Michael Rubin

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Bio

Michael Rubin received a degree in neuroscience from Brown University in 1985 and a month later was part of the George Lucas team introducing cutting-edge computerized tools to Hollywood. For the next ten years he worked not only as a product designer and educator, but also an editor in the television and film industry—contributing to projects ranging from The Twilight Zone to Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky. Rubin is the author of more than a dozen books from satire, to textbooks, to history. These include Defending the Galaxy: The Complete Handbook of Videogaming (1981); Nonlinear: a field guide to digital film and video editing (1990); Beginner’s Final Cut Pro (2003), and Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution (2006). He has lectured internationally, from Bejing to Montreux and frequently consults on consumers and video. Most recently he was a director of the website at Netflix where he was also a researcher in online social networks.

Abstract

George Lucas, Pixar and the Digital Revolution

Animation, computer graphics and videogame creation all had common history from the rise of independent cinema in the ‘70s, in particular, with the dreams and passions of filmmakers George Lucas and Francis Coppola. What was it about these men and their earliest work that led to the universe of entertainment technology we see everyday? Why did Lucas, almost a luddite, spend a disproportionate amount of his newfound wealth from Star Wars to fund pure computer research? Rubin connects the dots from independent cinema to the Lucasfilm Computer Division, and the creation of not only Pixar, but the genesis of modern editing, sound, animation, effects and games. The events at Lucasfilm, an exceptionally private company, are not widely understood, but their implications are widespread and perhaps represent the most important legacy of Lucas today.