General / Off-Topic Interstellar (movie directed by Christopher Nolan)

Majere

Majere
In the future, governments and economies across the globe have collapsed, food is scarce, NASA is no more, and the 20th Century is to blame. A mysterious rip in spacetime opens and it's up to whatever is left of NASA to explore and offer up hope for mankind.

Mainly based on the scientific theories and script treatment of renowned theoretical physicist, Kip Thorne. Interstellar is set to be released in late 2014.

http://www.interstellar-movie.com/
 

Ayo

Ayo
I love the tone that the teaser sets and I'm sure many here on the forum will agree this will be one to keep an eye on.
 

Tony Spaniels

Tony Spaniels
Ayo said:
That's really cool. What is your job on the film? I presume you work for a vfx company?
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Thanks! Im a lead animator on the show as it goes.

I do indeed work for a vfx company (Dneg). I was put on this show as I worked succesfully on The Dark knight, as Nolan can be quite particular about what he wants in a way that requires a thicker skin than usual ;)

I wont be able to divulge anything thats not googlable right now (Besides the usual NDA's, we arent even privvy to the script in here, Nolan is really paranoid of leaks and I believe there's only a couple of scripts in existance atm) but Im happy to give you any insights or answer anything you might be curious about.
 

Ayo

Ayo
Tony Spaniels said:
Thanks! Im a lead animator on the show as it goes.

I do indeed work for a vfx company (Dneg). I was put on this show as I worked succesfully on The Dark knight, as Nolan can be quite particular about what he wants in a way that requires a thicker skin than usual ;)

I wont be able to divulge anything thats not googlable right now (Besides the usual NDA's, we arent even privvy to the script in here, Nolan is really paranoid of leaks and I believe there's only a couple of scripts in existance atm) but Im happy to give you any insights or answer anything you might be curious about.
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Wow, nice job!

I guess I'd love to know how scientifically accurate the animations will be?

(I found a supposed script where the first scene is an animation of a neutron star crashing through a galaxy into a black hole and exploding which sounds AWESOME!)

How did you get into the industry and what was the most enjoyable film to work on?
 

Tony Spaniels

Tony Spaniels
Ayo said:
Wow, nice job!

I guess I'd love to know how scientifically accurate the animations will be?

(I found a supposed script where the first scene is an animation of a neutron star crashing through a galaxy into a black hole and exploding which sounds AWESOME!)

How did you get into the industry and what was the most enjoyable film to work on?
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Thanks Ayo :)

Well, for a film like this, vfx animations will be mainly hard surface (space shuttles, cars, helicopters etc) and digi doubles (replacing actors with a fully animatable digital model being animated doing things that the actor's insurance couldnt possibly cover ;)) and a lot of the time this content will be performance based and sometimes bespoke to the shot's requirements. So when it comes to being scientifically accurate we make sure we are obeying all the usual laws of physics and aerodynamics but really its all performace based.

As for the scene you described I couldnt possibly confirm nor deny but you seem to be a man with good sources ;) This film is not cut from the same cloth as Gravity though, definitely more kubrick than a michael bay style vfx gangbang.

Hmm my favourite show? So far it has to be Hellboy2, working with the big guy Guillermo del Toro. Lots of cool creatures to work on and all done in an animator friendly environment (Guillermo used to animate). Myself and my brother worked exclusively on the Elemental sequence, which we animated from scratch in 8 weeks (a record I believe at the time). Guillermo hadnt a clue what the Elemental would move like so we had a blank canvass to work it out ourselves.

This seq..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEUwtFg7PeI
 
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Tony Spaniels

Tony Spaniels
http://www.space.com/25855-interstellar-movie-book-behind-scenes.html

"'Interstellar: Beyond Time and Space' features a strong behind-the-scenes component, with candid pictures from the set that illustrate Christopher Nolan’s famed preference for elaborate set pieces that involve little or no CGI," an Amazon description of the book reads

I can tell you now, there is plenty of cg in Nolan films! Unless the last 5 months working on this film has been a complete hallucination that is..
 

Tinman

Tinman
Tony Spaniels said:
http://www.space.com/25855-interstellar-movie-book-behind-scenes.html

"'Interstellar: Beyond Time and Space' features a strong behind-the-scenes component, with candid pictures from the set that illustrate Christopher Nolan’s famed preference for elaborate set pieces that involve little or no CGI," an Amazon description of the book reads

I can tell you now, there is plenty of cg in Nolan films! Unless the last 5 months working on this film has been a complete hallucination that is..
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They didn't say he didn't use it...all films today to to some degree...they said he preferred set pieces if possible. ;)

This is one of those things that isn't possible to do "on set":
inception-city-bending-o.gif


;)
 

Tony Spaniels

Tony Spaniels
Tinman said:
They didn't say he didn't use it...all films today to to some degree...they said he preferred set pieces if possible. ;)

This is one of those things that isn't possible to do "on set":
inception-city-bending-o.gif


;)
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His real life practical set pieces are so shonkily done, we tend to have to recreate it in cg and make it look practical, using the practical as reference.

I know an animator who animated a test on the first batman film , in which he was challanged by Nolan to animate batman flying and landing on the spot, and that had to hold up to a real life stuntman who did the same thing (with ropes obviously). Nolan, needless to say was highly skepical it could be done. In the end when he looked at them side by side, he picked the anim as the real life one, and that was partly because the animator had cleverly added a bit of edge to the cape anim, it wasnt all perfectly fluid.

Nolan takes a lot of credit for set pieces that he says are real but in fact are mostly cg.
 
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Tinman

Tinman
Tony Spaniels said:
His real life practical set pieces are so shonkily done, we tend to have to recreate it in cg and make it look practical, using the practical as reference.

I know an animator who animated a test on the first batman film , in which he was challanged by Nolan to animate batman flying and landing on the spot, and that had to hold up to a real life stuntman who did the same thing (with ropes obviously). Nolan, needless to say was highly skepical it could be done. In the end when he looked at them side by side, he picked the anim as the real life one, and that was because my brother had cleverly added a bit of edge to the cape anim, it wasnt all perfectly fluid.

Nolan takes a lot of credit for set pieces that he says are real but in fact are mostly cg.
Click to expand...

Hehe...

Reminds me of similar stories I've heard from music producers who have been assigned to record a band only to later call in studio musicans after the band has left to re-record it. Later when the band comes in the next day they pat themselves on the back for being awesome! :D
 

Tony Spaniels

Tony Spaniels
Tinman said:
Hehe...

Reminds me of similar stories I've heard from music producers who have been assigned to record a band only to later call in studio musicans after the band has left to re-record it. Later when the band comes in the next day they pat themselves on the back for being awesome! :D
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hah yeah. I wish I had animation pixes that came in overnight and sorted out my ropey animations! :)
 

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
Agree with the theme of the film, but have to disagree on the details.

Human destiny is in space. Hard to believe in this day and age there are still those that believe we can overpopulate and strip mine this rock we live on and some magic fairy in the sky will wave his wand and take care of everything.

There are however lots of resources we can use in our own system before we go off to others. Baby steps.
 

Tony Spaniels

Tony Spaniels
metatheurgist said:
Agree with the theme of the film, but have to disagree on the details.

Human destiny is in space. Hard to believe in this day and age there are still those that believe we can overpopulate and strip mine this rock we live on and some magic fairy in the sky will wave his wand and take care of everything.

There are however lots of resources we can use in our own system before we go off to others. Baby steps.
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Aye, you may be right there!

Kip Thorne was in before anyway, giving us a lecture on theoretical physics that I was just about following for about 5 minutes..(ok 3)
 
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radewart

R
Buzz on the movie

Don't need any detail of course, but I heard that Nolan recently screened the film in imax. What's the reaction to the film? Does the film work better than TDKR?
 
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