For him it was that moment in time when he removed himself from the real world and placed himself into his acting world.

Much of today’s movie magic is  created by technology, so I set out to find out just how much the world of technology affects what we see on the movie screen. Certainly movies like The Lord of the Rings and Finding Nemo have a ton of special effects but I wanted to delve into the creation of a regular, everyday movie that wasn’t especially filled with magical creatures and special effects. I had a stroke of luck in finding a production studio that had just finished the filming of a movie. They would allow me to preview Bobby Jones, a Stroke of Genius, and to probe into the little things that today’s technology helped them accomplish. With Jim Caviezel of recent “Jesus” fame playing Bobby Jones, I was thrilled. Also, since I live in Pinehurst, NC , which is often called the “Golf Capitol of the World” this movie was especially intriguing for me.

Kelly Ray, the film’s visual effects supervisor, tells me that even in this relatively low tech movie, 10-15% of the movie is digitally affected or enhanced. A great scene at the beginning of the movie has the viewer follow a computer generated golf ball into Bobby Jones’ past and the final scene magically transforms a bare field into the Augusta National golf course. Yet, it is the little tech tricks that make a big difference in the movie. Since this movie is set in the early 1900’s, technology was used to remove all traces of the things that didn’t yet exist at that time. For instance, air conditioning units on the ship used to travel to England needed to be digitally painted out of the scene. A modern hotel which is now visible from the first tee of St. Andrew’s was also removed, as were cellular towers, modern light fixtures, and television antennas.

Actually, technology can deceive your eyes quite easily. In A Stroke of Genius an evening sky scene used the sky from Georgia and the moon from L.A. The Atlantic Ocean was really an east coast bay with technology used to make the water move like ocean waves. The putting on-board ship was done completely with a computer generated golf ball.

Visually, the most fun part of the movie may have been the golfing scenes. Okay, all you golfers out there – how would you like to be able to make every putt? Jim Caviezel could – or at least he could look like it. Various techniques were used in the movie. The one I like the most is the fact that Mr. Caviezel could simply putt the ball to anywhere on the green. They digitally placed the hole wherever the ball landed. (Sure wish I could do that while on the green!)

It turns out that Jim Caviezel didn’t play much golf before this movie and he is left-handed but needed to golf right-handed as Bobby Jones did. The intensive instruction that he received along with his innate athletic ability worked quite well. During practice for one St. Andrew’s scene, Mr. Caviezel made a hundred foot putt. Unfortunately, he couldn’t duplicate that when the camera rolled, so various high-tech film edits and enhancements were used to visually sink the putt. The movie showed that golf really is a difficult game. The machine that they built to project the ball into the hole in several of the putting scenes fell prey to some of the things that avid golfers are acutely aware of. The precision-crafted machine could only make three out of five putts. Minor changes in the environment like the amount of moisture in the air, the wind, and the direction of the grass blades prevented 100% accuracy.

What a fun movie! It used just enough technology to enhance the film and keep us entertained. For more information see the Bobby Jones: a Stroke of Genius Web site.

Missed the movie? Buy the DVD.