Vision & Craft

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH ILM AND WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT THE COMPANY?

I’ve been at ILM for over 2 years. I am a Senior FX Technical Director, and have designed fx at ILM on “Warcraft: The Beginning”, “Ant-Man” and “Captain America: Civil War”.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB AND/OR THE COMPANY?

My Job is really fun, FX is an extremely varied subject and every show/task is different, from creating magic portals leading to Azeroth in Warcraft, to producing infinitely detailed procedural fractal landscapes in the “Microverse” sequence in Ant-Man, each challenge is unique and rewarding. Industrial Light & Magic is an incredibly inspiring company, the caliber of artistic ability and experience is amazing and an incredible resource to drive my own work. It is a privilege to be working along side some of the individuals that are responsible for creating the effects that inspired me to learn to do visual effects in the first place.

WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE ON CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR?

On “Captain America: Civil War” I was an FX Lead. This entailed supervising 9 effects artists to complete over 200 challenging FX shots which included digital water, fire, magic FX, laser blasts, thrusters, rigid body simulations, you name it! A varied and broad scope of FX. In addition, I designed the look for Spider-Man’s webs, Hawkeye’s trick arrows, and Wanda’s jumping FX, as well as liaising with the other departments that we receive information and assets from, as well as those that we ultimately give assets and renders to.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU FACED ON THE SHOW?

Spider-Man’s webs were very challenging, creatively and technically. This is the first time we’ve seen Spider-Man in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film and the direction from the client was to realize a very different look to that we had seen in the recent Spider-Man stand alone films. Our brief was much more inspired by artist Todd McFarlane’s style in the Spider-Man comics he had Illustrated, as well as real life reference of very complex spider webs. As a team we were very excited by the challenge, it was a fun conceptual and technical challenge, marrying these beautiful illustrations and real life references together and bringing them to life as working 3D models. Attempting to capture the complexity of McFarlane’s style and do these incredible images justice, whilst allowing the webs to move, flex and wrap around real objects, like Cap’s Shield for example, in a believable and realistic way.

WHAT KEEPS YOU INSPIRED?

The incredibly varied challenges at ILM keep me inspired. As a company, ILM prides itself on taking on unique and interesting projects, selecting work that will push the envelope for ourselves and the Visual Effects industry as a whole. Within this field, FX is a dynamically changing subject, always on the forefront of technology whilst requiring exciting high level creative decision making. It never feels like the same challenge twice though there’s definitely room to utilize and expand on the skills you’ve learned from previous challenges to find your next solution. Secondly, the prestigious history of ILM, the inspiring artwork contained in it’s halls and the incredibly high level of talent and support of the excellent artists working here, pushes each us to do our very best.

Launched by the Ile de France Commission, the Paris Images Digital Summit is devoted to digital creation in its multiple manifestations, the latest trends and innovations in digital visual effects, CGI, motion-capture, 3-D and disruptive technologies in cinema, television, advertising, video games and transmedia.
Muren is a visual effects specialist often celebrated for his contributions to some of the defining features of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas which reshaped Hollywood: the Star Wars saga,  E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Abyss, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Super 8.
He is an eight-time winner of the Oscar® for Best Visual Effects and has also been recognized with a Sci-Tech Academy Award for the development of ILM’s Go-Motion™ technology.

The issue covers three films that ILM contributed visual effects to: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Revenant and Spectre.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd. present the beginning of a new trilogy set in a distant galaxy, 30 years after the fall of the evil Emperor Palpatine, in which regional governors jockey for power, and survivors of the Rebel Alliance and the last order of Jedi Knights confront new Imperial threats. Director J.J. Abrams conjures exotic worlds and bizarre creatures, working with visual effects supervisor Roger Guyett, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, special makeup effects supervisor Neal Scanlan and artists at Industrial Light & Magic, Base FX, Kelvin Optical, Blind Ltd., Propshop and Imaginarium Studios.
The Revenant
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this 1820s drama about a frontiersman who, after being mauled by a bear, seeks revenge against those who left him for dead. Celebrated Birdman director Alejandro Iñárritu helmed the project, with visual effects by ILM, One of Us, Cinesite, MPC Montreal, Soho VFX, and Vitality Visual Effects, and creature effects supervised by Mark Rappaport
Spectre
Skyfall director Sam Mendes returns to helm the newest Bond feature, Spectre, which pits 007 (Daniel Craig) against a sinister organization out to bring down MI6. Chris Corbould orchestrated Bond-scale practical effects on stage and on location, while artists at ILM London delivered spectacular visual effects shots, under the supervision of visual effects supervisor Mark Curtis.

Amidst the glitz and glamour at last evening’s Hollywood Film Awards, Visual Effects Supervisor Tim Alexander was presented with the Hollywood Visual Effects Award for Jurassic World. Alexander accepted on behalf the film’s lead visual effects house, ILM, and of all of the visual effects artisans who worked on the film – Some 400+ artists, technicians, scientists and production team members.
The awards ceremony took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and Ridley Scott, Reese Witherspoon, Robert DeNiro, Laura Dern, Jake Gyllenhaal, Selena Gomez, Alicia Vikander, Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, David O. Russell, Tom Hooper and Will Smith were a few of the celebrities that graced the stage.
“It’s an true honor to represent the amazing visual effects team we had on Jurassic World,” noted Alexander. “Everyone involved with the show knew we had responsibility to create the most believable creatures we’d ever committed to film not only to our Director Colin Trevorrow, and Producers and Executive Producers Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Pat Crowley, Thomas Tull and Chris Raimo, but to the fans of the Jurassic films – And I can tell you that all of us on the effects crew are huge fans of the series. We strove to bring these amazing creatures to life in such a way that you, as an audience member, would never doubt for a minute whether or not they were real.”

The Hollywood Post Alliance® (HPA) announced the nominees for the 2015 HPA Awards and we are thrilled to report that three ILM projects are up for consideration. In the Visual Effects for Feature Film category, ILM’s work on Jurassic World and Tomorrowland have each received nominations as has the company’s work on Marvel’s Agent Carter in the Visual Effects for Television category.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the HPA Awards, which honor artistic excellence and creative achievements within the greater post production industry. The HPA Awards are considered the standard-bearer for excellence and innovation in the industry, which now embraces an expanding array of groundbreaking technologies, content management and media distribution.

The HPA Awards recognize outstanding achievement in Editing, Sound, Visual Effects and Color Grading for work in television, commercials, and feature films.

On September 23rd, Facebook announced that 360-degree video would be rolling out in user’s news feeds later that day. Disney and Lucasfilm debuted an exclusive ILMxLAB 360 experience from our upcoming movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, bringing fans inside the beloved Star Wars universe skimming over the surface of Jakku.
“There’s also a whole world of video creators and storytellers who are at the cutting edge of exploring this medium, and over the coming days they too will be able to upload their 360 videos to Facebook,” noted Maher Saba, Facebook Engineering Director, Video, adding, “we’re excited to see more innovative and compelling 360 videos being shared from these publishers.”
Ben Snow, ILMxLAB Visual Effects Supervisor on the project added, “I’m thrilled to have had a hand in bringing this Star Wars experience to Facebook and fans around the world. We used the same assets created for the film and tailored the experience to play up the strength of 360-degree video and its ability to immerse viewers in the world presented to them. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it come to immersive experiences and it’s encouraging that a platform with the vast user base that Facebook has is supporting 360-degree video natively in the News Feed.”

HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED FOR ILM?

19 years

WHERE DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL AND WHAT DID YOU STUDY?

Marquette University – I have a BA in Broadcasting and Electronic Communication with a minor in Criminology

WHEN WAS THE MOMENT YOU DECIDED TO BE IN FILM?

From the broad perspective, I knew as a seven-year-old after seeing Star Wars for the first time that I wanted to be involved in making movies. From the more narrow perspective of my current discipline, I was working at a television station as a graphic artist, and when I was asked to remove something from several images I literally said to myself, “I’d love to find a job where I could do this kind of paint all day.”

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT ILM AND HOW DID YOU GET YOUR JOB?

I learned about ILM when I was a Star Wars-obsessed child. I arranged for an onsite informational interview with someone while attending Siggraph. I came to ILM, toured, and interviewed. They said they had technical positions available, but I was more suited for a creative position, and they would keep my resume on file. I was so sad not to have been offered a position, and was convinced I blew my one and only chance to work here. Then six months later, HR called me to interview for a position in the art department. I got the position and the rest is history.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ILM COMPANY EVENT?

Trivia Night! It’s a blast, and, it’s for a great cause.

WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE PROJECTS TO WORK ON SINCE YOU HAVE BEEN WITH THE COMPANY?

The Star Wars prequels, Magnolia, Mission: Impossible 3, Star Trek, Jurassic World

WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT PERSONALLY? WHAT DO YOU REALLY ENJOY? WHAT CAN’T YOU STOP TALKING ABOUT?

I love my dogs. I can’t stop talking about them or taking pictures of them. I also love traveling, reading, running, and collecting toys. (But not in that order.)WHAT FILMS INSPIRE YOUR WORK?

Star Wars, E.T., Alien, Kill Bill — it’s tough to narrow it down.

For 40 years, Industrial Light & Magic has set the standard for visual effects, creating some of the most memorable images in the history of modern cinema. From advances in the photo-chemical process, optical compositing, motion control, and models and miniatures, to the company’s pioneering efforts in computer graphics, digital compositing, film scanning and recording, morphing, digital environments, performance capture, character animation, and modern digital pipelines, ILM consistently breaks new ground in visual effects for film, television, themed attractions, and new forms of entertainment. The presenters discuss the company’s work from its earliest days and breakthroughs along the way.