Hugh's small-scale research

Thursday 13 September 2012

Dykstraflex Camera

This would look like a decent online source since it gives a good rough guide as to what it is and the background regarding its development.

http://moodle.whs.school.nz/pluginfile.php/10236/mod_resource/content/0/Motion_Controll_Photography.pdf

However, I will see if there are any other non-online literary literary sources that could be useful for this research.

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Film Reviews

I was able to find a review for each of the films that I am studying for this project, and decided that Roger Ebert's reviews for these films would be suitable for this project. However, I so far cannot find a review for 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest' (2006) written by him, so I decided to look up other suitable candidates. As a result, I thought that the review by David Edelstein of 'The New York Magazine' would be suitable enough because of the positive praise he gives the film. I will however consider the possibility to research other reviews which contrast each other based on the praise the critics give these films.

For now, here are Roger Ebert's review for my first three films:

Followed by David Edelstein's review for 'Dead Man's Chest':

http://nymag.com/movies/reviews/17555/

Thursday 6 September 2012

Progress Update on my small-scale research project

The focus films that I have been researching for the question I am studying on for my small-scale research project include ‘Star Wars’ (George Lucas, 1977), ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ (James Cameron, 1991), Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993), and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ (Gorve Verbinksi, 2006). For ‘Star Wars’, it was the film that the company was founded for, and this film can give one an idea about the special effects that the company made for the film and how complex these effects would appear. As a result, the film and the making of it can be used to give us an idea about the company’s formation and how they were able to achieve the effects for the film, and also I can study the critical reception that the film and its effects received when it was first release, and also look at the current contemporary views of it.

I chose ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ as one of my supporting films because some of the film’s scenes and elements such as the miniature sets for the nuclear holocaust and the computer-generated work for the antagonist show the technological advancements the company made and therefore pushed up the limits of computer-generated imagery. There are slightly similar reasons as to why I also chose ‘Jurassic Park’ since it uses a complex digital blue-screen matting process for the dinosaur creatures, since again this film had further pushed up the limits for digital effects, and both these films in common show the company’s transition into the ‘digital era’. For ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’, the film is notable for the advanced use of motion capture technology and the way the computer-generated imagery was applied, especially for the character of Davy Jones and his men, and also this film can be used to compare how much technology has changed since the release of ‘Star Wars’.

The question I am studying for this project is ‘What was the subsequent impact of Industrial Light and Magic since Star Wars?’, where I am studying the way Industrial Light and Magic has created the technology and special effects for the films made by the company and how they were able to achieve these complex challenges. I am also studying how these effects and technologies have impacted the film industry and how it has impacted the audiences of these films, and also study the reception towards the effects made for the films and the films themselves.

What I am hoping to achieve throughout this research is to find a good and precise answer to the question I have proposed, finding out the necessary information regarding the impact the company has had on both the industry and film audiences, and hopefully I will also prove how it has impacted the industry and audiences.

I have been using two YouTube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdAEYLWMY3A, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRdpYBrOJM) and an online review (http://www.vaughnonmovies.com/2009/12/terminator-2-judgment-day/) for my online sources, followed by using two book-related sources (Glintenkamp, Pamela, Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Innovation, 1st November 2011; Media Department, Central Sussex College (Haywards Heath Campus), Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the impossible) as my secondary research sources so that I can further study the technologies made and the impact it has had on the industry and audiences.

Annotated Catalogue – What was the subsequent impact of Industrial Light and Magic since Star Wars?

Films

· Item 1 – Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977), Focus Film : I chose this as my focus film for the research project since it was the first film made by the company (Industrial Light and Magic was formed in order to create the special effects for the film), and by selecting this film it can be used as starting point regarding the company’s formation, and I will also research how they were able to achieve these effects for the film.

· Item 2 – Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron, 1991) : I chose this film as my first supporting film because I wanted to study the technological advances in the effects made for the film, and also I wish to study the way the company was able to use, create and apply the necessary computer-generated imagery for the film and look at how some of the major scenes were filmed.

· Item 3 – Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993) : This film has been chosen as my second supporting film because it shows us some of the more complex effects and technology that was developed for the film; I will be researching the effects and technology that were made for the film, and I will be studying at how the company was able to achieve these effects for the dinosaur creatures that appear in the film.

· Item 4 – Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006) : I chose this film as my third and final supporting film for the research project because I wanted to explore Industrial Light and Magic’s much more recent and therefore advanced technology concerning the computer-generated imagery and motion capture technology. I also chose it because I wanted to show the difference between the technology made for 'Star Wars' and how much it has developed over the years.

Books

· Item 5 – Industrial Light and Magic: The Art of Innovation: This book, which was written in 2010, gives a detailed account of the films that Industrial Light and Magic have made over the years and the challenges the company had to face in terms of making the necessary special effects for their films. This book is a good source because it gives out detail for the effects made for some of the major scenes for each film and I can refer to it for future use.

· Item 6 – Industrial Light and Magic: Creating the Impossible : This is an information resource booklet handmade by the college where it contains information of the company’s history and some information regarding the members of the company and some background information about them. Overall, this is both useful and interesting since the information about the members’ participation and the tasks described gives me a good understanding of the members’ roles and how the company achieved some of the effects for the films, and this information can be useful for future reference.

Online

· Item 7 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdAEYLWMY3A: This YouTube video gives a detailed account on how the character of Davy Jones from the film ‘Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest’ (Gore Verbinski, 2006). I found this online source useful for my research because it gives me an understanding of how the motion-capture technology for the film was used, and it gave a good understanding as to how each layer and/or segment of computer-generated imagery was applied on to the actor wearing the motion capture suit.

· Item 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRdpYBrOJM : This video gives an account of how the nuclear holocaust scene for ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ (James Cameron, 1991) was created through the use of miniature sets and the creation of the ‘winds’ and explosions. This is both an interesting and a useful source because it gives me a clear understanding of the way this scene was made, and since it is from one of the film’s major scenes, it could assist me in explaining some of the major effects and technology that the company developed over the years.

· Item 9 - http://www.vaughnonmovies.com/2009/12/terminator-2-judgment-day/ : This web page gives a detailed positive review concerning ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ (James Cameron, 1991) and it comments on the film’s plot elements and the special effects used. This review was quite useful because it gives some information about the special effects and the review himself expressed some positive opinions about the effects used, such as the miniature sets used for the nuclear holocaust scene and the complex computer-generated work for the creation of the antagonist.

Wednesday 5 September 2012

Bibliography

· Fry, Vaughan, Vaughan on Movies, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, December 3^rd 2009; URL: http://www.vaughnonmovies.com/2009/12/terminator-2-judgment-day/
· Glintenkamp, Pamela, Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Innovation, 1st November 2011 (pages 19, 25, 26, 258-265)
· Media Department, Central Sussex College (Haywards Heath Campus), Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the impossible (pages 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10, minus the marking criteria pages from the overall total)
· mouseketweeter, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest- Creating Davy Jones at Walt Disney World Backlot, June 22^nd 2010; URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdAEYLWMY3A
· ThePropKing, YouTube, Terminator 2 - How the Nuclear holocaust scene was made - Miniature Props, February 26^th 2011; URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRdpYBrOJM

The review of ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ (1991) was useful for my research because I was able to learn about some of the special effects that Industrial Light and Magic had to develop and some of the challenges that they had to face when producing the film. The book ‘Industrial Light and Magic: The Art of Innovation’, gave information about the different technologies the company made for the films they did and how they achieved these effects, which included blue-screen matte paintings an complex motion-capture technologies. Industrial Light and Magic: Creating the Impossible is quite similar, but I also learnt about the backstories for the company’s members, and this could be useful for future reference. The two YouTube sources for ‘Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest’ (2006) and ‘Terminator 2: Judgement day’ (1991) found had some good information regarding the special effects made for major elements and scenes of the films, which included the nuclear holocaust scene from ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ and the creation of the character Davy Jones from ‘Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest’.

Friday 24 August 2012

Creating Davy Jones

The creating of Davy Jones for the film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdAEYLWMY3A

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Info Pack

The info pack I've been studying has some useful information regarding some of the technology ILM has been using, and has some interesting information regarding some of the staff members, with the article based on Dennis Muren being a key article since it shows his interests in film effects and his importance in the company. The info pack overall has been giving me some good ideas about what to include.