From January 26 to 29, the Center des Arts d’Enghien, 20 minutes from Paris, shines the spotlight on the special effects of cinema, with a prize list, a program of films, an exhibition and multiple encounters. The 8th PIDS (Paris Images Digital Summit) is also an introduction to new professions in the 7th art in connection with ArtFX, the school specializing in special effects for cinema in Enghien.
As part of Paris Images from January 20 to 29, at the Parc floral de Vincennes – dedicated to “the excellence of French audiovisual and cinematographic” -, the PIDS has been focusing for eight years on special effects (SFX) . Today hyperdeveloped in digital (3D), they never did without real modeling before being made in pixels. Everything always starts with a pencil and a sheet of paper. These are the stages of production to which this fun, spectacular and professional forum is dedicated.
He initiates, develops and concretizes an unsuspected world, where creativity expresses itself in all its fantasy, while being constrained by production imperatives. On this occasion, a Career Fair is organized (from January 24 to 28 face-to-face and digitally, and from January 27 to 28 only face-to-face at the Center des Arts) intended to make students aware of special effects in order to train future creators in the field.
But the PIDS is also about retracing the history of special effects since Méliès, and in all its evolutionary stages up to the present day. The first station is the Interstellar Exhibition (until April 8), where sci-fi movie filming props are on offer. From the Ariès shuttle to the space ballet of 2001: Kubrick’s Space Odyssey, at the head of an alien Warrior, of Resurrection of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, passing through the diving suit of Outlaw recostumized for Aliens : jewels of creative meticulousness offer themselves to make us dream, in real size or in miniature, but all passed in front of the camera.
In order to mark the transition from the era of filmed models to all 3D, the exhibition shows the resin model of the Apollo 13 capsule, having been used for its digital transcription for Ron Howard’s film retracing the rescue of the lunar crew in 1970. It was designed by Rob Legato, who notably worked on titanic by James Cameron and the Franchise Harry Potter, who is the star guest at PIDS this year. This piece and another of Mars Attacks! of Tim Burton make the link between the two schools. They prove how, even today, concrete modeling is essential to digital and perpetuates a craft.
Today, special effects are everywhere in movies. Undetectable, they are digital to recreate a decor from the 1940s, in order to avoid a solid construction, the new techniques making it possible to dispense with old green or blue backgrounds. Today, giant micro-pixelated screens make it possible for actors to evolve in fantasy settings without going through their insertion in the laboratory. Progress that allows actors to better immerse themselves in the world of the film during filming.
Dominique Roland’s excellent documentary on the history of special effects since Méliès in 1896 closes the exhibition. We must give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, special effects are a French invention, thanks to this trained magician who transposed his art to the cinema. What could be better than paying homage to him at the Center des Arts d’Enghien?