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When watching the Marvel film “Iron Man 2,” I was struck by something interesting. The portrayal of Tony Stark’s father Howard Stark, played by “Man Men” actor John Slatterly, reminded me of someone: Walt Disney.
Within the movie Howard Stark is only seen in promotional films he made in the 1960s. He sports a sleek suit and trimmed mustache, and he addresses the audience from his private office. He leans against a large table containing a miniature model display of his latest project, which he describes to the audience. It’s all Walt Disney making his little filmed announcements about pioneering new projects like Disneyland.
I’ve always wondered if that portrayal of Howard Stark is an intentional Disney reference or not. It probably is, even if the movie was in production before the Disney-Marvel buyout. That’s because if one wants to conjure an image of a 1960s technological innovator who was also a public figure with a well-known image from film, there’s no better reference than Walt Disney.
Sometimes we forget about the technological side of the Walt Disney Company. Not a lot of it is public anymore; what the Imagineers do, while amazing, often gets relegated to use in the parks. It doesn’t seem that academic or cutting edge anymore. There’s another division for that, Disney Research, and they’ve just announced an incredible new project.
Disney Research teamed up with Carnegie Mellon University to create SidebySide, a program that allows two animated images created from separate devices to interact with each other on the same surface. The Disney Research site has a video with details.
I’ll skip the full technological explanation of how SidebySide works. I’m not even sure I understood all of it. It has something to do with infrared images. The video is interesting, however, for the images of SidebySide in action.
At the moment SidebySide takes the form of two handheld devices that resemble small home video cameras. They each project a simple green image upon a wall. Examples in the video include two men in boxing gear and two rabbits. Users make a boxing man from one device punch his counterpoint projected by the other device. The eyes of a cartoon male rabbit track the movements of a female cartoon rabbit beside him.
The video gives a demonstration of a more practical use of SidebySide as well. Each user holds the device, which at that moment represents a digital address book. One user is able to project its contact list on the wall. The other user is able to hold the image of their address book over the contact list, and have information downloaded from the other address book onto her own.
There are so many fascinating implications for the use of SidebySide. The boxing men example has a ready-made video game use. The address book one has the same for personal technology.
What I wonder, however, given that SidebySide was in part developed by the Disney Company, is how this might be used for animation technology. Would we be able to create two separate films that could somehow interact? I have a feeling that, for the moment, the two SidebySide projections are still developed together, even if they end up being screened from different devices. But who knows what’s possible down the road. Keep on innovating, Disney.
Related Articles:
Walt Disney: The Birth of an Empire
The Disneyfication of the Olympics
Disney Internship Opportunities
Disney Dithering on Next Marvel Movie Hero
*(This image by RVWithTito is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
