The Gadget Show #043 (MP3 – 17.5MB – 50min 55sec)
LISTEN HERE [1]
As a geek and movie buff, I found today's interview with Milton Ngan, Weta Digital [2]'s CTO, an awesome discussion. He's been with the company since 1996 and has worked his way up to the CTO position, so he not
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only knows his stuff, but he's intimate with what went into making The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, and a bunch of other block buster movies.
Our conversation includes: how he started at Weta, what Weta does, the hardware and software, involved in making the special effects, the process in making the movie in detail, the time it took to render a scene from King Kong, how that has changed since Fellowship, the most difficult scene in King Kong from a sfx point of view, the most difficult thing you have had to manage from a technology point of view at Weta, how open source works in a SFX house, the heating and cooling bill, and a few fun stories, including how close LOTR was to being leaked on an iPod.
If you're a fan of any of the movies that Weta has been involved in, or are just moderately interested in how special effects are put together for a movie, then you'll love hearing what Milton has to say.
If you're into technology I'll be live blogging ETech at my Clique Communications weblog. It's my 10,000 Miles to ETech [3] special edition. Subscribe to the RSS [4], and stay tuned for a few podcasts while on my trip.
Anyone who'll be in San Francisco on March 11 should register for the Geek Dinner [5], and I'll see you there. Alternatively, send me an email (richard.giles@gmail.com [6]) to hook up.
Also grab the TPN Flyer [7] and make sure you get a photo from an unusual location to win a prize.
[1] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.comhttp://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_gadget_20060301_043.mp3
[2] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.comhttp://www.wetadigital.com/digital/
[3] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.comhttp://www.cliquecomm.com/blog/
[4] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.comhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/CliqueCommunications
[5] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.comhttp://upcoming.org/event/56990/
[6] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.commailto:richard.giles@gmail.com
[7] http://gadget.thepodcastnetwork.comhttp://reilly.typepad.com/cameronreilly/2006/02/crazy_tpn_flyer.html
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