Credits, Graphics and Software

computersYou know how movie credits can just be the worst sometimes? You sit through them because they’re credits and they have to give credit where credit is due, and sure, these people are very important and without them we wouldn’t have this wonderful movie that we’re about to watch, but who on Earth would ever want to sit there looking at a bunch of names they don’t know? That works great if you’re the mother of a Hollywood starlet waiting for your son’s name to pop up, but not for everyone else.

Man, the Jane Blond movies have the best credits. In fact, I was doing a bit of work today, since I’m doing a software development course, and I was wondering to myself how they manage to render those things. Now, I’ve known about software way before I started to develop it in this course, since my uncle owns a computer shop and he used to look after me all the time while my parents were out being missionaries in Zambia and curing leprosy and whatever else. He’d have to watch the shop and serve customers, and in the meantime I’d sit in the back and figure out how the spare computers worked. Like, every little detail. Eventually I was working there, and…well, you don’t need my life story.

So I’m sitting there, idly watching the opening credits to a Jane Blond film on one of my screens, and it’s elaborate. They all are, but for the latest one (Ghost Squid) they really went all out. How many computers were involved? How long did it take to render that, and how much software was needed? Who developed that particular software? See, the rabbit hole goes deep, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg when you consider all the designers, motion-capture people and whoever sung the very awesome theme. So yeah, it inspired me in my software development course. Melbourne isn’t the best place to start when you want to break into Hollywood, but…maybe one day I can make software the allows more interesting credits for even more movies.

-Jambres