THE EXPERT’S VIEW | COLUMN
All Smoke and Mirrors?
NADEEM RIZVI, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LASER MICROMACHINING LTD
The success of the film Gravity at the recent BAFTAs and Oscars for its special effects was seen as a triumph for the
British Film Industry and those of you who have seen the film will no doubt concur that the visual effects were indeed
amazing. Although we are now all getting quite
blasé about seeing special effects in films, there was no doubt that the seamless visuals in Gravity
were something special and the technical achievements of the
company Framestore deserve all the plaudits they have been receiving.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the film, I nonetheless came away thinking ‘How did they do that?’ and ‘I wonder what was computer-generated and what was real?’ It was in the subsequent weeks that I read with interest about some of the details behind the visual effects and the tricks of the trade to make those scenes in space so believable and ‘real’. It turned out that, in fact, the vast majority of the film was actually made within a computer and just about the only real things in the film were the actors’ faces! I was amazed to learn that even the helmet and spacesuit worn by Sandra Bullock were computer-generated (though why this was necessary was not clear). So, although it was impressive to read about the technical expertise of the special effects wizards, it was also only by delving into the background that the reality of what we saw on screen became apparent. Some may say that it’s of no consequence how something is done and all that matters is the end result. In the case of films, I could go along with this position because cinema is, after all, an essentially escapist medium and who wants to know all the secrets anyway? However, in our daily working environment of technology and engineering, I think it certainly pays to go that little bit deeper and to question things to find out what really may lie behind an impressive front.
14 | commercial micro manufacturing international Vol 7 No.2
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