In the first of a three part series, Doug talks about the creation of various effects sequences completed for Blade Runner. In this video, he focuses on creating the opening sequence referred to as the “Hades Landscape”.

Doug and his Entertainment Effects Group team created thousands of acid-etched brass miniatures lit from below with hundreds of bundles of fiber-optic lights, shot in forced-perspective through layers of smoke to create layers of light refraction, creating depth.

Doug reveals how the explosions visible in the sequence were projected on screens placed throughout the miniature and light-timed. These explosions were created through massive pyrotechnics shot in the California desert for a discarded sequence for the 1970 Michelangelo Antonioni film Zabriskie Point.

The sequence ends on the Tyrell Pyramid, which Doug’s team created at 3 different scales with similar etched-brass lit from within.

All of this was shot on 65mm using motion-control and optically composited through multiple film exposures.

http://3tongallery.typepad.com/3_ton_gallery/2010/08/thirty-five-images-of-space-helmet-reflections.html

In HD: BLADE RUNNER revisited >3.6 gigapixels.

Thanks Cole.

The SCI-FI AIR SHOW’s purpose is to preserve and promote the rich and varied history of Sci-Fi/fantasy vehicles. Through display and education we seek to celebrate the classic design and beauty of these ships and the rich imaginations that created them. When the cameras stopped rolling, many of these proud old ships were lost and forgotten. Please join us in working to keep these rare and beautiful birds soaring!

Too bad she won’t live.  But then again, who does…

The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.

For more information visit http://www.amnh.org

Thanks, Adam.   This confuses, enthralls, saddens, excites, depresses and fills me with joy all at the same time.

What the rings would look like from different cities and latitudes accross the world. It’s interesting to imagine how it would effect culture throughout time. It would have influenced religion, mythology, navigation

(yes, filed under sci-fiction)