Embracing 3D printing

In the same way that the internet was initially perceived as a revolution that would only benefit those in the field of computing, it seems much of the world still view 3D printing as a geeky curiosity, despite years of passionate buzz from inside the tech industry.

But as the industry leaders of Luis Lopez and Clay Tweel’s entertaining documentary Print the Legend will assert, 3D printing is already in the process of disrupting our industrial infrastructure, with a future where consumers can manufacture their own products from the comfort of their homes on the horizon.

However, as much as Lopez and Tweel’s film is fascinated by the possibilities spilling out of this booming industrial revolution, Print the Legend eventually finds itself more concerned with ideas surrounding start-up culture, the digital age and the fundamental flaws inherent in the American Dream.

Print the Legend examines the hurdles faced by two young companies in very different stages of development, as well as a colorful array of supporting characters (chiefly Cody Wilson, the obnoxious law student who thrust the industry into the cultural lexicon by printing a working handgun). The film examines how new paradigms collide with tradition, and has all the greed, betrayal and lawsuits of a corporate drama.

I got the chance to email some questions to filmmakers Luis Lopez and Clay Tweel about what attracted them to the subject, their approach to documentary filmmaking and the film’s success at the South by Southwest Festival - ahead of their film’s upcoming screenings at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

These ideas were swimming around in our mind when we noticed the 3D printing boom really starting to draw public attention.

Judah Finnigan: To start, what was it that drew you to the subject matter?

Luis Lopez and Clay Tweel: To properly answer this one, we have to give you some context on how the project started. Chad Troutwine approached Seth Gordon, with whom he worked on Freakonomics, to see if he wanted to do a film about Steve Jobs and Apple as a cultural phenomenon.

They assembled funding and talent to form our full team of Audax Films (Walter and Andrew Kortschak), Dan O’Meara, Rafi Chaudry, Mary Rohlich, and Steven Klein along with the two of us. We dove into the research phase of development, and one of those things included reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. This book had a huge impact on us.  The first half of the bio appeared to detail all of the flaws and hypocrisies of this icon, while the remainder of the book revealed the process of all of the visionary products the genius of this man produced. For us, the result of the reading experience left us asking “was it worth it?” Was he and/or society as a whole better off for the advances that were pioneered often to the detriment of the people around him?

These ideas were swimming around in our mind when we noticed the 3D printing boom really starting to draw public attention.  We heard so many parallels being drawn between the dawn of the PC era and the current 3D printing space that we thought it was worth some investigation. We found people talking about power, money, betrayal, and the American Dream…so after a few months, we were convinced that 3D printing was indeed a ripe industry for a narrative.

JF: How long was the shooting period for?

We filmed for about a year and a half, spanning from 2012 – 2014.

JF: The film starts off very much rooted in the specific context of the 3D printing revolution, but gradually starts to expand into something more universal about the trials of running a company, and start-up culture in general. Could you explain how this shift began to occur?

We actually found it quite difficult to document a technology that is in such a nascent stage of development. We had to spend a lot of time in the beginning of the film properly setting up the landscape of the industry and how the technology works before we could get into all of the twists and turns that happened to our characters during the course of filming. 

JF: Both of you worked on The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which is a film that is very driven by a sense of narrative momentum and character development. How influential was that film on your approach/craft?

The process of “KONG” will always influence how we continue to make films…A large component of this style of doc filmmaking is to approach the story structure in the exact same way you would as if you were writing a fictional narrative feature – using a three act model and as many of Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” ideas as we can. 

So while a lot of our movies take place in tiny subcultures like retro gamers or 3D printing entrepreneurs, the goal is to tell a story that ultimately conveys universal truth that applies to everyone. 

JF: From the meteoric rise of Makerbot, to the lawsuit at Formlabs, to the exploits of law student/anarchist Cody Wilson, quite a lot occurs over the course of a hundred minutes. How much of the narrative was conceived before filming started, and how much of it unfolded organically?

When we started, Makerbot was already in a period of rapid growth and Bre [Pettis, CEO of Makerbot] had just hit the cover of WIRED magazine while, Formlabs had just announced their Kickstarter campaign. The rest of the story unfolded as serendipitously and organically as it appears on screen!

JF: Returning to Cody Wilson, he’s an undeniably magnetic screen-subject and I can imagine the film is only going to further amplify his notoriety. There’s this veneer of willful obnoxiousness, but with the sense that it’s barely masking a pretty sharp sense of savvy concerning his public perception. On the matter of the Youtube views for his 3D-printed handgun [and how they dwarfed those of Makerbot’s promo clip for their “robo-hand”], there’s the comment that “controversy sells” thrown up in Makerbot’s defense. Would you agree there?

We agree on both accounts. Controversy, sex, underdog stories – they all sell. In the edit room, we constantly talked about how the companies were weighing the importance of selling their story versus depending on the functionality of their technology. It’s the classic Jobs vs. Wozniak debate: who is more important, the PT Barnum or the engineer? We could never come to an agreement!

He had the foresight to take an unregulated technology that “magically” turns digital information into physical objects, and then use it make the most controversial and regulated object he could think of.

As for Cody, he is one of the most savvy people we have ever met. He knew that he was in a battle of messaging. Cody is a champion of what he calls “radical equality,” but he knows that no one is going to listen to some self-righteous crypto-anarchist just spout his philosophy.

He had the foresight to take an unregulated technology that “magically” turns digital information into physical objects, and then use it make the most controversial and regulated object he could think of.

In one swoop, Cody’s actions make us confront issues of freedom of information, gun control, copyright, intellectual property, privacy, and much more. Because these issues are so imbedded into our thinking about the role of government in society, he makes us think about all of his anarchic philosophies all on our own. Basically, by declaring that there is no line in the sand, he forces each of us to ask ourselves where the line should be.  

JF: The film raises a similar conversation to the one we’ve been having over the Internet for years. When people no longer have to pay for products or content, there are obviously a vast array of issues that arise concerning intellectual property, policing and threats to existing industries. It’s probably a little too multifaceted to elegantly sum up here, but just briefly, what are your positions on what the disruption of this revolution could mean?

In our amateur opinion, whether or not 3D printing is a “revolution” or not is still debatable. It certainly has the promise to change professional work flows – whether through medical device innovation, disrupting supply chains, speeding up the product design process, or for unique architectural applications.  But for everyone to NEED a 3D printer in their home to make everything from a garden tool to dinner is such a long way off that it is hard to tell if it will ever come.

JF: You certainly weren’t afraid to present your subjects in some unflattering lights. How many of them have seen the finished film and what were their reactions like?

A lot of them have seen it, and most are pleased by the final product. We have not gotten a lot of direct feedback, so feel free to go ask them and see what they say!

JF: What were your impressions of the way the film played at SXSW? What did it feel like to receive an award for Editing, essentially validating your skills as storytellers?

The whole SXSW experience was fantastic. We premiered to a large crowd of people who were very knowledgeable about 3D printing enthusiasts and entrepreneurship.  The response was great; they laughed and groaned at all of the places we had hoped.  On top of all that, to receive an award for storytelling from such a prestigious festival with so much worthy competition is very humbling. We pride ourselves on wearing multiple hats as directors, cinematographers, and editors, so it feels good to have some acknowledgement that we successfully navigated all those challenges to put together a good story.

Print the Legend is playing as a part of the New Zealand International Film Festival.