Film | Interstellar 2014

Film Summery

Screen Size Comparison
Screen Size Comparison

The first motion film was invented in the 1889 and the films were no long then a couple minutes and contained no sound. In 1920’s sound was first introduced to film by using sound-on-disk technology and soon became a standard during this time and in the 1940’s color televisions first started appearing. Throughout the decades, film has made drastic changes in the entertainment industry and with the use of technology film producers can now develop pieces that are more elaborate. Currently most films utilize at least one green or blue screen and computer generated imagery known as CGI. A green or blue screen is commonly used for scene extensions where the production team can replace a certain area on the set with a new background. CGI is has revolutionized the filming industry, with CGI 3D artists can create an entire new environment, scene, characters and other assets while making them appear life like. In the future, it is likely that films will start support 4K also known as Ultra HD. We are already seeing this technology in newer screens, it ultimately inserts an additional 2760p which generates a more crisper and realistic appearance to screen.

Interstellar

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In my opinion, one of the best award winning motion pictures in 2015 was Interstellar. It brought in a net gross of over 670 million dollars. Christopher Nolan who is best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear story telling directed Interstellar. Nolan, the director and writer of the film is known for his original content, and Interstellar was no different. The interstellarfilm has a very original story like nothing I have ever viewed before, sure, there are other space movies out there, but none contains the accuracy of physics that Interstellar has. Interstellar takes place in a future where Earth has become a giant dust ball, making it hard to grow crops and other resources. Matthew McConaughey, known as Cooper in the film, seeks out a new habitable planet. Cooper and his team must make massive sacrifices to ensure the success of mankind. There is much more to say, but I do not want to spoil the film if you have not already seen it. Other reasons the film was a success include its advertising and public opinion. Interstellar spent $7.8 million on advertising. This advertising built up hype for the future viewers. When the Interstellar fans viewed the movie, the majority of them enjoyed the films content and as humans often do, they wanted to share that thrilling experience with their friends, family, and colleagues. In the end, the film’s content made the film the blockbuster title it is now.

Why Interstellarinterstellar_voyage-3840x2160

Interstellar is one of my favorite motion pictures I have ever seen, because it portrays an adventure through space where the characters must experience and deal with the known laws of physics. The real science of space is actually woven into the film through visual effects that mimic visually what would potentially appear in space from what we know about how gravity, energy, and time behave. Another reason I have chosen to write about this film is that I am fascinated with space; it is a vast ocean with many mysteries that are waiting to be answered.

Film Technologyhoyte_article_story_large

Throughout the filming of most movies, the film crew often uses several different types of cameras to achieve different results. Nolan’s technique only used one camera, known as the IMAX, and shot the scenes in 35mm to 65mm film. He would capture a scene from one angle half a dozen times then move to another angle and do the same thing. Nolan did this to capture the entire scene and utilize the best shot or shots from each scene. Another interesting item is that the film hardly has any CGI (computer-generated imagery), most of the scenes were done with actual sets. Nolan did not want to use a green screen and CGI, so most of the props in the film were real props, and this helped the actors perform at a higher level as they actually felt they were in another world.

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Behind the scenes video:

Actors & Costumes

Every actor in the film played a major role in setting the scene, in the beginning the school principal (David Oyelowo) disagreed that mankind actually landed on the moon. The entire scene and personality of the principal seemed to fit in perfectly and the film’s story provided a logical explanation of why the new generations history books disagreed with the 1969 moon landing, because they new generation viewed space exploration as a waste of resources. All throughout the entire movie non-main characters such as those seen in the secret NASA facility were all dressed appropriately and doing their jobs, every person seemed to be filling their daily job, as it was normal. All the characters in the film were all dressed in the appropriate costume to fulfill their roles. For example, the astronaut’s suit was somewhat accurately designed as it provides a means of transportation with the jetpack module on the back and an insulator to the elements of space. Every character, important or not, made a huge contribution to the film’s production, if these characters had felt out of place to the viewers it could create a fake, non-realistic scene which would ruin the overall movie.

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Key Symbols

Interstellar had many different symbols to represent the strong family ties in the movie. Cooper gave his daughter his most treasured possession, his watch, as a symbol of his love and promise to come back for her. The bookshelf in the daughter’s room had a lot of meaning. The books were a way for Cooper to maintain a relationship with a daughter, they brought knowledge into the world, and the books themselves were a form of communication across space and time. During the development of the film, Nolan had a child. Nolan wanted to integrate the importance of family into the film. This bond can be seen in Cooper and determination to see his daughter and son again. The exploration is my favorite aspect about the film, as Cooper and his crew explores the depths of space and facing elements and physics of space. Survival was another key point in the movie, as NASA was attempting to keep mankind alive by trying to find a new habitable planet in the goldilocks zone. This term is often associated with a planet’s location that is in just the right place to contain liquid water for potential life. Also throughout the film, Cooper fought to stay alive so he could be reunited with his family.

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Music & Soundtrack

The sound in this movie is amazing, without the sound effects and soundtrack, the film would have never been as popular. The composer Hans Zimmer was asked to write music for Interstellar to “score a small, heartfelt scene where a parent’s talks about their child”. Zimmer did this without knowing Interstellar would be a sci-fi film. I am curious what would the music have turned out to be if Zimmer knew what interstellar would entitle, would it drastically change the movie, for the better or worse? Overall, the music of the movie goes right along with the film, in my personal opinion without this type of music Interstellar would not have been as successful of a film. Some of the songs that were included in the film are Dreaming of the Crash, Cornfield Chase, Dust, Day One, Stay and many others, all composed by Hans Zimmer.

Dreaming of the Crash

Cornfield Chase

Dust

Day One

Making of the soundtrack – Behind the Scenes

Personal Favorite Scenesshanks_black_hole

Overall, this is one of my favorite films; some of my favorite scenes include the Interstellar Spacecraft traveling through the wormhole as it warps space. The visual effects of that scene were spectacular and with previous knowledge of astrophysics, I can say it was accurate. Another neat aspect that film touched on was time dilation, which is based on the theory of relativity, which states that enormous amounts of mass, which directly correlates to gravity, can change time, as we perceive it. An individual orbiting a black hole outside the event horizon would be subject to massive time dilation as seen in the film. I also enjoyed the theories of space that were presented in the film, such as wormholes, string theory, bubble theory, and multiverse.Interstellar_trailer3The wormhole can easily be seen in the film as it connects two different points in space vastly decreasing travel time. I won’t go into the details of string theory but basically the at the end of the film when Cooper was in the black hole there were more than three dimensions as we know it, which correlates with string theory. Bubble and multiverse theory is seen as the black hole is a passage other universes. Bubble theory basically says there are a series of other universes, and we are living in one universe, our universe, the laws of physics and other properties of other universes can change such gravity could equal -2.81 m/s^2 instead of -9.81 m/s^2. The black hole is a passage or similar to a wormhole, but would be a connection to other universes.

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Conclusion

In the end, this film blew me away due to the accuracy of physics and the theories of the theories of the universe that were presented during the film. The film throws in twists that viewers would never see coming. If you have not already seen the film, I would highly recommend watching it.

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2 thoughts on “Film | Interstellar 2014”

  1. Reading the book before you watch this movie does not ruin the movie. It makes you wonder how they demonstrate the ability of time to be a continuum all around the presence of space. As long as you can move through time you can travel through space. Yes, one of the best movies in a long time. I am utterly sick of watching remakes of old classics. I truly appreciate a film maker such as Christopher Nolan and his imagination and artistic eye creating a master piece for all of us to take our minds off the world at present for a while and venture into the cool dark limitlessness of space. It is impressive that the movie only took a year to produce releasing in Oct 2014 just before the holiday maddening rush. Christopher Nolan has created some pretty amazing movies up until now. I am looking forward to his future works. He is a young director still at present and will have a long time in creating more epic movies grabbing the audience and keeping their attention for more than 90 minutes. He creates films that people talk about well after the movie has left the box office. The article by the New York Times Magazine, is an interesting read providing insight into him as a person not just the director. The film history lesson at the beginning was a nice lead in as some of us do not know the history of film and movies just whether they want to see the next big block buster.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/magazine/the-exacting-expansive-mind-of-christopher-nolan.html?_r=0
    http://www.filmsite.org/filmh.html

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  2. I absolutely loved this movie when I watched in theaters. The entire film was so perfectly thought out and the music that accompanied it was so intense. I remember one scene when the crew has to get latched back onto the machine that guides them through space, and the music that was playing during this gave me chills. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen, I loved it. In some parts the movies was hard to follow, just because of the time differences and the overall physics that were used. Thanks for sharing, I’ve been meaning to buy this movie. Here’s a link to 2001, A Space Odyssey, I read somewhere that Interstellar was inspired by this movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

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