Alum wins Emmy
A flying Chevette helped Paul Debevec (BSE CE ‘92) revolutionize filmmaking.
Everything changed for Paul Debevec (BSE CE ’92) in 1991 when, as a U-M undergrad, he created a computer-generated visualization of his Chevette. Inspired by the opening sequence of Back to the Future, Part 2, the model combined techniques from computer vision and computer graphics.
The passion project set him on a career path that would revolutionize filmmaking, earn him a Lifetime Achievement Emmy and power the incredible visuals in movies like The Matrix, The Hobbit, Avatar, Furious 7 and Blade Runner: 2049. Today, he continues to push the space forward as director of research at Netflix.
“This all started with the Chevette Project,” Debevec said in his Emmy acceptance speech in 2022.“So, thanks to my mom for giving me a 1980 Chevette. If she’d given me a cooler car, I wouldn’t have had to put so much effort into trying to make it fly using computer graphics.”
Debevec was honored for his pioneering work combining high dynamic range imagery with image-based lighting, which makes it possible to record and reproduce the light of both real and virtual environments to create a seamless transition between the two. His methods are now essential techniques used in computer graphics for VFX and virtual production.
Combining math, computers and film to change the world took vision as well as skill, and Debevec attributes his vision in part to his time as a U-M undergrad. His double-major in computer science in math gave him a foot in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts as well as engineering, which broadened his perspective and opened the door to new resources and possibilities.
“Michigan prepared me a lot for embracing the sheer variety of ideas out there, and it’s a place where you can find what you need,” he said. “If you want to do something that might be a little different, Michigan will make it happen.”
Debevec also pioneered the Light Stage, which uses LED lighting in virtual production and is a mainstay tool for lighting actors on virtual stages. The TV Star Wars show “The Mandalorian,” for example, used this technology to project digital environments onto the set, creating a more realistic environment that helped actors and crew work more naturally.
To build his first Light Stage, Debevec had to study how light reflects off skin, eyeballs, and bone structure at different angles. These details paved the way for today’s increasingly accurate AI renderings of humans, which are revolutionizing movies, video games, advertising and other media. But Debevec doesn’t think they’ll replace movie-making as we know it–or actors for that matter.
“I think back to when movies first came out,” Debevec said. “I wonder what actors thought of this new medium where you can be recorded on film and your performance can be re-lived even after you’re gone. What a mind warp that would have been! But people adapted to it, and then they adapted to talkies.”
For Debevec, the new technology simply opens up more avenues for creative storytelling, and, he hopes, will allow more people to tell more kinds of stories. In addition, it can enrich interactive virtual entertainment, like online games, but there’s still much that can’t be replaced.
“We’ll always have that prerendered, pre-authored entertainment,” Debevec said. “There’s a great deal of artistry required for really interesting plot twists and well-developed characters. These new tools really help democratize the process, and I’m thrilled to be part of that. I hope to honor all of the history and help take it forward in a good way.”
—Adapted from an article written by Hayley Hanway