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VES Awards 2006

By

William Kallay

The Visual Effects Society held its annual film festival and conference at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA.  The Visual Effects Society comprises over 1000 members and is the only society in the film business dedicated to visual effects artists.  Their festival was held July 6-8, 2006.  A number of panels, featuring some of the visual effects industry's top artists, included discussions on the summer's biggest visual effects movies.  "Poseidon," "Superman Returns,"  and "Cars" were some of the films highlighted. 

One of the biggest treats was the reunion of the visual effects crew of "Aliens" (1986).  It's hard to believe that 20 years ago this film showed how well a sequel could be made.  Written and directed by James Cameron, the film was made on a fairly low budget, but the visual effects crew managed to create some very spectacular effects.  As a result, the film won Oscars for Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson and Suzanne Benson.  Film memorabilia collector, actor and panelist, Bob Burns, complimented those sitting nearby for creating some outstanding creatures for "Aliens."  Many of those same creatures are featured in Burns' personal collection.

Visual effects artists, art directors, animators and Oscar-winning visual effects supervisors were on hand to discuss their craft.  Dennis Muren, who has helped create some of the most memorable visual effects in film history, took a moment to pose in front of an AT-AT from "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980).  Richard Edlund, ASC and Richard Taylor had a great time talking shop in the VIP tent sponsored by Sony Imageworks.  Stephen Chiodo, one of the famous Chiodo Brothers who helped bring Large Marge ("Pee-wee's Big Adventure" - 1985) to life, spoke to me about the human touch given to stop motion animation.

Many of the visual effects artists brought clips and "how-to" Quicktime movies of their work.  Even in this day and age of digital visual effects, there is a tremendous amount of artistry that goes into making Superman fly or extending practical studio sets to make them even bigger.  One of the interesting uses of digital technology was used in this summer's "Poseidon."  A kitchen set on the ship was pampered with digital carts and digital boxes of pasta.  Talk about going "overboard!"

There were a number of screenings of shorts, as well as director Frank Foster's great documentary, "The Story Of Computer Graphics" (1999).  There was also an advance screening of "Monster House."  I was only able to catch short segments of this film, but I can say from what I saw (including the last half hour or so), this film is lots of fun.  It's reminiscent of the 1980s Steven Spielberg produced films like "Gremlins" (1984) and "The Goonies" (1985), where a good story, good characters and a new and talented director (Gil Keenan) come together quite nicely.  The motion capture in this film (which was used on "The Polar Express") is more refined and the main characters (i.e. the kids) aren't as creepy looking as they were in "The Polar Express."

The festival wasn't all business.  Attendees were treated to a fast, foot tapping collection of 1940s songs by Chester Whitmore & His Jazz Band into the night. 

Going to the VES Film Festival is not only a treat for visual effects fans, but for almost anyone interested in the magic of making movies.  Visual effects artists and technicians rarely get noticed in the film industry for their often breaktaking work.  Here was a chance to see their goods on the big screen.  The VES Festival is open to the public, so keep an eye out for it next year.   

Special thanks to Ellen Pasternack, Johanna Burnlingham, Adam Ginsburg and Gene Kozicki

All photos © 2006 William Kallay.  All rights reserved.