Tron: Ares - about as innovative as a spoon

When Tron opened in 1982 it sat squarely at the cutting edge of cinema technology. Its ground-breaking computer-generated imagery—created on mighty mainframes such as the Foonly F-1 and DEC PDP-10—was combined with tens of thousands of hand-inked, back-lit animation cels. Much of that painstaking colouring work was carried out by artists at Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, giving the finished film its unmistakable neon glow.

(I once used a similar DEC machine at university and immediately took a dislike to the VAX operating system. However, when I got my hands on an SGI Onyx workstation, I found that the IRIX OS suited me perfectly. To be fair, by the time I entered the VFX industry, Linux had already made significant inroads into the space, and, as a result, SGI was becoming less relevant, especially with access to much cheaper (and more powerful) hardware.)

I have now seen the trailer for Tron: Ares. Although the visuals are undeniably striking, they don’t feel as revolutionary as the 1982 original. Perhaps that’s because modern audiences assume “it’s all done on computers”. In truth, today’s visual-effects work is far more varied. Miniatures, motion-controlled cameras, stop-motion creatures and prosthetic make-up still sit alongside CGI. The Mandalorian and the forthcoming Skeleton Crew, for instance, mix practical models with digital rendering on “the Volume”, a wrap-around LED stage that displays real-time 3D environments using Unreal Engine.  Tron: Ares may use a combination of those things, but it still doesn't give me the kind of vibes the original did when it was a pioneer in its field of computer graphics.

Affordable motion-control rigs, photogrammetry and 3D printing have brought techniques once reserved for blockbuster films within reach of television and indie productions alike. My own enthusiasm for traditional VFX waned when the pace of change seemed to slow, but the games industry is now pushing real-time rendering and interactive storytelling into exciting new territory. I suspect it will soon influence screen entertainment even more than the old studio system ever did. Interesting times ahead!