Bringing the Content Directly to You – VES Goes Virtual

By NAOMI GOLDMAN

In a time where things feel distant, we wanted to offer new ways to stay connected, engaged and inspired.  And so our VFX Pros: Home Edition webcast series was born in early spring.  Have you joined in?

Now, more than ever, we appreciate being a part of this strong, vibrant global community.  And, thanks to tech at our fingertips, we have been producing exclusive virtual conversations with visionary visual effects talent across the world – up close and personal!

The VES conceived VFX Pros: Home Edition as your channel for VFX stories behind-the-scenes, live conversations about cutting-edge technologies and techniques, discussions around he “VES 70: the most influential visual effects films of all time” and more!

Here’s a rundown on the programming you can access anytime – and a prelude of what’s up next!

Dennis Muren, VES, ASC

STAR WARS DAY with Dennis Muren, VES, ASC 

We celebrated STAR WARS DAY in high style with legendary visual effects artist Dennis Muren!  Catch this episode where we talked about creating a galaxy, far, far away, the legacy of STAR WARS and how he got this life-changing gig…pioneering techniques that marked new benchmarks in visual effects…other film juggernauts including the CG dinosaurs of JURASSIC PARK…the flying bicycles in E.T….his storied career at ILM…memorable meetups with Ray Harryhausen, George Lucas, Stanley Kubrick., Steven Spielberg…and so much more!

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/415104054

Jeffrey A. Okun, VES

Inside the VFX of National Geographic’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds

How do you use visual effects to showcase the beauty and poetry of science, and transport audiences on spiritual voyages of exploration? We went inside the VFX of National Geographic’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds with award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun, VES. Okun, who had young dreams of becoming an astronaut, took us inside his 18-month journey supervising visual effects on this season’s 13 episodes of Cosmos, the widely successful science documentary TV series, hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Hear about the VFX team’s exciting collaboration with scientists, the impact of dynamic scientific advances on storytelling and the tools and techniques that helped bring these worlds to life.

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/411274715

Harrison Ellenshaw, VES

The VES 70 Series – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

We talked about this animated musical fantasy film, one of the titles on the “VES 70: The Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time,” with award-winning matte artist and visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, VES.

You know the story of Snow White, but Harrison takes a closer look and shares his personal tales and professional insights into the film he calls “A Walt Disney masterpiece with a villain that makes Darth Vader look like a pussycat!” From the film’s pioneering use of a multiplane camera and how Disney himself “sold” the idea of people sitting still for a 90-minute cartoon…to Harrison’s full circle journey from a young ride operator at Disneyland to supervising the Kodak/Cinesite 4K restoration of the film in the early 1990’s…to the enduring power and legacy of classic films – it’s all in here.

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/409831085

The VES 70 Series – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

We talked about this ambitious tale of a trouble-shooting 19th century seaman investigating the disappearance of whaling ships, a megalomaniac Captain Nemo and high-tech submarine, one of the titles on the “VES 70: The Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time,” with award-winning matte artist and visual effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, VES.

It was the first film that Harrison’s celebrated father, award-wining matte designer and special effects creator Peter Ellenshaw, worked on, after moving to Sherman Oaks from the U.K. and Harrison shares tales of visiting the set and lessons learned from his dad, and why this film holds a special place for him.  Disney’s technical masterstroke of mounting the epic in CinemaScope aspect ratio, creating the exciting and memorable encounter with a pack of giant sea squid, and what happened to the official Oscar nomination for this winner of the golden statue for Best Achievement in Special Effects – we cover it all.

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/418111671

Colin Campbell

Emma Clifton Perry

Compositing: VFXer’s Inside Guide

We delved into the world of composting with digital compositing pros Colin Campbell, VES Board member and Emma Clifton Perry, VES Board 2^nd Vice Chair. Tune in to get their insights on tools and techniques, including — the evolution of compositing; photo-real vs. photo-believable; compositing best practices and pet peeves; the ins & outs of being a generalist vs specialist; overuse of fake camera and lens tricks; and hear stories of their favorite film comp sequences: how we did it and how would we do it today!

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/409991220

Thomas Graham

Aby Matthew

HDR and Dolby Vision Primer for VFX & Gaming

Check out our episode on HDR and Dolby Vision with Thomas Graham and Aby Matthew, senior pros at Dolby and Bill Villareal, VES Board member.  Here’s what you’ll learn in this session — what VFX professionals need to know about HDR; how PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) came about; end-to-end content creation and the VFX pipeline; color mapping to the capabilities of each device; and working with monitors – tips, recommendations and dealing with on-set challenge

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/408453333

What’s up next? Stay tuned for upcoming episodes on the “VES 70,” including:

Dennis Murren on The Wizard of Oz; Dennis Murren on 2001: A Space Odyssey; Dennis Murren on The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad; Harrison Ellenshaw on Darby O’Gill and the Little People; and Richard Winn Taylor, acclaimed creative and cinematic director, on TRON — and much more!

And you can view every episode of VFX Pros: Home Edition on demand at  https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/vfx-pros-home-edition/