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Computer Science at the Movies

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Computer Science at the Movies

Everyone likes watching a good film, whether its going to the cinema with some friends or watching in the comfort of your own home. Whichever you do you will find there is computer science behind the experience.

How do the producers use technology to shoot films, create the needed special effects and release the finished product? What's behind the different technologies that allow you to watch a film, from 3D to streaming to MPEG? We explore how computer science has completely changed films and the way we watch them.

We also review some of our favourite films with links to computing, look at computer science in movie plots as well as describing computer science that watching a film just inspired us to write about. We also point out some of our computing bugs in films, and give alternate 'film futures' - looking at what films might have turned out like if the script writer had included some computer science.

Movie magic

film MPEG it!

Picture this

ps2 pad JPEG it!

Disaster planning: Being prepared for the worst

the Torchwood characters and their world-saving sofa Torchwood: in need of some backup

Film Bugs

filmstrip Bugs in films

Film futures

earth War of the Worlds

Film futures

boat The Titanic

Film futures

tsotsi Tsotsi

Film futures

lotr-map Lord of the Rings

'Googling' movies

femcam Video Google

Turning silicon into gold

deer Through computer graphics

Wallace and Gromit go easy on the Earth

gromit Digital photography helping the environment

Behind you!

landscape Drawing a scene

Moon and mind-body dualism

moon The mind-body problem

A jungle with character

frog Animation behaving like real life

Back (page) on the big screen

cinema The third dimension

From creepy to credible

head The creepiness barrier