- How many times have you watched "The Matrix?" Enough to notice that scenes within the computer generated matrix have a green tinge while those happening in the real world are highlighted by blue? Perhaps so often you can hardly wait for the next evolution of graphics that will surely surpass "bullet time," the dazzling FX trick in which the camera appears to circle 360 degrees around a centralized image? Part two is finally here.
- "The Matrix Reloaded" opens this month with nearly five times as many separate special effects shots (or frames) compared to the original blockbuster. The creative braintrust behind this amazing FX world is ESC Entertainment of Alameda, Calif., one of six FX houses commissioned by Warner Bros. Studios to handle the CG (computer graphics) elements of "Reloaded" and the later release of "The Matrix Revolutions." Inside ESC's brand new facility is a screening room equipped to automate and control a variety of media through AMX.
- "This is not a traditional screening room where you put up a film and watch," said Steve Sutter, Founder of Sand Hill Media (Berkeley, Calif.) who acted as AMX consultant, designer and programmer on this project. "This is a working room where they critically analyze CG effects."
Hard-Core CG Control
- In fact, ESC grew out of the overwhelming success of "The Matrix," which was released in 1999 and grossed more than $400 million worldwide (approximately $170 million in the United States). During the past three years, the largest piece of a $100 million budget was marked for CG. This kind of emphasis by the directors and producers on giving the audience something new and jaw-dropping required leading technology behind the scenes. Inside ESC's screening room, an AMX NetLinx Control System and 10.4-inch Touch Panels give animators, artists and technical directors the ability to work faster, without sacrificing any attention to the extreme details.
- "They use the room so much that they have a full-time operator in the back of the room who works the Touch Panel," Sutter said. "The control system is used constantly, every day. It's a real hard-core working room."
- Consider the number of frames shot on average by a camera: 24 per second. One CG artist may be responsible for 150 frames, or approximately six seconds worth of film.
- "That series of shots is his life," Sutter said. "He is so involved with the position of every muscle and every little image. When it's time to be in the screening room, he is going back and forth over all the frames, looking closely at everything in the picture."
- In "Reloaded," AMX technology assisted in the design of characters taking flight within the matrix, twirling about in the air, and rapid-fire fight scenes, according to Sutter.
AMX is ... the One
- The AMX Touch Panels, one located in back of the screening room and another installed in the equipment rack, provide instant one-touch control over the status of each frame, format changes, lighting, video monitor levels, and more.
- "We did a training the first week and they were concerned about not being able to use it (AMX) fast enough," Sutter said. "They are very computer literate people but not necessarily with media systems. Yet, nobody had to know much because AMX works so easily."
Enter the AMX User Interface
- The user interfaces on both Touch Panels combine the feel of the "Matrix" with simple navigation buttons. Different control windows mimic scenes from the movie — notice the green window on the user interface. This is the moment when Neo, the movie's hero, understands his power over the matrix. When he is able to stop bullets and defeat the agents. The film-waterfall image (on the user interface pictured at right) was actually modified from an internationally released poster.
- "They wanted to panels to be interesting," Sutter said. "You have to remember, the average age here is 20. They don't like complicated, fancy buttons, but they wanted it to be playful as well. For one of the windows, I took the image from an original poster. They thought it was great."
Where to Go From Here
- AMX control technology is also having an impact on how production studios and CG houses, like ESC, manipulate audio for a feature film. Again, AMX is on the cutting edge of developments in the entertainment industry. A device known as Digital Signal Processing (DSP), replaces the need for much of the external processing. The mixing, level controls, EQ, gating and compression can happen wiuthin one box rather than include a number of individual analog units.
- "DSP is catching on in a big way," Sutter said. "This single black box does everything in terms of audio and AMX controls it flawlessly." Simply plug in your inputs and outputs through the black box. A computer will then display audio functions. The other audio equipment does away. "It was designed to be controlled remotely," Sutter said. "The protocol is so simple to use and it works flawlessly with AMX It's very cool and very clean."
