blog entry

TRON: Legacy is a worthy and digitally up to date successor to the original TRON (1982) movie, we provide a commentary on the design and film-making.

The original TRON pioneered the use of computer graphics in films starting our modern integration of CGI in films. Then they used rotoscoping and other integration effects, and they avoided shots where you could see a live actor together with computer generated images.

Now updated for the modern era, the overall design of black, glass, slate, carbon and luminous textured world, you realise from the first "inside the computer" images, that here is something special, wonderful. This world is not only believable as a computer world, but is rich in design and overall atmosphere.

From the morphing, liquid glass worlds of the games arena and the gorgeous, deadly solidifying liquid trails of the light cycles, to the carbon, krypton-esque slate hideout of Flynn (my best friend and I want a Hotel like that to stay in, please someone?), to the cityscape and the final light flyers, all makes you wonder how many people must have worked on designing every small aspect. 

Everything, not only seems to have a wonderful mechanical purpose, but also seems to have been re-designed hundreds of times, to create this flowing, seamless expanse of digital mimicry of the real world.

The only real let-down of the whole movie was the 3D part. The director must have thought that focus was something that he was still in control of, so in adding that to the film, he basically destroyed it completely. And forced focus isn't just used in a few scenes, it's used in almost every shot. This really makes the movie almost unwatchable in 3D.

For Avatar, James Cameron, realised this mistake, and never used forced focus anywhere, instead, relying on the observer to focus for themselves on the interesting subject matter. This makes the experience lose most of the magic. In some scenes of reprieve, the director forgoes this technique and we have infinite focus, and in these scenes the 3D seems to pop-out. If he had filmed the movie in this way, when we have a close-up of a character, we would be able to focus on the elements in the far background, creating the vast landscape experience, instead, TRON: Legacy 3D seems unusually flat. There were really only a few places where the 3D effect was worth it.

So, directors, please refrain from focussing in on your subject matter. Move the camera close to the subject, never zoom, as that will also collapse the focus.

I was still very impressed with the overall look and feel of the film in terms of design and story, so it still get's a solid yes. Can't wait for the next sequel.

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