50 most influential visual effects films

VES 50 most influential visual effects films

One of my students asked for a list of visual effects films to look at during the break between quarters at school.  

I directed him to the Visual Effects Society (VES) and their list of films.

 http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/documents/ves50revelfin.pdf

 This was their list on May 10, 2007.  We have had a few new VFX films since ’07.  Do you agree with this list?   If not, what are your choices?

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Digital vs. physical Jem’Hadar

In the last posting I shared images of the Jem’Hadar cruiser model. RKW asked for some comparison shots between the physical model and the CGI model used on DS-9.

Physical model from episode, "Ties of Blood and Water" (Gary Hutzel, vis efx supervisor)

As you could see from the photo above and next below, the physical model was pretty good looking and would have been used as long as possible on the series.

Physical model from episode, "Call to Arms"

With season 6 episode  #546,  “Valiant,”  we were forced to create a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) version of a Jem’Hadar ‘Battleship.’  The main reason was compelled by the story. If possible we would have used the physical model for both the cruiser and the Battleship, with the scale of the model being the only difference. Read the rest of this entry »

John Eaves’ Jem’Hadar for DS-9

Since John Eaves posted his excellent designs for the DS-9 Jem ‘Hadar battle ship, I thought I would let you see it as a model.  

John’s design translated into a terrific looking model that was fun to light and photograph. Read the rest of this entry »

Another Buck Rogers matte shot

Here is another of Syd Dutton’s terrific Buck Rogers matte paintings.  Syd again used the original negative / latent image compositing technique.

“V-The Final Battle” mothership

This is one of my favorite shots of the Mothership from “V-The Final Battle.”  This was a gorgeous model constructed by famed model maker, Greg Jein.  It was about 30 inches across and made of cast resin with neon internal lighting.

The composite was done “in-the-camera” on the original negative for best quality. The move was programmed with a repeating motion controlled camera rig.  To make this shot work we had to be able to repeat the camera & saucer move over and over to capture the model, lights, matte, earth and stars. Read the rest of this entry »