Carnival fever gripped town as celebrations continued
Swanage Carnival in 1999 continued its long-standing tradition as a major summer event, drawing crowds for a week of family fun and entertainment.
The event featured a variety of attractions, which included a grand procession, live music, and community-based activities.
Attendees of the carnival enjoyed a period of settled and hot weather, with temperatures reaching up to 27.7°C on July 30th, enhancing the festive atmosphere.
The procession showcased a mix of creatively themed floats from various local and visiting carnival clubs.
For instance, popular culture of the time was reflected in some floats seen on the broader carnival circuit that year, such as entries based on "Star Wars – Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Teletubbies.
Read more:
Nights out clubbing in Bournemouth in 1998 - in pictures
'I woke up a Dorset Dumpling': The day we were moved into Dorset
How this 19th-century Bournemouth pub got its unusual name
Live musical performances were a key part of the festivities, with local bands like Cadillac playing.
As with every Swanage Carnival, the 1999 iteration was run by dedicated volunteers with the aim of raising significant funds for charitable causes within the community.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Geek Tyrant
3 hours ago
- Geek Tyrant
Ridley Scott Says He's 'Done Enough' With Alien but Hopes for the Franchise's Future — GeekTyrant
Ridley Scott, the mastermind behind the original Alien , has officially made it clear that he's done with the franchise. After years of shaping the iconic sci-fi universe, Scott's focus now shifts to what lies ahead for the franchise, just not with him behind the director's chair. The 87-year-old filmmaker recently shared his thoughts with ScreenRant, confirming that, while he's still invested in the Alien universe, he's 'done enough' with the series and won't be returning to direct another installment. Reflecting on the Alien franchise's evolution, Scott admitted that after Alien Resurrection (1997), the series lost its spark. "I think I felt it was deadened after 4. I think mine was pretty damn good, and I think [James Cameron's] was good, and I have to say the rest were not very good. And I thought, 'F—, that's the end of a franchise which should be as important as bloody Star Trek or Star Wars,' which I think is phenomenal." Scott even drew a comparison to 2001: A Space Odyssey , acknowledging the monumental significance of the first Alien movie in shaping the sci-fi genre. It's hard to believe now, but when Scott took on Alien back in 1979, it wasn't a guaranteed hit. The studio wasn't even keen on having him direct. "A number of years after, I said, 'I'm going to resurrect this,' [and wrote] Prometheus from scratch—a blank sheet of paper. Damon Lindelof and I hammered out Prometheus. It was very present and very welcome. The audience really wanted more.' This revival continued with Alien: Covenant (2017), which Scott also helmed, though he now feels that he's done all he can for the franchise. So what does Scott hope for the future of Alien? Though he won't be back to direct, his hopes remain high for the direction the series will take. 'Where it's going now, I think I've done enough, and I just hope it goes further.' With the reaction that Alien: Romulus got, which he produced, it seems the series is still generating real excitement again. Fans have even more to look forward to with the upcoming streaming series Alien: Earth , which premieres on Hulu on August 12th. Scott is an executive producer on the series. While there were earlier reports suggesting Scott might develop another prequel movie, his recent comments leave us uncertain about the project's status. Whether it's scrapped or merely not in his directorial future, Scott's remarks suggest the direction of the franchise will now be in the hands of others.
The Verge
6 hours ago
- The Verge
A lot more AI characters are coming to Fortnite
AI Darth Vader was a huge hit in Fortnite, and now Epic plans to let creators make AI-powered NPCs for their own in-game experiences. But a senior Epic exec says that creators should expect a 'learning curve' when using them — something Epic had to figure out on its own. The AI Vader that Epic made lets users talk to the character using their voice and hear an AI-generated version of James Earl Jones's Vader voice talk back. It was the 'culmination of a very intense effort for a character everybody understands,' Saxs Persson, Epic's EVP of the Fortnite ecosystem, tells The Verge. But Epic couldn't just set an AI chatbot loose — 'a lot' went into defining how Vader reacted and dialing in the voice. The work was worth it, though; in-game, Vader's voice sounds just like the movies, and when he's on your team, he's a menacing, aggressive force. Persson says that Vader was ultimately 'integrated into gameplay in a way that every player could understand' and he hopes creators are able to make similar things. Vader's rollout wasn't perfect; a popular streamer, Loserfruit, was able to get Vader to swear, which Epic fixed shortly after it happened. Persson says that it was a 'learning experience' and that the team has built multiple layers of how it does its safety checks. Epic also tries to build systems to prevent those kinds of things and be able to react fast. 'We do our best job on day one,' Persson says. 'But more importantly, we're ready to surround the problem and actually have fixes in place as fast as we can.' Creators making AI NPCs for Fortnite will have access to the same safety tools that Epic did for Vader. At Unreal Fest on June 3rd, the company showed a live demo of an AI NPC called Mr. Buttons, whose only purpose was, using its voice, to try and convince the player to push a giant red button. It was a simple, effective, and funny demo that showed what's possible. The goal was to create a scenario where 'the responses are literally endless' so that 'everybody has a different experience,' Persson says. Persson wouldn't say if or when Epic plans to bring more AI NPCs to Fortnite. He says that Epic didn't give its designer some kind of 'AI objective' when making Vader. 'Our objective is fun,' CEO Tim Sweeney says. 'AI is just another tool they have now,' Persson adds. It sounds like AI characters could show up in Epic and Disney's 'persistent universe' that's in the works, too: 'I would imagine that AI plays a role,' Persson says, noting that it would help with immersion. Persson wouldn't share a timeline for when the universe, which was announced last year, might be available. But Epic is going to let creators make their own Star Wars- themed experiences, so perhaps somebody will create another take on an AI Darth Vader.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Andor' Season 2 Effects Team Did a Wild Number of Things For Real
'Keep it grounded, keep it real' has always been Andor creator Tony Gilroy's mandate to his effects team. For the acclaimed Disney+ Star Wars drama's second season, Gilroy's marching order meant building a massive 'flying' TIE fighter from the ground up, figuring out a fresh way to film a Speeder Bike chase, tweaking the iconic Stormtrooper laser blasts, and solving countless creative challenges (there were 4,140 effects shots). Below, Andor VFX supervisor Mohen Leo (who led the show's digital effects team) and SFX Supervisor Luke Murphy (who tackled the show's practical effects) discuss pulling off the season's biggest visuals — as well as some of the smallest, which often turned out to be the trickiest. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Wolf Hall' Director on How He Pulled off The Silent Scene That Relayed a Thousand Words Why 'The Handmaid's Tale' Has Become a Feminist Life Raft Tonys: Sarah Paulson on the Truth-Teller Behind the Pulitzer-Winning Play 'Purpose' What was the hardest effect to pull off in season two? MOHEN LEO The most ambitious sequence was the TIE Avenger escape [in the season's first episode]. That was in preparation for months — trying to figure out how to keep this sequence within the language of the show. I didn't want to start the season off with something that was only computer generated. In conversations with Tony and with Luke, we talked about designing a sequence that starts with much more traditional filmmaking — with a practical set where we can use practical effects. And then, over the course of that sequence, transition into digital effects [as the fighter flies out of the hanger]. I'm assuming that TIE fighter was actually built? Because you see it on the ground in multiple settings and I thought it was really there. LUKE MURPHY That thing was [actually built] and it sat on its wings. It was one of the most challenging builds we've ever done. It had a steel core and with materials used in aircraft — loads of aluminum composite panels, carbon fiber. We did everything we could to make that thing as strong as possible without having to rely on other structures that would then get painted out [with CG]. Actors could touch it and walk into it. Then we could literally lift that thing up with a crane and fly it around. Back in the day, George Lucas famously used World War II dogfight footage for creating aerial scenes. What do you use now? LEO I try to avoid referencing other movies. There's almost no excuse not to look at real world references because you can find a fantastic reference for almost anything. There's a shot in episode three when Cassian arrives with the TIE Avenger and he overtakes a troop transporter with the troops sitting in it. The idea for that shot came from looking on YouTube for Apache helicopter shots because we were saying, 'Okay, [the TIE fighter] should behave a little bit like a mix of a jet and an Apache.' And I found that same shot of troops driving through the desert and out of the dust comes an Apache. You also had a speeder bike scene, which has come a long way since . LEO One of the things that always bugs me with Star Wars speeder bikes is you can tell that it's someone on a blue screen with a wind machine, and then we put the background in. Luke ultimately came up with a fantastic solution with the stunts team for the speeder bike chase [through a wheat field] for the shots where you don't see Brasso's (Joplin Sibtain) face. MURPHY The speeder stuff is always tricky. But we managed to get a speeder bike built onto the actual V-8 of a high-speed all-terrain vehicle, and then that was driven by a stunt driver. And I think what really helped there — Oh, the crops! MURPHY Yeah. The speed is supposed to be hundreds of miles an hour, right? That's the reality in the Star Wars world. We were fortunate enough to get some really good shots at a very safe speed that look really dynamic, and then we just [digitally] tidy and clean stuff up. It feels believable because the stunt man is really gunning it and going for it. There was lot of paperwork involved in satisfying [the production's] risk management assessors. What shot or effect are you most proud of this season? MURPHY One of the biggest challenges for us was we had to create a 17-ton electric snowplow for the heist sequence. When that vehicle comes down the street and crashes, it rips up the street for 80 feet. I was nervous that day. It was so cold that the breakaway material we were using in the street was sticking together. So at the last minute, we had to lift up 400 paving slabs and loosen all the material underneath. See, that's a shot I would just assume was digital. LEO When you're in visual effects and see there's going to be a shot like that, you always think, 'We're probably going to have to make a whole lot of [CG changes].' We just had to paint away the camera rail — and that's it. We didn't augment that in any way. It looked fantastic just as it was. MURPHY Another shot I was super happy with was when the grain comes out that silo and hits those stormtroopers. We set up a rig to do that and those guys got wiped out by 16 tons of grain. The shots of K2SO in the cockpit, those are digital? My brain was telling me that has to be in effect, but he's so very there. Also, there's so much subtle expression, with the eyes and head movements. LEO It was so important to have Alan back because he really embodied that character, and for his chemistry with Diego. Something we learned on Rogue One was you have to look at things that Alan might express with his face that you couldn't transfer onto K2SO directly because his face doesn't move — other than the eyes. So you find ways to transfer a facial expression into a little tilt of the head, or a movement of the eyes. Interestingly though, we did have a practical K2SO — like in the sequence where he's [deactivated on the table], he's practical. The moment he wakes up, he's digital. Is there anything from the long line of Star Wars video games that inspired any practical or visual effects the season? LEO There is one Easter Egg, I think in episode four. There are a couple of guards that watching pod racing on a screen. The way it was initially written was that they were watching sports. But there's not really football and stuff like that [in Star Wars]. We were like, 'Can we do pod racing?' Then I went back trying to find aerial footage we could use for those shots. There's a game called Star Wars Episode I: Racer from 1999 and it had a bunch of tracks in it. So it uses the track name from the game. Let's talk a moment about the evolution of the stormtroopers' red laser blasts as seen during the hallway fight scene. I feel like back in the day the lasers looked more chunky, and now they're thinner and more darting? LEO If you look at the original trilogy, because [the lasers] were [painted] manually, there is a larger degree of inconsistency. [The lasers] are not always the same colors and not always the same width. So starting with Rogue One, [ILM Chief Creative Officer] John Knoll said, 'Okay, let's really think about what is the visual language of these carrying forward.' We started doing something that is thinner, and has a pointy diamond shape — like arrow tip — at the front. Another thing John pointed out was that for the bigger laser shots — like from the TIE fighter, for example — is that when a green laser hits something, the first two frames of the explosion are green. When a red laser hits something, the first two frames of the explosion are red. There also needs to be always some wiggle room for the individual director to have a say. It's the same with [a ship going into] hyperspace. It's sometimes much more colorful. In Andor, it's a bit muted because it's a backdrop for intense character drama and you don't want it to be distracting. 'Grounded and real' is probably something that a lot of showrunners walk in asking for. But it's impressive Tony had the heft to do that. And then you guys, obviously, pulled it off. LEO I think it's not just heft. It was this understanding of restraint — from Tony and John Gilroy, his brother, the supervising editor, and even the directors. You didn't want to be flashy when it was inappropriate for the story. So there were a number of big visual effects shots that we ultimately cut or toned down because they just felt like they didn't belong. That's interesting. What's an example of a flashy effect shot that was cut? LEO Like there were a couple directors who said, 'Let's start with a big aerial establishing shot, and then cut into the location.' And Tony and John said, 'We don't need that. It's all about the characters, let's go straight into the drama.' What looked really simple but in reality was very difficult? MURPHY The scene where there's a bubbling liquid poured [onto Luthen's spy network communications panel to destroy it]. Really small stuff like that that you wouldn't think was a big deal when you're breaking down a script. Another challenge was the elevator in the Senate building because it's a cylinder with doors that open and then it all moves diagonally. It was compound curves everywhere and it felt like geometry was against us every step of the way. That was quite a challenging rig [to build]. And again, when you read in the script, 'Mon steps out of an elevator,' you think, 'Okay, fine.' Then you see the drawings. It's always the stuff where you go, 'Oh, that's a just a two-minute job' that turns out to be a total monster. This story first appeared in a May stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
