DOUGLAS TRUMBULL | Master Class | Higher Learning

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Douglas Trumbull, the industry pioneer behind the special effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Blade Runner joins post-secondary students and faculty to discuss his remarkable career in visual effects and his own directorial projects.This Higher Learning event was held on December 9, 2010 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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[@amytrumbull156]

This is my dad….he just passed away on Monday, February 7th after a 2 year battle with mesothelioma. He’s now traversing among the stars….journey well Daddy!

[@AlanCanon2222]

I was 10 when 2001 was re-released to theaters post Star Wars, and saw Close Encounters and ST:TMP in theaters as well. Brainstorm blew my mind when I saw it on cable TV, and I've enjoyed watching Silent Running as well. I knew your father's name as the first name in visual effects back to my childhood, and I will never stop studying or appreciating his work. I'm very sorry for your loss. Best from Kentucky.

[@Ostermond]

Oh, gosh, it really is you. I'm so sorry for your loss, but I'm glad he's voyaging out there now. To you and yours, my best wishes.

[@shaunpenne1840]

Your Dad was a total and utter genius!! Watching his work reminds you that he was a master of true movie magic! He was incredible and hopefully his studio and legacy will continue to inspire others to carry on his work of real effects!! Even in this day and age of over saturated CGI in movies, the recent films he worked on proved why he was the master of Visual Special Effects! I remember, as a little boy in the 80's, watching Blade Runner, Silent Running and being so awe inspired! I showed the Stargate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey to my younger, Marvel orientated workmates and they were speechless!! R.I.P Douglas Trumbull, you are, eternally, a legend!

[@ackwagl4]

Amy, sorry for your loss. Your father's effects stunned me since I was very young (2001 and CE3k were films I saw as a youngin). His work was fantastic: the glowing crafts of Blade Runner and CE3K have never been topped by any cgi. Brainstorm was also a powerful (and underrated) film which I watch each year. Your dad had great visions, and I wish the sci-fi film he had mentioned trying to develop a few years ago had continued. Best wishes from Thailand.

[@JonBrandonCruz]

Your father was an absolute next-level genius. His tenacity to keep pushing the boundaries for decades and decades is so damn inspiring. What a life he lived! Devoured every second of it it seems.

[@klartext2225]

R.I.P. Douglas Trumbull - one of the greatest movie wizards will be missed.

[@christhorton6512]

There should have been a massive, long, and loud standing ovation for this man when he stepped up. He is an amazing individual and a great artist.

[@landryprichard6778]

@Konga 5000 Not the best example to use. I'm fifty and both love Trumbull and Nolan. But I understand the sentiment.

[@horzsheet1904]

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[@yianniskarapiperidis693]

R.I.P Great Douglas Trumbull! You still inspire filmmakers all around the world!

[@landryprichard6778]

The biggest takeaway I get, as a lifelong fan of Douglas, is that he had his hands in inspiring many others who would go on to forget him. Genius is often behind closed doors.

[@ytmelo]

Silent Running is a cult. A deep and actual piece of poetic cinematic magic. Thank you Doug, you deserve a lot more.

[@HobbsBhipp]

I have so much respect for these filmmakers that really worked before the age of CGI imagery.

[@miguelpereira9859]

HobbsBhipp Are you implying that CGI artists "don't work"?

[@Canada_Dominium]

@@miguelpereira9859 He's saying practical effects done with care are superior to CGI.

[@shaunpenne1840]

A true master of Movie Magic!! No CGI, no computers, just pure skill and utter brilliance!! May your legacy and studio continue to thrive!!!

[@e.l.norton]

Trumbull was a Master during the peak, the last "Golden Age" of making movies. No matter how advanced cgi gets, it will never be as impressive and awe-inspiring as the brilliant and photograohically beautiful practical techniques that Doug was such a wizard of. Those films have a look, a magicak quality to them that reels you in the way cg never will. This was art.

[@mattbrewster8051]

I so wish Mr. Trumbull would write a BOOK about all his experiences in the movie industry!!!

[@jimmerhardy]

I wish I would have discovered this earlier, but I found it. Douglas Trumbull was an absolute genius who envisioned the future for a generation and beyond. We thank him for it.

[@RCAvhstape]

I had no idea he was so active after so many years, this guy is amazing.

[@minecraf]

+Helium Road blows my mind that he was only in his late 20s when working on 2001

[@jimstokes6742]

He was here in Minneapolis doing a production at Prince's studio in Chanhassen. That's the last I heard of Trumbull.

[@speedracer1945]

I remember this guy , He caught my attention after Star Trek . Watching 2001 , was awesome space effects made in 68; was way ahead of its time . The theater owner screwed themselves. Show-Scan would had changed films as we see today but instead of making theaters bigger they tore down all the big ones and multiplexes took over with small screens . Anyone watching films in theaters after the mid-80's don't know the real enjoyment of watching a film on a big screen in every theater and if you missed the beginning, well you could sit and watch it all day at no extra price .

[@amytrumbull156]

Oh my god, you’re the first person I’ve ever heard mention Show Scan! I was lucky enough to see it’s beginning when my dad took me to The World Expo in about 1984-1986 (I don’t remember exactly) and he had a Showscan exhibit there which was amazing. He also invented the motion simulator rides which I got to go in the first prototype one in his studio when I was really little. It was a pretty small box up on it’s moving parts, it fit only about 6-8 people. Super fun times at Paramount, Future General, etc.

[@ianschulz1]

2001, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner, The Tree of Life, even Star Trek The Motion Picture (though the story couldn't compete with all those effects shots). Just stop for a moment and consider the kind of mind-blowing visuals this man has made part of film history and the cultural lexicon. Whenever someone talks about a star gate or futuristic city or cosmic encounter - his stamp is on the images in their mind.

[@MichaelVLang]

The worlds he created were so insightful, it's amazing to me how he manipulated light. Not much in the way of computing used, just imagination and insight to see the future. Love that. RIP.

[@roquefortfiles]

The fact that Doug was no fan of CGI or it's over use is reason enough to love him. Doug understands the difference between shooting a highly detailed model in real light to a CGI model. Theres a difference

[@jonathanswift2251]

Douglas Trumbull has never won an Oscar. The technical award in 1993 for Showscan is not what I mean. I mean a real movie that he supervised the SPFX for -- he has never won an Oscar for that. 2001 Oscar for Visual Effects was poached by Stanley Kubrick. He may have gotten the project off the ground, he may have guided the technicians with his vison, but the actual WORK, the overall look, the memorable animation and visuals at the end of the film: THAT WAS ALL DOUG TRUMBULL. He should receive an Honorary Oscar before he passes on. His father lived to be 95, so I hope Trumbull is active to the age of 100. He'll be 80 this April. Got another 20 years in him at least.

[@colinhalliley111]

The people who either own the film or have seen it many times , appreciate this discussion and don't need " film clips". This fills in the how it was accomplished , not the end product. Amazing then and now.

[@roccotool]

Thanks for not showing the film clips and demos, which is what people really want to see.

[@petermueller7407]

Presumably one of the most influential persons of movie history.

[@AlanCanon2222]

I think I might understand the slit scan process a little better after watching this. I didn't know that front projection was used on Close Encounters, it's such a simple setup (though requiring great care in alignment) and it looks gorgeous wherever it's used.

[@bitcoinjedi2276]

I did research on brain temporal and a few other things at Showscan. Showscan was a great place and Douglas Trumbull was a master at what he did.

[@garrison6863]

One of the most brilliant technicians to ever work in cinema. Its a shame the studios would not go along with showscan. But who could have predicted that the industry would go to digital cameras.

[@georgeperkins1814]

I really appreciate this posting. I agree with other comments that excluding clips and segments really hurt the presentation here. I would have been happier if I had only seen a quarter of this unedited. Still it's great to get creative and business insight from someone who has had so much influence in the visual aspects of film.

[@calabiyou]

so glad i watched this, a great genius and inspiration.

[@sclogse1]

From watching this, and another over an hour doug trumball thing today on youtube, whatever Doug develops, I hope he makes sure the venue has some seriously comfortable seats.....

[@ObiTrev]

This seminar is all about the effects, when you don't show the effects, you mind as well not even show the video. As a film student this infuriates me greatly! Also, it is completely within in free use to show those clips, since it isn't to show the movie but an analysis of said movie. Essentially its of educational value -which it is.

[@Nathanatos22]

Now I’m dying to see New Magic (1983). The only information I can find on it is a few paragraphs from a 1984 Washington Post article (“From Reel To Real”).

[@coolcat23]

Absolute Legend

[@richardmiranda640]

“all these zillions of years” cuteness overload

[@ChanWalrus]

I regularly have my dinner's at Trumbull's, and I have to say the visual cuisine is most delicious!

[@Danimat72]

Douglas Trumbull is a really brilliant technician, a legend of visual fx for sure ! Editing out film clips from this presentation is quite a shame . Anyway this was an interesting presentation it was cool to see how those fx were made even before CGI. Also the man doesn't get the attention he deserves, even from producers.

[@SeanCC]

As much as I respect and admire Mr. Trumbull, he really should have given Con Pederson the respect and acknowledgement that he deserved regarding effects for 2001 and the To The Moon And Beyond.

[@yank3656]

thanks for sharing TIFF Originals

[@VerasFawaz]

THIS WAS REALLY GOOD

[@mode1charlie170]

Quiet please....Genius at work..

[@davidgray2805]

I would love to see the Cinerama video. this guy is a true genius.

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

Love to hear about how these images were created. He seems a little disgruntled about the whole Oscar thing, Kubrick putting himself in for the visual effects award, winning it and taking it.

[@stardude2006]

2001 A Space Odyssey is a Masterpiece of Filmmaking 👽💚

[@AbsurdStudioNEW]

Хуйня. Эффекты да, но история - хуйня.

[@Pearsonally]

Movie pioneer Douglas Trumbull passed away on Feb. 7. After watching this incredibly knowledgeable and inspiring creative genius for a fascinating 1.5 hrs, I couldn't help but to wonder one simple question: "WHY DOESN'T DOUGLAS TRUMBULL HAVE A STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME?"

[@BillOweninOttawa]

He doesn't need one.

[@120.V]

Bon voyage à travers la porte des étoiles l'Artiste ! J'espère qu'on pourra voir ces images organiques incroyables que l'on pouvait percevoir dans "Trumbull Land" ... R.E.P ... paix à son âme

[@jimstokes6742]

Thanks for sharing!

[@harryalpert8002]

i worked on "Back to the Future the Ride"! super great project!

[@Kinopanorama1]

Editing out the film clips has ruined this presentation.

[@asorrentino38]

Absolutely right!

[@charleselmore4707]

@@asorrentino38 is is y

[@The22on]

Genius

[@baaltshuvah2008]

I know there are probably a lot of copyright issues at play here, but viewing this was so frustrating with all the cuts that had to be made. It would have been nice to see the complete segments devoted to Silent Running and Blade Runner.

[@yorgle]

How do you have a "master class" about film, and then edit out all of the film clips? It's not due to copyright, since this would fall into fair use, for education.

[@chrisnewman7281]

That 1964 world fare exhibition presentation was developed by Charles and Ray Eames from what I remember

[@Ostermond]

Rest In Peace to the legend.

[@AlanCanon2222]

His body of work reminds me of Roy Batty's line in Blade Runner: "If only you could see what I've seen, through your eyes."

[@propagandery]

total genius

[@Dolores5000]

awesome!

[@cryptohalloffame]

trumbull was asked to build some of the cameras that lucas used for star wars

[@cryptohalloffame]

lots and lots of geniuses worked on star wars, including colin cantwell who built the models

[@thegrimyeaper]

Meanwhile the makers of the biggest show on TV now is yelling at all of us to "TURN OFF MOTION SMOOTHING!"

[@icarocoppio9821]

He's a light wizard.

[@EMCU2001]

he is one of my childhood heroes too. i want to go to one of these lectures. does anyone know when he will be speaking again?

[@kevinslaye]

Are You still alive?

[@dr.winstonsmith]

Too late.

[@sadalite]

what are we not seeing when he shows clips? That's a bummer!

[@FreedomforHaiti]

Cineride sounds similar to Universal's Spider-Man and Transformers rides in some ways. (I really wish I could've tried it!!!) Had Walt Disney lived a while longer, maybe he would've implemented Cineride (in addition to building EPCOT as a city).

[@anthonyxuereb792]

What an amazing mind, @ 46:18 I'm sure Douglas was going to say Syd Mead.

[@aarongarfield2128]

I'd like to see that Blade Runner talk that was mentioned at 1:37:06 TIFF

[@agranero6]

Me too. I am looking for it everywhere.

[@MajorazMasta]

Anyone found it?

[@mskonicki2001]

Aaron Garfield I saw him in person at Columbia in Chicago. He hates talking about Blade Runner. It's old news to him.

[@karstenvonfjellheim5321]

Thank you for posting this, I really appreciate it. But I am also a bit annoyed about how rude you handled this presentation by Trumbull. Editing out the movieclips due to copyright is a pretty asinine move when you leave the-copyrighted-original score in this presentation. What makes it worse is that you do not even provide timecodes for the removed clips. To make matters worse, you dare fade out Trumbull several times, for what I must assume is for what you think is 'pacing' in his talk. When it's an educational video you are allowed to show movieclips for educational purposes and when you have one of the greatest filmmakers giving a lecture; you should grow some balls and leave the movieclips in.

[@DavidGriffithsTweetUwrite]

+adamcluck dont youtube stop the vid being played in countries where it would violate the law? seems a shame the film clips had to be cuts out because it wrecks the context

[@junglesbongles8592]

+David Griffiths if its full screen sized clips but not when theres other stuff on the screen.

[@amydansja]

I'm pretty sure you can use clips from anything as long as a credit is provided and the video is being used in an educational context. Otherwise how would half the video essays and presentations on KZbin be there?

[@EricIrl]

@@amydansja There are over 200 countries in the world - so trying to comply with copyright rules on a global scale is very tricky. Editing out potential problems is probably the only solution - although in the case of this presentation it really reduced the impact it should have had.

[@akinoz]

Oh man there is no movieclip. :(

[@roquefortfiles]

To say Doug doesn't know what quality is is frankly ridiculous. He's on another level in the field of visual effects. Visual effects today have become "McDonalds". Doug is 4 star fine dinning!!

[@emilycunningham8125]

exactly! good filmmaking is like good quality food. Do you want your grandma's home cooking? or McD's? This is one of several problems with many current mainstream movies, corpse/corporations have taken over :(

[@richardmiranda640]

Maybe 5% of society has grace and class. Sub cultures have infested traditional western culture and made a dog’s breakfast of it.

[@AlanCanon2222]

Excellent analogy.

[@roquefortfiles]

@@AlanCanon2222 He has been an enormous inspiration to me. I adore his entire approach and philosophy. Respect!!

[@AlanCanon2222]

@@roquefortfiles To me too. Right now I'm compositing a photo of my bunny rabbit in "Superman" pose against fly-around video of the Statue of Liberty, using kdenlive, and while it's rendering I'm practicing "Can You Read My Mind?" by John Williams on guitar (I know Trumbull didn't work on Superman), Seeing his work led me to make simple stop-motion Super 8 films when I was a kid, and to work in live theater as an effects technician later in life (I even became an actor because I was already in the theater when directors needed to cast someone in a hurry).

[@FreedomforHaiti]

It looks like part of his presentation on Silent Running may have been left out of this (?). If so, is there somewhere where it can be seen? Anyway, thank you for uploading this!

[@jimstokes6742]

bingo bango bongo I dont wanna leave the congo nol no no no no!

[@Uhfgood]

I wish they wouldn't have cut out the flim clips.

[@jakemeyer8188]

I hope he was involved with the development of the virtual, Unreal Engine film sets (AKA the "Mandalorian" set) because the techniques it uses sounds a lot like an implementation of his innovative work and what he's been trying to ultimately get to for decades. If I had been working so hard on a process for that long just to be beat to the punch by a gaming company unexpectedly breaking into film out of left field, I think I'd be pretty miffed.

[@Pearsonally]

"WHY DOESN'T DOUGLAS TRUMBULL HAVE A STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME?"

[@markrandle9025]

29:00 adapting flight simulator technology for entertainment. Projected 35mm movie that became back to the future ride

[@dadautube]

pity gems like Douglas Trumbull are no longer around ... of course, there are always new gems replacing the old ... but somehow, when we see how open-minded and uptodate he always was when also trying and experiencing with digital photography and successfully mixing it with traditional film technology, i'd rather have people like him live immortal lives so to say ... (even though i wouldn't be living long enough to enjoy their achievements forever!) 🙂 as for higher frame rates for motion picture experiences, some people still prefer the blurry frames in the 24PFS standard and consider them more realistic ... in fact, even in computer graphics 3d animation software, there is that 'motion-blur button' there to render some frames look blurry so as to make the final motion more like film shot in old cameras ... and that's certainly fine of course ... it is indeed a much needed item ... but i think that's mostly because we have been conditioned thus accustomed into accepting that blur as reality rather than that 'effect' being real, really ... yes, our eyes cannot quite detect the difference between 24FPS moving imagery in cinema with one going at a higher rate ... but even at that, we can see how slow motion shots appear sharper in resolution when shot at higher frame rates and then shown at the lower ('normal') 24FPS standard ... the only thing that makes slo-mo shots appear unreal is that in reality we never see normal movement in slow motion ... besides, when camera pans or tilts fast or too fast while shooting at the 'standard' 24FPS rate and the result is also projected at the same rate, i for one, being a semi-pro photo with decades of experience (also in movie cameras as well as computer and digital imagery) am always annoyed by the blurry effect ... that's *totally unreal* to my eyes!

[@lightningbolt4451]

thanks a lot for removing the clips???

[@tokyoreggae69]

R.I.P

[@sclogse1]

The limitations of using photographs, was really the limitations brought about at the time for Kubrick's desire to keep everything first generation. I would have loved to see more 3 dimensionality to the very first ships shown after the ape scene, or the ball shaped Aries spacecraft that lands on the moon having some axis tilts, etc. But...in spite of that budget, had physical limitations to deal with...they didn't have 3D models in photoshops CS extended timeline to play with.

[@agfagaevart]

they didn't have motion control back then. Kubrick would've found a use for it if they had.

[@iLikeTheUDK]

Why is music from Revenge of the Sith playing at around 1h 5m in?

[@GiantSquid2319]

1:09:25 this must be the orthogonal motion base

[@stonelenny]

These finished diagrams of the Jupiter Machine and Stargate slitscan rig are from any book?

[@mskonicki2001]

Wow, the future could be miniatures from Virtual instead of other way around.

[@bobbybray]

Wow....I was blind, but now I see....(but just a little bit)

[@oscara9709]

Do somebody knows how this brilliant man manage to achieve such a thing as New Magic? What I mean is, depending of where is your chair depending of the perspective you will have, there are little nuances in the perspective but this nuances may broke the illusion. So how he manage to do it? Do somebody has a behind the scenes or something?

[@chuckmajewski7480]

I thought the same thing, but maybe he used a curved screen and fisheye lens?

[@kenmorris4761]

Please help ... its on my bucket list to see his movie big ball from 1983, a chucky cheese film, I was in this film?

[@marthamartanovitc8248]

There are bits missing, what a pity.

[@TheNewton]

1:14:09 Is the monkey king demo anywhere online?

[@evhvariac2]

55:42 Star Tours reference

[@robbie.broadstock5645]

Why did you cut out all of the film parts of this!

[@d.j.p.g.b.9662]

can someone please give the timestamps for everything.

[@patricksudbury]

18:45

[@LLAACountyJail]

Showscan???? I USED TO WORK FOR YOU WHEN I WAS A KID. Culver City Matina Del Rey.. I was a forklift driver.

[@rorygurrin7233]

He sounds like Brian from family guy after a vodkas and tonics!, I get the tech but watch the making of silent running it's more accessible

[@karihardarson1234]

I stopped watching when I saw the sample clip had been removed.

[@Corbomite-ei1ty]

🖖🏼🖖🏼🖖🏼

[@345firee]

1:20:35 All of these "hypothetical designs" of his look like Walt Disney's "Tomorrowland" designs from back in the 1960's of how the future would look lmao.

[@chuisco]

Thank you, but this is an interview you should not be editing, I bet a lot is lost between the cuts.

[@MrBrad898540]

Interestingly this lecture is all about visual affects. It demonstrates the fundamental problem with so many movies today, which is an almost complete lack of a human connection at a very emotional level, which is what all great cinema is about. A great visual experience is hollow without a great narrative, and the best technology around isn't going to change that. You can wow an audience in a simulator for a carnival ride, but for a really great movie, it means absolutely nothing. I would be interested to know Mr. Trumbull's own views on this, and remind him that the success of 2001 is all about the human element. That is why is still matters today, and people are still talking about it.

[@donthaveonedonthaveone5901]

5:36 = 5 (-_+) DEAR MR TRUMBULL HAVE EYE GOT A SURPRISE 4 YOU! _eye have used to have my own channel on you tube but the government hi-jacked it on me_

[@movid]

Amazing, the people who shot this event did not think they should focus on the film image and DT, wasting a good portion of the image on the theatre itself. Amateurs I guess

[@sclogse1]

I just realized that Doug sounds quite a bit like Robert Ebert.

[@SB111058]

The guy is an utter genius, but, the rotating white discs make no sense or do they?

[@findkip]

cool stuf but clearly something we did not see happen now.

[@callidus_ru]

Klaatu barada bazinga 42

[@sclogse1]

Infrared matting. Hmmmm.....

[@Bhatt_Hole]

As accomplished, forward-thinking, supremely talented/skilled, shockingly innovative, and deservingly respected as he was, it's difficult to imagine enjoying a future form of cinema in which...aside from the living actor...every foreground, background, building, room, and anything else you see in the shot is CGI. That sounds absolutely horrible in every way. Beyond horrible. For rides, commercials, and sci-fi stuff, super. But I sincerely hope this never becomes the norm for most feature films. It's so common now to hear cries of "WAY too much CGI in that film". Taking it even further would be unfortunate. There has been at least two films I know of, and perhaps more, which boasted "NO CGI WAS USED". But, sci-fi and fantasy films pretty much can't be made any more without heavy doses of it. What will the future be like? Will there be a trend towards completely organic films resulting from some sort of future CGI backlash? We just don't know.