Adam Savage Learns Sci-Fi Space Helmet Secrets!
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- Опубліковано 12 чер 2024
- Adam's back at the workshop of FBFX, the specialty costume makers who've been creating some of our favorite movie costumes and spacesuits for 30 years. Their electronics designer Simon Lawrence walks Adam through the evolution of sci-fi space helmet technology, and what custom electronics FBFX has had to develop over the decades for helmets from films like Event Horizon to The Martian!
Learn more about FBFX’s work at www.fbfx.co.uk/
Shot and edited by Josh Self
Music by Jinglepunks
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#adamsavage #movies #props - Наука та технологія
I'm much younger than Adam but to hear them talk about The Martian as 'back then' made me feel about 1000 years old
To do that first helmet in a 48 hour turnaround time is actually nuts. Goes to show that they are true professionals
And repeated for a set of (I think) 4 (if they reused suits for different actors) is mindblowing.
I wonder if they were mumbling "Liberate me!" the whole time. ;-)
Indeed, designing the circuit and pathway the board design in 48 Hrs is a big ask let alone building and problem solving
You could barely turn the PCBs around that fast. Possibly they had suitable boards already, which would explain why there's eight processors, because they needed to light that many LEDs and that was just the most expedient approach. I don't think they designed custom boards and had them made in two days. I'll say it's just barely possible but only barely.
@@uploaddownload5595 I'm calling shenanigans too. Maybe they had a general purpose board design or something, but I sincerely doubt they spun that from scratch in two days. It's barely possible. It looks to me like they have the bar graphs soldered across two sides of the board.
British film industry goes ham considering how much smaller it is than hollywood.
Mmmmm...ham
With 40 new sound stages being created, the UK will have more studio space than Hollywood. Many classic productions have been made here.
The Art and Film industry has always been big in the UK. Hollywood had the funds and drowned it out... however that's changing, lots of development and funding has been reinserted into the industry in the UK and it has a massive appeal to American producers and actors. Even big companies in Hollywood itself (US Production Houses) are building large studio lots here... Meaning they are planning to invest and take part in a competitive business rivalry (Which is a good thing, it means they will fight each other to be the "best" and most popular... generating better working conditions, value, opportunities and more. It also means they see a boom happening here in the UK).
I instantly recognized the lights on the Event Horizon helmet. They are fog lamps that were super popular car accessories around 2000-2004 I had several sets lol
To build that in a week would be astonishing, to build it in 48 hours from scratch is unbelievable! Pretty sure ive seen every movie those helmets were in…..🤯
Must've been a really dedicated team.
Yeah, I love it when he says, all these years later, that he's still impressed. You bloody well should be, sir! That's phenomenal! ^_^
When you're a pro, things like these become like breathing. We got an expert for a job once, and she got us through the job in 14 hours straight. We had been fumbling around in ignorance for nearly a week before we became aware that someone could help us, and we had the local gov's help, so it's not like we were trying to get in from the start. Experts make the world go round, they take the time to become excellent where others can't afford it, sometimes at great risk on their own, because not everyone appreciates the work they do, so sometimes work security can be tricky.
It was 48 hours to do the electronics that control the bars, not to do the full helmets. And the fact that they used 8 microcontrollers suggests they just uses development boards with the LEDs connected directly to the pins (no multiplexing), via a resistor. Pretty simple circuit; it probably took them longer to fine-tune the code to make the bars look nice (i.e., animate at the right speed, with the right amount of variation, etc.).
Those helmet systems are devastatingly, incredibly COOL!!!!
Simon is a genius - I cannot imagine trying to meet those tight deadlines! And everything looks great too!!!
i would have laughed into the phone, then hung up and laughed the rest of the day
What incredible insight on the technology and how far it's come !!! My favorite part of Sci fi is the tech !!! Suits, weapons, vehicles, ships !!!
Love seeing Adam picking things up when comfortable, but then at times hands are behind the back. But then again also unplugging the battery to save power and usage on the helmet. I can hear Adams mind listening, and learning with each ahh.
We've all been waiting for this. But no one has waiting longer than Adam. What a treat.
Speaking of the Martian. Are we ever going to see Adam's Martian suit finished? I remember back when he took measurements off the screen used suit for replication, but haven't heard anything since.
When I worked briefly at Thingergy in 2019, all those parts were tossed on a shelf and shoved into a corner. Then, when VVDFX rented space for ST stuff, I think those parts found their way off the shelves and into boxes. The gal that was working on the undersuit left the company soon after I did (as did a large percentage of employees). The scuttlebutt around the shop was that after a certain individual was removed from the Tested brand, there was no real drive to continue working on it. Considering how stuff was treated in that shop, I wouldn't be surprised if it all got thrown in the dumpster years ago out of spite.
Tested replied to me about it a while back. No details as to why, but a solid "No." I believe it is dead.
@@joshua.snyder Rumor at the shop (from people that left before I started) was that a certain individual may have been let go from Tested because he wouldn't stop doing things like insulting sponsors on his social media.
@@2000jago As far as I've noticed, the only explanation members have ever received is that Frank got too busy with his company.
@@Thomas_Esson That's an interesting explanation, as there was very little going on when I started there in Feb 2019. We basically just kept "organizing" the shop for multiple weeks. It's probably a more digestible explanation than the rumored truth.
That binary/dipswitch to denary screen is a lovely little piece of practical UI creation to make life easy
7:08 that's so cool! just the lights turning on getting brighter and blinking in the helmet gives it character and puts me in its world for a second.
These are cool as hell. I love how different they look and the different lighting setups to bring space to life!
They made almost ever movie Space suit out there. Still one of my favorites are the Space suits from RED PLANET. They were built by Edge FX.
Hi Adam, really appreciate the intricate details in these videos. Its such an amazing way to learn about the past and pressent methods and technology into seemingly easy objects. Kudos to you for always digging and reaching all the details with the people you meet.
Great to see the appreciation for these craftspeople, thanks Adam and team
When referring to his led lights and his car radio, I don't think "fuzz up everything" was not the first verb starting with f his brain was going to use. Brilliant show as usual and happy 4th of July to our American cousins, all the very best from Scotland
Practical props, sets, and effects for the win
I'm the kind of movie nerd where a bad prop or spacesuit will break immersion for me real quick, so I really respect the craftsmanship and love that goes into making helmets like this.
How do you feel about lighted helmet interiors? This makes me crazy. It would be the dumbest idea ever irl.
@@BerzerkaDurk it bugs me, because that would totally destroy the vision of anyone using that helmet, but I can understand why they do it from a filmmaking perspective. Same thing goes for full helmets so people can talk under water- usually with a lit up helmet also. It's dumb, but forgiveable. At least it's better than dubbing in dialogue for someone using a actual respirator- that drives me up the wall.
@@Scudboy17 ha. yeah, I understand why they do it. it just bugs me from a purely utilitarian point of view.
This was awesome! Thanks for showing the technical behind the scenes.
Always makes me chuckle to think about the Martian build.
What I like about sci-fi is it’s what’s the furture would be. That vitals monitor on the back of the helmet would make so much sense when we start traveling the stars! I love sci-fi!!!
We’ve come so far, yet those switches still make my artist heart swoon 😊
This is so cool. Checking the evolution of the helmets and the tech inside each one is always a fun thing to learn about
I like the fact theres a random radio controlled boat above the cupboard unit behind you guys.
19:30 or so
Fantastic. I love that you guys do these deep dive behind the scenes videos.
As a light-tech, I'd be looking at art-net for controlling the lights. You could use almost any lighting console to control every single LED over wifi if you want. I used the same thing in my guitar build. A few years ago I decided I wanted to build my own electric guitar, and for the fret markers I used RGB LED's. The controller chip is a wemos D1 mini, and it uses art-net to control all 12 LED's in the fretboard, so it could be integrated in the rest of the show on stage.
I suppose it would depend on interference on site and the distances
Apparently pyro guys get really anal about wireless stuff.
The next iteration will be a smartphone or tablet app.
@@marcusnichols5595 Dang, a shame about the hardware/os and wireless protocol flaws.
LOST IN SPACE! OMG i didnt expect adam to be anywhere near that show's stuff!!!!
One of my biggest peeve’s is lighting INSIDE the helmet designed so we can see the actors face in a night/dark scene. Of course that would blind the astronaut in reality much like turning on the interior lights of a car at night. One of the few programs that doesn’t have the faux lighting is For All Mankind.
Great information on the helmets. Nice to see you in the UK.
Absolutely fascinating, and insightful. Thanks!
admiring the gems on the table , it is impossible not to "travel in time " : Simon , in every " BIT !!! " ..... from then till now .... quite a ride
This is incredible seeing how they were made
Amazing stuff those helmet designs are so cool
Nice. In my company we had nearly the same evolution for our line of digital controlled mock-up weapons
Awesome work! Keep it up!
You are knowledge and awesome Adam sir
Event Horizon, one of the greatest movies, space horror, awesome
Very nice episode!
Amazing history lesson!!!!
Just awesome
This was great fun to watch-in part because I built my own helmets for working in a sandblasting booth. Nothing as complicated as these, but, all the same, they had to work every time, and I had to be able to breathe clean, fresh air for hours on end while I was carving glass with a high-pressure stream of sand. I also had to be able to change out the lenses as they became etched and impossible to see through. I would love to have had a clear acrylic bubble but ten minutes in the booth and it would have been frosted over. The other big factor was weight. It is amazing how wearing a heavy helmet can wipe you out after an hour or so. My first helmet was a thing of beauty but wearing it for an hour would just kill your neck and shoulders.
Event Horizon scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid! I am a huge Warhammer nerd so the trailers seemed glorious to me, turned out things get a little more tainted by the Warp than our table top games with little plastic demons :P
I remember 40k when Sla'anesh minis had boobs.
Whoat?! Datt keeps datt booorin Warptravalin intaresstin'!😉
Even horizon is great.
Start as a normal Sci-Fi movie, but then T-Rex eat Sam and....
I might have mixed up something.
amazing helmets!
Amazing job to have
Very cool!
Amazing!
Great video...👍
These are beautiful, crazy to think they had to invent, design and build an entire electronics system in two days and on top of that build multiple, that's seriously impressive.
I hope this video is a sign we’re going to see more of adam’s mandalorian helmet/ costume
Like the way ‘make it happen’ I guess there’s always a wish inside, for making it less prototyped when there is time for it. But then it has done the job. The plexiglass magic work is also fantastic.
Wow only 48 hours to make that from scratch is amazing!
So cool.
For some reason it never occurred to me that custom-built helmet light effects would be controlled over CRMX or Lumen Radio - that's what most professional LED film lights use these days too! It makes so much sense to be able to control all the lights in a scene from one place such as an iPad, including helmets like these!
Not terribly difficult until you say in 48 hours and 8 amps back then had to had taken a lot of nicad batteries . Very impressive work! I loved the advancement of technology shown in this video too
I loved this video
Awesome! Would have loved to see Jeremy Williams be a part of that conversation also!
I was thinking of him as well when i saw Simon fiddling around with the controllers.
It reminded me of something, and then i remembered the Star Trek Captain's chair that they did.
Awesome
I'd love to see Adam's reaction to Starfield's space suits and helmets
I bet Coz-play people would love to do their costums, with some of these lighting effects!
Beautiful helmets.
Take a drink every time he says “again”.
Can someone identify the movies these helmets begin to? I think it is Event Horizon, The Martian, Prometheus, Halo and the last helmet I did not catch
A solution they could use for the fans that doesn't involve that much sound would be to file away the little bridge that's on the neck of the "escargot" (i totally forget what the right name is) and that should reduce the sound of the fan considerably at no big loss of pressure. Alternatively, a sideways port cut into the casement could create a low pressure area that basically sucks the sound as well, tho, it would have to vent to atmosphere some place close, so that'd be difficult to fit if the fan's buried inside the helmet.
Wow!
Lets goooo ❤❤❤
Really great interview. These kinds of videos can be really awkward when the interviewee isn't comfortable on camera, but this was great. Aren't some movies choosing to CGI the domes of the helmets in post-production to avoid reflections on set?
As your in the Uk COME TO THE RETRO COMPUTER MUSEUM!!!!
It's hard not to wonder what FBFX would think of Starfield's Space Helmets...?
It's amazing how someone created an entire business out of building props like this.
What's more amazing is how some of those shops can fool production into paying thousands of dollars for what is just something they bought on Etsy and repainted. True story.
@@thomasbecker9676 This might work in under 10% of the cases I can tell you from my own experience.
Normally, big productions have very specific ideas for "hero props" that are hard to meet with stuff you can buy
@@thomasbecker9676 - If it works and lets them get the movie done, they're not "fooling" anyone. They're hired to provide a product (and support for that product during shooting). If they do that, they get paid what's in their contract. Nothing says they have to make every single element from scratch.
@@RFC3514 No, but let me ask you if you think all that surplus budget goes to employees or into unscrupulous peoples' pockets.
@@pyrolabsberlin Mando just wanted crap in the background; they didn't care.
Event Horizon. My first entry into what the F is happening and am I going to be OK? I was a kid in the theater wondering if I should be worried about existential matters. The movie certainly left a (unique) mark on me.
edit: And, yeah, if you’re going to design an experimental ship worth billions of dollars that’s breaking known physics to traverse any point in space to any other, you might as well make it the creepiest thing ever. Why wouldn’t you? Also, give it a hellcore. Nothing could possibly go wrong there. At least the ship has a morgue. That’s cool. Preparation is next to separation.
The best makings for a horror movie.
Fun fact: Cruise ships have morgues, too. It's actually pretty standard.
I know, but they’re not designed like nightmare scenarios. To be fair, they do have to exist. They’re just not usually meant to scare someone enough to take leave of their ability to function.
So, is the Feuerlöschboot Düsseldorf Robbe stashed over the overhead cabinets for kit bashing?
Cool
Is that an Alien : Romulus shirt the guy's wearing ? Will look out for some cool , lit , helmets next year !
Next "field trip" out the US please come to Canada!! Do you know the gang at KlaussenFX?
10:54 "Easy Bake Oven": Movie edition.
Hey tested if your still in the uk there is a makerspace that you can visit called everyones warehouse in barking east london
Thank you, but we filmed this in May!
@@tested I always enjoy it when Adam and Tested visit us over here in the UK, hope you enjoyed your stay. I wondered if you guys have ever seen the show "The Repair Shop" which airs over here. I reckon you'd love it. :)
I've only just noticed, but you could be James Gunn's older brother. Uncanny resemblance!
Nice helmet
I worked for Global FX, way back when. We had just delivered the Deep Impact suits and Chris took the whole shop to lunch and a movie to celebrate. We had seen the concept sketches for our next project, Armageddon. The theater lights dimmed, the first trailer started, a space suit helmet entered the frame, we all died from laughter. The trailer was for Event Horizon... the concepts for the 'ugly ass' Armageddon helmets were obviously early rejects for the Event Horizon props.
For a while I thought Event Horizon had one of my favorite space suits, only to discover that I'd mixed up the Armageddon suits! I love the lighting work on these EH helmets, but overall, I prefer the Armageddon ones. My compliments!
BTW, I recently acquired an Armageddon visor from Mr. Gilman, and I noticed in your comment on Adam's video with that suit that you referred to it as a vacuform. Would you mind confirming if those were vacuformed vs. blown acrylic? No pressure, but anything further you're willing to share about the making of those would be fantastic. I'd especially be curious to hear about the early attempt to make them out of polycarbonate as recalled by Bryan Dott.
@@Thomas_Esson Sorry, the visors were actually shaped by a different vendor, and the terms vacuform vs blown were used interchangeably, we didn't do either process in house so nobody really cared. All we cared about was getting them as optically perfect as possible, Chris's attention to detail was/is insane, it wasn't so much about the talent being able to see, it was about the camera not distorting the talent's faces.
One other little story I remember is the 'fingers' those little metal tabs that 'held' the visor's in place, I made every last one, every hero every stunt helmet. I shaped a few hundred of those damn things. They came to me as sheets of photo etched magnesium. I separated them on the bandsaw, then profiled them on the disk sander. I was able to quickly make a set of jigs to get each profile exactly the same, using only scraps and some paint mixing sticks.
One thing Chris is famous for, is looking at how someone is doing something and yelling and screaming about how they were doing it wrong. But I was raised by a mechanical engineer, who did a lot of work at home, I watched the asshole spend weeks making jigs for stuff that would have only taken hours to do one by one. I know when and where to make a jig. The worse I ever got from Chris was, 'try X...' and X was always better.
The problem. Magnesium is a laxative. I was wearing a respirator, but it turns out, it is absorbed through the skin... I have a couple of the raw fingers in a box somewhere.
On another note. The Deep Impact Belts and my immunity to temperature. The belts for the Deep Impact suits were also the pick points. They were were the flying rigs were attached to the actors. Every part was plasma cut and welded together by a 'Certified Welder' We called him 'Bob' he was a friend of another Global Employee, who shall remain nameless, for the sake of the Statute of Limitations. Bob's welds were hideous. I had to make those belts look like they were CNC from a single block of aluminum. It was Summer, in North Hollywood CA. I spent an entire week in a Tyvek suit, face shield, and respirator, working my ass off in the Parking Lot, in 120ºf (49ºc) heat. The accident came down to the fact that Bob was an idiot, and he who shall remain nameless was a dick, my work had nothing to do with it... But it broke my thermostat, I love Death Valley in the middle of the winter, -10ºf (-23ºc) in the winter in jeans and a tee up in Emigrant Pass, or the flats in the middle of Summer. Thanks to those damn belts I have a hundred plus degree comfort zone.
@@shewmonohoto Thank you so much for your reply! Interesting to learn that the visors were formed by another vendor prior to your polishing and assembly. Given that Global is such a prolific visor supplier, I suppose I’d just assumed that they were 100% in-house. I regularly find myself surprised by the number of separate entities with a hand in projects like this. And hand-machining every one of those finger tabs - that’s an astounding amount of work! I wouldn’t have guessed that those were magnesium, either.
Thanks again - you made an excellent (and still very unique) product.
Good lord, I can't imagine doing this kind of a project in 48 hours. But then, I do all of my costume design and prototype as a one-man band. So there's that.
How do they make that curved crystal glass? Can't find a service that makes them correctly. Any advice?
Something I've often wondered is if they can use PWM-dimmed LEDs on set. Surely, if they're used incorrectly, you'll get those weird rolling and strobing effects. Do prop builders have to use complicated constant-voltage or constant-current dimmers?
I’m no movie industry professional but I imagine that if you just get high enough PWM frequency it won’t matter for flicker. Might get spicy with the radiated EM disturbances though.
Constant current is fairly easy nowadays as well.
I build movie props for a living and yes you can use PWM. Just run at minimum (max FPS) * 4 so you dont get into trouble with VFX department about some weird globas shutter problems. I like to use 1kHz. Still works ok with the ~300FPS modern standard camaras can do nowadays.
Definitely not enough when they bring out the high-speed ones. True linear controlled current will save your day there.
@@greenveg42 EM disturbances will not be a problem unless you arrive on set with this 24V 400A LED power supply, running at variable frequencies and featuring 20m long unshielded cables. Other department's gear is more likely to scramble your little microcontroller...
@@pyrolabsberlin I’m sure you are right!
@@pyrolabsberlin in my head I was like ”yeah they might need looooots of light for camera reasons so 48vdc @ 10amps or more doesn’t seem too far out”
and
”If you switch at like 10s or 100s of kHz that could for sure lead too problems if you aren’t cabling correctly”
How off am I in judging that as problematic?
Im really a mech engineer that just dabbles in the magic pixies…
WoW
was this re-posted? I've seen this video already but a few months or so ago.
He could probably make some nice commercial / military grade helmet lighting. Get a few military, Police, fire, etc. contracts and make a lot of money!
I recognized the spartan helmet, martian helmet and event horizon but what are the others?
I wonder if you can recreate that Event Horizon LED just using a $200 flexible OLED hooked up to a RPi. Or would that lack the brightness or depth of the LEDs.
Raspi? Too "sensitive", too long to boot up, too difficult to fix in case of an error.
If you go on set with a prop like this, you bring a couple of replacement parts with you.
Also today LEDs might even be requested spcifically.
I think the most vital piece of technology here is the fan. The whole thing wouldn't work without it.
I thought that was Alex Lifeson for a half a second before he started talking. lol
I need my coffee...
Ur right, that does kinda look like him. 😅
All that detail and i bet most of the people watching never even notice it.
You'd notice its absence.
For the love of God, someone _PLEASE_ tell directors that having face lights inside a space helmet would be a horrible idea irl. This makes me absolutely nuts seeing the light-up interior helmets in sci-fi movies. Biggest pet peave ever. The Lost in Space helmets are the worst, because they have that strip of LEDs right in the wearer's line of sight.
Without the lights, you'll have a block "hole" instead of the face.
Looks shitty. Believe me. Been there, done that. Looks shitty. Really.
ok, there were five helmets:
1. a spartan helmet
2. the martian
3. event horizon
what movies were the other two from, Alien covenant?
btw it is absolutely fascinating that the oldest helmet (event horizon) has the most things going on, that is a piece of art!
Last one was Halo. Wasn’t sure which one they did the flicker on. He mentioned it was an underwater set if I heard right.
the buddy system lighting wouldn't be very good for the person at the back lol
I have to wonder how they managed to not piss off the audio team with the cooling fans =P
they mention turning them down at times
How is Adam Savage not looking or checking out Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding space helmet? That’s such a missed opportunity, there’s a replica in his studio. Make it happen!
im surprised they don't just write a web app or smart phone app to control them rather than those custom controller things
Movie spacesuit helmets are weird. They have bunches of lights that are on the inside (to light up an actor's face while impairing their view) instead of on the outside (where the lights would help their view). In a nod to reality, most of them also have lights on the outside, but lights on the inside is still weird.
And lasers going pew-pew or music playing out of nowhere isn't? ;-)
i always wander why they put lights inside the helmet and blind them selves
now i now, its just cool
adam savage for president!
Being an electronics hobbyist, one of the things I would ask of hands free lighting would be the ability of the lights to detect light levels so as to adjust the lights to be appropriate for the context of surrounding brightness. I would imagine helmet lights should do the same. Something like that would allow helmet lights to adjust to changes in lighting within a scene so the person with the controller wouldn't have to ride the controls every time someone went from one lighting level to another.
Believe me, it will never work the way the DOP/Director etc. likes it
Not only are a lot of scenes shot with a different background (ex., brightly lit green screen which will later be replaced with a dark environment), there's also the fact that camera settings and other lights present in the scene (that might be visible to the camera but not by the helmet's sensors) will influence the final result. And, ultimately, they might want the lights to be darker or brighter in some scenes (or even change during a scene) for _narrative_ reasons. TL;DR - Automated light sensors make very poor directors of photography. ;-)