Yesterday—a bizarre April day where a snow shower decided to ruin our pleasant spring weather—my good friend and his dad invited my wife and me on a trip to the Franklin Institute. There we got to see its latest exhibit, The Science Behind Pixar, as well as view a true IMAX experience called National Parks Adventure: a 45-minute film about the United States’ National Parks. I figured since both pertain to film, it’d be fun to give my two-cents about both events.
The Science Behind Pixar:
The Science behind Pixar gave an in-depth look behind the complexity and technology used when making a Pixar CGI film. For those unaware of the intricacy behind Pixar’s creations, the exhibit is a real eye opener—yet even for someone who considers themselves knowledgeable on the subject (such as myself), there’s plenty of new, fascinating material offered. The Science Behind Pixar thoroughly drills in the painstaking amount of time and attention to detail Pixar gives to their films. There’s an entire section dedicated to how Pixar created water in Finding Nemo. A video reveals they hired a scuba diving crew to record every little detail under the sea. The animators then studied what exactly makes the ocean…well, the ocean: noting everything from the reflective surfaces, to the lighting, to the tiny particles floating in the sea. The opening scene in Finding Nemo is shown without these small details, making it seem as if the fish are floating in air. Then, slowly, the details are added in until the scene appears identical to its theatrical release, the fish now engulfed in a convincing looking ocean.
Aside from videos, the exhibit uses models and interactive activities. One activity shows the process of automative programming, allowing me to turn on and off various technical aspects from scenes in Brave. With a click of a button, a fluently marching army becomes stiffly moving robots—or Merida and Queen Elinor’s flowing hair become hilariously static during a horse riding scene. Another activity uses toy cars (naturally, from the Cars universe) to showcase the amount of various detail given to foreground and background objects—allowing a highly detailed Lightning McQueen with 10,000 unique features to be switched with a semi-detailed or low detailed version—a camera is angled so one can see how it’d appear on a race track. The Science Behind Pixar exhibit is as informative as it is fun and hands-on. The general consensus between us four was the exhibit, at the very least, gives a new desire to rewatch the Pixar films to appreciate the complex, animation details.
National Parks Adventure:
National Parks Adventure, narrated by Robert Redford, is a remarkable experience that demands to be viewed through IMAX. The Franklin Institute’s theater is a true IMAX, not one of those pseudo, wannabe IMAXs that only have bigger screens and louder speakers. At the Franklin Institute, the IMAX surrounds you exactly like a planetarium—engulfing its viewers in a visual adventure where a turn of the head can show different events from center screen. National Parks Adventure knows exactly how to effectively utilize the surrounding technology, reducing dialogue and character for immersive visual storytelling. There are several scenes of pure scenery: no dialogue, no characters, just beautiful, eye candy landscapes.
There are so many remarkable scenes it’s hard to only name a few, but I’ll try: there’s a stunning aerial shot of the rainbow-colored Grand Prismatic Spring, an intense scene where several climbers ascend Devil’s Tower (only to quickly descend as an incoming thunderstorm arrives), and an awesome yet equally terrifying scene where bikers ride cross country across the edge of a rocky canyon—one biker barely stopping before reaching the drop. There’s a gorgeous ice palace, tranquil redwood forests, and—on the sweet side—adorable close-ups of Prairie Dogs hanging out. National Parks Adventure is an absolute treat to see in IMAX, and was a fantastic way to end our trip to The Franklin Institute!
