Douglas Trumbull 2010 at TIFF Bell Lightbox

[Tim Tyler]

Douglas Trumbull, the industry pioneer behind the special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Blade Runner joined post-secondary students and faculty to discuss his remarkable career in visual effects and his own directorial projects.

 

 

Legendary filmmaker and Academy Award®-winning special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull joined post-secondary students and faculty for a Higher Learning Master Class. Trumbull provided an in-depth look at his career and the role visual effects have played in the history of cinema. For his substantial technological contributions to the industry, which include having designed the groundbreaking special effects for such science fiction films as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and Blade Runner (1982), Trumbull was awarded the Gordon E. Sawyer award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2012. During the discussion, Trumbull revealed firsthand accounts of working with director Stanley Kubrick and conceptualizing special effects which are today considered the defining breakthrough of the medium. Trumbull also granted the Higher Learning audience rare, behind-the-scenes glimpses into his own directorial projects, Silent Running (1972) and Brainstorm (1983). Other topics included: the history of widescreen cinema – from Cinerama to today's IMAX, Trumbull's work with motion-simulation rides, and the current state of digital special effects and Trumbull's own involvement with these innovations. This Higher Learning event was held on December 9, 2010 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

[Carl Looper]

Interesting talk.

 

One of the questions asked of Trumbull was for his thoughts on holography. He said that even if it were possible the issue would be that everyone in the cinema would have a different view of the scene, ie. there would be an issue in terms sight lines - that it would be more like a live performance (theatre) experience than a cinematic one. But by the same token, if holography were possible then it would also be possible to generate the same scene point of view for each seat in the cinema. In other words there wouldn't need to be an issue of different sight lines at all.

 

The real issue is that real-time holography is still somewhat difficult to implement at the definition I imagine that Trumbull would want. It is not, however, undesireable. One of the great things about holography is how much less stressfull it is on the eye/brain system.

 

Carl