The reason: a Cub Scout field trip. One of the boy's Uncle John runs a special effects studio and had offered to give us a tour. It was the coolest thing I've seen in a long time!
This studio created some of the best-known special effects characters around. What's that, you've never heard of the Terminator, Aliens or those prehistoric creatures in Jurassic Park? Well then, perhaps you've heard of Iron Man, or the new James Cameron movie Avatar, out in December.
John explained how they create the characters (though CGI and digital mapping), then showed us some of the computers they use. There were some NBA puppets on the wall from an upcoming commercial, and some mock-ups of Iron Man from the first movie.
Then he led us out to the workshop. The kids went nuts, running from creature to creature, hands out, exploring everything. They stood in front of a Terminator robot, and oohed at the oversized bad guy from Iron Man (I can't remember his name), here:
(Sorry, these are from my phone -- I forgot to take my camera. D'oh!. And yes, that's Mark with a drooped head and open mouth.)
Then they stood in front of Iron Man, as he looked in the first movie. Here's Mark with him:
They also got to see a cool USMC robot and touch Iron Man's updated suit of armor, which will both be in the next movie, out in 2010. (We couldn't take pictures of those.) At one point, I turned to see Mark wearing Iron Man's helmet, and I almost had a heart attack. I envisioned him dropping it on the floor and denting it, and almost screamed at him to take it off. Then I bit my tongue and remembered it was Iron Man's helmet, and when would he ever have another chance to wear that again?
The boys were suitably impressed by the robots, and by the animated, lifelike animal puppets nearby. The puppets worked using pneumatic cranks, so the boys played with those, too. But the thing that impressed them most was a giant horse head; or specifically, the horse's tongue.
"Touch it!" a scout ordered, and I complied. It felt disgustingly lifelike, and kinda creepy! Figures that impressed them more than any of the fancy, expensive robots.
We got to see some works in progress -- the shell of what will become a killer whale, a giant cockroach (gross!) and a termite, a rocket ship the team was building and painting while we were there. We got to see the designer's work areas, including the mechanics area, where all the motors are created to make the character's mouths move. We saw the foam room, where they create the creatures, and the computer that syncs voices to a character's movement.
We even got to go up to the conference room, which had some excellent models of more creepy crawly things, including the Alien Queen. John shared more stories with us (like how Jeff Goldblum almost got the wits knocked outta him by the T. Rex). He told us how they studied movement to make the creatures convincing, and did a mean velociraptor impression (he was actually a velociraptor in Jurassic Park -- the scary one in the kitchen, stalking the kids).
True to form, the adults were very interested in the stories. The boys spun around in the chairs, a little bored once the robots were out of sight and the grownups kept asking questions. Mark was most interested in the bowl of fruit on the table -- he kept asking if he could have a banana.
It was a long drive and an early morning, but it was totally worth it!
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