At the end of a semester of an intro class, I always have at least one student approach me and tell me that ‘I ruined going to the movies for them’. What they mean is that they can’t watch a film without thinking about the technology behind it. I always laugh because If I can, I will watch a film twice, once for the film itself and and another to really look at the FX and Animation.
The first time I watched Avatar, I wasn’t really even aware of FX and animation, I was able to just enjoyed the film. I can say that was the first time that had ever happened; there were a few times in Avatar, but generally I just got lost in the film. Well, thinking back, I guess I didn’t think about the waves in The Perfect Storm and I am sure there were others.
Sebastian Sylwan of Weta studios gives a TEDx talk exactly about this. And states that, “through out history we have searched for and constructed more and more sophisticated tools to produce better more convincing representations for our stories.” and that even though today we are using cutting edge technologies, the next generation will just “push the boundaries of story telling even further.” I can’t wait.
Check out Sebastian’s talk.
~Cornell
~Cornell
