PROJECT CUPID
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY NEIL POTNIS
GENRE: EXPERIMENTAL/SATTIRE
RELEASED: FEBRUARY 11, 2018
THE STORY
"Project Cupid" is an experimental/ satirical dramedy about two high school students taking an enhanced version of Adderall to perform at the highest level.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The early outlining stages of Project Cupid began in August of 2016. Going into the film, the team wanted to craft a story that would be "like a treasure map." Before writing, the characters were designed in Autodesk Character Generator to get a proper vision of what the characters would look like. The script writing process began April of 2017 and finished that following May with the film titled, "Drugs and Stuffed Toy Animals." Filming was set to begin in August and throughout the three-month gap, the script went through eleven revisions. After a six-day shoot with the cast and crew working eight hours a day, the initial filming process was complete. The script of the film then went under a twelfth and major revision, and was re-titled "Project Cupid." Four additional scenes were shot in December. The editing of the film began in August and ended in January of 2018.
UBER ELEVATE
NEVILLE KIRUBA
SCIENCE AND INNOVATION
Uber has just announced that it will provide air transportations from city to city using Uber Air. Uber plans to eliminate long commute hours with flying machines called VTOLs- Vertical Take Off and Landing. VTOLs models were based off a helicopter. From there, they are engineered to be less noisy and more efficient. To achieve this, VTOLs use a distributed electric propulsion system which is a lot quieter than a helicopter’s combustion engine. These electric engines are designed to be 3-4 times more efficient than a combustion engine. The VTOLs will also start with actually trained pilots but, as time passes, Uber plans to shift to partial autonomy and then complete VTOLs with complete autonomy.
This idea involves a lot more infrastructure development since the current system of transportation is outdated and only allows travel by road. To start off, the VTOLs need a hub, called Vertiports, to land in each city and these ports need electric charging machines since VTOLs run on electric motors. Vertiports also take up space that some cities don’t have to offer. However, rooftops of buildings are already being designated for the ports. This type of future requires a lot more than Uber’s experience. So, to get more of a professional help, Uber has partnered with NASA to get help with engineering these machines. NASA will also be helping Uber with airspace management. Uber has also partnered with a number of aircraft companies to help with the production. The first VTOL is projected to operate by 2020 and will travel from Dallas to Frisco. The projected to cost of riding one of these machines will be about the same amount if a person were to use the UberX.
Uber’s goal is to improve human productivity and reduce the time that a person takes to commute to work. On average, a person spends two weeks in a car commuting to work every year. If a person had to commute from San Jose to San Francisco, it would normally take about an hour. With VTOLs, the time can be reduced to fifteen minutes. With this, long commuting will be history. Uber’s vision with VTOLs includes reducing the number of cars on the road. This not only reduces the traffic and car collisions, but it also allows countries to reuse parking space to a more environmentally friendly place. Although this vision seems far-fetched, the idea of VTOLs is already being implemented and will be here sooner than we think...