Movie designs better than the real thing?

Last Saturday I attended a talk by Gavin Tyrrell (aka "IronGav") on "designing for screen". This was organized by the Centre for New Media Arts at ANU and held ay the National Museum of Australia.

Gavin described the process for producing the images on computer screens in the movie "Superman Returns". One scene which got my attention was a fictional X-35 fighter jet tracking superman. The radar cockpit display was shown. Gavin explained that they developed this display from information for the real X-35 aircraft, but made it look more dramatic than the real thing for film use.

The X-35 was the prototype of the real F-35 aircraft, which Australia is considering buying. The Australian Defence Department has asked for input from University researchers on developing the F-35.

It occurred to me that not only computer scientists, but digital artists might assist, by designing the cockpit displays in the real aircraft. The skills used to quickly tell a story visually in a film could be used to quickly convey information to a pilot.

I suggested this at a talk I gave at the Australian Defence Force Academy on Monday on how to podcast from the F-35.