From cyberpunk to the infinite: celebrating the influence of VFX maestro Douglas Trumbull

Date:
Sat, 12 Feb 2022 14:30:32 +0000

Description:
A tribute to the man behind Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kinds visual effects.

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You may not know his name. You may not have even seen the films he worked on, unlikely as that may be. But, if you love sci-fi in any visual medium, your favorite genre has been influenced by the work of visual effects maestro Douglass Trumbull, who sadly passed away this week, aged 79.

Trumbulls credits read like a run down of sci-fi cinemas greatest hits: 1968s 2001: A Space Odyssey ; 1977s Close Encounters of the Third Kind ; 1979s Star Trek: The Motion Picture ; 1982s Blade Runner . This is merely an abridged list of films he worked on Trumbull was so talented and in demand in the 70s and 80s that he turned down working on Star Wars .

His work on Blade Runner, along with visual artist and futurist Syd Mead, is arguably most influential today. Here is a vision of the future that appears presciently bleak all smoke, fire and rain, neon-drenched slums, flying cars and grandiose, pyramidical mega-corp megastructures.

Trumbulls depiction of storeys-high video screens and projections on overhead blimps foreshadows the barrage of information we absorb in our metropolises, and should be treated as a warning of the oppressive white noise that an AR metaverse could bring into reality today. Trumbulls opening effects shot of a camera panning over a flaming, smog wrapped LA feels eerily close to, say,
the factory cities we see in Chinas still-booming tech manufacturing provinces.

Blade Runner is the epitome of cyberpunk, and its visual language has been aped by everything from Netflixs Altered Carbon TV show to CD Projekt Reds Cyberpunk 2077 video game. Trumbulls work is instrumental to that ongoing influence. Without it, theres no Blade Runner, no Cyberpunk 2077, no Deus Ex
, and no Final Fantasy VII at least in terms of how large portions of those games and other entertainment media look. Sci-fi in 2022: the movies, books and TV shows you need to know about Touching tech

Trumbull's influence may even extend further still. Indeed, there are
arguably hints of Space Odyssey's sterilized but futuristic stylization in
the world of consumer tech industrial design.

Theres an obvious through-line between the white, sleek, NASA-chic of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the design of the original iPod . The product thats
arguably the kickstarter for Apples modern-day mobile tech dominance, Jony Ives design had a curved white casing that would have looked right at home as a prop within director Stanley Kubricks sci-fi classic, as much as it referenced Dieter Rams design principles at Braun.

And if theres any doubt that it was more than a fluke, the iPhone 4 s all black slab build, a design language that has been retained throughout the iPhone line up ever since, was a dead ringer for 2001: A Space Odysseys ominous monolith. While its difficult to draw the line between where
Trumbulls efforts end and director Kubricks begins in terms of the films overall look (the two famously fell out over crediting of the films effects work), the stark look of 2001: A Space Odyssey has permeated so indelibly
into our expectations of futuristic living that consumer technology, our most-forward thinking and future-gazing household items, cant help but have been indirectly inspired.

Trumbulls influence on technology was at crucial points more direct, too.
He was instrumental in the development of the Showscan camera system, which anticipated the modern obsession not only with high definition content, but also screens and projections that display in a higher frame rate than the 24 frames per second standard that film is traditionally shown in. He also designed the digital capture and projection system Magi, shooting and projecting content in native 3D at 4K resolutions and at 120fps.

Through his company Skyride, Trumbull also advanced the sort of simulator technology you find in theme park rides (he directed the legendary Back to
the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios), being a precursor to the 4DX screens seen in some cinema multiplexes. He was even briefly the Vice
Chairman of the IMAX corporation. Beyond the infinite

But its perhaps Trumbulls work on a key scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey
thats most pertinent to this weeks news.

In the films climactic Beyond the Infinite chapter, Trumbulls breathtaking Star Gate sequence depicts space travel past the realms of human comprehension. A dazzling display of lights, and a kaleidoscopic visual interpretation of adventure into the uncharted realms of the universe and the mind, it used pioneering camera techniques to conjure the dread and awe of
the unknown. Its a scene easily interpreted as the journey from life to death and whatever awaits beyond.

What Trumbull leaves us with is an incredible body of work. By embracing innovation, technology and imagination, Douglas Trumbull let us take a
glimpse at an as-yet unrealized future. That it has, at times, seemed like a model for the present, is a testament to his influence, and a stark reminder of our potential slide into dystopia. The 30 best sci-fi movies ever made



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/from-cyberpunk-to-the-infinite-celebrating-the- influence-of-vfx-maestro-douglas-trumbull/


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