A four-part seminar examining the art of visual effects will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences beginning April 30, 2002, at 7:00 pm. The series will continue for three additional Tuesday evenings - May 7, 14 and 21 - and will feature participants who have garnered 25 Academy Award nominations among them. Each session of "The State of the Visual Effects Arts" will focus on a specific area of the visual effects field and will be moderated by Jamie Price, who created the visual effects for THE TIME MACHINE and BICENTENNIAL MAN. In addition to viewing film clips and effects reels, the audience will participate in open discussion with guest visual effects supervisors. Registration for the series is $80 for the general public and $60 for Academy members and students with valid identification. Space is limited. Interested parties may register in advance at the Academy during regular business hours or by mail. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For additional information call 310-247-3000, ext. 111.
Following is the schedule of topics and participants (subject to change):
April 30: "Traveling Mattes & Matte Paintings," featuring Bill Taylor, whose credits include THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and THE MASK OF ZORRO, and Henry Bumstead, who has received four Academy Award nominations for art direction and won for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE STING.
May 7: "Motion Control & Miniatures," featuring Hoyt Yeatman, who has received two Academy Award nominations for visual effects and won for THE ABYSS, and Richard Edlund, who has received two Special Achievement Awards for visual effects, for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI. Edlund also has garnered eight Academy Award nominations for visual effects and won for STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
May 14: "Special Effects and Visual Effects, What's the Difference?" featuring Matt Sweeney, who received an Academy Award nomination for visual effects for APOLLO 13.
May 21: "Computer Generated Imagery & the Future," featuring Ken Ralston, who received a Special Achievement Award for visual effects for RETURN OF THE JEDI and six Academy Award nominations for visual effects, and has won four Oscars, for COCOON, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, DEATH BECOMES HER, and FORREST GUMP; Robert Legato, who received two Academy Award nominations for visual effects and won for TITANIC; Habib Zargarour, who received Academy Award nominations for visual effects for TWISTER and THE PERFECT STORM, and Eric Armstrong, whose credits include CASPER and JURASSIC PARK.
