Conclusion

Every story has an end. When people undertake a wonderful adventure, they live it, love it and never expect it will end some day. It is somehow like parents; we love them, they are just here with us and no one even imagine that parents could leave one day. But they do, for every little story, every book, every song or movie has an end. My blog story ends today. However, this does not mean people cannot listen again to finished song or read an old book or watch again their favorite movie. Hopefully, there exist other books, journals, magazines, web pages and blogs that make our songs, movies and books live forever. This is what my blog was about. Certainly, I have had a blog because I was assigned to in order to report and inform, to assess information on the web, and to learn how to select the one I need. I did not see things like that though. I learned that I can enjoy my work in SSK; so I did. My blog was a way to dive in star wars’ world. I discovered Industrial Light and Magic, how costumes are made, how actors are made-up and how scenes are simulated. I think the hardest part was finding the supports. Before every assignment, I had to spend a pretty long time looking for the perfect book, article or blog which took a lot of time. This hard part is what discouraged me from beginning the assignment; so I rather postponed it. But once I began, (I won’t say I enjoyed J) I appreciated doing it. I hated the first preliminary questions we had for the first three entries however. I found them too specific and too standard. They are made for every subject in general and sometimes they did not mach with my subject, so I had to struggle to find an answer.

In my subject, “New Technologies and 7th Art”, I mostly focused on one case: Star Wars, because star wars is the big bang of the story of special effects. Lucas created a movie production company, Lucasfilm Ltd, in order to realize his movie as no other movie production accepted to produce star wars. Then he created Industrial Light and Magic (ilm) in order to produce the special effects needed for the movie. Now, ilm is the most recognized and rewarded company in special effects field. It has worked with a lot of great movies such as The Lord of the Rings, Terminator, Forrest Gump, Jurassic Park etc… in my researches I found a book, Industrial Light and Magic, a blog, Starwarsblog.starwars.com and many other articles from journal and others that explain clearly and in details the process of creating special effects, and the techniques used for that. Even though I did not understand everything, because it is a very technical language, I got the main point of how the ilm produced some magnificent scenes from almost nothing.

To conclude I must say I appreciated doing researches about star wars and ilm.I did not find having a blog very interesting; it is not difficult though. I think that the main point from having one is to share the information with other people which is very important to evolve as a society. In fact, interaction is one of the most important factors that make the humanity learn and evolve. I know that people would say that a single project would never touch anyone, but it may interest one single person among 6 billions actually. And if it is the case, my project and also other people’s projects will not be worthless.

BLOG EVALUATION

Lucas, George. "Star Wars Blog". Lucasfilm. April 5, 2010 .

“Welcome to the Official Star Wars Blog at Wordpress, crafted by the folks from Lucas Online. This blog was launched when staff of Lucas Online was reporting live from Celebration IV. It provided readers with the latest news as it happened”. This is the greeting from the homepage of the star wars’ blog. The star wars project was more than a simple movie. It was a dream that seemed as far as the galaxy that the movie was telling us about. However, George Lucas and his family believed that one day they will be able to reach their dream. So, with faith, love and hard work they managed to realize their dream and managed by the same occasion to create a dream for all the fans.
Starwarsblog.starwars.com is the official blog of the movie. It is therefore one of the most reliable sources of information that exist, and the most credible, reliable blog on the saga. As the homepage says, it is “crafted by the folks from Lucas Online”. That increases the credibility of the articles provided by the blog which the readers can rely on without any doubt. Briefly, I think that the fact that the editors of the blog are all from the team that made the movie is the biggest guarantee that the blog is 100% reliable. Furthermore, the homepage says also that the blog “provide(s) the readers with the latest news as it happen(s)” which does not only mean that the blog gives the latest information, but is also one of the first means of information that the star wars project uses to diffuse the news. We can then deduce that the information given is the most accurate ones.
The blog’s objectivity is various. The articles report on Star Wars events: conferences, conventions and gala parties. They inform about everything related to star wars: Lucasfilm, Industrial Light and Magic, star wars actors … The blog is very wide. It is impossible to surround it and talk about it in few lines. The blog has many sub-subjects. It is classified by topics that are all linked to star wars. The blog lacks of objectivity as it over praises star wars’ related companies and organizations. For instance one of the articles stated the following: “This Clone Wars meets Casablanca mashup art by Rocket Pistol is pure brilliance. Fingers crossed that we get more from this awesome artist!”. The blog is a tribute to star wars. It glorifies and celebrates everything about it. However, it is also a means of communication and information; so, if we go to some topics such as ILM, we will find that the articles give information about ilm’s work. It can inform about the techniques used to develop the visual effects on other cinematographic projects for instance. The articles’ are then very objective as they give clear, detailed descriptions that are scientifically approved and that cannot be biased by any interior factor.

Evaluating Internet Sources

Rowe, Robin. "GFX Industrial Light & Magic." Linux Journal July-July 2002: 10-4. Linux Journal. 31 Mar. 2010 ​article/​6011?page=0,0>.

This is an informative article about the visual effects of the second episode of star wars. It explains as well the techniques used and especially stresses the expectations of the movie makers concerning the plus that ILM’s special effects bring to the saga. Since the article just relates some techniques used in the movie in some specific scenes, it is objective. However, this article in Linux Journal tends to over stress the role of the operating system Linux, whose Linux Journal is the original magazine. Linux is indeed the operating system used by ILM in the special effects of movies. This over glorification is emphasized by the selection of the ILM members’ speeches.

The source I chose, which is the article from Linux Journal, contains informative, explanatory details about the realization of the special effects of Star Wars. It helps me to show the impact of whatever special effects on every little movie. Certainly, the article is just about one movie: Star Wars II, The Clones War, however, we can infer the importance of special effects in every movie nowadays. That is because of the fame and the high level that Lucas’ company, ILM has reached since its first creation in the 70s.

According to Linux Journal sources, Robin Rowe is a partner in the motion picture technology company Movieeditor.com, which is a company of entertainment and technology based in Beverly Hills. He taught computer programming C++ in two universities and was an NBC-TV technical director. He is currently at the head of two users’ groups: Linuxmovies.org and opensourceprogrammers.com. We can deduce that the author of the article, Robin Rowe, has a great knowledge of technology especially technology in movies. Therefore, this article is a reliable and a credible source with a strong organization and clear descriptions which improves the quality of the article in order to gain the trust of the readers. Then what about its accuracy?
The credibility of an article especially in journals and magazines is important, but it is not crucial as nothing must be considered as granted. The credibility is the first step to make the readers feel comfortable and not suspicious about one’s article. Nevertheless, it is vital to give correct information, and accurate examples and explanations. In his article, GFX Industrial Light & Magic, Robin Rowe gives a detailed explanation of the techniques and means that enable to create the visual effects of Star Wars; he talks about the software used, such as Maya and Linux. He does not hesitate to quote the specialists who create these special effects, nor does he hesitate to put pictures of the running software during one of its special effects creation which not only gives his article a high level of credibility but also increases his accuracy. That is for the article’s accuracy.
One thing we should keep in mind is that Linux Journal is a highly specialized technology magazine. In consequence, it is for a specific audience who is familiar with the technology field. This explains the technical words and the specific terms used to describe ILM’s work, which the company’s specialists explain so well. Besides, this high technology level enables the author to give a rational, realistic article. But, on the other hand, the author lacks of objectivity because he somehow selects some parts of the specialists’ speeches that deal particularly with Linux software and praise its efficiency. We can therefore wonder if the author is not influenced by the fact that he writes in Linux journal on one hand. On the other hand, we can doubt a sort of pressure made by the senior editor of the magazine. In both cases, we can surely say hat the objectivity of our author is not 100% pure.
Finally, we notice links to the sources used that permitted to make the article like aliaswavefront.com, Lucasfilm.com, ilm.com. Theses sources are tangible supports for the information provided in the article.

Evaluating Non Academic Periodicals

Blättermann, Marcus. "The Designs of Star Wars, 10 reasons why they are awesome". March 17, 2010 .

“The Designs of Star Wars, 10 reasons why they are awesome” is the title of an article written by Marcus Blättermann. It was first published on essenmitsosse.de, which is probably a personal blog, September, the 24th 2008.

The article can be classified as presenting both current information and historical context. First, I consider it as historical information because the saga Star Wars is over now and the details given by the author concern the special effect used for the first star wars i.e. 4, 5 and 6 in the 70s. This information hasn’t changed in the last 30 years and will not change in the next 10 years so it will stay as historical resources. However, I also consider it as current information since it deals with techniques of visual and special effects that are topical matters. ) the article tends to glorify the technology used in Star Wars and then the success of the saga that is venerated by millions of people. This success was possible thanks to the visual effects produced by the Industrial Light and Magic founded by George Lucas.

Since the title is “The Designs of Star Wars 10 reasons why they are awesome”, it seems that the article has a persuasive side. Moreover, the use of why implies that the text has a convincing, persuasive connotation. Nevertheless, the main purpose of it is to present the designs of Star Wars by describing and analyzing them which is informing. Furthermore, the author did not come up with this information and description by himself, but he based his description and his analysis on industrial light and magic data. Since the company is the one that created Star Wars visual effects, the author is reporting their work and the information they published to build his analysis. Also, the article summarizes a great number of techniques of special visual effects that became legends among the fans later, like the Lightsabers, Darth Vader’s armor, the creatures like Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt and the droid R2 D2. It also shows the inspiration of some designs from existing things like the helmet of Darth Vader and the blasters. The article spreads over all these design and give an accurate explanation of their uses and their meanings. It is very useful and according to the author it “can teach you about good concept-art.”

Blättermann wrote: “Star Wars didn’t just become famous for its story or special-effects. The role of its groundbreaking designs shouldn’t be underestimated. Here are 10 reasons why the concept arts are masterpieces and what they can teach you about good concept-art.” Then he went through Star Wars innovations and all that made its success by leaning on Industrial Light and Magic’s (ILM) information. Even though it is not an academic source, it is very organized and especially has strong bases (ILM informations). Consequently, the non academic article is a success that shows the different technologies used in Star Wars.

Evaluating Periodicals

The article’s full reference: Wolff, Ellen. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." Millimeter 35.3 (2007): 38-39. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 16 Mar. 2010.

The author is Ellen Wolff. It is important to know the author of an article or book and especially his/her relationship with the subject. Ellen Wolff is a journalist who specializes in visual effects, animation and education. Therefore, we can deduce that he is familiar with the field of special effect which makes his article more reliable and his analysis more convincing.
Millimeter magazine published this article. It is commercial.
I do not think that it could bias the work. Millimeter is specialized in motion, television and videos. Besides, special effects are not a subject that could be controversial as it does not touch religion, ethnicity or race etc …
It was published in the edition of may/june 2007.
It can be used for current information as it analyzes the techniques used for one of the latest successful, well known movies.
It is addressed to the general audience, and especially for fans. Moreover, it is written in a way accessible to a certain minority, it contains some specific technique words. However, a normal reader without any knowledge on the subject would understand the article. He would get what had been done for the battle scene in the sea discussed here in the article, but he would not be able to understand exactly how even though the author gives the technical terms.
The purpose of the text is to give an analysis of the special and visual effects of the 15-minute sea battle. Then it informs and reports:
It informs because it presents a structured 4 steps analysis in which it gives information about the visual effects used to realize the sea battle scene. And it reports because it cites some specialists of Industrial Light and Magic like Joakim Arnesson, ILM computer graphic (CG) supervisor who comments on the animation.
The author got the information from the company ILM and its members like the visual effects supervisor John Knoll and the CG supervisor Joakim Arnesson etc
There is no bibliography but there is a credit roll with the names of the supervisors and the directors etc …
It is a step by step analysis of a complex scene and a focus on the digital work, animation and visual effects used by ILM Company. Moreover, the article contains comments, from people that made the movie and its special effects possible, that explain how the scenes were realized and by what digital techniques. Therefore, it is useful and helpful to understand the magic behind this kind of scenes.

I have seen the trilogy “Pirates of Caribbean”. The scenes seemed so real that I never wondered how they managed to make them so real. I think when the public forgets the limit between reality and illusion as he is so captivated by the movie, this latter crosses a line too: the line that separates good movies and masterpieces. Pirate of Caribbean is definitely a masterpiece. Apart from the acting (Johnny Depp etc …) and the passionate story, the concordance of the directing of the story’s vicissitudes, the directing of the actors and especially the directing of the background is what gives the status of masterpiece to this kind of movies. In some movies like Transformers of Michael Bay, you distinguish a rupture between the story and the background insofar as the background is over-highlighted to somehow show the incredible work accomplished on the visual effects. I believe that this kind of movies that sacrifices the story at the expense of the special effects fail, not as commercial products but as cinematographic projects.

The edition of may/june 2007 of the Millimeter magazine contains an article made by Ellen Wolff, a journalist based in Los Angeles, who specializes in visual effects and animation. Therefore, he becomes more credible in the reader’s mind. Wolff’s work is brilliant; he did an entire analysis on the most crucial and important moment of the movie which is the final sea battle. 15 minutes of an enraged battle opposing the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman in the middle of a whirlpool is made possible and even realistic by the Industrial Light and Magic. In his article, Wolff does a step-by-step analysis of the final sea battle explaining each step: water simulations, the 360° camera movement, “the simulation of millions of particles depicting splashes and spray”, and finally the visual effects of lightning strikes.
The interesting thing in the article is the comments of the ILM’s staff members, like the visual effects supervisor John Knoll and the CG supervisor Joakim Arnesson who bring more credibility and reliability to the article since they are part of the team that created these special effects. I particularly liked the way the article is organized. It reminds me of movies with audio commentaries of actors and directors in the same time as the movie is playing. Wolff’s article is a set of pictures from Pirates of Caribbean. It is accompanied by some explanations of Wolff plus the comments of the movie supervisors.
In brief, it is an interesting approach of the visual effects of the movie that facilitates their understanding.

Evaluating Non Academic Periodicals
Blättermann, Marcus. "The Designs of Star Wars, 10 reasons why they are awesome". March 17, 2010 .

“The Designs of Star Wars, 10 reasons why they are awesome” is the title of an article written by Marcus Blättermann. It was first published on essenmitsosse.de, which is probably a personal blog, September, the 24th 2008.

The article can be classified as presenting both current information and historical context. First, I consider it as historical information because the saga Star Wars is over now and the details given by the author concern the special effect used for the first star wars i.e. 4, 5 and 6 in the 70s. This information hasn’t changed in the last 30 years and will not change in the next 10 years so it will stay as historical resources. However, I also consider it as current information since it deals with techniques of visual and special effects that are topical matters. ) the article tends to glorify the technology used in Star Wars and then the success of the saga that is venerated by millions of people. This success was possible thanks to the visual effects produced by the Industrial Light and Magic founded by George Lucas. Since the title is “The Designs of Star Wars 10 reasons why they are awesome”, it seems that the article has a persuasive side. Moreover, the use of why implies that the text has a convincing, persuasive connotation. Nevertheless, the main purpose of it is to present the designs of Star Wars by describing and analyzing them which is informing. Furthermore, the author did not come up with this information and description by himself, but he based his description and his analysis on industrial light and magic data. Since the company is the one that created Star Wars visual effects, the author is reporting their work and the information they published to build his analysis. Also, the article summarizes a great number of techniques of special visual effects that became legends among the fans later, like the Lightsabers, Darth Vader’s armor, the creatures like Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt and the droid R2 D2. It also shows the inspiration of some designs from existing things like the helmet of Darth Vader and the blasters. The article spreads over all these design and give an accurate explanation of their uses and their meanings. It is very useful and according to the author it “can teach you about good concept-art.”
Marcus Blättermann wrote: “Star Wars didn’t just become famous for its story or special-effects. The role of its groundbreaking designs shouldn’t be underestimated. Here are 10 reasons why the concept arts are masterpieces and what they can teach you about good concept-art.” Then he went through Star Wars innovations and all that made its success by leaning on Industrial Light and Magic’s (ILM) information. Even though it is not an academic source, it is very organized and especially has strong bases (ILM informations). Consequently, the non academic article is a success that shows the different technologies used in Star Wars.

Evaluating Books

The book’s full reference: Thomas G. Smith.: Industrial Light and Magic: the art of special effects. Virgin. 1986
New York : Ballantine Books, 1996.
The author is Thomas G. Smith. He used to work with industrial light and magic which is a visual effect company founded by George Lucas the creator and director of Star Wars. The company didn’t work just on Star Wars but produced special effects for a lot of movies such as Indiana Jones, Forrest Gump, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Terminator …
There is also another ILM book: Mark Cotta Vaz and Patricia Rose Duignan: Industrial Light & Magic : into the digital realm.


The book was published by New York : Ballantine Books, in 1996. The author works for ILM and this is an official book of the company that presents its creations and visual effects techniques. It cannot be taboo since it doesn’t deal with any subject that could be taboo. I will use it for both to see the evolution of special effects through the times (I’ll Focus on some specific movies). It is more for fans I think, because there are specific details and technical terms proper to Star Wars, Cinema and Industrial light and Magic special visual effects. However, there are also a lot of pictures with legends that help a person with a normal amount of knowledge to understand the concept a little bit. This is an official book of The Industrial Light and Magic Company. It illustrates the work and creation of Lucas’ company. It informs because it gives information about the company’s work in Star Wars and also in many other movies. Informing and reporting are somehow linked, since when you report you automatically inform. Then by describing, illustrating, quoting some producers and supervisors inside the company, and explaining how the company realized, and still realizes, its creations, it does a lot of reporting. The author got the information from the inside of the company. It is important to know the authors’ sources because to trust the information; so, it is a reliability’s issue. It is very useful. I spent a lot of time to find it since it is perfect for my subject. I could not have found something that deals more with my subject. It is a book of the company that creates special effects for all the great Hollywood’s movies. So there is no one with more information and examples.
I spent a pretty long time looking for a book that deals with new technologies in cinema. However, after hours of researches, in vain, I thought it would be easier, more intelligent, and more beneficial for my work if I narrowed my topic. Therefore, instead of looking for new technologies in cinema, which is a vast subject that spreads over a lot of vast fields like sound, picture, lightening, scenery, decors and costumes etc, I searched for specific cases in cinema. The most revolutionary cinema story in the domain of special effects is obviously Star Wars. Moreover, I also saw in Star Wars a possibility to compare between the past and the present. Indeed, the saga extends over decades, from 1977 when the episode 4 had emerged, to 2005 which marked the release of the last episode of the saga: the Revenge of the Sith. The interesting thing here is that George Lucas chose to direct and produce the episodes 4, 5 and 6 before the the first 3 ones blaming the lack of budget and also the limited technology back then. George Lucas is the one who created the Industrial Light & Magic for the special effect of his movies, but he later expanded his company to the projects of other movies.
There were two books named Industrial Light and Magic. The first one, the one I first found, was published in 1986 by Thomas G. Smith who used to work with the company. The complete title of this first book is Industrial Light and Magic: the art of special effects. The second one was published in 1996 by Mark Cotta Vaz and has the title: Industrial Light & Magic: into the digital realm. I only found this second book in the library of the University, so I picked it. Besides, to complete my case study on Star Wars, I found another book: Cinetech by Stephen Keane that had an analysis of two of the episodes of the saga Star Wars.

Introduction

In 1894, « les frères Lumières » decide to organize, December 28 at “Le Salon Indien du Grand Café” in Paris, a public payable screening. This was the born of Cinema even though some, especially from the United States of America, still consider that Thomas Edison is the father of what will be known as the 7th art. Later, the cinema crossed many times; the silent films and the black and white cinema, then the first apparition of colors in cinema. However, the biggest upheaval happened with the advent of new technologies in the domain of cinema insofar as technical, synthetic innovations have given it a new dimension. In my project, I will especially focus on one of the greatest digital design and visual special effects companies of all time: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) founded independently by George Lucas and owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. in May 1975. It was first created to realize the optical special effects for Star Wars, and then realized many other movies’ special effects like Terminator 2, Pirates of Caribbean, Jurassic Park, Transformers and Avatar etc … Therefore, I will spread over the techniques and new technologies used by ILM to realize these visual effects, and the evolution of these techniques over the time.