TRON: LEGACY

The Making Of Tron: Legacy
Joseph Kosinski is very clear in defining his approach to the making of "TRON: Legacy”: "My goal was to really make it feel real. I wanted it to feel like we took motion picture cameras into the world of TRON and shot it. So I wanted to build as many sets as possible. I wanted the materials to be real materials: glass, concrete, steel, so it had this kind of visceral quality to it.”

To achieve the exciting, iconic look for "TRON: Legacy,” Kosinski gathered around him artists from diverse disciplines. "We pulled people from the world of architecture, from automotive design, people who have never worked in movies before. We flew people in from all over the world,” says Kosinski.

Kosinski and his team knew they would be pushing the boundaries of what current effects technology can achieve to make "Legacy” in the spirit of "TRON.” The result is a complicated blend of techniques, from blue screen to 3D cameras, that Kosinski and his team have melded together for the film. Kosinski explains, "I'm going more on instinct rather than experience, but a lot of the technology we're using is stuff I've used bits and pieces of in commercials. However, this is the first time we're using it simultaneously at this scale.”

According to Bailey, though, the driving force is still the plot. "We took every technology at its most cutting edge at the moment in time, but I always think it's not just technology for technology's sake, but as we do some twists in the movie, it enables us to write in a whole new way. I think we will be the first movie that has an actor squaring off against himself in two very different generations. I hope we will surprise the audience not just in an, ‘oh that's a cool, glorious effect' way, but also in an, ‘oh I never saw that coming' way.”

In addition to the technological complexities of "TRON: Legacy,” it is also produced in 3D. As Bailey comments, "3D is definitely a challenge technically; the cameras are bigger and heavier and there are a lot of extra variables that you have to take into account, so it definitely slows the process down. But I think it's a great reason to go to the movies because it's an experience that you just can't recreate on an iPhone or your laptop or at home.”

"It was important for me that this be a true 3D movie,” says Kosinski. "There are a lot of movies out there right now that are being converted from 2D after the fact. But with the environments we've created—the fact that we're trying to get atmosphere and these long, distant vistas—we just can't do it any other way than shoot it with real 3D cameras.” Kosinski continues, "It is a lot more work to shoot in 3D; the VFX are being finished in 3D, which is also a challenge. Having to create separate imagery for both eyes makes it that much more work.”

For shooting "TRON: Legacy” in 3D, the filmmakers employed the newest generation of camera, built specifically for them, and used a 3D technique that is a combination of technologies—completely digital motion-capture of a character and the live-action camera system.

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