This is the extended interview notes with Craig Hayes, visual effects supervisor from Tippett Studios, responsible for the creation of the amazing Machine City environments in the two Matrix sequels, Matrix Reloaded, and Matrix Revolutions. Hayes outlines some of the ingenious methods used to create the organo-tech futurescape, that goes beyond raw computing power.
Matt Hanson: On a project as massive as the last two Matrix films I’m sure it’s a question of where to begin, so what was the initial kernel for you?
Craig Hayes: We wanted to create something unique. Something that was not duplicating a real city. To do this we had to explain different processes to people, as the visualization was not thoroughly fleshed out, but the seeds were present. We decided that the way to create the city was for the effects to be procedurally driven. Patterns would emerge. We had the freedom to engineer a system, and custom design something to do that.
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Stephan Martiniere has a wealth of experience as a concept illustrator in groundbreaking movies, and in the science fiction genre in particular. He was kind enough to take time out to explain his process and how this in particular impacted on his work in I,Robot. This is a more complete version of the text which appears in the book.
The latest on the publication date: book available from 1 June, 2005 from RotoVision. Don’t know if this also applies to the U.S. edition to be distributed through Focal Press. The U.S. edition (pictured here) has a reconfigured cover: less sexual!
They have an amplified power to allure and revolt audiences, with glimpses into technologically fantastic worlds or dystopic societies as the devices to recreate these fantasies, these simulacra become ever more advanced.Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) was a landmark in effects-driven science fiction (or science fantasy as the purists would have it) film just as Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was in terms of bringing the genre onto the serious filmmaking agenda…. In turn, our spaces are becoming progressively more cinematic as the future gets nearer and architectural influences loop back and feedback off of these cinematic visions.It’s noteworthy that, as we become steeped in invisible networks of data and information, science fiction environments have become more involved with the augmented and virtual realities of digital space and how we as humans orient ourselves around this shifting relationship with our physical and non-physical habitats.
Matt Hanson is a recognized authority and expert in the field of digital film and emerging film futures.
Building Sci-fi Moviescapes is the definitive guide to the imagined aesthetics of the future, taking you on the ultimate tour of the science fiction movie universe.