The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, April 8, 2013- 9A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, April 8, 2013 - 9A
0
20TH CENTURY FOX
Nice kitty.
Jn Chen dishes
o visual eff ects
PARAMOUNT
See no evil.
Chu chews over diverse
directorial career
Academy Award
winning artist
talks process
By CARLY KEYES
Daily Arts Writer
Having spent seven years
working in the visual effects
industry, Jon Cohen, an Acad-
emy Award winner for techni-
cal achievement, recently came
to the University to speak about
his experience in Hollywood
- everything from "Avatar" to
Jessica Alba.
Cohen graduated from Brown
University in 2000 with a degree
in Mathematics and Computer
Science, and received a fast
introduction to the media cul-
ture while looking for potential
roommates in Los Angeles.
"Every single one of them
mentioned to me that they had
a screenplay. I was like 'Oh my
God, where am I living?"'
Cohen started working at
Rhythm and Hues, a visual
effects studio known for pro-
ducing digital animals such as
the original Coca-Cola polar
bears, Scooby-Doo and Richard
Parker, the life-like tiger from
"Life of Pi."
Cohen detailed the exciting
challenge of developing techni-
cal tools that artists can use to
create the characters they've
envisioned.
"For most people who work
in these kinds of computational
sciences, the concept that you
could have this type of technol-
ogy and put it in the hands of an
artist is mind-blowing, like, how
do you even present it in a way
that makes sense?" Cohen said.
"So they've built this huge, com-
plicated set of tools alongside
the artists who've learned how
to use them. Then you can do
something like Richard Parker,
which is an amazing combina-
tion of both technology and art-
istry."
Cohen talked about how mov-
ies like "Avatar" have fostered
groundbreaking developments
in the technical world and
expanded the limits to an artist's
creative capacity.
"James Cameron says, 'I want
a giant blue thing that looks
like the actor,' and that sounds
crazy," Cohen began. "He had
this vision of what he wanted,
but the technology wasn't good
enough yet. He did three tests
over the years, (the second) one I
worked on at Rhythm and Hues
in 2001, so that was a hard prob-
lem to solve. It took 15 years and
lots of studios trying different
things until one of them figured
out how to do it at the qual-
ity that (Cameron) was happy
with."
Cohen had quite the difficult
problem to solve himself as a
technical supervisor on "Spi-
derman 3" when director Sam
Raimi said he wanted a charac-
ter made of sand.
"(Sandman) had to look real-
istic, but that doesn't make sense
because realistic sand doesn't
form into the shape of a person,"
Cohen explained. "That's the
artistic challenge: What would
it be like if sand had a mind of
its own and could form into
shapes, but was still subject to
the laws of physics? Then there's
the technical side because how
would you even simulate a tool
for an artist to control 100 bil-
lion sand grains?"
Cohen's problem-solving
skills eventually struck Oscar
gold in 2008, when he and three
team members developed soft-
ware for fluid simulation and
volumetric modeling that has
now been used on more than 50
films, including "The Chron-
icles of Riddick," "Superman
Returns" and "Happy Feet."
Cohen learned the definition
of "five-star" when he attended
the Technical Academy Awards
ceremony, which took place at
the famously upscale Beverly
Wilshire hotel, hosted by Jessica
Alba.
"There was a reporter at our
table and the wait staff spilled
a glass of wine all over him, so
they took his jacket off, whisked
it away, brought it back ten min-
utes later, dry-cleaned, pressed
and they were like, 'Here's your
jacket, sir,' " Cohen recalled.
"And I just said, 'Wow, so this is
what it's like!' We were all jok-
ing like we should all spill some
wine on each other and say, 'Hey,
will you dry-clean my suit?'"
But despite the success, near-
ly five years ago when Cohen
wrapped "Spiderman 3," he
decided to get out of the movie
business, partially for profes-
sional reasons.
"In the visual effects world
(of the film industry), the career
path up is always towards pro-
duction, like a digital effects
supervisor, and that's a total-
ly artistic world," Cohen
explained. "So for someone like
me, if you stay as a technical per-
son, writing software and tools,.
the ceiling is very low and the
career path taps out pretty early
on."
Cohen started working for
NVIDIA, a California-based
technology company, and has
been telecommuting since he
moved to Ann Arbor when his
wife gained acceptance to a Uni-
versity Ph.D. program. He cur-
rently serves as Senior Manager
of CUDA software library devel-
opment.
When asked if he'd ever con-
sidering getting "back in the
business," Cohen talked about
possibly rejoining the world
of entertainment, just not the
world of film.
"The visual effects indus-
try (in movies) is kind of dying
in the United States, and it's
not fun to work in an industry
that's shrinking, but the gaming
industry is expanding," Cohen
explained.
Whatever the future holds,
Cohen has left a legacy in the
film industry with the software
he developed, helping countless
filmmakers bring what they
imagine to the screen. And he
will always have another claim
to fame: He shook Jessica Alba's
hand.
By ADITI MISHRA
Daily Arts Writer
Whether or not one knows
who Jon Chu, director of "G.I.
Joe: Retaliation," is, they've
likely heard of or seen the sec-
ond and third installments of the
"Step Up" series - both works
of Chu's creation. His name is
commonly associated with the
musical genre, especially after
advancing from the "Step Up"
series to work with Justin Bieber
on his documentary "Justin
Bieber: Never Say Never."
And yet, in a recent confer-
ence call with The Michigan
Daily, Chu spilled the beans on
his surprising musical back-
ground and beginnings in film.
"You know, I just love tell-
ing stories," Chu said. "I wasn't a
dancer, I wasn't a choreographer.
And jumping into the 'Step Up'
world, I got to work with amazing
choreographers, amazing dancers
... and I just basically jumped into
the dance world."
With "G.I. Joe: Retaliation,"
Chu had to make an even loftier
leap into the big-budget action
film bandwagon. He explained
that this transition came with the
unfamiliar challenge of having
too much - special effects, pyro-
technics and the like - instead of
too little.
"One of the biggest challenges
was, I think, just the sheer enor-
mity of the production. Some-
times you have 700 people on set.
And it's hard when you are used to
smaller movies," Chu said. "I defi- - Bruce Willis ("A Good Day to
nitely felt like I tricked the adults Die Hard") and Dwayne "The
in giving me this movie ... I did Rock" Johnson ("Snitch").
like the biggest con job to make Most importantly, with some
them think that dance and action of the industry's most seasoned
were exactly the same." action stars in the world and
The new film picks up from its a vision derived from his own
2009 prequel "G.I. Joe: The Rise childhood, Chu hopes that his
of Cobra," following the Joes on version of G.I. Joe will relate
their efforts to defeat their enemy, more to the audiences and
Cobra. Despite the prequel's dis- humanize the story.
appointing reception with critics, "We wanted to feel the power
Chu believes that fans of G.I. Joe, of the punch. You want to feel
and those who responded fer- the grittiness of the fights, you
vently to the prequel, warranted want to feel that they are not
a sequel - a film that both con- cartoon characters, that they are
nected the dots, but stood true to real human beings," Chu said.
Chu's vision. 'This may be a crazy world, but
they are real human beings that
are really getting injured."
From 'Step Up', A School of Cinema-Televi-
sion alum from USC, Chu has
to 'Joe' made a space for himself in a
competitive and oft-impenetra-
ble industry by, in Bieber-terms,
never saying never.
"Rise of the Cobra" was a "I was asking Steven Spiel-
hit, grossing nearly $300 mil- berg, who actually saw my short
lion worldwide. "Did I want to film and got me into the busi-
make changes?" Chu said. "Yes, ness," Chu said, "I asked him,
for sure. I think that's sort of in 'Well, how do I know when I'm
tradition of G.I. Joe, to reinvent a director?' And he said, 'Jon, no
itself every time it changes for- one's ever going to give you that
mat - for the toys, or the car- title. You either are, or you aren't
toons or the movie itself." ... You are what you do every
An avid fan of G.I. Joe from day. If you're a writer, you write
childhood, Chu was explicit in every day, whether you're get-
his excitement for helming the ting paid for it or not. If you're
film. But Chu allowed theburden a director, you're directing every
of this large-scale production to day ... 'And to me, that changed
be shared with his cast and crew, my whole perspective. Because
especially his two lead actors - then I stopped waiting. And then
in his words, his "action-pedia" I just did it."
The Department of Communication Studies
The Howard R. Marsh Center
present a lecture by
VANESSA GEZARI
2012-2013 Howard R. Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism
STORYTELLING AT THE TIP OF THE SPEAR: FACT,
METAPHOR, AND MEANING IN AFGHANISTAN
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Reception 4:30 pm - Lecture 5:00 pm
The Hussey Room in the Michigan League
911 North University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1265
For directions, please see
http://uunions.umich.edu/league/maps/directions/
Contact the Department of Communication Studies
(734.764.0423) for more information.
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