Eli5: How do they make the fake OS for computers in movies and are they functional?
In: Technology
It depends. Every movie does this differently depending on what is required by the script, the director, the graphics designer, etc. To make the graphics on the screen they turn to a graphics designer. They might take elements from real operating systems but will compose them into a graphic animation for the movie. These are not functional because they do not have to be, and it is easier to work with then having the actors actually use the system. It is possible to play this graphics on the monitor on set. A lot of movies did this, for example War Games. This makes it look the most realistic with reflections, lighting and actors reactions being as real as they can get.
But there are problems with this. It may be hard to sync the actors performance to the graphics. Some movies go to the effort of making the graphics interactive. Pushing a button advances the animation, kind of like a slide show. You could either have it connected to some sequencer controlled behind the camera or you can make the keyboard in front of the actors advance the animation. Essentially you can make the buttons on the computer work like a real computer, but with the ultimate autocorrect. I know that Mr, Robot often did this.
Another issue is that you might want to alter the graphics after filming, either because they were not done at the time of the shooting or because the director wants to change it. It is possible to digitally compose the image over the screen in post production. Preferably you want the monitors on set to display a single color, like blue, to make it easy to key out. But is is possible to have someone rotoscope it as well.
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