Print Version

Wall Street (Oliver Stone, 1987)
Starring:
– Charlie Sheen
– Martin Sheen
– Michael Douglas
Awards:
– Best Actor Oscar (Douglas)
$15 million budget
$43 million domestic box office
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
(2010)
With Shia LaBeouf, Charlie Sheen, Josh
Brolin, Michael Douglas
Week 11 Questions
• What is your reaction to Wall Street?
• How is this film similar/different to Sex, Lies, and Videotapes?
• Would you consider this a high-concept? Or, an independent
film? Or, neither? Explain.
• What are themes of this film? How are they developed?
• Track Bud’s character. How does he begin? How does he
end? What are his goals? What are his conflicts?
1
Science Fiction / Fantasy Films / Special Effects
Increase of popularity in the 1980s:
o Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
o Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
o Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis,
1985)
o The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989)
o The Terminator (James Cameron,
1984)
Increase in Computer Generated Imagery:
Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic
(started in 1975 for Star Wars)
Digital Technologies
Last 10-15 years: a shift towards more digital technologies to make films.
Why?
o
o
o
o
Film costs more than digital tapes
Film needs to be processed and printed
Digital files are less bulky than film
Digital files are more flexible and immediate
Main problem: film is mostly of higher quality than digital capabilities.
High Definition 24 fps digital camera: 2 million pixels per frame
35 mm. frame: equivalent of over 12 million pixels
Technical goal: achieve the quality of film with the flexibility of digital
2
CGI: Computer Generated Imagery
CGI allows the greatest control over an image.
CGI is used to:
o Enhance and modify color
o Special effects
o Simulate climate and weather
o Creating three dimensional characters that can interact with actors
o Compositing: combining multiple digital images into one frame
o Removing unwanted elements from a shot
o Lighting effects
o Creating crowd scenes
Control over the image and potential cost effectiveness of distribution and
exhibition:
o Digital projectors (Star Wars: Episode 1 > first film exhibited digitally)
o Film downloads
Early CGI Development
3 dimensional CGI first appeared in
Futureworld (1976)
Hand and face simulation
Dr. Edwin Catmull worked in the film
and wrote the program to create
the effect while still in school.
George Lucas was aware of him >
producing Star Wars (1977)
Lucas had just formed Industrial
Light and Magic in Van Nuys in
1975.
Formed to produce Star Wars
3
ILM: Industrial Light and Magic
Formed in 1975 for Star Wars
1979: hired Catmull for Empires Strikes Back
1980: ILM developed the Pixar, a high resolution
computer designed for graphics.
1986: computer graphics department of ILM was sold
to Steve Jobs at Apple Computers.
o First CG animated film: Toy Story (1995)
Jobs renamed the department Pixar, and produced
films with Disney Pictures.
Today, Pixar is owned by The Walt Disney Company
(05/2006 for $7.4 billion)
14 Best Visual Effects Oscars.
ILM Development
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
– First extensive photo-realistic computeranimation sequence to appear on screen
– “Genesis Effect” > created with Catmull
– Explosion captured at 2,500 frames per
second
Tron (Steven Lisberger, 1982)
– First film from a major studio to use computer
graphics extensively.
– Thirty minutes of computer-generated
animation.
– Not nominated for Academy Awards because
computers were used.
4
ILM Development
• The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989)
First computer generated 3D
character and introduced the
Digital Set. (AA 1989)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
First computer-generated main
character, the T-1000.
•
Jurrasic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
First time digital technology used to create a
complete and detailed living creature.
Animatronic dinosaurs and CGI. (AA 1994)
•
Forest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)
First full-length computer generated
animated film.
Academy Award: Special
Achievement Award
Pixar and Walt Disney studios: 1991
deal to make 3 features.
$30 million budget
Over $360 million box office world wide
Toy Story 2 (1999): $60 million budget,
over $480 million box office world
wide
Toy Story 3 (2010)
5
Digital Domain
CGI company founded by James Cameron after the
success of Terminators 2
Produced over 40 films
Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
o Combination of live action and CGI to
simulate a disaster on an epic scale.
o Creating extras / duplicating stunt people.
o 450 special effect shots
o Cost over $200 million
o With Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
o World box-office: over $2 billion
o Mass ancillary market: $30 million TV deal,
$400 million from the soundtrack sales, $700
million in video sales.
Weta Digital
Based in New Zealand
Founded in 1993 by Peter Jackson and
others.
Formed to produce Heavenly Creatures
(1993)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
o MASSIVE program
o Allows the animation of a large
amount of agents.
o Independent character acting
independently according to pre-set
rules.
o Key frame animation and subsurface
scattering rendering technique for
Gollum and King Kong (2005)
6
Partical Animation
Twister (Jan de Bont, 1996)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Considered landmarks in the history of CGI
because they were the first films to feature
effects that would have been impossible to
create without CGI.
Particle Animation:
o Software that simulates natural growth
such as randomness, accidents, changes
in movements.
o Allowing the CGI to think for itself.
o Often used for rain, leaves, fire, smoke, a
flock of birds, etc.
Other Developments
• The Matrix (Washowski Brothers, 1999)
Animal Logic (AA 1999)
Flow Mo or Bullet Time photography:
o Wire frames
o Image digitization
o Image capture
o Still cameras
• Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)
Without CGI, the budget of a film like Gladiator would
be as much as three times higher. (AA 2000)
o
o
o
o
•
Digital matte painting
Digitized photography
Actual buildings
CG models
300 (Zack Snyder, 2006)
7
Contemporary presence
Today the cost of CGI had dropped so low
that even exploitation producers could
afford CGI and even independent
filmmakers.
Color correction and eliminating elements
from a shot.
The impact of digital technology on feature
films has been equally profound in terms
of editing, sound design, as well as acting.
Ex: Richard Linklater:
•
•
Waking Life (2001)
Shot with digital cameras.
Digitally rotoscoped and animated on G4
Macs.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Ancillary Markets
VCR > 1976 with Sony’s Betamax > led to VHS : large market
DVD > 1996/1997 > 6 regions
Blue Ray (25 GB single layer / max 200 GB)
HD-DVD (15 GB single layer / max 60 GB)
Different regional DVD formats
•The techno-aesthetic: digital effect
on viewers
•Remote viewing: moving through a
film
•Special editions: extras / various
cuts / authenticity?
•Alternative canons: rise of cult
films: ex: Office Space (1999)
•Film collecting
•Repetition: part of one’s life
8
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
Starring:
– John Travolta
– Samuel Jackson
– Bruce Willis
– Rosanna Arquette
– Uma Thurman
Awards:
– Best Screenplay (Tarantino and
Roger Avary)
$8 million budget
$107 million domestic box office
$213 million world box office
Week 12 Questions
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is your reaction to Pulp Fiction?
How does this meet the characteristics of an independent film?
Why do you think this film was such a success?
What are themes of this film? How are they developed?
What is the function of the non-linear narrative?
Do you see any film references in this film? Name some and
explain.
9