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A day with Doug Trumbull
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Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter
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Written by: Rob (Bert) Murphy |
Date:
13.02.2022 |
Doug
Trumbull with
Rob (Bert) Murphy
The accomplishments of Douglas Trumbull and his career in the movies are well
documented. So I would rather take this opportunity to share part of the
remarkable interview we recorded for
"Splice Here" and my memories of spending the day with one of my
idols.
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Go to
youtube
As I ventured up the stairs of his beautiful farm based office, my first
impressions upon shaking Doug's hand were of his kind but piercing blue eyes and
how much shorter he was than I’d imagined. As we unloaded the car we chatted
about the drive up from Boston and the beautiful spot he and Julia enjoyed here
in Massachusetts. I wasn’t sure how long we had to capture the interview, so I
cautiously inquired as to what we could fit in. Within minutes we were driving
over to another building to see what Doug and his team had been working on. The
prefab MAGI theatre stood indoors and was lit dramatically for impact. A
circular structure made out of blocks (of a sort), revealed stadium seating and
a completely sound baffled interior. The screen was curved both vertically and
horizontally as if to hug the viewer visually. As Joanne and I began to set up
equipment, Doug pulled in a smoke machine so we could capture the beams of light
from the projector. I remember we chatted about Cinerama, which led to Stanley
Kubrick and how he wanted
"2OO1: A Space Odyssey" to be, “How The Universe Was Won!” Then he pulled up
U.F.O.T.O.G, (his MAGI test film) and we settled in for a private screening.
Now I haven’t witnessed
Showscan,
but I have seen IMAX and three
strip Cinerama, and in comparison
this was mind blowing. It really can’t be summed up in words but it was so real,
so clean, so immersive I was speechless (not a good thing when the camera’s
rolling). It was like every advance in wide screen photography and projection
had been distilled and combined in this moment. I struggled for a way to
encapsulate it and simply offered, “its just the perfect illusion” to
which Doug laughed.
The elevated stadium block that the seats were mounted on was fitted with a fan
incorporating adjustable blades that could push or pull the air via a control
cue on the soundtrack. This gave a Sensurround like effect to the sub base
moments; shaking the seats! And I was staggered by the sense of depth created by
merging multiple shooting planes running at different frame rates…
simultaneously!
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More in 70mm reading:
Douglas Trumbull. A Great Legend Departs
Douglas Trumbull - A Conversation
Immersive filmmaking with Douglas Trumbull
Ladies and Gentlemen, This is MAGI Cinema
“Close
Encounters of the Third Kind”
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Doug
Trumbull and
Rob Murphy in the MAGI theatre.
With some fantastic B-roll done we headed back to the ranch for lunch and the
interview. I was a little embarrassed that lunch hadn’t really been spoken of in
our phone conversations, so we all snacked on the FODMAP free offering that Jo
and I had packed for ourselves.
The interview was just brilliant, covering so many topics surrounding the
survival of film and his amazing work in pushing the science of the cinematic
process beyond its 24fps confines. We constantly went off topic as the
conversation wandered to
"Silent Running", "Star Trek: The
Motion Picture" and the story behind
"Brainstorm" and how he
negotiated the ownership of ShowScan away from Paramount and the complicated
mess that ensued.
I got to ask many of the questions I had in my head since I was a boy. Like was
the decision to shoot
"2001" in 70mm (and not three strip) due to the
shape of the Discovery? “Absolutely not”, he chortled. The hours flew by
and I realised Doug was getting tired so it was time to stop and with the
exchange of a handsome bottle of red wine, we took some stills, shook hands and
it was done… but not before the fan boy in me was indulged by wearing the
Brainstorm helmet for a moment.
As the edit for "Splice Here" continued over 2020 - 21, I would pester
Doug for stills and video footage to help illustrate his interview. Sometimes it
took a while but he would always come through with the goods.
I will treasure one of the final email exchanges we had where I sent him the
picture-locked cut for Splice Here. He loved it and raved about how it summed up
so well what he had been working towards all these years, offering to help get
the film finished and seen.
For me, it’s a small consolation that he did get to see the documentary and that
he enjoyed it so much.
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