John Knoll Talks Star Wars 3-D
After the recent announcement that the Star Wars saga was going to be converted to 3-D, beginning in chronological order with The Phantom Menace (set for a 2012 theatrical release), I caught up with John Knoll, Industrial Light & Magic's famed visual effects supervisor, who is spearheading the project. He provides a sneak peek of what we might expect in 3-D from the Death Star trench run to the Tatooine Podrace.
Bill Desowitz: So what are your plans for 3-D stereoscopic conversion?
John Knoll: We're mostly going to be working with outside vendors. But the big difference is I'm driving the look of this and going to hold the vendors to very high standards. I've been pretty vocal and my feelings for stereo and stereo conversion. I feel like some of the previous efforts that we've seen were victims of a too rushed production schedule and a too low budget, and maybe not the best aesthetics applied. I feel like the tools can be used to generate good results; otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this. You can't rush it and it's an iterative process, and if you've got a gun to your head and you've got eight weeks to convert a 2,000-shot show, it's not possible to maintain the level of quality control that you need.
BD: And you can only work with what you've got for live action.
JK: Right. I've been very vocal with my opinion that if you're originating new material, if you're in production right now, making something for stereo exhibition, then you should be shooting it in stereo if it's live action, or if it's a computer-animated film you should be rendering it in stereo. But it's a different story if you've got good reasons why you want to convert a library title. So, if you want to explore what stereo can do for you, conversion is the only option. But when stereo's done right, it's not just throwing objects at the camera every few seconds; it's immersive. I think Avatar did a really good of transporting you to an exotic alien place where the stereo is mostly used to give you this powerful sense of presence. And so if you look at the Star Wars world, there are so many interesting, exotic places to go and I think that the immersive nature of stereo exhibition has a lot of appeal. The stuff I've seen to date is pretty cool.
BD: So what is the status of converting Phantom Menace?
JK: We've been thoroughly evaluating the resources out there and giving them the feedback that they need to hear to get the quality where we expect it to be.
JK: I don't think we're allowed to.
BD: Or how many companies?
JK: I'm not allowed to do that either.
BD: Tell me about your role.
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When I left the theater from Menace I was 30 at the time.The movie blew me away.Then I got on the net and started to read people bashing it and I thought,its a different world now.People dont appreciate stuff and their warped.
Shut up man! Stop bashing Lucas! You people piss me off so much because you can't get over The Phantom Menace! It was 11 F**king years ago! GET OVER IT! And I actually liked the Prequels. Episode I & II were okay, but III was fantastic! And If you have no desire to see Star Wars in 3D, don't see it! The world has bigger issues than you complaing how much money Lucas makes. John Knoll probably enjoys working with Lucas. Anyone who grew up with the Orginal Trilogy (Such as myself) would love to work with George. So worry about YOUR own life, and stop complaing about others. Damn Democrat. BTW, "STAR WARS IS FOREVER AND YOU CAN SUCK IT!!!"- Jimmy Mac.
"I'm all angry but I know I'll be there to check it out. Damn."
That comment sums it all up. You sir, are a tool of mega proportions.
I don't agree with the negative comments ITT.
It seems to me that JK gave a good interview and made appropriate comments and evaluations about the styles of two of the most well done stereoscopic pictures released to date.
I'm glad to see that Lucas is spending the time and money to do a good job that's supervised by a person with high visual acumen like JK. If this kind of work is going to be done, at least have it done well.
Good article.
Anyone who thinks John Knoll was insulting Jim Cameron is completely misinterpreting his comments. John supervised the end battle sequence shots in Avatar, and Cameron and John have tremendous respect for each other, going all the way back to John's work in The Abyss.
I know John personally, and he's a great guy. He's incredibly intelligent and talented, and people who insult him are talking smack about a guy who co-developed Photoshop, has worked on the biggest FX films of all time, has won an Oscar, and works at ILM largely out of his passion for visual effects and filmmaking, not because he needs George Lucas's paycheck.
Aww, cut Knoll some slack. It must suck hard for someone of his stature to have to kiss Lucas' ass and work on yet ANOTHER effing Star Wars do-over - AND make it sound interesting and not the obvious money grab that it is.
I can't wait for this tripe to prove unprofitable, and unprofitable it will be, oh it will be.
"I think Avatar did a really good of transporting you to an exotic alien place where the stereo is mostly used to give you this powerful sense of presence."
Yeah. What a condescending *ss hole!
"a lot of the DreamWorks seems to be about one-third forward, two-thirds back -- and that's fixed for the shot. So even for the character that's walking forward, we don't rack convergence with them. And we're going a little bit more toward that style than Jim's style."
OOOOOoooo SLAM! Do you hear that Jim. They like the Pixar way of doing things a little bit more. SUCK IT!
Wait... where did they imply James Cameron isn't as sophisticated in his use of stereo?
I like how this pompous *ss subtly tries to suggest that James Cameron isn't as sophisticated as them. Do I need to say that James C. is probably at least one hundred times better at directing then Lucas. I don't care if he invented Photoshop, John Knoll hasn't done anything great movie-wise as far as I know, yet he still talks like he has. Dude, THE PREQUEL TRILOGIES SSSSSSSSUUUUCKED!!!! BOX OFFICE RECEIPTS don't mean ANYTHING! And you had nothing to do with the ones that are good, in fact, you had everything to do with ruining those ones and this will continue. I guess Davey Jones was a good effect though. too bad those pirates movies BLEW chunks too. This guy is George Lucas' lackey through and through. I feel bad for him because he probably can't tell the guy that his ideas are absolutely terrible. I'm all angry but I know I'll be there to check it out. Damn. When will Star Wars just stop?
Final advice for Lucas: Let it go. You're rich enough.
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