Latest James Bond Movie Owes Impressive Effects to French Nerds

Bloomberg reported that James Bond’s “Skyfall” credits its breathtaking stunts and effects to the technology created by Technicolor SA in its labs in Rennes, western France.

As quoted in the market news:

“France’s mathematicians and engineers, once sought by banks to build financial models and by industrial groups to design superior machines, are increasingly finding themselves in virtual and make-believe worlds, using algorithms for Internet advertising clients or to create “floating magic” effects when Harry Potter uses his wand to throw a spell at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“Those who used to work at Airbus or were doing nuclear calculations, they work in our labs now,” said Gary Donnan, the 54-year-old head of research at Technicolor — who himself worked on satellites, nuclear systems and high-speed TGV trains before joining the company in 2010 — as he took visitors last month around labs where engineers worked with a virtual robot or experimented camera angles with a flying drone.”

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.