Leonardo Dicaprio and Steve Carell's Summer Blockbuster Films Go Green

It’s summer.

You’re hot.

Really hot.

You’ve officially become the sweatiest person on the street, longing to find some cool refuge from the blistering heat. Like a desert oasis, a movie theater appears in the distance. You rub your eyes. You focus on the marquee. You smell the popcorn and are lured into the dark, like Bugs Bunny following the scent of Elmer Fudd's glistening steak.

This summer blockbuster season you might be choosing between two films; the Nolan/Dicaprio “dream-noir” Inception, or the Renaud/Coffin/Carell 3-D animated caper, Despicable Me, both great choices. But what you may not know is that either choice you make will support the evolving movement of green technology used in the making of major motion pictures. Sure, the bag that holds your delicious, buttery popcorn is most likely made from recycled paper. And you do your part by returning your 3-D glasses to the theater instead of taking them home (at least, we hope you do). But more and more major motion pictures like Inception are using solar-powered generators from companies like Pure Power Distribution to energize their production’s base camp.  These generators produce pure, sine wave power with very little noise and fewer emissions.

Despicable Me, utilized IBM’s iDataplex server to cut production energy usage on the film by over 40%. 3-D films like Despicable Me require many animators, each with a workstation, sucking up energy, emitting lots of heat and requiring several air conditioning units to keep these machines cool. The iDataplex server has a built-in cooling unit, taking heat out of the room and reducing the need for energy to power multiple air conditioning units. Also, the iDataplex servers come preconfigured, prepackaged and ready to rock, allowing producers to ultimately reduce the amount of time and energy spent on each picture.

You’ve finally cooled off and you’re enjoying your film. Not only have you saved your sanity by escaping the heat but you’ve done your part to save the environment by supporting major motion pictures that are going green.

To learn more about the green technologies used in Inception and Despicable Me, check out the links below.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/27/leonardo-dicaprio-solar-technology-inception.html
http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/09/despicable-me-movies-technology-ibm.html
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/05/solar-recycling-green-technology-ecotech-movie-theaters.html
http://www.purepowerd.com/

Skye Hilton is a NYC based Writer/Director/Producer currently directing the 8th season of the popular TLC program What not to Wear. Skye's credits include What not to Wear, Battle on the Block, Underdog to Wonderdog, Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, Moving Up and the Emmy nominated kid's show It's a Big Big World.