By OLIVER WEBB Images courtesy of Peter Hjorth and Zentropa, except where noted. Peter Hjorth. (Photo courtesy of Danish Film Institute) When Peter Hjorth first started out, visual effects were virtually non-existent in the Danish film industry. “We had one guy at the lab who did work on the Oxberry [rostrum animation camera], and I worked at a video production company,” Hjorth states. “I trained as a videotape editor, then it went into online. When the first digital tools arrived, I joined one of the hot post places where they got the first digital VTRs. All my first years of experience were with commercial clients and music videos and making the transition from analogue to digital in video post-production. I did a little bit of work for friends of mine where we actually did it at the lab. I’m old enough to have done stuff with the optical printer and waiting for weeks to get it right. There were some very early start-ups in Copenhagen doing files to film, and I started working with them.” Hjorth’s first feature film came in 1998 with Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen, where he served as camera operator and digital consultant. Festen also marked Hjorth’s first foray into the Dogme 95 movement. “We shot on MiniDV, and I was attached to the whole project. I shot the second camera and then was asked if I could do some advanced work in visual effects for commercials. I was then asked by Lars von Trier to help out on Dancer in the Dark when he was starting.” Working on Dancer in the Dark marked the beginning of Hjorth’s frequent collaborations with Lars von Trier. “That was sort of a two-fold thing because we had 100 DV cameras that needed some kind of infrastructure to work, and my television background was good for that. We also needed some visual effects work to get rid of some cameras. If you put 100 cameras in the same set, you’re going to get into a visual effects situation. So, I did that and worked on the editing. At that time, people were a little bit afraid of Lars, but I’m up for anything. We had a great time, especially during the editing and post-production.” Hjorth was pleased with his collaboration with director Tarik Saleh on the U.S. film The Contractor (2022), on which he served as Production Visual Effects Supervisor. (Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures) “There’s a special thing about Denmark, which is that we tend to all stick together… It’s not competitive in this way because people will get the jobs they get. Everybody realizes we have to work together, and what really matters is that we put something on screen that gives the audience a good experience.” —Peter Hjorth, Visual Effects Supervisor Initially, production experimented with a wall of cameras, where Hjorth did a test compositing that into an image. Von Trier found it interesting, but felt it wasn’t right for Dancer in the Dark. He later came back to Hjorth with Dogville and explained that he wanted to implement the multi-camera technique for this project. “Lars didn’t want linear perspective, instead he wanted something more like visual arts, fine arts, a notion of perspective, even cubism maybe,” Hjorth adds. “At that point in between those two projects, I did the first big Vinterberg film, It’s All About Love.” Hjorth worked as Visual Effects Supervisor for the film. “We did lots of precise visual effects, matched lenses, matched camera heights, everything by the book. Then I went into this totally crazy project for Lars and really developed a close understanding of what Lars wanted. We’ve done eight feature films and a TV series together. The last one was the third season of The Kingdom. I also did his last feature film, The House That Jack Built. I was Production Visual Effects Supervisor on all the stuff in-between, such as Antichrist and Melancholia.” Hjorth explains that he was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time. “Working on those projects has given me a network all over Europe with good people. We had some decent budgets, and people were thrilled to work on Lars’ films. I’ve made some excellent friends and good connections. If you wanted VFX for a movie in the early 2000s you hired someone from a post house for a specific scene. The notion of a production visual effects supervisor was not very common in Denmark, and the role has since developed. I find that my contribution is now mostly in pre-production. With post-production, I usually take a step back and leave it to the vendors to get right, but I’m happy I’ve been able to assist when the need arose.”  Throughout his career, Hjorth has worked across the board as camera operator, colorist and editor. “I did some camera work on the side for music videos, and so on,” he explains. “When I speak to the DP and the gaffers, I know the language. I wouldn’t say I did great work as a cinematographer, but I know the language, the equipment and the limitations. Actually, my first job before even going into post-production was as an electrician. I used to work on really old, heavy movie lights back in the day, so I also know a little bit about departments on set and how it works. That has made it a little bit easier for me to be on set because as a visual effects supervisor, it can be a super scary experience. If you feel like a tourist, it’s just horrible. I, of course, worked on the Dogme 95 films, where we worked closely with the actors, and I’m not afraid to have a conversation with an actor. No matter how good the VFX is, if the actors don’t believe a scene they are in, it doesn’t work. So, I’ve been lucky to do a bit of everything, and I feel blessed that things turned out the way that they did.” Starting out in Dogme 95 also proved to be a huge learning curve when it came to film language and understanding how to work within a set of specific rules and guidelines. The movement was founded by Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the Dogme 95 Manifesto. The Manifesto consisted of 10 rules, which included: camera must be handheld, shooting must be done on location and special lighting isn’t allowed. “It’s a good background to have,” Hjorth states. “We’ve had rules for all of the films I’ve made with Lars, even on projects such as Melancholia.” Setting rules hasn’t been limited to Danish cinema and extends beyond that. “We made kind of a set of rules for the films I’ve made with Ali Abbasi, and that’s always made things easier,” Hjorth says. “He first called me when he was in film school. He was doing some early tests and was audacious enough to ask me for a VFX shot. It was hard to understand what he was saying, but then he talked about a scene with a guy coming out of a cake and he kills his brother, slicing his throat with a knife, and he wanted to see that in close-up. I appreciate younger directors calling and asking me to work with them, and it has really paid off.” Hjorth was the Visual Effects Supervisor for several episodes of the 1994-2022 TV series The Kingdom and The Kingdom: Exodus. Hjorth has worked on eight feature films and a TV series with director Lars von Trier. (Photo: Peter Hjorth) Hjorth with director Lars von Trier, left, on the set of The Kingdom: Exodus. (Photo: Peter Hjorth) Hjorth was Visual Effects Supervisor on The House That Jack Built, directed by Lars von Trier. (Photo: Christian Geisnæs) Peter Hjorth was recognized for his work as European Visual Effects Supervisor for the Swedish-Danish feature and Cannes winner Border, directed by Ali Abbasi. (Image courtesy of Meta Film Stockholm) Hjorth was Production Visual Effects Supervisor on Lamb (2021), directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson. (Image courtesy of Go To Sheep and A24) Hjorth with Simone Grau Roney, Production Designer on The House That Jack Built (2018), directed by Lars von Trier. Choosing a favorite visual effect shot from his career, however, is a difficult task for Hjorth, though he’s particularly proud of the work achieved on Dogville. “Nobody noticed how messed up it was,” he explains. “Toward the end of the movie, you can see the masks, and you can see that we didn’t bother to match the grain between layers and all that. We did the first test on Flame, and when we went to layer 99, it just stopped working. We ended up doing it with combustion software, which was crummy, but it worked, and we got the shots done. I think we went to 170 layers on the opening shot. It was a learning experience for everybody involved, and I still work with some of those same people, most recently on the Netflix series I did this spring.” Hjorth worked as Visual Effects Supervisor on Holy Spider, directed by Ali Abbasi. (Photo: Nadim Carlsen. Image courtesy of Profile Pictures)   Hjorth served as Visual Effects Supervisor on Antichrist (2009), directed by Lars von Trier. Hjorth believes that there’s been an immense upgrade in professionalism in Denmark in the years since he’s worked in the business. “The beginning was much less industrial. The directors that I have worked with tend to work with me multiple times. A lot of the stuff I say in the first meeting is really defining for how that [job] is going to go. I’ve been so lucky to work on films that I actually think made a difference. It has mostly been art house films with limited budgets and resources. When we work together with the same producer or director a few times, sometimes they come back and say, ‘We’d like to have a creature or some special thing.’ It’s an evolving process.” Hjorth worked as Visual Effects Supervisor on the Lars von Trier-directed Melancholia (2011), and was also credited for his astrophotography of auroras for the film. (Image courtesy Magnolia Pictures) Hjorth was Visual Effects Supervisor on Dogville (2003), directed by Lars von Trier. Hjorth worked with director Lars von Trier to develop the Automavision technique, which was credited with the cinematography for The Boss of It All (2006). A computer algorithm randomly changes the camera’s tilt, pan, focal length and/or positioning as well as the sound recording without being actively operated by the cinematographer. Hjorth works closely with stunts, special effects makeup, animal wranglers and other specialists. “I know the craft and what they need from me. They know more about what’s going to be effective on screen, so I just leave them to it and make sure they have what they need. Same thing with animals and visual effects, makeup and stuff like that, physical things. You know I have a bit of a reputation for trying to get as many pieces of the puzzle as possible with a camera. Some production VFX people get quotes from, say, three different vendors, and then they pick all the cheapest bids for each sequence or shot, and that’s how they get down in budget. I tried to avoid that. I’d rather actually sit down with the director and say for example, ‘We should have some breathing space here.’” When it comes to the future of visual effects in Denmark, Hjorth takes an optimistic view. “I think this trend that we have more production supervisors is basically going to continue in the way that even if you have very little work, you hire someone from the get-go and you make sure that’s a balance in ambition and resources. There’s a special thing about Denmark, which is that we tend to all stick together, even people who are not in the same line of work. We have lots of experience sharing. There are no limits to who you can call and ask questions. It’s not competitive in this way because people will get the jobs they get. Everybody realizes we have to work together, and what really matters is that we put something on screen that gives the audience a good experience.”

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowImage: Paramount / Konami / Ocean / KotakuApparently there’s a new Mission: Impossible movie coming out soon. But what there isn’t is a new Mission: Impossible video game, and we’d like to hear someone explain why not. It’s outrageous. The 1960s TV show has games. The first of Cruise’s movies, 1996's Mission: Impossible, has a game. (No Tom Cruise likeness in the game, though.) Why aren’t I playing the Just Cause-like gamedo exist, and wonder quietly to ourselves if that was actually a good idea.Previous SlideNext Slide2 / 12List slidesMission Impossible (1979)List slidesMission Impossible (1979)HighretrogamelordThe very first Mission: Impossible video game, albeit an unofficial one, came out in 1979. And no, that’s not a typo. Scott Adams (no, thank god, not the Dilbert one) and Irene Adams made a series of text adventures after being inspired by Scott’s colleagues who created the seminal Colossal Cave Adventure in 1976. Widely considered to be a joint founders of the entire genre, the Adamses made a series of text adventure games (what you kids now call Interactive Fiction) for the TRS-80 in the late ‘70s, one of which was originally called Mission Impossible (without the distinctive colon that’s officially in the title of the TV shows and movies).Things were a bit of a wild west back then, given that there wasn’t really a vast home gaming industry. The game featured a spy called Phelps after the main character of the original show, who begins sat in front of a tape recorder containing a message that begins much like those on the show often did. “Good morning Mr. Phelps. Your Mission (should you decide to accept it) is to prevent this automated nuclear reactor from being destroyed by a saboteur’s TIME BOMB!” Perhaps it’s not surprising that the owners of the TV show threatened legal action.This led to all manner of names ending up attached to the game, the most common being Secret Mission, which was added to the already-printed boxes via a cheaply produced gold sticker. It’s something of a joy that one of the first ever popular text adventures should be such a brazen rip-off.Previous SlideNext Slide3 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1990)List slidesMission: Impossible (1990)SNES drunkTempting as it is to include the fantastic Impossible Mission platform/puzzle games of the 1980s in this list, they don’t really count, though they do still feature the greatest somersaults in gaming history. So instead we jump forward to 1990, when the Nintendo Entertainment System was blessed with a game based on the short-lived 1988 reboot of the TV series. This time we have an officially licensed game, developed by Konami, that was released just in time to mark the TV version’s cancellation after just 35 episodes. (The original 60s/70s Mission: Impossible ran for 171 episodes, with Leonard Nimoy appearing in 49 of them.) The IMF team is tasked with rescuing Jane Badler’s character, Shannon Reed, along with “Dr. O,” an IMF scientist, all through the magic of top-down 1990 action.You could switch between three characters, Max Harte, Grant Collier and Nicholas Black, each with their own skills as they charged through Venice, Switzerland, and all those good Eurozone adventure locations. Previous SlideNext Slide4 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1991)List slidesMission: Impossible (1991)Mission: Impossible gameplay (PC Game, 1991)It’s a year later, and there’s a second licensed game from the franchise! But this time, it’s a graphic adventure! This time published by Konami but developed by Distinctive Software, makers of many a TV/movie tie-in game, this was very much an attempt to muscle in on Sierra’s territory, complete with a near lift of Sierra’s distinctive row of interaction options across the top of the screen.It was then made more complicated by playing in real-time, with four characters to control at once as you tracked down terrorists, bugged phones and infiltrated enemy HQs. Only Jim Phelps appears to have made it over from the TV shows, however, with new characters to chose from, including the extraordinarily spelt “Rodger.”What’s so surprising about this game is that I’d simply never heard of it, despite being 14 years old at the time of its release and playing every graphic adventure I could get my hands on. However, its midi rendition of the theme tune really should have made it an all-time classic. Previous SlideNext Slide5 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1998)List slidesMission: Impossible (1998)N64 ArchiveSlipping subtly past Micro Games of America’s 1996 dedicated handheld game based on the series, we next find the spies appearing in video games in 1998, with the Tom Cruise era of Mission: Impossible now underway. And it’s on N64 (and a year later, PlayStation). Sometimes known as Mission: Impossible - Expect the Impossible, this console game was intended to be a tie-in with the first of the Cruise-led movies. Except, keen chronologers will note, 1998 was two years after 1996.This was originally supposed to be created by Ocean, a studio famous for its movie-based games. Think RoboCop, Platoon, Total Recall, and Lethal Weapon, all improbably realized as side-scrolling action games. That wasn’t the plan this time, however—ambitions were far higher. Mission: Impossible was an attempt to create something in the style of Rare’s GoldenEye 007, and, well, it wasn’t going great.After three years in development, and the slow realization that the N64 wasn’t powerful enough for their plans, Ocean was bought by Infogrames in 1997, and a whole new team was assigned to the project. Apparently at that time, the game was running at four frames per second. Things were made harder by Viacom, owners of the film rights, refusing to let the game feature too much gun-based violence, and Tom Cruise refusing to allow his face to be in games The new team wound up crunching for months.Yet, despite all this, it went on to sell over a million copies, even though its reviews weren’t exactly great. A late ‘90s IGN went as low as a 6.6, which was about as a low a score as the site back then would give. Previous SlideNext Slide6 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible (1999)List slidesMission: Impossible (1999)CGRundertowIt was four long years between Brian de Palma’s original Tom Cruise movie and John Woo’s somewhat unlikely follow-up. So it was that as late as 1999, the Game Boy Color’s Mission: Impossible game was still based on that first film. But this time it was as all movie-based games should be: an isometric action game. Incredibly, this belated tie-in was the work of developer Rebellion, who that same year brought us the landmark Alien Versus Predator on PC, and are now best known for an infinite number of Sniper Elite games (as well as this year’s Atomfall). There were all sorts of ambitious ideas, including an entirely game-irrelevant Agent Action Kit that let you use your GBC as a calculator, address book, and a notebook that could print stuff out on your Game Boy Printer. Sadly, none of these were part of the game itself, which was deeply mediocre.Previous SlideNext Slide7 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - Game Boy Advance)List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - Game Boy Advance)LongplayArchiveMission: Impossible - Operation Surma came out in 2003 on PS2, alongside a very different and much worse version on Game Boy Advance. It seems unfair to put them into the same slide, given they’re made by entirely different developers.By this point, Infogrames had begun wearing the ill-fitting skin of the long-dead Atari, and like so many games of the era, had two lots of developers make two versions of a game with the same name. For the GBA, it was M4 Ltd, a small UK developer that seemingly only made GBA games based on existing licenses. So alongside Antz World Sportz and Mary-Kate and Ashley: Winner’s Circle, they also created the handheld incarnation of the movie tie-in.Set between the events of Mission: Impossibles 2 and III, Operation Surma finds our espionaging heroes trying to stop the evil Surma group from releasing a virus called ICEWORM which can disable any type of security system. As you’d expect, you go all over the world in your efforts, although on the GBA version you do this in painfully static 2D, rather than in the PS2 version’s 3D action. This version got an absolute kicking by the press, with Cheat Code Central stating, “I would have had more fun gluing spray-painted macaroni to my ass than playing Mission Impossible: Operation Surma on the GBA.”Previous SlideNext Slide8 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - PS2)List slidesMission: Impossible - Operation Surma (2003 - PS2)LongplayArchiveOK, so this version was far better received, although not exactly widely loved. It was, as you can tell from the video, an entirely different game from the GBA incarnation. (As I say, this was common, but didn’t always end badly. The Tony Hawk GBA games, for instance, were masterpieces.)A third-person action game, it was packed with missions, spy tech, and a big cast of characters. And, rather importantly, it was attempting not to recreate the plot of one of the movies, but rather to bridge the time between the second and third films in the franchise.Developed by Texan team Paradigm Entertainment, who were best known for the N64's Pilotwings 64, it was a perfect example of that most damned gaming territories: fine. It was fine. As 7/10 as a game can be. It tried to do loads, it had excellent ambitions, but it all just fell a little flat without ever being bad.Yet, as Zack laments, it also marked the last console-based attempt to make a Mission: Impossible game. Why? Perhaps enough average-to-bad games had convinced Atari that the license wasn’t proving likely to get results? Or perhaps people were just fed up with Tom Cruise for being such a bloody spoilsport, and not letting his face or voice appear in any of the games. (Incidentally, Ving Rhames and John Polson showed up to voice their characters in Operation Surma!)Previous SlideNext Slide9 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible III (2006)List slidesMission: Impossible III (2006)Gameplays JavaThat’s right, we get near to the end of our round-up of every Mission: Impossible game ever with 2006's Mission: Impossible III, the mobile-only tie-in for the 2006 J.J. Abrams threequel. Created by Gameloft, who have also brought us Disney Dreamlight Valley and Sexy Poker: Top Models (alongside the Asphalt franchise and a billion other mobile IPs), this game was only ever released for phones, as were numerous other licensed Gameloft games of the era.Was it any good? I don’t know! It was released for mobile only in 2006! The game’s in portrait. Pocket Gamer liked it at the time, though, and while Carolyn here on staff hasn’t played it, she’s heard good things about a number of Gameloft’s mobile-only efforts of the era.Previous SlideNext Slide10 / 12List slidesMission: Impossible -The Game (2011)List slidesMission: Impossible -The Game (2011)Mission: Impossible - The GameI don’t think anyone’s ever even heard of this web-only game from developers Funtactix, and having watched the video above, I think that may be for the best.Previous SlideNext Slide11 / 12List slidesMission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)List slidesMission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)Mission Impossible Rogue Nation - Android Gameplay HDGlu Mobile’s 2015 tie-in Rogue Nation looks like a visually impressive gallery shooter, at least. In his brief review of the game for Pocket Gamer, Ric Cowley says all that probably needs to be said about it: “If you stick with it, there’s a perfectly average game in here. But it’s so repetitive that you’ll have seen everything it has to offer in ten minutes.” It’s now been over 20 years since there was a proper Mission: Impossible game for console or PC, despite the movies being such a massive deal. As Zack correctly laments, this is a series ripe for a fantastic video game. It’s somehow never received one. Perhaps making that hypothetical, great Mission: Impossible game is the most impossible mission of all.

TRS-80, Commodore 64. Early PCs have laughable specifications by today’s standards, but they inspired a lot of creativity. Take Jacob Anderson, owner of Beyond Ordinary Software, for example. He started programming a Commodore 64 as a tween by building character management tools for his Dungeons and Dragons game. The Commodore 64 was an 8-bit machine with the Basic programming language built in. “I was 11 years old and very isolated in a small town, so I didn't really have any exposure to the outside world and everything that was happening with the whole personal computer revolution,” says Anderson. “My dad was the janitor at the middle school, so I helped him clean. One evening, he sat me down in a math classroom that had a Commodore 64-style environment, so I started playing Artillery Duel. I noticed a button on the keyboard called, ‘Run Stop,’ and if you hit that key, the program stops executing and becomes a terminal. I hit that key by accident and typed “list” and I saw all the source code. I instinctively understood everything.” His uncle subsequently helped his family buy a Commodore 64 and peripherals for Anderson, including a dot matrix printer. He became obsessed, spending nearly all his time programming. However, in high school, his progress slowed as he discovered girls and did the things high school kids do. When he went to college on a US Navy ROTC program scholarship at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), he discovered the program actually ran at The College of the Holy Cross in the evenings, which conflicted with his computer science schedule. Anderson chose to give up his three-year Navy scholarship to pursue a dual major in nuclear engineering and computer science. Since he had to figure out a way to pay for school, he got into the Science and Engineering Research Semester (SERS) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Applied Theoretical Physics Division, which develops novel applications of theoretical physics.  Related:At the time, Los Alamos was retiring its punch card mainframes and adopting modern software development practices. That was significant because at the time, the legacy software had been written in very old Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP).  When Anderson arrived for the SERS program, his advisor was John Hendricks, a Ph.D. nuclear engineer from MIT. Hendricks had Anderson running MCNP test problems to validate the physics that the problems were testing.  “I took the SERS program to complete my major qualifying project (MQP) at WPI, which was required for graduation. However, I felt that running test problems was a waste of time, so I voiced my concerns to my WPI advisor, John Mayer, and later to John Hendricks, who didn't appreciate my attitude,” says Anderson. “As a result, I planned to leave the SERS program and return to WPI to work on a different MQP.” Related:However, before Anderson could leave, Ken Van Riper, a Ph.D. astrophysicist from Cornell, met with him.  “[Ken] appreciated my perspective and offered me a project he was working on. I proposed developing a full GUI for it, and he let me take the lead. I stayed in the SERS program and completed the project, which became MUD—MCNP User Demonstration,” says Anderson. “MUD was a 3D graphics-based problem setup tool that could create MCNP input files, run MCNP and visualize the output as particle tracks. Nobody had previously developed a complete package with a simple ‘click the button’ approach. After I graduated from WPI, [Los Alamos] hired me as staff.” Next, he went to work at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN), where he found himself working for the Department of Defense (DoD) again and PRAJA, a dot-com immersive experience company. It focused on 3D visualization tracking of people in complex environments. While at PRAJA, he was the project lead on FOX NFL GameTracker 2000 and PRAJA Football 99. After that, he founded Beyond Ordinary Consulting alongside corporate roles as President of AccessQuery, a web-based job search engine, and XPLive, a SaaS company. He also served as managing partner and later managing director of Totally Evil Entertainment. Related:Important Lesson CIOs Can Learn Vicariously One thing Anderson has learned along the way is that military personnel can benefit the tech industry. “Military personnel are often highly trained, but they're focused on a very unique niche, and they own that entire niche. Whatever their operational job was, they own it. And that’s somewhat unique, because in the [civilian world], most people take a job for a little while, and then they bounce. They're very scattered when it comes to their career choices,” says Anderson. “When you deal with technical people you want them well versed in their niche job. And that's where the DoD comes in very handy, because the people who get that role are going to know it inside, out and backwards. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to hire DoD people.” Those who worked for the DoD are very regimented because they must adhere to certain policies and rules. “Military personnel understand the playing field and limitations. They’re good at limiting themselves, and they also understand large-scale systems on a worldwide scale,” says Anderson. “A defense department in any country is enormous, much larger than entities in the private sector. They know how to compartmentalize and manage complex systems. Most people have a really hard time compartmentalizing at a world scale.” However, he says cultural IQ is the most important thing CIOs and other organizational leaders must understand and use to their advantage.“Because the DoD is world scale, you get experience with different cultures, different people from different parts of the world. As a result, you must learn to understand individuals from their cultural point of view. Otherwise, you’re just going to be frustrated all the time,” says Anderson. “The military is the same. It’s important to understand the nuances and respect them so you can engage people more effectively. The military personnel who aren’t good at that wash out early. The ones that are really good at it rise.” 

TRS-80, Commodore 64. Early PCs have laughable specifications by today’s standards, but they inspired a lot of creativity. Take Jacob Anderson, owner of Beyond Ordinary Software, for example. He started programming a Commodore 64 as a tween by building character management tools for his Dungeons and Dragons game. The Commodore 64 was an 8-bit machine with the Basic programming language built in. “I was 11 years old and very isolated in a small town, so I didn't really have any exposure to the outside world and everything that was happening with the whole personal computer revolution,” says Anderson. “My dad was the janitor at the middle school, so I helped him clean. One evening, he sat me down in a math classroom that had a Commodore 64-style environment, so I started playing Artillery Duel. I noticed a button on the keyboard called, ‘Run Stop,’ and if you hit that key, the program stops executing and becomes a terminal. I hit that key by accident and typed “list” and I saw all the source code. I instinctively understood everything.” His uncle subsequently helped his family buy a Commodore 64 and peripherals for Anderson, including a dot matrix printer. He became obsessed, spending nearly all his time programming. However, in high school, his progress slowed as he discovered girls and did the things high school kids do. When he went to college on a US Navy ROTC program scholarship at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), he discovered the program actually ran at The College of the Holy Cross in the evenings, which conflicted with his computer science schedule. Anderson chose to give up his three-year Navy scholarship to pursue a dual major in nuclear engineering and computer science. Since he had to figure out a way to pay for school, he got into the Science and Engineering Research Semester (SERS) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Applied Theoretical Physics Division, which develops novel applications of theoretical physics.  Related:At the time, Los Alamos was retiring its punch card mainframes and adopting modern software development practices. That was significant because at the time, the legacy software had been written in very old Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP).  When Anderson arrived for the SERS program, his advisor was John Hendricks, a Ph.D. nuclear engineer from MIT. Hendricks had Anderson running MCNP test problems to validate the physics that the problems were testing.  “I took the SERS program to complete my major qualifying project (MQP) at WPI, which was required for graduation. However, I felt that running test problems was a waste of time, so I voiced my concerns to my WPI advisor, John Mayer, and later to John Hendricks, who didn't appreciate my attitude,” says Anderson. “As a result, I planned to leave the SERS program and return to WPI to work on a different MQP.” Related:However, before Anderson could leave, Ken Van Riper, a Ph.D. astrophysicist from Cornell, met with him.  “[Ken] appreciated my perspective and offered me a project he was working on. I proposed developing a full GUI for it, and he let me take the lead. I stayed in the SERS program and completed the project, which became MUD—MCNP User Demonstration,” says Anderson. “MUD was a 3D graphics-based problem setup tool that could create MCNP input files, run MCNP and visualize the output as particle tracks. Nobody had previously developed a complete package with a simple ‘click the button’ approach. After I graduated from WPI, [Los Alamos] hired me as staff.” Next, he went to work at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN), where he found himself working for the Department of Defense (DoD) again and PRAJA, a dot-com immersive experience company. It focused on 3D visualization tracking of people in complex environments. While at PRAJA, he was the project lead on FOX NFL GameTracker 2000 and PRAJA Football 99. After that, he founded Beyond Ordinary Consulting alongside corporate roles as President of AccessQuery, a web-based job search engine, and XPLive, a SaaS company. He also served as managing partner and later managing director of Totally Evil Entertainment. Related:Important Lesson CIOs Can Learn Vicariously One thing Anderson has learned along the way is that military personnel can benefit the tech industry. “Military personnel are often highly trained, but they're focused on a very unique niche, and they own that entire niche. Whatever their operational job was, they own it. And that’s somewhat unique, because in the [civilian world], most people take a job for a little while, and then they bounce. They're very scattered when it comes to their career choices,” says Anderson. “When you deal with technical people you want them well versed in their niche job. And that's where the DoD comes in very handy, because the people who get that role are going to know it inside, out and backwards. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to hire DoD people.” Those who worked for the DoD are very regimented because they must adhere to certain policies and rules. “Military personnel understand the playing field and limitations. They’re good at limiting themselves, and they also understand large-scale systems on a worldwide scale,” says Anderson. “A defense department in any country is enormous, much larger than entities in the private sector. They know how to compartmentalize and manage complex systems. Most people have a really hard time compartmentalizing at a world scale.” However, he says cultural IQ is the most important thing CIOs and other organizational leaders must understand and use to their advantage.“Because the DoD is world scale, you get experience with different cultures, different people from different parts of the world. As a result, you must learn to understand individuals from their cultural point of view. Otherwise, you’re just going to be frustrated all the time,” says Anderson. “The military is the same. It’s important to understand the nuances and respect them so you can engage people more effectively. The military personnel who aren’t good at that wash out early. The ones that are really good at it rise.” 

Wireless mics fail when they rely too much on perfect conditions. BOYAMIC 2 fixes that by making every part of the system self-contained. Each transmitter records on its own. Each receiver controls levels, backups, and signal without needing an app. Noise is filtered in real time. Recording keeps going even if the connection drops. Designer: BOYAMIC There’s no need for a separate recorder or post-edit rescue. The unit handles gain shifts, background interference, and voice clarity without user intervention. Everything shows on screen. Adjustments happen through physical controls. Files are saved directly to internal memory. This system is built to capture clean audio without depending on external gear. It records immediately, adapts instantly, and stores everything without breaking the workflow. Industrial Design and Physical Form Each transmitter is small but solid. It’s 40 millimeters tall with a ridged surface that helps with grip and alignment. The finish reduces glare and makes handling easier. You can clip it or use the built-in magnet. Placement is quick, and it stays put. The record button is recessed, so you won’t hit it by mistake. An LED shows when it’s active. The mic capsule stays exposed but protected, avoiding interference from hands or clothing. Nothing sticks out or gets in the way.   The receiver is built around a screen and a knob. The 1.1-inch display shows battery, signal, gain, and status. The knob adjusts volume and selects settings. It works fast, without touchscreen lag. You can see and feel every change. Connections are spaced cleanly. One side has a USB-C port. The other has a 3.5 mm jack. A plug-in port supports USB-C or Lightning. The mount is fixed and locks into rigs without shifting. The charging case holds two transmitters and one receiver. Each has its own slot with magnetic contacts. Drop them in, close the lid, and they stay in place. LEDs on the case show power levels. There are no loose parts, exposed pins, or extra steps. Every shape and control supports fast setup and clear operation. You can press, turn, mount, and move without second-guessing. The design doesn’t try to be invisible; it stays readable, durable, and direct. Signal Processing and Audio Control BOYAMIC 2 uses onboard AI to separate voice from background noise. The system was trained on over 700,000 real-world sound samples. It filters traffic, crowds, wind, and mechanical hum in real time. Depending on the environment, you can toggle between strong and weak noise reduction. Both modes work directly from the transmitter or through the receiver. The mic uses a 6mm condenser capsule with a 48 kHz sample rate and 24-bit depth. The signal-to-noise ratio reaches 90 dB. Two low-cut filter options, at 75 Hz and 150 Hz, handle low-end rumble. These are effective against HVAC, engine hum, or low vibration. Gain is managed with automatic control. The system boosts quiet voices and pulls back when sound gets too loud. Built-in limiters stop clipping during spikes. A safety track records a second copy at -12 dB for backup. This makes it harder to lose a usable take even when volume jumps suddenly. Each setting is adjustable on screen. You don’t need a mobile app to access basic controls. Everything runs live and updates immediately. There are no delays or sync problems during capture. Recording and Storage Each transmitter records internally without needing the receiver. Files are saved in 32-bit float or 24-bit WAV formats. Internal storage is 8 GB. That gives you about ten hours of float audio or fifteen hours of 24-bit. When full, the system loops and overwrites older files. Recording continues even if the connection drops. Every session is split into timestamped chunks for fast transfer. You can plug the transmitter into any USB-C port and drag the files directly. No software is needed. This setup protects against signal loss, battery drops, or app crashes. The mic stays live, and the recording stays intact. Each transmitter runs for up to nine hours without noise cancellation or recording. With both features on, the runtime is closer to six hours. The receiver runs for about fifteen hours. The charging case holds enough power to recharge all three units twice. The system uses 2.4 GHz digital transmission. Its range can reach up to 300 meters in open areas. With walls or obstacles, it drops to around 60 meters. Latency stays at 25 milliseconds, even at long distances. You get reliable sync and stable audio across open ground or indoor spaces. Charging is handled through the included case or by direct USB-C. Each device takes under two hours to recharge fully. Compatibility and Multi-Device Support The system supports cameras, smartphones, and computers. USB-C and Lightning adapters are included. A 3.5 mm TRS cable connects the receiver to most cameras or mixers. While recording, you can charge your phone through the receiver, which is useful for long mobile shoots. One transmitter can send audio to up to four receivers at once, which helps with multi-angle setups or backup channels. The receiver also supports stereo, mono, and safety track modes. Based on your workflow, you choose how audio is split or merged. Settings can be changed from the receiver screen or through the BOYA app. The app adds firmware updates, custom EQ profiles, and gain presets for different camera brands. But the core controls don’t depend on it.The post BOYAMIC 2 Rebuilds Mobile Audio with AI and Onboard Capture first appeared on Yanko Design.