The pages of Entertainment Engineering have included many stories about the use of computer graphics (CG) in movies and film. During the past eight years that this magazine has been published, we've seen a rise in the use of software programs for visual effects in tv commercials, game trailers, documentaries, and big budget films.

The upside in the use of CG include the spectacular scenes in movies that could not be done practically or safely with stunt crews. For example, once of the first stories we wrote for this magazine described how visual effects produced by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) in an episode of Star Wars. The "digital doubles" of Star Wars characters, help actors and stunt people avoid dangerous stunts according to ILM's Pablo Helman.

But as good as CG has become, it has limitations.

"Audiences are more savvy now," says Jack Gill, the stunt coordinator for Fast Five, Austin Powers, Wild Hogs, Date Night, and other feature films. "With some CG, audiences know it's not physically possible to do some of the things depicted in films, so the movies aren't as believeable."

For the new Fast Five film from Universal Studios, Gill and company set out to rely less on CG and more on real stunts, some of which have never been attempted before. Many of the stunts in Fast Five are based upon the destructive force of a ten-ton vault, which is dragged around by cars during many scenes of the movie. "There were actually seven different vaults we used, each of which had different purposes," notes Gill.

Part of what makes Fast Five believable is that, instead of visual effects, stunt drivers actually pulled the ten-ton vault behind thier cars and crashed them into things, including several hundred cars that were wrecked for the film. "We pushed the limits," explains Gill. "When you start crashing a ten-ton vault into things during filming, you have to be very careful about where you place the dozens of people on sets and have safe places for them to get out of the way because the vault will crash through most everything."

With the level of difficulty, complexity, and stunt planning required for films such as Fast Five, why is there no Academy Award for stunts as there is with visual effects, science and engineering? We contacted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, CA, but did not hear back from them by press time. We will keep trying, so please check future issues of Entertainment Engineering for updates on this question.

Bruce Wiebusch

bruce@entertainmentengineering.com

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