The Look Of Tron Is In Your Eyes
More about Tron… partner-in-crime Skot writes:
The CG cheats from the ‘82 original was part of the charm of it, if ya ask me.
And indeed they are. I’ve been thinking about it and the unique look of TRON is predicated on two things:
1. In the early eighties, that’s what computer screens looked like. Sure there were graphical programs but those were DOS days, and that meant a black background with white or eerie green lettering on it. Thus, if you were sucked into a computer, that’s how that world would look. Lisberger could have gone completely monochrome, but that might have been a little SEVENTH SEAL for the Disney crowd.
2. In the early eighties it was impossible to animate an entire movie in a computer. They could do a 30 second logo. I guess technically you could do a whole movie, but it wouldn’t be finished until, oh, a week from today. Thus, the next best thing - black sets with white masking tape accents, contrast way up, with color and glow added in post.
I think I’m getting this from the DVD commentary but the ironic thing about the design of Tron is while they were struggling to make the computer animated parts seem more real by adding shading and asymetricality to the designs, they were also struggling to make reality seem more computer-y but taking that stuff out.
-daniel k.