I just saw “Real Steel” (http://www.dreamworksstudios.com/films/real-steel) in the theater and enjoyed the special effects quite a bit. As an engineer, I’m interested in how the robots were made, how much of the movie was CGI, and how the directors and editors mixed the two. After working on an article that will be featured in www.EntertainmentEngineering.com magazine soon, I had a more acute knowledge of what went on behind the scenes.
For example, the robots were pieced together using a lot of different materials and components, many of which were various types of rapid prototyping. The plastic materials used in rapid prototyping machines are great for details, and can be painted to look like metal. Cast parts, hydraulic motion, it’s all pretty cool stuff. I can only imagine how cool it was for Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, and Dakota Goyo just to stand near Noisy Boy, an eight-foot, six-inch robot.
Disney always does a superb job of producing a tight script, and using a high-level of technology. And, what’s even more interesting is that the movie was based on one of my favorite short story authors, Richard Matheson. In fact this same short story once graced the television screen in a “Twilight Zone” episode titled “Steel” and starring Lee Marvin. The original story was published in 1956 in “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” (http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/), which is still publishing great stories today.
Matheson also wrote “I Am Legend” starring Will Smith, which is the third time the novel was adapted to film. The first two times were 1964’s “The Last Man on Earth” starring Vincent Price, and 1971’s “The Omega Man” starring Charlton Heston. I’ve seen every one of them, by the way.
It’s stories and novels like the one’s that Richard Matheson writes, along with Philip K. Dick, and others that got me interested in writing science fiction in the first place. Stories like “Real Steel” make me want to write better, more interesting stories and novels. Although I have a few short stories that have been published in small magazines (hopefully the next “Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction”), my first full length novel has just come out: “Cathedral of Dreams” (http://www.amazon.com/Cathedral-Dreams-Terry-Persun/dp/1935961209/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313276102&sr=1-9) explores not only what humans may go through while living in a utopian center, but also what the machine might be going through. I’ve got to say that writing fantasy and science fiction stories and novels is the best time I’ve spent on this planet.
Written by Terry Persun, author of “Cathedral of Dreams”
I’ve been writing since I was in grade school and failed to win the big fourth-grade short story contest. Being rather competitive at the time, I started writing and showing my stories to family members. Since that beginning, I’ve gone to school, received an MA in Creative Writing, and published tons of material. I write anything and everything from technical articles to literary novels. My poetry has shown up in University and small press journals and magazines all over the U.S. My genre fiction is just starting to appear as well.