ICMS at the Edinburgh International Science Festival
2009
Maths at the Movies | Ratatouille | The Juggling Mathematician | Dynamic Simulation at Pixar
2008
Film3
Maths at the Movies
5.45pm 7, 9 & 16 April 2009
Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh
The Maths at the Movies season explores the way mathematicians are represented in different kinds of narrative - pure fiction, fictionalised real life and documentary. The pure fiction offering is The Oxford Murders (7 April), starring John Hurt and Elijah Wood, which presents a wide range of mathematical personalities. Our second film, 21 (9 April), is the tale of how a group of maths students applied their academic (and other) skills to the blackjack tables in Las Vegas’ casinos. Based on a book, which in turn was based on a true story, the events become more fictionalised with each retelling, but are the mathematicians any more realistic than in The Oxford Murders?
The season concludes with the documentary N is a Number (16 April) - the highly acclaimed film portrait of Paul Erdös, produced, directed and edited by George Paul Csicsery. A man who, for most of his life, had no home, no job, no credit card, no change of shoes, Erdös was the most prolific mathematician who ever lived. In this film he gives his most revealing interviews. Discussions with his friends and colleagues offer more insight into the brilliant mind of this international treasure.
On April 16 the film will be followed by a panel and audience discussion about mathematicians in on film. Chris Eilbeck (Heriot-Watt) ask Dr Tim Johnson (Heriot-Watt)and Andrew J Wilson (freelance writer and editor) for their opinions on the different styles of storytelling in this season and then invite contributions from the audience.
Ratatouille
2.30pm 14 April
Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh
Ratatouille is the incredible adventure of a rat named Remy, who dares to dream the impossible dream of becoming a gourmet chef in a five-star French restaurant. It is the perfect recipe of comedy, heartfelt storytelling, and breathtaking animation. To complement his talk on the role of mathematical modelling in the animation process, Academy Award winner David Baraff will introduce a special screening of Ratatouille. In the course of his work at Pixar, David did extensive character development for Ratatouille, as well as working on the clothing animation system. He is currently working on Toy Story III.
The Juggling Mathematican
Allen Knutson, Cornell University
6.30pm 14 April 2009
Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh
Around 1985 three groups of jugglers independently hit upon the same system for describing juggling patterns. There are many reasons one might want to have such a system, e.g. to record patterns, categorize and relate old ones, and even create new ones. Allen will explain this system, and demonstrate many patterns, including a number of tricks that only were (and maybe, only could have been) discovered using this theory.
Dynamic Simlulation at Pixar Animation Studios
David Baraff, Pixar Animation Studios
8.00pm 14 April 2009
Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh
David Baraff (Senior Animation Scientist, Pixar Animation Studios) will take us behind-the-scenes to look at the technologies employed in Pixar’s recent movies, describing the balance of creative and technical needs, the difficult effects that were easy and the simple shots that were hard.
Warning: this talk will rely heavily on glitzy, eye-catching videos and pictures to explain what we do. Actual mathematics or equations will be presented only in type too small to possibly be seen by the human eye.
Film3
5.45pm 27 March, 1 April and 3 April 2008
Filmhouse, 88 Lothian Road, Edinburgh
Mathematics is at the core of life, nature and the physical world. Film can explore every part of human and non-human existence.
This season of mathematical movies was created by ICMS and Filmhouse Cinema to bring these ideas together at the Edinburgh International Science Festival 2008. Three very different examples of independent film-making were presented. Though built on mathematical concepts all the films have at least as much to say about society as they have about maths. Immediately after each screening there was an audience discussion on issues arising from the films, sometimes continuing over coffee and drinks afterwards.
The season opened on 27 March with a full house for the UK premier of the highly acclaimed animation, Flatland the Film. Based on the 1889 novel by Edwin A. Abbot the basic tackles our own race, gender, religion and globalization issues from a wholly new perspective! Mr A. Square is an average middle-class Flatlander until enlightenment allows him to see his world from a different dimension. He discovers that Flatland is threatened by forces it cannot possibly recognize.
As the screening of Flatland was the UK premier everyone attending the screening received a "goody bag" to mark the occasion. Goodies included postcards signed by Flatland's director Ladd Ehlinger Jr, a copy of the novel donated by Transreal Fiction, vouchers from Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Science Festival and from ICMS, the essential mathematical tool kit, a pen, a pencil and notepad!
The discussion following Flatland the Film was chaired by Chris Eilbeck from ICMS. Maximillian Ruffert of University of Edinburgh and Katie Russell of Heriot-Watt University answered the wide-ranging questions from the audience.
Flatland the film has attracted a couple of blog reviews, on Semaphore for Ducks and on the Transreal Ficion blog.
Pi was screened on 1 April. This film explores the life and experiences of Max, a gifted mathematician obsessed with finding the underlying numerical pattern behind the global stock market. He believes everything in the universe can be expressed in purely mathematical terms. External forces from religion and commerce are keen to exploit his research. Internal doubts and pressures take their toll on Max.
The post film session was chaired by Madeleine Shepherd of ICMS. The audience were keen to discuss the implications of Pi and the world view of its main characters with Giorgos Papageorgiou and Tim Johnson of Heriot Watt University.
April 3 saw the final film in the season. Cube investigates the relationships between six apparently unconnected individuals who wake up inside a three-dimensional maze of interlocking cubes. Developing mutual trust is the key to survival as they are forced to collaborate on cracking the code behind the Cube's mechanism.
Science fiction author and mathematician Hannu Rajaniemi presented a summary of the mathematical research behind the mechanisms in the film and took questions from the audience arising from the mathematics in Cube. Chair for the evening Chris Eilbeck has written a short explanation of some of the theory behind the plot.