BEYOND BELIEF : CONSULTANTS IN DEMAND AS PCS BECOME MOVIE STARS.

Byline: P.J. Huffstutter Daily News Staff Writer

It was only one line - a single, simple, seemingly innocuous line spoken by a 9-year-old girl in the film ``Jurassic Park'': ``This is a UNIX system.''

No way, cried hundreds of computer fans, who flamed the film's production crew with e-mail deriding the girl's statement. No way a mere child could understand a computer program as complicated as UNIX.

``I took that as a compliment,'' said software designer Brian Callier, who makes sure the computers used in movies look and sound authentic. ``OK, so the girl's line might be a stretch. But we were filming a real UNIX system.''

As computer technology becomes more prevalent in the home and workplace, so does its presence in feature films. PCs have emerged as both movie props and plot devices - cast in starring roles (``2001,'' ``War Games,'' ``Virtuosity,'') and in bit parts (``Disclosure,'' ``Assassins,'' ``Species'').

To make the magic, Hollywood relies on Callier and other computer advisers. These technical mavens handle everything from reworking script dialogue for accuracy to assembling the actual computer props used by the actors.

``Our goal is not to draw attention to our work. It's to make sure that the computer works, it's pleasing to look at and it helps move the movie along,'' said software developer Alex Mann, 28, who runs the San Francisco-based Mann Consulting with his brother Harold. ``It's all about learning how to strike a proper balance between what's entertaining and what people know to be true.''

Those working in this arena note the talent pool is tiny. About 40 people worldwide fall within this select and specialized group of special-effects artists. Some, like engineer John Monsour, broke in through industrial filmmaking. Others, like the Mann brothers, used their computer experience to draw themselves into Hollywood.

Their numbers may be small, but the demand for their services is high. Unlike other props, computers require regular maintenance and delicate control. A glitch in a software program can cause lengthy and expensive delays in production, so most computer-effects supervisors live by the mantra that simple is best.

``Our budget is usually about one-half to one percent of a film's overall cost,'' Monsour said. ``Directors may not understand what a computer can do, but they understand that a broken cable can cost them thousands of dollars. So I try to take precautions, like removing unnecessary programs. You don't want a screen saver popping on at a bad moment.''

Consultants like Callier, the Manns and effects-supervisor Todd Marks also help film directors understand and explore technological limits. When director Barry Levinson needed his ``Disclosure'' characters to communicate by e-mail, the director enlisted Callier and Monsour to design the software and build the office computers.

``After the movie came out, we got calls from Microsoft people wanting to know if the e-mail interface was real,'' said Callier, 30, who lives in Northridge. ``I guess they liked the way the mail crumpled up on the screen before it was tossed in the trash can.''

Other directors eschew the independent contractors and favor multifaceted effects houses like Playback Technologies in Burbank and E=mc2 in Glendale. Both store hundreds of computer and television components, ranging from the latest IBM release to hardware from the '50s.

``Every contractor has his strengths, but a house offers one-stop shopping for directors,'' said Casey Cannon, 37, a producer with the Santa Monica-based effects studio Banned from the Ranch. ``It's a struggle for a director, who's been working on a project for years, to go to five different effects people and hope they all get his vision. There's enough problems to work through on a set. They don't need another hurdle.''

As in storytelling, timing is one of the fundamental problems when filming computers. The camera and the monitor must be in sync and flash the same number of frames per second. If not, the film records a slight flicker or a rolling bar across the computer image.

Known as the grandfather of this industry, Monsour discovered this problem while filming industrial commercials for Xerox in the late '70s and Apple Computers in the early '80s. The problem was simple: Computer screens run at 30 frames per second, while film runs at only 24 fps.

``Video runs at 25 fps, so directors figured out it was easier to make the jump from video to film than from computer to film,'' said Monsour, 50, who works out of the cramped garage at his Hollywood home. ``Most directors used the computer as a shell and ran videotape instead of a computer program.''

But as more scripts demanded stars to interact with a PC, the inflexible nature of prerecorded tape wouldn't do. Monsour developed a series of custom circuit boards he could connect to a computer's video card to synchronize the monitor.

Monsour points to the 1986 film ``Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' as an example of the faux-computer technique. One scene features a character trying to talk into a Macintosh mouse, and later working on a Mac with a color monitor.

``Back then, the Macintosh didn't come with a color screen,'' Monsour said.

A picky and minor point, admits the engineer, but film audiences are more likely to believe outlandish plots when the stories are grounded in realistic technology. Films set in the future, like ``Star Trek,'' can play off of devices like ``inertial dampners'' as technology that hasn't been invented.

A film like ``Jurassic Park,'' however, borders on a world that exists today.

``We can't build the park, but genetic manipulation does exist. So it's easier for us to buy the idea of scientists bringing dinosaurs to life,'' said Michael Backes, 40, a screenplay writer who worked as the visual effects supervisor on the soon-to-be-released DreamWorks movie ``Peacemaker.''

``If the computers in the lab suddenly sprouted legs and ran after the dinosaurs, you would have lost the audience. People expect to see stars working on a computer, not running from one.''

In the last few years, that's exactly what moviegoers have seen: Tom Cruise scrambling to use a password that opens a critical file; Keanu Reeves delving into a computer program to find a flaw in a bomb; Jeff Goldblum plugging his computer into the alien ship and zapping the aliens with a virus; and Antonio Banderas and Sylvester Stallone tapping their laptops for assassination assignments.

A computer running a software program in real-time serves as a visual cue for the actors, said Michael Lewis, co-chairman of the film and effects production company L-Squared. In ``The Net,'' Sandra Bullock's previous familiarity with Macintosh and America Online allowed the Manns to develop a more sophisticated software interface.

``Any key Sandra hit would reveal the right letter, but it was all live,'' said Harold Mann, 30. ``She was the one driving the action.''

But not every star feels comfortable in the digital maestro role. Skittish performers force some technical staff to make the graphics actor-proof.

On the set of ``Disclosure,'' Callier said, actor Michael Douglas told the production crew that he was uncomfortable typing and acting at the same time. He refused to use any of the computers on the set.

Monsour developed a fake keyboard for Douglas. When a scene called for the actor to work on a PC, Douglas would punch away at the simulated keys. Off-screen, Callier ran the software, typed the text and moved the mouse.

Occasionally, virtual reality can be supplanted by Hollywood's need for a visually compelling image. Take computer viruses, a popular plot device with absolutely no on-screen pizazz.

``Computer viruses don't look like much,'' said Alex Mann, whose company recently worked on ``The Lost World,'' Spielberg's sequel to ``Jurassic Park.''

``One minute your computer works. The next minute, it doesn't.''

In ``The Net,'' director Irwin Winkler asked the Manns to throw authenticity aside. So the Manns created screens of data that, when the virus hit, appeared to dissolve. Additionally, they improved the speed of the graphics being downloaded on the Internet.

``We try to make things completely accurate, but it's always better to err on the side of what's going to be legible to the audience,'' Mann said.

``The computer is part of the story. Sometimes, the core technology is real, but the computer still needs a flashy costume.''

HOW ACCURATE

HAL 9000 was supposed to be born Jan. 12, 1997. In reality, the birth of artificial intelligence has been labored. Artistic interpretations of realism aside, the experts give their opinion of how accurate - or not - computers are portrayed in these popular films.

``2001: A Space Odyssey'' Good: Excellent vision of what could happen with the space program. Bad: Computers that kill. ``Uh, no. If it were possible, this would be a good example of how it could happen'' - John Monsour, hardware engineer.

``Johnny Mnemonic'' Good: A cool premise. Bad: ``Everything was wrong: (Keanu Reeves') ability to manipulate the Net, the headmounted displays. Why do you need glasses to see the Net when you've got a hard drive inside your head?'' - Alex Mann.

``The Net'' Good: The portrayal of the Web. Bad: ``The idea that every government and private sector would use the same security system is ridiculous'' - Brian Callier, computer graphic artist.

``Virtuosity'' Good: Virtual reality does exist and can be very sexy. Bad: ``The idea that anyone could die in virtual reality is totally untrue'' - Callier.

``Wargames'' Good: Computers can play chess and the government does use graphically-simplistic interfaces. Bad: ``That the government gets locked out of a computer network, which would lead to deadly consequences, would never happen'' - Michael Backes, visual-effects supervisor.

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos, Box

Photo: (1) Todd Marks, a visual-effects coordinator and designer, comments on another designer's work.

Terri Thuente/Daily News

(2--color) HAL'S SHOW: Computers controlled the spaceship where stewardesses fought weightlessness with velcro-lined shoes in ``2001: A Space Odyssey.''

(3--color) HIGH-TECH HORRORS: Computers filled in the DNA dino-gaps in ``Jurassic Park.''

(4--color) WIRED: Keanu Reeves was on the run in ``Johnny Mneumonic.''

(5--color) VIRTUAL VILLAIN: Denzel Washington sparred with a computer-generated bads guy in ``Virtuosity.''

Box: HOW ACCURATE (see text)