Original iPhone heavy inspiration for Marvel's Iron Man heads-up-display

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in iPhone
According to a new oral history, the first Iron Man movie featured a heads-up display inside the armored suit that was informed by the then-new iPhone display.




It's hard to imagine life in America without the iPhone, or without the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point, but a decade ago, the first iPhone was just a year old and the very first MCU film, "Iron Man," was released.

The original "Iron Man" film, which came out ten years ago Wednesday, has spawned two direct sequels as well as numerous other Marvel films in which Robert Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark/Iron Man has appeared, including the brand new "Avengers: Infinity War". Tony Stark is a celebrity industrialist with more than a touch of Steve Jobs to him; in 2010's "Iron Man 2," we even see him deliver a very Jobs-like product keynote.

Now, the VFX Blog has published an oral history of the creation of the HUD (heads-up display), the display seen inside the helmet of Iron Man's suit, and we learn something else the Iron Man character has in common with Apple.

As the first iPhone was brand new while "Iron Man" was in production in 2007, it was on the minds of the filmmakers, as they discussed in the piece.

"I remember in an early discussion in post-production with ["Iron Man" director] Jon Favreau," Kent Seki, "Iron Man"'s visualization/hud effects supervisor, said in the article. "He pulled out his iPhone, which was a new thing at the time. He said, I don't want to tell you a specific graphic to make for the HUD, but I want it to feel intuitive like my iPhone.'"

Dav Rauch, the film's HUD design supervisor, also noted the iPhone's influence.

"The iPhone had just come out like literally a week or two before the meeting with Jon - and I got an iPhone and Favreau had gotten an iPhone," Rauch said. "When I was down there we kind of geeked out on our iPhones, and we were talking about what we liked about the iPhone because he was really inspired by it. He was like, What I love about this thing is it just kind of does what it should do, and it kind of does what I want it to do and it's very intuitive and it's very simple.'"

Rauch added that the "transitions" in the iPhone were what had a big influence on the design of the HUD.

One may not think of the original iPhone as such a technical marvel, especially compared to what would follow in the ensuing years. Indeed, other real-life technologies, such as Google Glass and other VR products, would more closely resemble the HUD than the iPhone ever would. But even so, that first iPhone ended up hugely influencing the look of the decade's most successful cinematic franchise.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    nunzynunzy Posts: 662member
    Apple has always had the majority of the world's mind share. No other corporation can match them.

    It's part of why they make such huge profits.
    edited May 2018 longpathracerhomie3watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 7
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    The term is “head-up display” (HUD), not “heads”.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display
    edited May 2018 king editor the gratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 7
    The term is “head-up display” (HUD), not “heads”.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display

    You might want to read the first sentence at the link you posted.
    napoleon_phoneapartchristopher126alanh
  • Reply 4 of 7
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    The term is “head-up display” (HUD), not “heads”.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display

    You might want to read the first sentence at the link you posted.
    I know. It's an incorrect version of the term which has come into popular use because people are sloppy and inconsistent. The original (and correct) term is "Head-Up Display".

    https://books.google.com/books/about/Head_up_displays.html?id=-IFTAAAAMAAJ
    edited May 2018
  • Reply 5 of 7
    tzm41tzm41 Posts: 95member
    Despite the discussion here I propose to call that thing Head-On Display. It's on Tony's head, moving with his viewpoint, not just up in front of his usual viewpoint. I kind of feel it isn't HUD anymore...
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 6 of 7
    22july201322july2013 Posts: 3,695member
    Perhaps HID instead of HUD would be better. In computer terminology, HID means Human Interface Device, but in this case it could be Human In-your-face Device. Quite literally, in your face.
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 7 of 7
    tzm41 said:
    Despite the discussion here I propose to call that thing Head-On Display. It's on Tony's head, moving with his viewpoint, not just up in front of his usual viewpoint. I kind of feel it isn't HUD anymore...
    Read the fascinating wikipedia article.  What you're describing is called a Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) which is considered a subcategory of HUD.
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