3-D hobbyist jumps to real life
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Reuters
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 27, 2009 00:00
LOS ANGELES - Phil McNally is such a 3-D buff he legally adopted the middle name Captain 3D, before his former hobby became a job making movies such as "Monsters vs. Aliens" jump to life in three dimensions.
When the animated 3-D movie opens on Friday, it will feature voice work from Hollywood stars Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland and Seth Rogen, but its real star is McNally and a behind-the-scenes team of animators.
The native of Northern Ireland studied furniture design in London, but instead became an animator and eventually landed a job at DreamWorks Animation SKG, where his longtime interest in 3-D became more than just a hobby.
As the studio's "stereoscopic supervisor," McNally supplements a fancy title with an absent-minded focus. He often has more than one pair of 3-D glasses atop his head. "One pair tends to just keep my hair out of the way now and I've got another pair, and they can start stacking up if I forget," McNally said.
Epic battle comes to life
In "Monsters vs. Aliens," McNally and the animators used 3-D animation to bring to life an epic battle. Susan Murphy (Witherspoon) is a bride-to-be transformed into a giant named Ginormica, who brings to mind the title character in 1958 movie "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman."
A reluctant hero, she teams up with the other monsters lead by a U.S. army general (Sutherland) to take on space invader Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) before he destroys the world. The film is reminiscent of 1950s monster and alien movies. Rogen's character, B.O.B., is a brainless mass of goo, like the title character in 1958 movie "The Blob." It was also in the 1950s that Hollywood had its "Golden Era" of 3-D movies and produced films like the 1953 "It Came From Outer Space" using the technology.
McNally said the latest string of 3-D movies since the 2004 "Polar Express" has produced fewer films, but been more sustained than the short-lived 3-D boom of 1952-1953. McNally is a member in the 116-year-old Stereoscopic Society of the United Kingdom, an organization that revolves around the long history of 3-D photography.
The native of Northern Ireland studied furniture design in London, but instead became an animator and eventually landed a job at DreamWorks Animation SKG, where his longtime interest in 3-D became more than just a hobby.
As the studio's "stereoscopic supervisor," McNally supplements a fancy title with an absent-minded focus. He often has more than one pair of 3-D glasses atop his head. "One pair tends to just keep my hair out of the way now and I've got another pair, and they can start stacking up if I forget," McNally said.
Epic battle comes to life
In "Monsters vs. Aliens," McNally and the animators used 3-D animation to bring to life an epic battle. Susan Murphy (Witherspoon) is a bride-to-be transformed into a giant named Ginormica, who brings to mind the title character in 1958 movie "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman."
A reluctant hero, she teams up with the other monsters lead by a U.S. army general (Sutherland) to take on space invader Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) before he destroys the world. The film is reminiscent of 1950s monster and alien movies. Rogen's character, B.O.B., is a brainless mass of goo, like the title character in 1958 movie "The Blob." It was also in the 1950s that Hollywood had its "Golden Era" of 3-D movies and produced films like the 1953 "It Came From Outer Space" using the technology.
McNally said the latest string of 3-D movies since the 2004 "Polar Express" has produced fewer films, but been more sustained than the short-lived 3-D boom of 1952-1953. McNally is a member in the 116-year-old Stereoscopic Society of the United Kingdom, an organization that revolves around the long history of 3-D photography.