VES News – Fall 2018

By NAOMI GOLDMAN

A legion of Star Wars characters pose with members and guests at the VES Bay Area Section Summer BBQ.

VES SECTIONS CELEBRATE SUMMERTIME

Section Summer Parties were in full gear. These social events are great opportunities for members to celebrate and to introduce partners and prospective members to this vibrant organization and VFX community.

Festive events, including parties, pub nights, BBQs and karaoke nights, were held in London, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco Bay Area. And kudos to VES Germany on hosting its first annual Summer Drinks and to VES France for hosting its first Summer BBQ.

Members and guests celebrate at the VES France first annual BBQ Party.

Members and guests celebrate at the VES New York Summer Party.

VES INDUCTS 2018 HONOREES

The VES Board of Directors is pleased to announce the 2018 inductees into the VES Hall of Fame, the newest Lifetime and Honorary members and this year’s recipient of the VES Founders Award.

VES Hall of Fame Honorees include:

L.B. Abbott (1908-1985). Lenwood Ballard Abbott, ASC, was an award-winning special effects expert, cinematographer and cameraman. He won four Academy Special Achievement Awards for Visual Effects for DOCTOR DOLITTLE, TORA! TORA! TORA!, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE and LOGAN’S RUN. Abbott was head of the Special Effects Department at 20th Century Fox from 1957-1970.

Richard “Doc” Baily (1953-2006). Baily was a visual effects pioneer, digital animator and creator of the abstract image construction software Spore. Doc is best known for the breathtaking visuals he created to represent the sentient planet in Steven Soderbergh’s film SOLARIS, which were generated at extremely high resolution. His filmography also includes BLADE, FIGHT CLUB and THE CELL.

Saul Bass (1920-1996). Bass was a renowned graphic designer, VFX consultant and Academy Award-winning filmmaker. During his 40-year career, Bass worked for some of Hollywood’s most prominent filmmakers including Hitchcock, Preminger, Kubrick and Scorsese. He is best known for designing some of the most iconic film posters and title sequences in film history, including VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO, SPARTACUS, WEST SIDE STORY and GOODFELLAS.

Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013). Harryhausen was a pioneering multiple-award-winning visual effects creator, writer and producer who created a form of stop-motion model animation known as Dynamation. His most memorable highlights include: working with his mentor Willis H. O’Brien on Academy Award winner MIGHTY JOE YOUNG; his first color film, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD; and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, which featured a legendary sword fight with skeleton warriors. He received the Academy’s Gordon E. Sawyer Award for technological contributions that brought credit to the industry.

Derek Meddings (1931-1995). Meddings was a special and visual effects supervisor who worked in television and film, most notably for the James Bond and SUPERMAN film series. Meddings was awarded a shared Special Achievement Academy Award for special effects on SUPERMAN and shared the BAFTA Michael Balcon Award. He was also Oscar-nominated for MOONRAKER and BAFTA-nominated for BATMAN and GOLDENEYE.

Eileen Moran (1952-2012). Moran was a multiple VES Award-winning visual effects producer known for her groundbreaking CG commercial work at Digital Domain and her feature work as an executive producer at Weta Digital. Moran won her first VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects for her work on KING KONG. She led the Weta Digital effects team on VES Award-winner AVATAR. She also received a VES nomination for THE ADVENTURES OF TIN-TIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN.

Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). Roddenberry was an award-winning writer and producer, best known for creating the STAR TREKfranchise. He was the first TV writer with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Roddenberry and STAR TREK have been cited as inspiration for other science fiction franchises, with George Lucas crediting the series for enabling STAR WARS to be produced.

Family members of the Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized on their behalf at a special VES program.

Jonathan Erland, VES

Lifetime Membership Honoree: Jonathan Erland, VES, for meritorious service to the Society and the global industry.

As Chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Visual Effects Award Steering Committee, Jonathan Erland was instrumental in establishing Visual Effects as a Branch of the Academy. He served 11 years on the Academy’s Board of Governors and 25 years on the Executive Committee of the Visual Effects Branch and the Scientific and Engineering Awards Committee.

Erland was a founder of the Visual Effects Society, the recipient of the inaugural VES Founders Award, and was among the first to receive the VES Fellows distinction. He also received the Academy’s Scientific and Engineering Award and the Gordon E. Sawyer Award in recognition of his career of technological contributions that have brought credit to the industry.

Jules Roman (Photo: Michael Clemens)

Honorary Membership Honoree: Jules Roman for her exemplary contributions to the entertainment industry and for furthering the interests and values of visual effects practitioners.

Jules Roman is co-founder and CEO of Tippett Studio. In this role, she has continually strived to push the creative and technical edge of the visual effects industry, from early, high-profile stop-motion design to lauded animation work on films SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, JURASSIC WORLD, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, THE TWILIGHT SAGA and TED.

Roman is recognized as a pragmatic leader in the field of animation and visual effects. She has been nimble in the face of runaway production overseas, maintaining her Berkeley-based studio by diversifying offerings for Themed Entertainment, TV Commercials, Mobile and VR content, and International productions.

Gene Kozicki (Photo: Gentle Giant)

Founders Award Honoree: Gene Kozicki for his sustained contributions to the art, science or business of visual effects and meritorious service to the Society.

Gene Kozicki has served as a member of the Board of Directors and L.A. Section Board of Managers and was the co-founder of the VES Festival for many years, as well as a moderator of numerous VES panels. As chair of the VES Archives Committee, he helped secure portions of personal archives of Robert Abel, Richard Edlund and others and was instrumental in organizing the VES archives and helping to secure funding to digitize many of our assets. As a VFX Historian, Kozicki is active in the archiving of information, imagery and artifacts from the visual effects industry and regularly consults with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the American Cinematheque on retrospectives and conservation.

Kozicki’s career has spanned almost three decades, from working with Robert and Dennis Skotak, who were tasked with blowing up Los Angeles for TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY. He joined VIFX in 1994 and then worked with Rhythm & Hues for more than a decade. He has worked on various STAR TREK series and films including TITANIC, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE and POWER RANGERS.