“Mission Mangal Cliffs Team’s Mars Launch Plan”, which depicts the struggle of the Indian development team that succeeded in exploring Mars for the first time in Asia, has been released as a New Year movie. The universe with dreams is the most spectacular stage in the world of movies that sell dreams. Let’s trace the history of “movies and the universe” that has evolved while reflecting the actual development plan.[Sai Aihara]
■ “Genuine”
“Movie and the universe”. A work that cannot be missed when talking about this is “2001: A Space Odyssey”. The year 1968, when it was released, was the year when Apollo 8 succeeded in manned orbiting the moon for the first time. For the past few years, the real universe has been conveyed in newsreels.
Director Stanley Kubrick (died in 1999), who thought about the story with Arthur C. Clarke (died in 2008), who is said to be a science fiction writer representing the 20th century, was aware of the audience who knew the “genuine” and said, ” We aim to be the first science fiction movie that is not regarded as a waste, and a movie that depicts the position of human beings in the vast universe.
Until then, most science fiction movies were ridiculous and unscientific. Since SFX (special effects) technology is not as advanced as it is now, the depiction looks thin and was considered for children.
Director Kubrick used the space food actually developed by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the play, and the computer inside the spacecraft was also made “real” by the state-of-the-art company IBM at that time.
■SFX
Weightless space, moon, solar magnetic field … In order to reproduce these realistically, I made full use of SFX, which was still in the elementary stage, and now I have manually finished a huge amount of drawing processed by CG. Researchers and engineers from all over the world were gathered for scientific proof, and the staff who later became popular series such as “Alien” and “Superman” grew up.
The audience was breathtaking with the large screen (70 millicinerama standard) and precise images that were incomparable to the TV news that conveys the Apollo program. On the other hand, the spacecraft was full of linear movements across the screen with the technology at that time.
In actual space development, Apollo 11 will land on the moon in 1969 and will enter a new stage. The first space station in 1971. In 1975, the former Soviet Union Penera No. 9 photographed the surface of Venus. In 1976, Viking 1 of the United States completed surface photography and rock collection on Mars.
■ Gravity
With the success of planetary exploration, “Star Wars” was released in 1977. Series founder George Lucas (76) founds ILM (Industrial Light & Magic), a company specializing in special effects, for the film. With the development of a computer-controlled motion control camera, the movement of the spacecraft, which was linear in “2001-“, can be transformed freely and at will.
In the public “Mission Mangal”, there is an impressive scene in which the woman in charge of development confesses, “I saw” Star Wars “and decided to go this way.” Astronaut Soichi Noguchi (55) also revealed that “‘Star Wars’ is the origin of my aim to become an astronaut.” Lucas and “Star Wars” are still special in film history.
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Lucas realistically expresses the metal fatigue of a spacecraft, while giving an original design to its shape and instruments. Above all, it ignores all changes in gravity. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader act on the ground as firmly as the Earth in any star or space.
■ Real
Steven Spielberg (74), who shot Lucas and “Close Encounters of the Unknown” (1977) and “ET” (1982), loved the series of science fiction works he saw as a child. Longing for the mysterious world depicted by B-class works, they focused on making spaceships and aliens, which were thin at the time, “real” with the latest technology. It can be said that Lucas and Spielberg tried to dream again in the real universe that has become quite visible as the times progressed from Kubrick, who visualized the universe that began to appear from a scientific point of view.
In 2012, Voyager 1 of the United States succeeded in escaping from the heliosphere for the first time. Two years later, “Interstellar,” which depicts manned interplanetary navigation to another galaxy, was released.
The megaphone is directed by Christopher Nolan (50), who was noted in “TENET Tennet” last year. Director Nolan, a completeist, welcomed Dr. Kip Thorne (80), who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics, as a scientific consultant to conduct scientific verification of time and gravitational fields, special relativity (Urashima effect), black holes, etc. I did. From this approach, it can be said that it is a series of works from “2001-“. The up-and-coming director Nolan was inspired by his exploration outside the solar sphere and inflated his imagination.
Sometimes movies are influenced in many ways by real-life space exploration. In 2018, entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa (45) signed a private monthly travel contract with SpaceX in the United States and became a hot topic. When private space travel becomes the norm, the face of science fiction movies may change dramatically.
Director Kubrick revealed that he was inspired by the Japanese movie “Warning from Space Odyssey” (56) about the reason for shooting “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
Similar to the United States at that time, the title has a scent of B-class works, but the director is Koji Shima, who is known for “Jiro Monogatari”. The script is a first-class combination with Hideo Oguni, who was later known for Akira Kurosawa’s work. The starfish-shaped alien was designed by Taro Okamoto, who is known for the Tower of the Sun at the Osaka Expo. Japan’s special effects technology has already gained worldwide acclaim due to “Godzilla,” which was released two years ago, and Toru Matoba, who was in charge of this work, later made Tsuburaya Productions’ Ultra series. The quality outperformed Hollywood.
In fact, Kubrick asked the manga artist Osamu Tezuka to take charge of the art for “2001-“, but Tezuka refused because of his busy schedule. It is well known that “Star Wars” was modeled after Kurosawa’s historical drama, but Japanese movies and manga have had a considerable influence on the works that became the gold standard of science fiction movies.
The feat of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) asteroid explorer Hayabusa has brought festivities to the movie world. Major Toho, Toei, and Shochiku are made into movies. From 2011 to 2012, “Hayabusa HAYABUSA” (Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Yuko Takeuchi, Toshiyuki Nishida) “Hayabusa Haruka Naru Return” (Director Tomoyuki Takimoto, Ken Watanabe, Yosuke Eguchi) “Welcome Home, Hayabusa” (Director Katsuhide Motoki, Fujiwara) Tatsuya and Kyou) have been released.
◆ Aihara Hitoshi Joined the company in 1980. In the Ministry of Culture and Society, he is mainly in charge of movies. We interviewed a wide range of people from the shooting sites of Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima, and Shohei Imamura to overseas film festivals. His books include “Tora-san is alive” and “Looking for Ken-san”. Interview with Anthony Daniels (74), who played the role of C-3PO, who appeared in all the works in the “Star Wars” series two years ago. I was impressed with the miracle of maintaining the figure for 42 years and the effort to match it with the droid (robot) suit.
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