A conversation with Michael Rubin, author of `Droidmaker'

Last week at Macworld, I attended a great talk by Michael Rubin, author of the book `Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution.'The following day, I had a chance to sit down with him for a long chat.

While working at Lucasfilm, Michael was one of the first evangelists for non-linear (digital) editing, and he later wrote the definitive book on the topic, "Non-linear: A Field Guide to Digital Video and Film Editing." Here's a ten-minute audio excerpt from our conversation.

In it, we talk about:

- Michael's time at Lucasfilm
- How old-line film editors reacted to the EditDroid, Lucasfilm's pioneering non-linear editing system
- Movies like "Sin City," "Star Wars," and "The Rain People"
- The democratization of filmmaking
- How some of the ideas and pronouncements of George Lucas and Francis Ford Copolla in the 1970s shaped the way film and technology work together today
- What new technologies Michael sees influencing the movie industry today

If you happen to be in Park City, Utah on January 20th, you can catch the last event on Michael's book tour to promote 'Droidmaker". He has also been maintaining a great blog as he has hop-scotched across the country.

Finally, I'm adding `Droidmaker' to the list of books (in the column at right) related to cinema and technology.