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.