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MillimeterBrett Leonard: Filmmaker
Nov 1, 1998 12:00 PM, Michael Goldman
Filmmaker Brett Leonard pioneered the creation of low-cost, digital effects on PCs for feature films with 1992's Lawnmower Man and also directed 1995's Virtuosity. Now focusing on the creation of digital effects for the large-film IMAX format, Leonard looks forward to a time when he will be able to create sophisticated digital images instantly.
Brett Leonard clearly feels the future of entertainment will be interactive. He has put his own money behind that belief by founding his own digital effects' company, L2 Entertainment, to "develop the next generation of interactive entertainment experiences." He has also focused his recent filmmaking efforts on directing, producing, and creating digital effects for IMAX 3-D movies. Eventually, Leonard postulates, such "immersive" media will permit audiences to become creators-in real time-of the very images they are watching. This future era will herald the eventual end of "the passive model of media creation."
"Taken to the logical extreme, this means that, eventually, we will have tools to better interface between the human mind and tools artists use to create images," explains Leonard. "That could someday include the spontaneous creation of images as soon as you think of them."
"Look at the history of digital effects," he says. "The technology came from the scientific community, from people not engaged in purely creative pursuits. That is why, until now, the tools have required a translation process for artists to use them in an intuitive way. What we are now seeing, however, is the development of tools for purely creative pursuits. Everything is moving in that direction. Eventually, this direct interface will happen, maybe as soon as 10 years from now."
Leonard says his company is therefore developing prototypes of interactive computer tools directed toward the spontaneous creation of images. He hopes these prototypes will eventually lead to what he calls "a cinematic operating system" that creates images in real time, acts more intuitively than current operating systems, and aims directly at the creation of instant entertainment product.
Similarly, L2 has focused lately on creating digital effects for IMAX 3-D projects. Leonard is even producing and directing such films. He says he is willing to sink resources into the large film format precisely because he believes its digital descendent will eventually be a primary interactive medium for film-goers.
"It is already totally immersive, in the sense of allowing audiences to be surrounded by sights and sounds, rather than simply watching them," says Leonard. "Eventually, IMAX 3-D will be totally digital and interactive, and then we can make more than passive stories for it."
Such possibilities are endless, Leonard feels, since he defines media in general as "a primal force of human nature-the human desire to mirror our own physical, creative processes, our own reality."
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.