dynamic range to invoke a certain state of mind or immersion.
On Dougs website there is a three part video segment on Immersive Cinema. The site is not very interactive, the videos are not grouped together and it’s hard to link to individual videos, but you will find them all in the video section.
Showscan
It is interesting to hear Doug talk about the Showscan film process, how he approached it and why, eventually, it did not catch on battling the 70mm IMAX. – Showscan official website
Trumbull, was awarded a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award in 1993, for the Showscan camera system. Showscan uses 65 mm film, but photographs and projects it at 60 frames per second or 2.5 times faster than standard 24 fps film. It uses spherical lenses and is often projected on a curved dome or screen.
What I took away from the interview:
Higher Frame Rate Saves Money
Movies today loose so much information in action scenes. The image becomes blurred to the point where you can’t make out what is what. If you go through it frame by frame, right at the peak of the action is where everything becomes completely blurred so you can’t make out what it is, so all the information that should have been captured is gone.
Production value that has been paid for is lost because of the deficiencies of the 24 frame method. Shooting it with higher frame rate has no adverse effects on the production cost. It may even be in some ways less expensive because rendering blur is an expensive digital process. CGI guy’s would rather render five sharp frames than one blurred frame because the blur is a pain in the neck.
In 3D you don’t get that break down in stereoscopic vision on fast action because blurring destroys 3D.
It’s not appropriate for all movies, 24 frames are still fine and appropriate for most movies but for movies like Avatar you want the experience to become more real, more stereoscopic, more immersive. There you benefit from higher frame rates, higher brightness, higher resolution or higher dynamic range is completely appropriate for that kind of a film production.
The current state of movie industry (VFX slanted)
Turnbull’s take on the VFX industry is that there is a kind of constriction going on. Not nearly enough movies are being made to sustain the industry. These days 200 million dollar movies are too risky for the studios. Trumbull foresees a stabilization where there will eventually be made about 130 movies a year rather than, say 400 movies a year like they do today.
The industry has to ask it self: How can we do better movies for lesser cost? Those who will survive this will be the one’s who can figure out how to do more for less. You have to know everything that’s going on if you want to make something that does not go out of control.
Today a lot of movies are made where the technical expectations of the directors and producers are out of control. The problem seems to be rooted in the sad fact that all to often the directors really don’t understand digital effects. They take it as given that someone, anyone, is going to be able to fix it in post, no matter how many mistakes they make before the shot arrives to post production.
It has become a problem to the film making industry when post production houses are getting badly made shots and expected to make them work. That kind of film making is expensive, but with more focused efforts visual effects can help reduce these crushing costs that could have been avoided.
There is more, but these two key points are what I take away from the interview. Again, you can take a look at it here or subscribe to FXGuideTv on iTunes.
Links
Few links I’ve been reading while thinking about Douglas Trumbull’s work. If you know of any good interviews or articles on him and his work please send them to me and I will add them to the list.
:: Audio Interview With Visual Effects Master Douglas Trumbull (mp3) [+]
:: Remembering Doug Trumbull’s “Showscan” [+]
:: Hollywood Visionary Douglas Trumbull Working on Terrence Malick Movie – Vanity Fair [+]
:: Total Immersion – 1993 Wired [+]
:: Douglas Trumbull: In Retrospect [+]
:: SHOWSCAN – HOW IT WORKS [+]
Brainstorm Digital | NYC Visual Effects (VFX) Co.
Brainstorm Digital is a New York-based VFX studio that specializes in photo-realistic backgrounds and digital effects. Currently they are working on, among other things,HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”.
Other Links
:: Brainstorm Digital Twitter [+]
:: Brainstorm Digital Tumblr Feed [+]
:: Brainstorm Digital Facebook Page [+]
:: Brainstorm Digital Linked In Page [+]
Found through: Alba’s Twitter
Blade Runner: Hades Landscape
Doug and his Entertainment Effects Group team created thousands of acid-etched brass miniatures lit from below with hundreds of bundles of fiber-optic lights, shot in forced-perspective through layers of smoke to create layers of light refraction, creating depth.
The Celestia Motherlode: Earth Surface Maps
The Addon Repository for the 3D Space Simulator Celestia
Buildings & Vampires
Buildings & Vampires from Nico Casavecchia on Vimeo.
You don’t have to have seen “Where the wild things are” but it helps
Found through: Egill’s Facebook (Linking to his Twitter here)
