g͛raesin

Audio Engineer, Songwriter

[t. @lighttmylove]

AND FUCK JOLENE!!

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

You're watching a $248 million film and not a single green or blue screen was used. The alien is a handmade puppet. The cockpit physically rotates to simulate gravity. I looked at the production tech behind this 95% score, and the engineering is wild.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller, directing their first live-action movie in 12 years, built the entire Hail Mary spacecraft as a real set at Shepperton Studios in England. Not a miniature. Not a digital model. A full-size ship interior you can walk through. Production designer Charlie Wood studied the International Space Station, Russia's Mir station, and the Boeing 747 cockpit to get the look right. He deliberately made the panels mismatched, because real spacecraft are assembled from parts made by different companies. Nothing matches perfectly. That's what makes it feel real.

The cockpit is only about 8 feet wide. It sits on a mechanical platform that can tilt, spin, and shake, so when the ship changes direction or enters different gravity conditions, the whole set moves. Chairs end up on walls. Ladders flip direction. Gosling was suspended inside a spinning ring so he could float and move through the ship for real, reacting to actual hardware around him. No guessing where a wall might be added later.

Then there's Rocky. He's the alien co-lead, and he's not CGI. Neal Scanlan, the creature designer who built the Porgs for Star Wars, spent a full year on this character. Over 300 designs before they landed on the final look. Rocky is a thin, hollow shell, 3D-printed from a digital sculpture, then hand-painted in see-through layers so light passes through him like skin. His arms pop off and swap out depending on the scene: one set has a closed fist for walking, another has tiny motorized fingers strong enough to pick up objects. Five puppeteers (nicknamed the "Rockyteers") operated him in every scene. James Ortiz, an award-winning puppet designer from New York theater, voiced Rocky and controlled him on set. When Scanlan met him, he told Ortiz, "You're Frank Oz, and I'm making Yoda for you." Every reaction Gosling gives to the alien is to something physically in front of him.

Greig Fraser, who won the Oscar for shooting Dune, filmed the space scenes in the larger IMAX format (that taller image you see in IMAX theaters) and the Earth flashbacks in regular widescreen. Then the team did something unusual: they took the digital footage and printed it onto real film strips, twice, using two different types of film stock. Then they scanned those strips back into digital. It sounds redundant, but it adds a texture and warmth that you can only get from physical film. Fraser used the same technique on Dune and The Batman.

Drew Goddard spent six years writing this screenplay. His last adaptation of Andy Weir's novel, The Martian, earned him an Oscar nomination. He described the challenge this way: a screenplay gets about 5% of a novel's word count. The lead is alone for most of the runtime. When he finally gets a co-star, that co-star doesn't speak English, communicates through sounds closer to whale song, and has no face. Goddard called it a screenwriter's nightmare, then said that difficulty was the whole point. He and the directors fought studio pushback to keep Weir's original ending intact.

95% from 212 critics. 98% from over 2,500 audience ratings. And the lead isn't a superhero, a cop, or a soldier. He's just an ordinary middle school science teacher.

[Power to the People ☭🕊 @ProudSocialist]

Rubio: “Iran is run by religious fanatics.”

The White House right now:

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC]

A “fake American citizen?”

Didn’t you MOVE to Puerto Rico to avoid paying your taxes while kids across America go hungry?

Meanwhile Benito actually funds low income kids’ access to arts and sports programs, while you defund them.

Of course you’re mad. He makes you look small.

[Elmo @elmo]

That Bunny was AMAZING. Elmo thinks he should be called Good Bunny! Elmo loves you, Mr. Good Bunny! ❤️🎶🐰

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

To all the athletes representing @TeamUSA: I'm so proud of you. Your talent and perseverance have brought you to this moment, and Michelle and I will be joining Americans from across the country cheering you on.

[Rihanna @rihanna]

my 2016 post wins

happy ANTIversary 🙏🏿🎈⏳

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

[Elmo @elmo]

Elmo knows that it's important to be kind, just like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ❤️

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated his life fighting for equity and justice. He taught us that even in the face of intimidation and discrimination, we must never stop working towards a better future – a lesson that feels especially relevant today.

Change has never been easy. It takes persistence and determination, and requires all of us to speak out and stand up for what we believe in. As we honor Dr. King today, let’s draw strength from his example, and do our part to build on his legacy.

[Variety @Variety]

#BenAffleck says film crews deserve to be paid “the decent middle wage that’s been provided for decades in this country” — which is why he and #MattDamon struck a first-of-its-kind deal with #Netflix on their new movie “The Rip” where all 1,200 cast and crew members could receive a back-end bonus if the film succeeds.

“There’s no guarantee that everyone’s going to get rich and be successful, but if you work on a project and it is successful, you ought to benefit from that,” Affleck told Variety on Tuesday night at “The Rip” worldwide premiere in New York.

Most streaming projects pay workers a flat fee upfront, ditching the old model where cast and crew could earn more when a project became a hit.

[Ben Stiller @BenStiller]

Somalis are not garbage. Immigrants and refugees from anywhere are people like you and me. They should not be demonized. This country is built on the backs of people who have come from other places. It’s what our country is all about. 💙

[Tim Allen @ofctimallen]

I did wrap my part in Toy Story 5 Friday. Really affected me. I love these creators and love this story and blessed to be in this wonderful space suit for so many years.

[cinesthetic. @TheCinesthetic]

Charlize Theron says Uma Thurman should’ve won an Oscar for Kill Bill (2003).

She added, “Men get a lot of credit for these movies. What she did was unbelievable.”

[pop culture gal @allurequinn]

for non ahs fans this is like rihanna returning to music

[AuxGod @TheOXGodOR]

20 years ago, this design went
3x platinum in the streets (2005)

[g͛raesin @graesinb]

@yolandafister @Jay_Classic @jamesbis2000 haha you’re truly an entitled asshole. I work on a different Real Housewives franchise and know the RHOA crew well. She’s a real person, doing the job she’s worked hard to get. You can’t imagine the work and energy that goes into the international trips, do better mean boy