“Tron” The first full-scale CG movie in history, the long road to birth (Part 2)

John Lasseter's reaction

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For example, John Lasseter, a young animator who saw ``Tron'' in a screening room at Disney, was deeply shocked. At the same time, I wondered, ``If this can be done by an outside studio, why can't it be done within Disney?''

So he approached MAGI and in 1983 created a prototype film, ``Wild Things Computer Animation Test,'' based on Maurice Sendak's ``Where the Wild Things Are'' . This work combines a 3DCG background rendered by MAGI with characters drawn by Lasseter's colleague Glen Keene, and Lasseter was in charge of design and direction.

At the same time as announcing this result at SIGGRAPH, we also gave an internal presentation on how this method would be used in Thomas M. Disch's original work, ` `The Little Toaster '' (*7). However, this series of actions infuriated Disney executives.

"Wild Things Computer Animation Test"

Within Disney, there was an overwhelmingly strong negative opinion towards CG. In other words, they felt a sense of fear that ``the development of CG would take away their jobs.'' Edward Hansen, the manager of the feature animation department, fired Lasseter.

Unemployed, Lasseter attended a CG conference held in 1983 on board the Queen Mary (retired and moored in Long Beach, California, where it was used as a museum and hotel). ``Wild Things Computer Animation Test'' was screened. At this point, Edwin Catmull of Lucasfilm CG Project approached Lasseter and decided to hire him with the title of interface designer.

Afterwards, these two (*8) played a central role in founding Pixar (later Pixar Animation Studios), and went on to become president and CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studios, so their fate is unknown. (For that matter, Lasseter would quit Pixar Animation Studios due to sexual harassment...)

*7 This project is directed by Hyperion Pictures and Jerry Reese.brave little toasterIt was completed as a cell animation entitled ``'' and was released theatrically in the United States and Germany in 1987 (in Japan, it was only released on video and DVD). Incidentally, Reese was an animator who joined Kreuer on Tron from the Disney side, and they were in charge of storyboards and CG choreography for MAGI.

『Technologically Threat』

Kroyer also left Disney after finishing Tron, worked in digital production for John Whitney Jr., and then founded Kroyer Films. Here, he created a CG work called ``Technologically Threat'' (1988), in which the main character is an office worker who fears ``losing his job to a computer.''

*8 In reality, Alvy Ray Smith was heavily involved as vice president, but he wrote on Steve Jobs' dedicated whiteboard during the meeting. Jobs was so furious that he abruptly fired him and erased his record from Pixar's history.

After the CG staff

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Shortly after the film's release, Triple Eye quickly lost momentum, and the Entertainment Technology Group was shut down in 1983. Taylor, who was working as a director, also transferred to MAGI during the production of Tron, and set up an LA office in Santa Monica, solidifying its system to meet the demands of Hollywood movies and TV commercials.

This MAGI/LA office received an order to test the CG production of the Disney movie ``Something Comes Down the Road'' (1983). The part he was in charge of was a scene in which a steam locomotive runs through a town at night, and Disney was looking for a live-action reality. However, CSG's expressive power is limited, and it was not possible to meet this demand. In the end, he was not hired, and the LA office that had started as a result of this unfortunate incident was closed in 1985, and Taylor became independent. The company's New York headquarters also suffered from poor management and went bankrupt in 1986.

“Something is coming down the road” preview

The performance of Digital Effects, which created the character ``Bit,'' also deteriorated. In 1985, President Rose Bush left the company and became independent, and although the remaining members continued their activities, the company went bankrupt in 1986.

Meanwhile, the facilities of the closed Triple Eye/Entertainment Technology Group were purchased by Canada's Omnibus Corporation in 1985. The company will also absorb Digital Production, RA&A, and Able Image Research. Furthermore, it absorbed the staff of MAGI and Digital Effects, which had gone bankrupt, and suddenly became the world's largest CG production company. However, by forcibly bringing together companies with different working styles and computer languages, the company did not function well and went bankrupt in 1987 (Omnibus Japan was the only one to survive).

In this way, the first generation of CG production by those involved with Tron went extinct, giving way to the second generation that was active in the 1990s.

<Reference materials>

○MAGI's 1984 demo reel

The brief image of a black steam locomotive is a CG test for ``Something's Coming Down the Road'' (1983). The animation in the middle part is ``Wild Things Computer Animation Test'' directed by John Lasseter.

○Digital effects 1985 demo reel

○Omnibus 1985 demo reel

The electronic circuit at the beginning is from director Joe Dante's ``explorers”(85)

○Demo reel of the merged omnibus

Spielberg's dramaAmazing story” (1985-87) and director Randall Kraser’s “navigator” (86), and Mick Jagger's PV “Hard Woman” (85).

○Internal video taken immediately after the merger of Omnibus went bankrupt

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Text: Takayuki Oguchi

In 1982, he became the director of Japan's first CG production, JCGL. After working as the head designer for the IMAX Dome 3D video "Universe 2 ~Sound of the Sun~" at the Fujitsu Pavilion at EXPO'90, he became a freelance video creator. Won an Emmy Award for the NHK special ``Life: A 4 Billion Year Distant Journey'' (1994). His most recent work is the storyboard for the NHK special ``Space Spectacle'' (19). He is also a video journalist specializing in VFX, CG, 3D movies, art animation, exhibition videos, etc., and has contributed numerous articles to film magazines, theater pamphlets, the web, etc. In addition to being a visiting professor at Digital Hollywood University, he is also a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Animation Department, Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering, Japan Electronics College, Joshibi University of Art and Design Junior College, etc.

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