So, while preparing Minority Report, Steven Spielberg got some of the brainiest futurists and fortunetellers together to predict what our world will look like in about 50 years time. One of the most elaborate and unbelievable concepts they came up with was a three legged robot that clips on to a cop's belt. As long as it's just hanging there, it looks like a grenade, but once it's thrown down and activated, it has a life of it's own. Yeah, sure that'll happen soon. And it's called a Spyder. You know, the way rock and roll bands used to call themselves after animals (or in this case insects) and then misspell it.
The big surprise of this short feature is that the animation was provided not by ILM, but by Dreamworks animation. This was after they hit it big with Shrek already, so the SKG animation department was on a role. Interestingly, we get little information from the people in the animation department, but just about everybody else is allowed to share their point of view. First Production Designer Alex McDowell introduces us to some motion tests and shows the empty background plate. Sound effects editor Gary Rydstrom and score composer John Williams explain how they textured the soundtrack for added effect. Editor Janusz Kaminski admits he did not have as much fun editing it as Williams had scoring. Luckily he had pre-viz to fall back on. As usual, Spielberg's private documentarian Laurent Bouzereau brings it all to an abrupt end with a scene and a quote from the finished film.
5 out of 10
The big surprise of this short feature is that the animation was provided not by ILM, but by Dreamworks animation. This was after they hit it big with Shrek already, so the SKG animation department was on a role. Interestingly, we get little information from the people in the animation department, but just about everybody else is allowed to share their point of view. First Production Designer Alex McDowell introduces us to some motion tests and shows the empty background plate. Sound effects editor Gary Rydstrom and score composer John Williams explain how they textured the soundtrack for added effect. Editor Janusz Kaminski admits he did not have as much fun editing it as Williams had scoring. Luckily he had pre-viz to fall back on. As usual, Spielberg's private documentarian Laurent Bouzereau brings it all to an abrupt end with a scene and a quote from the finished film.
5 out of 10
