Visual effects supervisor Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser discusses the collaborative effort to make Alien fans scream once more.By Dan Brooks(Credit: 20th Century Studios)Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser remembers it well. It was summer 1979. He was 12 years old. Two years prior, Star Wars: A New HopeAlien and he was dying to see it, though he was too young to buy a ticket and his parents refused to take him. As such, Sepulveda-Fauser did what any underage cinema-obsessed kid would: he snuck in to see it at Los Angeles vaunted Egyptian Theatre.I remember the impact that it had on me, he tells ILM.com. It was the first movie that I saw where I said, Oh my God, thats what a real alien movie is about.Cut to 2024, and Sepulveda-Fauser is now a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, having led the companys Sydney studio in work on Alien: Romulus. For him, Alien will always be about the feeling of Ridley Scotts original film and, thankfully, Alien: Romulus director Fede lvarez thought the same.When Fede described his idea of making it like the original, it was just one of those realizations where its like, man, I get to recreate that childhood moment, in a way, Sepulveda-Fauser says. The result was a 40-year full circle for me.Alien: Romulus arrived in theaters August 16 and quickly became a bona-fide box-office hit; as the movie continued its impressive run, Sepulveda-Fauser spoke with ILM.com about his approach to Romulus visual effects and the secrets behind some of its most memorable sequences.Concept art by Amy Beth Christenson (Credit: ILM & 20th Century Studios)Back to basicsThe seventh film in the Alien series, Alien: Romulus takes place between the events of the original film and Aliens (1986), and follows a group of young Weyland-Yutani colony workers eager to abscond to a better life. At the heart of Alien: Romulus are Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her adopted brother, Andy (David Jonsson), who just happens to be a kind-hearted but damaged robot. A chance at escape leads the crew to an abandoned spacecraft, but instead of freedom they find unexpected terrors including our old friend, the xenomorph.Romulus leans into the series horror roots and, from the beginning, lvarez and Sepulveda-Fauser were in alignment on how it all should look.From the get-go, from the day that I met him, one of the very first things that he said was, I dont want this thing to feel CG. I want this creature to feel real. If it doesnt feel real, its not going to be scary. So the goal was to get as many practical elements in camera as we could. Everything else that we needed to build in computer graphics had to work around that, and integrate into photography seamlessly. This would be a stark contrast to 2017s Alien: Covenant, the last film in the series, which relied heavily on digital effects and creatures. For Romulus, Legacy Effects was on board to handle the practical elements, with ILM and Weta FX creating the visual effects for various sequences.Director Fede lvarez. Photo by Murray Close. (Credit: 20th Century Studios)Under this ethos, the main challenge for Sepulveda-Fauser, as well as production visual effects supervisor Eric Barba, was matching ILMs visual effects to Legacys practical work; if they were successful, audiences would not be able to tell where one stopped and the other started. This includes not just creatures, but sets and starships. lvarez had the model shop create miniatures of the Corbelan ship, research center, and the EV, which Sepulveda-Fauser used to create digital replicas for the movie. The tricky part was keeping the character of a practical model in the close-ups, he notes.First and foremost, however, was bringing the xenomorph back to life.Bigger ChapWhen it came to realizing the xenomorph, Alien: Romulus used just about every trick in the book. There was a man-in-a-suit version, a bunraku puppet, and an electronic build. Scenes requiring more fluid movement, however, meant ILM would have to work its magic.The Legacy puppets are beautiful up close. They hold up really well. But as soon as we have to incorporate specific body movements, we have to jump in with visual effects, Sepulveda-Fauser says. When the xenomorph is in motion, we cant get a practical creature of that size to perform some of the movements required for an action sequence. In the elevator shaft sequence, for example, when hes getting shot or when he catches Rain or hes coming toward her, those scenes are a blend of our wide and medium close-ups with practical effects. We had to match the xenomorph model perfectly so we could have closeups cut between practical and CG.(Credit: 20th Century Studios)Still, Sepulveda-Fauser and his team took care not to overdo it, always looking at the original Big Chap, as the xenomorph was called during production of Alien, as a guide, as well as those in James Camerons Aliens for reference.Fede always said, I want this alien to be creepy. He didnt want over-exaggerated motion on the creature, Sepulveda-Fauser explains. His concern was that as soon as it moves too much or too fast, we take the audience out of the movie. We start feeling that CG on the screen. He wanted creepier movements. Thats why theres the slow crawling on the walls. The slower movements make it feel creepier, strange. The creature is doing something impossible its crawling on a wall yet we had to make it feel possible, ominous, and weird.Ultimately, having Legacys new builds proved to be the best reference.I mean, seeing a practical creature on set is inspiring. Youre seeing it under real, live conditions and in real action, he says. You see it and think, We know exactly what this xeno needs to look like, and we did. We replicated it as faithfully as we could to a real living creature.Facehugger strollOne of the more tense sequences of Alien: Romulus finds Rain, Andy, and friends tip-toeing through a frigid corridor, hoping to avoid the attention of the crafts resident Facehuggers. Throughout, the creepy crawlies move slowly, tapping their finger-like appendages, before finally becoming alert to their guests presence and launching a spine-tingling attack.Thats funny, because that sequence was shot in a couple of different spots, Sepulveda-Fauser notes. I shot a lot of that second unit, and that was in conjunction with some puppet work for the Facehuggers. There were Facehuggers that were set up in crates by the Weta puppeteers and the actors performed through the rest of the set imagining the CG huggers that we would fill in. When you look at that sequence, its a combination of, again, jumping from practicals to all CG. The Facehugger was another creature that we had to match absolutely perfectly.Animating the Facehuggers is one case where ILM broke a bit from the original films, feeling the creatures could use a bit more fluidity to satisfy Fedes vision.In some cases when we saw that action of the Facehugger on set, it was obvious that it was a puppet. Although that was desirable in many cases, after a while the director realized this sequence was not going to be super exciting with things on wheels rolling along chasing these guys, Sepulveda-Fauser says. So we had to work out different Hugger run cycles for the chase. That took some time and experimentation, because it needed to both look like a mechanical thing, so it could pass as practical, and also it needed to follow this very specific action that the director wanted. We went through tons and tons of experimentation on how to make that work and, finally, we landed on something that Fede was really happy with, because they still look like they could be animatronic. We always kept it to some grounded reality.The x-rayFeatured prominently in the movies trailer is a particularly disturbing scene: the crews pilot, Navarro, uses an x-ray wand to scan her own chest, and finds something alive inside. Its a clever spin on the series classic chestburster scenes of old and, to work, it had to look both believable and creepy.When the creature guys came on to do the chestburster, everybody was really excited because they were doing tests on the side and it was the first time we were seeing something so iconic to Alien in a scene, recalls Sepulveda-Fauser. It was a good feeling, Were going to do it like they did in the original. When Fede came up with the idea of the x-ray, it was even more exciting because weve never seen what this looks like from the inside. How exactly do we do that? So we digitally-built all of Navarros skeletal, muscular, circulatory structure, as well as organs. We researched the look of an x-ray, and we worked up the ideas in compositing, with animation to match the original puppet, broke some ribs, and popped it through. It was a quick moment but pretty neat.Considering its heavy use in promoting Alien: Romulus, I submit to Sepulveda-Fauser that this scene played a large role in getting fans new and old excited for the movie.It was a new take on the chestbuster and he made it terrifying in a different way, Sepulveda-Fauser says. I remember the original movie. You didnt know what was going to happen, then all of a sudden, blam! This guys on the table and the alien pops out of his chest and everybody in the audience goes bonkers. You couldnt do that again. If you recreate it, its not going to be as effective. So setting it up with Navarro, again feeling sick, you kind of know whats going to happen, but you actually dont know whats going to happen. The reveal of the creature from the inside was a great idea. That was the scary moment. Understanding this thing is ready to pop out. We werent repeating the original, were scaring you in a slightly different way, and I thought that was really cool.Zero-G journeyIn a movie filled with action set pieces, this might be the standout. Following a shootout with a xenomorph swarm, Rain must navigate from one end of a hall to another all in zero gravity while the creatures acid blood floats dangerously around her. Initially, however, it was meant to be a much smaller sequence.That was an interesting one because Fede had a really specific idea of what he wanted, explains Sepulveda-Fauser. In the beginning when we were first understanding the effect, it was a lot more subdued. It was going to be some alien blood in zero-g. But its a big action sequence and Rains had this big fight. There was a lot going on. The acid effect needed to have more character and quickly developed into, No, the acid is an actor in this scene. This is a very, very scary moment. Its got to be something else, it needs to be frightening, turbulent, its got to be an immediate danger that they cant pass. And it needs to perform with intensity and visual impact.To achieve the intensity of the redesigned sequence, Sepulveda-Fausers Sydney team worked closely with ILMs San Francisco studio.We worked hard with the team in San Francisco to put all this together, he says. There were a lot of requirements there. We were in zero-g, it needed to be terrifying, it needed to come toward our actors, to look impassable, but they still needed to be able to somehow make it through. We also needed a moving air current to affect the acid swirling in zero-g. So there was a lot of choreography needed. It took a lot of development and experimentation to get the recipe for realism so that it didnt feel magical as in a Harry Potter movie. It was easy to go into a fantasy world really quick with this effect. We finally came to a setup that I believe was successful, so that it sold the idea that this was possible as kind of a funnel of real acid happening within the set.Signing offThanks to the success of Alien: Romulus, now the highest-grossing horror film of the year, the future seems bright for the xenomorph and our favorite space horror franchise. Though its gratifying for Sepulveda-Fauser, the reward is in the work on-screen.It makes me really proud to say that the Sydney team put this together, Sepulveda-Fauser concludes. Im a little older now. Ive been at ILM for 20 years and in the industry for 30-plus years. A lot of the people that I worked with are of course a bit younger and very, very excited about what we do. To see that new generation of talent embracing traditional methods of filmmaking and adding to it is inspiring. This was one of those shows where youre looking back at film history, looking back at a historic movie, and having to produce something new that still touches back to that with fidelity. This team really put in a thousand percent to make that happen. We achieved something memorable, hopefully for the audiences but even more so for us as big fans. It was a difficult task and it was an easy thing to not get right. But the crew got it right. They worked so hard and put so much care and love into it, that it worked. I really am proud of this work. Its likely one of the best projects that Ive ever worked on.Dan Brooks is a writer who loves movies, comics, video games, and sports. A member of the Lucasfilm Online team for over a decade, Dan served as senior editor of both StarWars.com and Lucasfilm.com, and is a co-author of DK Publishings Star Wars Encyclopedia. Follow him on Instagram at @therealdanbrooks and X at @dan_brooks.

Heads still roll 25 years later in the Tim Burton classic Sleepy Hollow. Revisit all of the eerie magic behind Industrial Light & Magics work that brought Washington Irvings folktale to life and reintroduced audiences to one of cinemas greatest on-screen monsters, the headless horseman.By Adam BerryThe headless horseman pursuing Ichabod Crane in the Western Woods. (Credit: Paramount)On October 5th, 1949, the Walt Disney Studios released a feature film that reimagined two classic pieces of literature through the guise of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). While the first half retells the whimsical story of Kenneth Grahames The Wind in the Willows (1908), it is the second half that left a long-lasting impression on young audiences as they were introduced to American writer Washington Irvings eerie folktale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820).Released just in time for Halloween that year, this feature would go on to be recognized as one of Disneys classics due to its memorable songs, beautiful animation, and the unforgettable visualization of Irvings ghostly antagonist, the headless horseman. The unsettling imagery of a headless man riding horseback with a sword in one hand and a flaming jack-olantern in the other allowed the legend to evolve as film versions were passed down to new generations. 50 years later, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow would once again evolve on screen, and explore the story in new ways, re-introducing audiences to Irvings horrific tale of the undead horseman.To take this classic into a tangible world, a highly imaginative and visual mind was necessary to capture the fantastical elements of this story while rooting it in a sense of reality. Tim Burton, director of such films as Beetlejuice (1988)Edward Scissorhands (1990),American Cinematographer, I was really familiar with the original story because Id seen the Disney cartoon. I actually didnt read the source novel until after I had read the script. Burtons own history with Disney, including attending the California Institute of the Arts on a Disney scholarship, and working at Walt Disney Studios as an animator on projects such as The Black Cauldron (1985),Sleepy Hollow.Concept art by Scott Leberecht depicts an eerie atmosphere shrouded in fog on the road to Sleepy Hollow.(Credit: Paramount & ILM)Burtons vision was to create a fantasy world that felt real in which the headless horseman could exist. The aesthetic needed to emulate, but not copy, the atmosphere of the classic Hammer Studios horror films such as Dracula (1931)Frankenstein (1931) with their moody and gothic tones that left the audience in a state of unease. With that being said, Italian director Mario Bavas Black Sunday (1960) was the core inspiration for the film, giving Sleepy Hollow (1999) a classic movie feel while adding elements that were pictorial and synthetic.To achieve his vision of what Sleepy Hollow needed to look like, Burton knew there had to be a balance between the use of traditional special effects and digital visual effects. Digital technology is very interesting and certainly has its place in filmmaking, but when youre watching a movie like Black Sunday you really feel as if youre there, said Burton. While he was resistant to using visual effects at first, he relied on the artists at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to help realize the full scope of his vision, particularly when it came to bringing the headless horseman into existence as a living, breathing creature.ILM visual effects supervisor Jim Mitchell was tasked with solving how the horseman could exist in the film as a real man without having to rely on older methods. Tricks like having the coat propped up on the actors shoulders didnt work as the proportions were wrong, eliminating the appearance that the horseman was indeed a man. Mitchell said, Tim and I knew that something just wasnt going to be right with that approach. We eventually decided that our Headless Horseman would be an actual person riding the horse and flailing his axe around, except that wed just digitally erase his head.The most complex shots for ILM involved removing the horsemans head. There were about 300 horseman shots altogether, with ILM creating 220 and Londons Computer Film Company contributing the rest. To convincingly convey that the horseman was real, the ILM team innovated a special blue hood for stunt actor Ray Park to wear during action sequences that the ILM artists could later isolate and erase from the shot. Blue was used as it is easily keyed from the plate so the effects team could restore the background in place of the head.The headless horseman claims his next victim. (Credit: Paramount)To fill the space where the actors head was taken out, a clean background plate of the sequence was shot, but the artists noticed that one element was still missing as the horseman has a large cape with a collar around his neck. It was not only necessary to replace the background where his head would have been, but to also make a digital collar in the computer that was then matched to his movements, shared computer graphics artist Sean Schur in Paramount Pictures Behind the Legend documentary. By using actors and replacing heads digitally, the horseman presents as a living and breathing creature.Achieving this effect was particularly challenging during fight sequences with actors Johnny Depp and Casper Van Dien as their faces would be blocked out by the horseman actors blue hood. Once ILM erased the horsemans head, they would also have to go back and eliminate the other actors heads as well. Mitchell shared, I would have Johnny or Casper go through the same actions without the Horseman in there, and wed just put their head into any frames where the horsemans head was blocking theirs. Its a tricky process, but it was actually pretty effective.Equally as challenging were the beheading scenes throughout the film. Creature effects artist Kevin Yagher created prosthetic heads of the actors for use in these pivotal moments while ILM was able to digitally recreate the scene using a series of three plates to blend together and form one cohesive shot. Using the scene in which the menacing Lady Van Tassel (Miranda Richardson) decapitates her bewitching sister as an example, Richardson would be filmed going through the motions of swinging her axe to dead air, then the prosthetic head flying off the body of her sister would be filmed separately, and finally the digital capture of that scene would be created. Once all three plates were finished, ILM would blend these together to make a seamless sequence for each beheading, making it feel all the more real for the audience. This was not an easy task for the artists as the film has ten decapitation sequences.Concept art by Scott Leberecht shows ILMs approach to depicting the headless horsemans return to hell. (Credit: Paramount & ILM)Burton wanted to convey suspense and a sense of impending doom throughout the film and tasked ILM with a series of subtle visual effects shots that added to the unsettling feeling when the horseman would appear. Most notable is the disturbing scene where the horseman pursues a family at their home. Killian (Steven Waddington) sits at his table with a crackling fire, which spontaneously erupts into larger flames seconds before the horseman crashes down the door. Sequence Supervisor Joel Aron shared, I took the skull, which is the headless horsemans skull, so I pulled up the eyebrows giving it this demonic look with a strong forehead, curling up the corners of the mouth and bringing the jaw around to continue to sculpt what would be the fire so that I knew when the fire would come off it would have an irregular shape. Its a blink-and-you-will-miss-it effect, but if you look closely you can see 13 demonic faces emerge within the flames in a quick flash which is meant to indicate that evil is present. Its so subtle that it was intended for audiences to question whether they really saw the faces or not.Natural elements were also added and utilized to punctuate the horsemans presence.The subtle introduction of thick fog and flashes of lightning appear every time the horseman gallops toward his next victim in pure cinematic fashion. Sleepy Hollow was shot mostly on location in a small town called Marlow, just outside of London, which meant the environment presented Burton with an ideal setting for the gloomy atmosphere. These elements could be viewed by some as cheap tricks in a major film but the use of heavy smoke for fog makes the atmosphere more haunting and interesting. In the Western Woods set and at some of the other locations, you can definitely see the smoke it looks like the fog they used in the old Frankenstein and Mummy movies, said director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki.While using smoke allowed the filmmakers to get a consistent movie look, it presented challenges for the ILM team as once they were finished adding actors heads back into the shots they would also have to build back in the foggy backgrounds and natural elements in each scene. The big problem for us was [that] every shot involving the horseman also had lightning and fog, explained Jim Mitchell, which was constantly moving and always changing, as opposed to trees and buildings, which are rigid. Whenever lightning hit the Horseman, we had to make sure that when we replaced his collar or any other parts of his suit that his head was blocking, we put the same lighting effect on it.To simplify this, Mitchell asked Burton and Lubezki to shoot the scenes as though the actors heads were already removed despite the level of complexity it would add for the ILM team to ensure the elements moved organically with the actors as they rushed through the fog, or horse hooves galloped through the settled leaves on the ground. There are all kinds of things wed prefer to stay away from when were doing this type of work, but if you lose those [atmospheric] touches, all of a sudden its not the same sort of visual, and it doesnt have the same power, concluded Mitchell.The headless horseman emerges from the tree of the dead. (Credit: Paramount)This is especially apparent during a highly intense scene mid-film when the protagonists discover the tree of the dead, which is the horsemans resting place and gateway to hell. The combination of the natural elements like fog and tree leaves with digital effects cemented the believability of this scene as the horseman enters from the base of the tree in a bloody and terrifying fashion. There were multiple plates used to build this effect. Firstly, a blue screen plate of the horse and jumping rider was shot. Next, a background shot of the forest environment, with the tree of the dead and actors standing close to where the horse emerges. Finally, a shot of the fog and leaves being disturbed creates the effect of the horseman jumping out of the tree. ILM didnt have a bluescreen shot of an actual horse, so they had to create one in the computer, as well as the headless horseman, which are both digital elements. Similarly to the decapitation sequences, artists layered all of these separate plates on top of each other to form the singular shot making a scene that might have been unrealistic feel very believable instead.It has been 25 years since its initial theatrical release, and rewatching Sleepy Hollow you can witness firsthand how ILMs work remains timeless and able to reach new generations. The eerie and suspenseful atmosphere that Sleepy Hollow pulls audiences in and stands as a formidable achievement of classic Hollywood filmmaking, adding another iconic cinematic monster with the headless horseman, who is equally as feared standing next to other horror icons such as the unnerving Count Dracula, and misunderstood Frankenstein monster. Washington Irvings The Legend of Sleepy Hollow lives on through the visionary work of artists from each generation. For Burtons retelling, ILM wielded the eerie magic that gave life to the undying legend of the headless horseman.Adam Berry is the Studio Operations Manager for the ILM Vancouver studio. His passion for film led Adam to ILM in 2022, coming from an extensive career across different sectors of the hospitality industry including cruise ships, luxury hotels and resorts. If hes not at the movies or traveling to new destinations, you can find Adam staying active and exploring Vancouver.

After 38 years, the veteran effects artist is retiring.By Lucas O. SeastromFirst opening in 1987, the original Star Tours attraction at Disneyland included what was the most complex optical composite created at Industrial Light & Magic up to that time. A view out the window of a starspeeder was in fact a state-of-the-art flight simulator developed by Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) and Rediffusion Simulation with miniature effects by ILM. Among the thrilling encounters for passengers onboard was a harrowing trip through a cluster of icy comets which the crew dubbed ice-teroids.Compositing in this photochemical era involved a piece of equipment known as an optical printer. With iterations dating back to the earliest days of cinema, optical printers combined separately-photographed elements by recapturing them one frame and one layer at a time onto a new roll of film negative. Optical printers and the artists who operated them created the final effect one viewed onscreen with everything carefully (and painstakingly) blended together. Going back to Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), ILM had developed the most sophisticated compositing techniques yet seen, allowing for even greater refinement and finesse.The ice-teroid shot in Star Tours combined some 60 elements of individual sections of film. By comparison, the most complex shot of a space battle in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) just a few years earlier had little more than half the number. One of the two optical printer operators to work on the new shot for Star Tours was Jon Alexander, hired only that year in 1986.Don Clark and I worked on the shot together on the Anderson Optical Printer, Alexander tells ILM.com, and once you started, you couldnt stop. Once you started a shot all the motors warmed up and they needed to stay on. If they were turned off you risked the machine cooling down and settling into a misalignment of the earlier passes. It took 24 hours to make all the elements so we split 12 hour shifts.The Anderson was an old-style optical printer, Alexander continues, where if you wanted to add any movement to the shot you had to crank little knobs by hand with an accuracy at best of a couple hundreds of an inch. Some years later ILM acquired the MC [motion-control] printer which was accurate to within a couple ten-thousandths of an inch, which is crazy. Its like throwing a baseball from here in San Francisco and hitting the Empire State Building in New York.38 years later, Jon Alexander has now decided to retire, and ILM is celebrating his storied tenure with the company that stretches over dozens of films, series, attractions, and special venue projects not to mention quite a lot of technological change.Back in the late 1970s, Alexander had what he calls a wandering college career while studying at Ohio State University. With a background in both engineering and cinematography, he arrived in Southern California in 1980 to work at Calico Creations, an active commercial house. There, Alexander gained experience with motion-control camera systems, innovative tools that combined the latest computer technology with mechanical engineering. This was before personal computers were readily available, he notes. We were doing programming with machine tools to create motion graphics for around 50 commercials a year. Everyone wanted something like 2001: A Space Odyssey [1968], the slit-scan style. It was a very manual process.These tools were used for everything from photographing miniatures to shooting hand-drawn cels on an animation stand. In conjunction with the team at Calico was Bill Tondreau, an accomplished engineer who designed his own motion-control systems, which Alexander learned to use.The system that ILM used on Star Wars was very analog, Alexander explains. You could speed up or slow down, but it was very hard to hit specific points. It was an art for those guys to get used to. They were flying in space so it didnt have to be as precise. They got really good at it, but it wasnt as adaptable as what Bill Tondreau later developed, which used stepper motors. ILM was switching over to this style, and my colleague Rob Burton at Calico was hired by ILM for Howard the Duck [1986], and they had so much work that they needed more operators. They had to be Tondreau-system operators, so they recommended me. They were looking for someone to do this specific thing, and hired me for three months. I have milked that for 38 years.Alexander works at an animation stand on one of his early ILM productions, The Witches of Eastwick (1987).Initially, Alexander worked in the animation department, photographing cels with a down-shooting system. Among these projects was The Witches of Eastwick (1987), for which Alexander shot a tennis ball as a lone element for a scene involving a doubles match. This was required because, as Alexander recalls it, only the actress Cher knew how to play tennis, so the cast mimed the game without a ball.It was while working on this camera for Eastwick that I met Michael Jackson, Alexander says. I was working late and no one else was in the back of D Building [at ILMs Kerner facility]. I was leaning over and adjusting the tennis ball when I got this feeling someone was right behind me. I turned my head and he was about three feet away with two of the biggest men security guards Id ever seen. [Producer] Patty Blau popped around the guards and said, Hi, this is Michael. He was wondering what you were doing. This was around the time ILM was finishing up [Disneyland attraction] Captain EO.Alexanders technical experience once again necessitated a move, this time to the optical department, where a new optical printer was being refined. The aforementioned MC, or motion-control printer had been developed by Los Angeles-based Mechanical Concepts as a first of its kind device.It was a motion-control printer, but when it got here, it didnt work, Alexander explains. Everything was project to project in those days, but optical was always going and it looked like they needed more folks. When I heard about this new printer, I went up to Kenneth Smith, who was running optical at the time, and explained that I could put a Tondreau system on it. I had done some optical work in L.A., so it wasnt entirely foreign, but ILM was off the charts in terms of the people and equipment they had.Alexander collaborated with machinist Udo Pampel to reconfigure the MC printer to run on the system. The result was arguably ILMs most sophisticated optical printer that allowed artists to create not only incredibly precise composites, but recreate shots entirely by adding movements or zooms. An early assignment for the Academy Award-winning Innerspace (1987) required Alexander to simulate the bouncing undulations of the camera inside the body of actor Martin Short.They were cutting back and forth between Martin Short running and this smooth motion-control inside the body, and [visual effects supervisor] Dennis [Muren] thought it looked weird, Alexander says. But at that point they couldnt go back out on stage and reshoot everything. Dennis asked me if I could do something that had the same up and down motion of running. It was a tough thing to do on the stage, but it wasnt particularly tough on the MC Printer because I could project onto the wall, track something specific like a button at the center of his chest, which then provided a curve like someone running along. So when I did the composite, it matched up. It was no problem to do that because of the way the printer was set up. I used to do a lot of that kind of match-moving stuff to project onto the wall and track something in a minute way. Thats entry-level now, but to do that in post at the time was almost impossible because there were so few motion-control printers around. We had one of the first.Alexander at work on the motion-control or MC optical printer.As Alexander notes, for a handful of years, his position was among the most significant in ILMs pipeline, considering that most everything had to be funneled through the MC printer. Looking back at these things, it wasnt a big deal to accomplish, he admits. It was just that people hadnt done it before. Supervisors like Dennis or Ken Ralston could expand what they wanted to do creatively, and people like me were a great set of hands to help them.Change was in the air, however, and computer graphics (CG) effects were steadily on the rise. At a time when many traditional artists and technicians were making decisions about whether to embrace the change, Alexander lept in headfirst. At that time, there were no BFAs in computer graphics, he explains. You had to come out of an engineering school just to do anything. It fostered this new kind of collaboration. We on the film side knew what the final product had to look like and the programmers knew the math and physics to make it possible.Alexander remains very matter-of-fact about the transition. CG helped eliminate the painful aspects of working on film. Youd work for hours on something, moving and adjusting things. It was so choreographed that you had to put the filters in the exact same order each time to get the same result. Then after you shot it, youd go to the dark room, turn the lights out, unload the magazine and put the film in a can, and then youd turn the lights on and realize youd forgotten to close the canand what you just shot was gone. In CG, if you make a mistake, you press Undo.Among Alexanders first CG projects were Fire in the Sky (1993), The Flintstones (1994), and Forrest Gump (1994). A personal standout shot came in 1998s Meet Joe Black when he had to help create the shocking death of actor Brad Pitts character, a young man who is hit by two cars while crossing a street. They shot the different elements with bluescreen, Alexander says. The cars came in slow because it was too dangerous to go fast and I timed everything to match it all together. The director [Martin Brest] asked to make him flip in the air, which I then did. A compositing supervisor at that stage, he enjoyed the opportunity to test things and try out ideas, from large elements to minuscule details.Alexander at work on a digital composite for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999).Alexanders last major shift came around 2008 when visual effects supervisor Bill George organized a unit to assist WDI with a reimagined Star Tours, ultimately opening in 2011 with 3D digital imagery. Eventually, Alexander stayed with Georges rides unit full-time, contributing to everything from Disneys Soarin Over the World and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to Universals Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon. In every case, he was able to work in a diverse array of image and presentation formats. More recently, Alexander has contributed to special venue projects for the Sphere in Las Vegas, including Dead & Co.s Dead Forever concert series (2024) and Darren Aronofskys Postcard from Earth (2023).The Sphere is like being in a VR headset but massive, Alexander says. Something like 17,000 people can interact with the screen at one time. I was talking with Darren Aronofsky about how it opens up the possibilities about how to tell a story. You no longer set the direction for people to look. Something could be going on in one area, and then you put something up in another area. Maybe some people notice and others dont. Its a different way of thinking about it, like in a game, where you influence the way the story goes. To me, its really cool to move into this new space where youre not limited by being in a movie theater where you can only look in a certain direction.As his ILM journey comes to a close, its poignant to consider that Star Tours in particular has formed bookends to the many productions Alexander has been involved with. In fact, he and Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald are the only two people to have worked on every iteration of Star Tours to date. Just recently, Alexander spent six months with WDI to help oversee the installations of the rides latest update in Disney Parks in California, Florida, and France. With characteristic humility, hes keen to point out that he made a small mistake way back on that fabled ice-teroid shot in the original 1987 version. A matte for one of the dozens of ice-teroids was slightly misaligned, a detail too small for most viewers to even notice, but something that Alexanders children would never fail to mention, much to his own amusement.Alexander at work in 3D for an update to the Disney Parks attraction, Star Tours.I came into this with different expectations, like we all do, Alexander reflects. You think theyll write a book about you one day. No ones going to write a book about me. Then you think, maybe Ill get a chapter in the book. But most of us just become footnotes. Were part of a team. My dad and my uncles were all sergeants in the military. I got an appointment to the Air Force Academy. When I went there for induction a just-graduated 2nd Lieutenant was showing us around, and the Master Sergeant came by, an older guy with the stripes on his arm, and gave a crisp salute to this new 2nd Lieutenant as he walked by.The Lieutenant said, Theres a lesson for you, Alexander continues. This guy has to salute me because Im his superior officer, but hes a sergeant and he does everything. I cant do anything that he does. He organizes all of the enlisted men to do what we need, so I have to listen to him and trust him to get it done. I kind of feel like Im a Master Sergeant. Im fortunate enough to have gotten to the point where Im involved at this level, and I feel like theres not a shot that I cant fix. Its not just me; its my position. Thats what a compositing supervisor is supposed to do. If theres a shot with a problem, and you cant go back and change anything, yes I can fix it for you. I find that particularly gratifying. Ive stayed at this level in part because its about life-balance. If I were to go higher, Id be away for four months at a time, and I didnt want to do that to my family. Ive got like five Oscars on the family side of stuff.George Lucas chose people really well, and those people chose their hires really well, Alexander concludes. George trusted people like Dennis Muren to get anything done for him, and Dennis trusted people like me to get him whatever he needed. George and Dennis and those types of people were magnanimous enough to let people like me in the room. Because of that, Ive tried to share as much as I can when new folks come in so they feel like theyre part of it. To me thats the most important thing, making people feel like theyre part of a team. The beauty of this place has been how collaborative it is.Lucas O. Seastrom is a writer and historian at Lucasfilm.

For Transformers one, the art department aimed to create shapes and silhouettes that appeared clean and simple from a distance, yet included intricate, purposeful details up-close, such as cut lines in the panels, smaller inset geometry, and layered panel work. Given that iconic Transformer designs often stem from their helmet shapes, the art department worked to seamlessly integrate faces into the helmets, enhancing their expressiveness while maintaining a mechanical, rigid aesthetic.Check out the full design case study here: https://www.ilm.com/art-department/transformers-one-concept-art/

Exploring the technical innovations and behind-the-scenes stories that brought Slimer to life in Ghostbusters 2, reaching new heights in animatronics and practical effects at Industrial Light & Magic.By Jamie BenningThe original Slimer head on display at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco.When Ghostbusters (1984) premiered, it became an instant classic. With a star-studded castBill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudsonalongside Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts, the film combined supernatural elements with groundbreaking visual effects and perfect comedic timing, captivating audiences worldwide. The film grossed $282 million in its initial theatrical run, cementing its place in film history.Beyond the popular human cast, one standout element was the ghost originally named Onionhead. Special effects artist Steve Johnson, credited as the sculptor, likely drew inspiration for the name from its vegetable-like appearance. This gluttonous green ghost, classified as a Class 5 Full-Roaming Vapor, made a brief but memorable appearance that delighted audiences. Designed to be grotesque and chaotic, Onionhead unexpectedly became a fan favorite. Bill Murrays famous line, He slimed me! as Peter Venkman, became one of the most quoted phrases of 1984. Onionheads popularity only grew with The Real Ghostbusters (1986) animated series, where he was reimagined as a mischievous yet lovable, pet-like character.In the eleventh episode of The Real Ghostbusters, titled Citizen Ghost, which first aired in November 1986, Onionhead finally got his new name. The episodes flashback shows how the Ghostbusters became friends with the little green ghost, with Ray Stantz giving him the fitting nickname Slimer. The name endured, becoming a permanent fixture in all subsequent Ghostbusters projects.Ghostbusters 2 (1989) sought to bring the evolved version of Slimer to the big screen, balancing the charm of the original character with the expectations of younger fans familiar with the cartoon. With the baton passed from Boss Film Studios to ILM for the sequel, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren described the task ahead of them to Cinefex. We had the opportunity to create a whole new array of ghostly images, he explained, using all the tools at their disposal. An early idea of using a rod puppet was quickly dismissed, with Muren preferring to opt for a fresh take on the man in a suit approach.With the technological advances made in the five years since the original film, the goal was not just to capture the original magic but to push the boundaries of animatronics, puppetry, and practical effects.Slimer concept art for Ghostbusters 2 by Harley Jessup. (Credit: Columbia/Sony & ILM)Reimagining SlimerFor the sequel, Slimer needed to embody the more playful, cartoonish persona.Cinefex.Mark Siegel, a key contributor to Slimers original creation, was brought to ILM for Ghostbusters 2 to resculpt the character and adapt him for the films lighter tone. Siegel had been deeply involved in the creation of the original Onionhead ghost, sculpting his teeth, tongue, and inner mouth, as well as the complete replacement head for a second puppet with a wider, more frightened look to the mouth. He also puppeteered the tongue and eyebrowsfor the majority of the shots.The sculpting process for the design maquette was a collaborative effort, with Siegel primarily handling Slimers body, head, and face while fellow crew member and performer Howie Weed focused on the arms and hands. For the full-sized puppet Siegel sculpted the head and the arms.The character of Onionhead in Ghostbusters wasnt just an arbitrary creation. His mannerisms and chaotic energy were directly inspired by the late John Belushi, specifically his portrayal of Bluto in Animal House (1978). This connection was not merely symbolic; it was a tangible part of his design and performance. Mark Siegel recalls how Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd made it clear to the team that Slimer was a representation of their close friend Belushis comedic spirit.The team didnt just envision this; they meticulously pored over Belushis scenes. We studied frame by frame old VHS tapes of Belushis Animal House scenes, focusing on his expressions, Siegel elaborates. This analysis allowed them to incorporate Belushis signature movements and broad, exaggerated physicality into Slimers performance for the first film. According to Siegel, it was Belushis expressive style that truly captured the blend of charm and grotesqueness that defined Slimers character.When I first started sculpting the new Slimer, I thought, Well, thats cute,' Siegel admits. But the evolution of the character, from disgusting blob to family-friendly ghost, presented some challenges. I felt we were losing some of the raw, chaotic energy that made Slimer memorable in the first film.The sculpting process was a collaborative effort, with Siegel primarily handling Slimers body, head and face while fellow crew member and performer Howie Weed focused on the arms and hands.Scenes originally envisioned for Slimer in Ghostbusters 2 included him eating various types of food around the station house while Louis (Rick Moranis) tried in vain to catch him. Then later, when Louis straps on a backpack and tries to help the Ghostbusters, he finds Slimer driving a bus. Louis hitches a ride and the two eventually become friends. An early storyboard also shows Slimer flying around the Statue of Liberty for the final shot of the movie, mirroring the first films finale. But, as is often the case in artistic pursuits, things were adapted, changed, and even removed along the way, all for a multitude of reasons.The original Slimer head on display at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco.Technical Innovations: Pioneering AnimatronicsOne of the key advancements in Ghostbusters 2 was the shift from manual cable-controlled puppetry to the use of radio-controlled servos for Slimers facial expressions. Al Coulter, an ILM animatronics engineer, led the effort to remotely automate Slimers face, allowing for more nuanced performances. Al wanted to mechanize Slimers expressions, Siegel says. The SNARK system (reported as both Serial Networked Actuator Relay Kit and Synthetic Neuro-Animation Repeating Kinetics module) allowed us to control multiple servos simultaneously, meaning that expressions could be achieved more easily, with fewer people. This system was a technological leap forward, offering new possibilities for nuanced expressions, though it brought its own set of challenges.One of the key motivations for this advancement was to streamline post-production, which had been a challenge in the original film. In Ghostbusters, we had to deal with puppeteers in the frame, which meant removing them during post-production, Siegel recalls. That was both time consuming and costly.Coulter notes that while the servos were originally designed for consumer RC airplanes, significant customization was required to make them work for Slimers facial movements. The joystick stuff from Hobby World caused a lot of problems when we went onstage, because there was so much interference from all the lights and the wires and the machinerythat we needed to be able to connect our character to something direct, hardwired. So we had this guy build control boards which we bundled together and plugged into a PC. And that PC would then have software on it, custom again, and it would record our performance. It was a major advancement for the time, in a way following in the footsteps of the leaps ILM had made in motion-control in the mid 1970s for the spaceships in George Lucas Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).Coulter reflects that working with the technology of the time, particularly the slow computing speeds, was a challenge in itself. We were working with computers that ran at 24 MHzslow by todays standards, but cutting edge at the time. Despite this, the SNARK system was a pioneering achievement in real-time, computer-controlled puppetry, allowing for repeatable and detailed performances. The facial expression, eyebrows, eyes, I think we had a nose wigglebeing updated to radio control servos, that was a great idea, Siegel adds.Behind-the-scenes videos posted by William Forsche (another crew member) show the incredible range of facial contortions that could be achieved with the new Slimer, from sad to happy to curious in a matter of seconds. While motion-controls precision was essential for the spaceships in Star Wars, it wasnt yet clear how well the recording and playback of Slimers facial movements would work.Ultimately the servos introduced their own set of challenges. While the system allowed for greater control, it limited some of the more exaggerated movements that defined the original Slimer. As Siegel explains, In the first film, Slimers jaw was controlled manually, allowing for more exaggerated, chaotic movements. The sculpture was extremely soft and flexible. There was no structure in the lower jaw at all. Just a little metal rod in the lower lip and a puppeteer down below could pull it, just stretch that rubber way wide, twist it from side to side and get a whole variety of expressions, make him chew and stuff. While the servos and pneumatics we used in Ghostbusters 2 gave us more precise control over the facial expressions, they also introduced limitations in terms of flexibility and range.The head wasnt the only challenge. In trying to replicate the exaggerated, cartoon-like appearance and movements of Slimers body from the animated series, the crew encountered more hurdles.The original Slimer head on display at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco.Innovating Slimers Body DesignWhile the animatronics used for Slimers facial expressions were groundbreaking, if beginning to become troublesome, the team also had to experiment with new ways to animate Slimers body. Tim Lawrence proposed constructing the body out of spandex with bean-bag-like filling, aiming to give Slimer a more fluid, exaggerated range of motion similar to the stretch-and-squash effect seen in his cartoon form.However, this idea quickly ran into practical issues, as Siegel explains. It might have been a couple of days before we were shooting and Dennis Muren came in and looked at the whole puppet assembled, and he wisely said well that spandex is going to look entirely different on camera than that rubber head. For some reason that had never occurred to anyone before. So in a mad rush we took that spandex bean bag body into our spray ventilation booth, and I had to mix up big batches of foam latex and we actually spatulated it onto that entire body. And thats really hard to do because the foam latex has a limited time before it sets. And then it had to be baked in an oven. So it was thrown together at short notice in less than one day. When the rubber was cured over the bean bag it made the body a lot less stretchy and flexible than Tim had intended it to be. The problems were beginning to mount.Robin Shelby tests the Slimer body costume. (Credit: Columbia/Sony & ILM)Robin Shelby: The Heart Inside SlimerWhile ILM envisioned the technological advancements to play a key role in bringing the reimagined Slimer to life in Ghostbusters 2, it was Robin Shelby (then Robin Navlyt), the performer inside the suit, who truly embodied the characters spirit.Previously known by ILM for her role as a troll in Ron Howards Willow (1988), she took over the role of Slimer for Ghostbusters 2 after the original actor, Bobby Porter, became unavailable. As Shelby recalls, They had someone cast, then they wrote Slimer out of the scriptand then they wrote him back in, but the original actor had taken on another project. At just 20 years old, Shelby was tasked with bringing a new version of Slimer to life, despite the suits heavy and cumbersome design. But she was up for the challenge!I grew up doing musical theater, a lot of dance. So I was very aware of my bodyand that helped a lot. I didnt have any stunt experience at the time, but a lot of movement and dance experience, remarks Shelby. Reflecting on her first impression of the suit, she adds, They were still building it when I came in. It wasnt all painted and set. They had to do a cast of my face and head so they could fit it to me. But when I first saw it with the motors, it was a little scary. The weight was extraordinary. But, the crew was amazing.With Shelby performing inside the suit and the expressions operated remotely, production became more efficient. By using a bluescreen and having Shelby wear a black leotard, ILM eliminated the need for puppeteer removal in post-production, just as originally planned.Shelby and the team had about five to six weeks of rehearsal to help her adjust to the suit and coordinate with the puppeteers operating the animatronic features. The suit itself came in three interlocking segments: the main body, the gloves for the hands and arms, and the head. I couldnt see anything really. So what we would do is rehearse, they would shoot it, and then they would have me watch it. So I could see what it was all looking like. So, I knew in my head what we were all doing, Shelby explains.The physical demands of the suit were intense. Al Coulter praises her resilience, noting that the weight of the suit left marks on her nose: As soon as you said action, she was right back there, just banging it out every time. Amazing!The suit was probably over a third of my own body weight, Shelby recalls. I probably weighed like 95 pounds when we shot that, and it was probably 35 pounds. People ask, was it hot? It was hot, but probably the worst part of it was the weight.Michael C. Gross, the executive producer, visited the set to see how Shelbys performance was going. He said, Dont be the dancer that I know you are, just get in there and be gritty and be mean. Just go out and have fun. So I was just trying to rough it up a lot on the set, make it not so dainty or perfect or dance-like, just to try and make it work for the character. It was so much fun, and they really allowed me to play with it, Shelby enthuses.Still, even enthusiasm has its limits. Wed worked for about an hour, and theyd say, okay, were gonna take a break. Theyd take the head off. I wouldnt get out of the costume, but theyd take the head off so I could have water, get some air, and sit down. There was a time that I pushed it because we were in the middle of the scene and I didnt want to stop. Theyre like, Are you okay? Youre alright? Id say, Yeah, yeah, lets just keep shooting. Were almost done. And then Tim is directing me, Okay, Robin, we need you to turn around and go left. Robin? Robin!! And I wasnt even answering. Get her out, they shouted.You try to be the trooperwhen youre new and just want to please everybody. But lesson learned, yeah, absolutely, Shelby admitted. But Id do it all again, she adds.Despite the technical challenges and physical demands, there were plenty of lighthearted moments on set as well.Robin Shelby in costume on the bluescreen stage. (Credit: Columbia/Sony & ILM)Robin Shelby prepares to don Slimers head. (Credit: Columbia/Sony & ILM)Bill Murrays AnticsBill Murray was known to be an unpredictable presence on set, providing some much-needed levity during the intense production process. One day, he arrived at the effects shop. I didnt realize how tall Bill Murray is (hes 6 2), says Siegel. And he was messing around with Robin, whos tiny (4 11), and he was picking her up like a child, and dancing around with her. He was hilarious. For Shelby it was a surreal moment, I was a big Saturday Night Live fan, I still am. And so he was one of my heroes at the timeso it was pretty amazing. He asked if he could pick me up. And he picked me up over his head. He was actually very sweet to me. You just never knew what he was going to do next.Effort vs. OutcomeWith the crew rehearsals helping them find the limitations of the suit and the animatronic head, they began to hone the performance with some impressive results.As Tim Lawrence told Cinefex, Once we saw the subtlety of the expression that was possible, Slimer suddenly had an incredible life to him that I had never seen in such a character before. To see his face light up from very sad to very happy was a wonderful thing. The scene I was most happy with was one that they just threw at us. I wasnt sure we could even do it because it was a 30-second shot without a cutaway. In it, Louis gets off the bus and heads off down the sidewalk. At this point, Slimer and he are on friendlier terms. Suddenly, Slimer enters frame, rushes intently up to Louis and pats him on the shoulder. From his motions, it is obvious he wants to go with Louis really badly, but Louis tells him he cant and Slimer gets all sad. Then Louis tells him something that makes him happy, and Slimer gives Louis a big wet kiss with his tongue coming out and licking him. Then he does a spin and flies off. Well, we did that all in one cut and it looked wonderful. I had never seen a rubber character do what Slimer had done. Michael just flipped he thought the performance was excellent. But at the same time, he told us that they might not be able to use the shot and ultimately it did not make it into the film, Lawrence had noted.Despite completing all of the storyboarded shots, Slimers role in the final cut of the film was indeed scaled back considerably. Gross again explained in Cinefex: Whenever he was in there, it seemed like he was really an intrusion. At first we thought the answer was to add more of him, so we had an ongoing confrontation between Louis and Slimer in which Louis was constantly trying to catch him. We thought it would be funny and at screenings we expected the audience to cheer and laugh when they saw him again. But nothing. No reaction. The audience was looking at it as a fresh movie. There were a lot of kids who loved to see him, so we knew we could not abandon him completely, but he never really worked with the audience the way we expected. Ultimately we decided less was better, and in the final film we limited him to two very quick shots.Siegel takes a philosophical approach, From my own experience working in the business as long as I have, I just assume that some of the works gonna be cut. His presence in the movie was questionable from the beginning. So again, I wasnt surprised if some of his shots were removed.The disappointment is palpable for Shelby. I think thats probably the most bummed out I was. Everybody just did such a great job on putting that all together. But for the 20-year-old, little did she know that one day shed get a call from Paul Feig to reprise the role in the 2016 reboot Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, this time providing the voice for Lady Slimer.The original Slimer head on display at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco.A Legacy of ExperimentationThe experience of working on Ghostbusters 2, was always about the spirit of experimentation. Slimers evolution from the chaotic ugly little spud in the original Ghostbusters to a more cartoonish, mechanized character in Ghostbusters 2 stands as a testament to ILMs relentless pursuit for innovation. Despite the technological limitations of the time, Slimers creation helped pave the way for future advancements in animatronics and practical effects. As Siegel concludes, Every project has its challenges, but the lessons you learn set the stage for the next big breakthrough.While ILM pushed the envelope with cutting-edge animatronics, the process also highlighted the enduring importance of human performers. As Coulter reflects, We overreached a bit. The software itself was very rudimentary. Everything was so experimental back then. He highlighted that, despite the ability to program precise facial movements, human performers remained more adaptable and agile in responding to the creative needs of a scene. At one point they brought the director and he looked at it and kind of went, Could you make him incredulous at this one point? Er. We dont have an incredulous button here. Its like turn the computer off, bring the puppeteers back in, and off we go again. A computer is not going to have any idea how to convey anger or emotion, Coulter remarks, noting that even today, animators still rely heavily on human actors for motion capture, using them as the source for animation.An Ongoing Partnership Between Practical and DigitalILMs current director of research and development Cary Phillips explains that physical puppets still hold a vital role in modern productions. We often get called on to build digital models of physical puppets that perform on set, to execute performances that the physical models cant. Grogu [from The Mandalorian] is a recent example. Physical models are an inspiration for the actors and everyone on set, as well as for animators who bring the digital version to life.He adds that some directors also prefer digital puppets that retain the movement style of their physical counterparts. I think our human eyes are attuned to certain qualities of movement that we find appealing and comfortable because they suggest a physical medium at work. But thats done by hand; theres usually no automatic connection between the physical model and the digital.The challenge remains how to make a puppet, digital or physical, feel alive. A frequent criticism of computer animation, sometimes legit and sometimes not, is that it can look too polished and smooth, says Phillips, lacking the spontaneity of a live performance, the unintentional quirks that make a character seem alive. Great animators can create this, but its hard. Thats one of the lasting appeals of motion capture, although it also introduces an entirely new set of technical challenges and limitations. Ideally, capture devices are simply an alternative to the keyboard and mouse as a way of describing movement, for use when appropriate.Phillips further reflects on the legacy of those who came before him and the evolving boundaries, or lack thereof, in modern visual effects. Discovery is a vital part of the creative process. Something might feel like a mistake while its happening but turn out afterwards to have an appealing quality. The best tools let artists experiment quickly and work iteratively. One of the benefits of a computer graphics model is that it can do things that a physical model cant, and we often get asked to make models and characters move in ways that violate the laws of physics. Leap tall buildings in a single bound. Cheat to get the action in the frame. So, there are no absolute boundariesyou can make it do anything. Even move in a way that would rip a real person apart. Its an awesome power, but it takes real artistry to keep it looking plausible and appealing, even if it doesnt look technically real.At Lucasfilm and ILMs headquarters at the Presidio in San Francisco are halls lined with artifacts from the companys rich historymatte paintings, spaceship models, and optical effects equipment. And around one corner, encased in acrylic, lies Slimer from Ghostbusters 2. His still vibrant green latex skin, now shrunken with age, reveals the servos and pneumatic cylinders beneath. It serves as a poignant reminder to all who pass by that character animation has deep roots in the physical world.Jamie Benning is a filmmaker, author, podcaster and life-long fan of sci-fi and fantasy movies. Visit Filmumentaries.com and listen to The Filmumentaries podcast for twice-monthly interviews with behind the scenes artists. Find Jamie on X @jamieswb and as @filmumentaries on Threads, Instagram and Facebook.

Make room for some stellar content and southern hospitality from Industrial Light & Magic in the heart of Texas at SXSW 2025! Find us on the schedule from March 7-15, where we are teaming up with the minds behind ABBA Voyage, alongside the Dead & Company and U2:UVs Las Vegas Sphere experiences. Well explore how performing artists can leverage cinematic and filmed entertainment to drive forward the artform and meet evolving audience expectations. Youll learn about the creative and practical challenges posed by different physical spaces as well as the crucial role of cross-functional team collaboration in crafting extraordinary communal experiences. Its an opportunity for music fans to ask questions about the future of live entertainment.

Last evening the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the inaugural Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award toThe Santa Clauses Season Two.The award was presented as part of the 75thTechnology & Engineering Emmy Awards at the Prince George Ballroom in New York, hosted by David Pogue, Emmy award-winning correspondent,CBS Sunday Morning.Rachel Rose, ILM Research & Development Supervisor said, The team at Industrial Light & Magic are incredibly honored to be recognized by the Television Academy with an Emmy Award for our innovative StageCraft technology and the advancements made for The Santa Clauses, Season Two. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our exceptional team of technologists, artists, and production crew.Stephen Hill, Matthew Lausch, Industrial Light & Magic accepting the inaugural Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award. [Photo Credit: Joe Sinnott for NATAS]Read the complete National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences press release here.

Take a closer look at how the ILM Vancouver team built a new world of stylized action for Japanese icon Ken Sato, also known as Ultraman, and how they pushed the visual envelope with a bold aesthetic as ILM steps back into animated features with Netflixs Ultraman: Rising. By Adam BerryNetflix Ultraman: Rising2011s Rango. The story chronicles the adventures of Ken Sato, and his superpowered alter ego known to the world as Ultraman. The film is a love letter to the 1966 Japanese superhero television show Ultraman, with the heart of the story exploring the importance of family in all of its forms as Sato takes on the responsibility of raising a baby kaiju named Emi.Ultraman meets a baby kaijou that he comes to call Emi for the first timeThe monster-sized task of taking Japans beloved superhero, transforming the character to be fully animated and introducing him to a global audience was a dream come true for the films directors Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima, who had always been fans of the Japanese franchise.With production on Ultraman: Rising beginning in the spring of 2021, the film required 1,578 visual effects shots and over 1,300 assets to be built. All 165,169 frames of the entire 108 minute feature were created by over 650 ILM artists across three of their global studios in London, Vancouver, and the former location in Singapore.With London acting as the hub for the show, led by visual effects supervisor Hayden Jones, and Singapore providing support, it was actually ILM Vancouver that contributed the majority of work done on the film with over 300 artists assigned to the project. Every asset seen in the film, from the monstrous kaijus to Ultraman himself, with an additional 600-plus shots from the films total count were all built in Vancouver.The Vancouver studio first opened its doors back in 2012 in the heart of Hollywood Norths historic neighborhood known as Gastown. ILM has led the visual effects industry in Vancouver over the past decade having worked on many large scale productions locally such as the epicPercy Jackson and the Olympians (2023).Leading the Vancouver team was associate visual effects supervisor, Tania Richard who tells ILM.com, the work consisted of a global initiative to repurpose ILM visual effects toolsets into a robust feature animation pipeline that would provide flexibility and a stylistic consistency throughout the production. ILM Vancouver was responsible for building the character and environment assets on the show, working closely with the London and Singapore teams to refine and streamline elements that could be shared across multiple sites, along with producing a large scope of shot-work.A tender family moment shared between Emi, Mina and Ken Sato (Credit: Netflix).Having already worked closely with one of the films directors, Shannon Tindle on Netflix feature Lost Ollie (2022), the Vancouver team attributes the key to their success on Ultraman: Rising to their close collaboration with Netflix. This project provided them with the opportunity to build upon their relationship with Tindle, and to engage with him creatively. This close collaboration both inspired and empowered the team to share their ideas on a level that not all artists are given the chance to experience.The Ultraman clients were one of the best Ive ever worked with, shares final layout lead, Hayley Kim.There were many opportunities to exchange creative ideas with the directors. The clients even visited the Vancouver studio in person to talk one-on-one with the artists.Directors Tindle and Aoshima came into the project with a clear vision, but entrusted ILM to bring fresh ideas and creative solutions that would enhance the work. They valued the teams input; empowered us with the belief that collective creativity would elevate the overall quality of the film. They achieved this without delaying decision making, or production time, says CG supervisor Jeeyun Sung, who expressed her gratitude for having the directors readily available, which provided a valuable learning experience for the team and helped to speed up the production process.The creative collaboration between both the Netflix and ILM teams inspired the use of new techniques that are not usually embraced in visual effects. With a hero this big, and a new global audience to be introduced to, the film needed a fresh new approach to the animation not yet seen in a feature film. Having other hit animated superhero feature films already on the audiences radars, such as Sonys Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse (2018), meant finding a new look for Ultraman.Ultimately, a painterly approach to shape the films aesthetic was decided upon, and as you can see when watching the film, every frame looks like it came straight off of a canvas. Finding a painterly approach to our assets needed a certain amount of testing and collaboration between departments at the start of the project, explains Tania Richard. Implying detail and form when and where mattered; this meant leaning into more traditional artistic approaches and embracing individual instincts. Once a look was agreed upon, it was important to lock down methodology early enough to execute what was an ambitious schedule and volume of work.The Netflix art department team, led by art director Sunmin Inn and production designer Marcos Mateu-Mestre, brought their creative vision and thrilling concepts early on in the production process, generously offering the ILM team stylistic guidance as they developed the look and feel for the direction that the animation would ultimately go.Sung shares, The one thing that will always stick with me is a quote from the art director, Sunmin at Netflix, just use illegal colors. As production neared completion, those illegal colors were the norm and we could hardly believe all of our eyes had adjusted to the vision. The beautiful color scripts and art direction allowed the team space to explore bold and vibrant color palettes to tell Ultramans story.Mecha Gigantron, Emi, Ultradad and Ultraman form the ultimate team up to finish the fight with Dr. Onda (Credit: Netflix).With all 1,300-plus assets being built in Vancouver, one of the biggest challenges on the show was creating a robust animation pipeline that would maintain stylistic uniformity, be shared across multiple sites, have various artists working on shots simultaneously and have the work be executed with consistency. There needed to be enough flexibility for addressing creative notes and refinement. It needed to be built in so that the workflow remained efficient, with stylized techniques such as cross-hatching and linework being developed in toolsets to be shared with the London and Singapore sites.Embracing a more creative, painterly approach to building assets was key, such as understanding the balance between suggestive and refined detail, as well as developing stylistic tools that referenced the visual graphic language often seen in anime and manga, details Richard.Additional research and development time was required for each team across every part of the workflow; the teams objective being to find the right balance between 2-dimensional (2D) graphic elements, such as outlines, texture details, cross hatching and the more realistic 3-dimensional (3D) rendering, a process with many possible directions.Once we achieved the imagery that became the look of our film, we adhered to the ground rules and shared the know-how between sites and sequence teams to avoid reinventing the wheel; revisiting the questions we had already answered, says Sung.Ultimately, a significant part of the ILM Vancouver teams task was to explore the concepts that would define the films style, establish a look that would not only stand out among other animated features, while also being robust enough for the crew to carry through 1,600-plus shots. In the end, the challenge of building the beautiful world of Ultraman: Rising was worth the long days as every magnificent pixel of the film are generated assets created internally and exclusively by ILM.The stylized animation needed to showcase every magnificent detail of the ultra-sized action sequences and spectacle that a hero like Ultraman brings to the big screen as he battles the larger than life kaijus through the streets of Tokyo. For the ILM Vancouver team, one of the highlights was working on the films opening sequences where Ultraman faces off against a kaiju called Neronga, which was ironically one of the last beats of the film to be executed.The dynamic battle sequences definitely stand out in my memory, particularly the fight scene between Ultraman and Neronga, shares Kim, who was inspired to study classic Japanese monster films to pull ideas from scenes, like this one and Ultramans fight with Gigantron.The battle with Neronga sequence, known internally as MUL (Meet Ultraman), consisted of nearly 60 action-packed shots with dynamic moving cameras, set against the colorful and complex streets of Akihabara, a bustling section of Tokyo adorned with vibrant lights, billboards, and crowds. All of these elements had to embrace a certain amount of interaction between our hero and his monstrous adversary, who are entangled in a clumsily destructive confrontation. Richard says, It was important in the development of our environment assets for each neighborhood to reflect reality, from the elevation of buildings to details such as street signs and road markings, and our Akihabara set was no exception.Ultraman battles with Gigantron (Credit: Netflix).ILM Vanouvers model supervisor, Mark Keetch, led the environment build, paying close attention to references provided by the Netflix Art Department, along with detailed research by the ILM team. The lighting and compositing teams, led by our CG supervisor Jeeyun Sung and comp supervisor Aaron Brown, also implemented various techniques developed throughout the production to create the exciting and highly stylized feast of imagery which were key components to the success of this sequence.Sung shares, The result exceeded our expectations. Every artist brought so much creativity to each of their shots, and by then we had built a Swiss army knifes worth of knowledge of how to handle the style. Everyone was truly having fun! The energy was palpable, and I believe it contributed to creating stunning visuals!The action only grew larger and more epic from one battle sequence to the next; enhanced by the imaginative work and creative solutions that the ILM team worked tirelessly to innovate. Much like Ken Satos relationships with Emi and his father throughout, the Vancouver team were united in their efforts and passion to bring this epic story to audiences across the world, and truly capture the spirit of the character that directors Tindle and Aoshima care so deeply for. ILMs team spirit can be felt with every frame as their own experience working on the film was just as meaningful.Working on the Ultraman team was filled with nothing but positive memories from start to finish, shares Hayley Kim, who was given her first leadership opportunity at ILM on Ultraman: Rising.It was incredibly fulfilling to see the final result at the screening, knowing that ILM was involved from beginning to end. I hope there will be more opportunities in the future to work on such creative projects.Ultraman was a relatively rare feature animation project for ILM after a long time had passed since Rango, explains Jeeyun Sung, who resides in New York, USA, but worked intimately with the ILM Vancouver team over the course of the project. This created an exciting energy for all crew members, from the bottom to the top. We faced new pipeline issues to solve, had new roles and language that needed reshaping. But the prospect of carving a new path for future animation projects at ILM kept us all abuzz. We felt incredibly happy and fortunate to have this opportunity.Our Vancouver team was a delight to work with, and the collaboration between ILM globally was a unique experience, concludes Tania Richard, who led the Vancouver team through a memorable creative journey which produced one of the most beautiful animated features to ever be seen on screen. Everyone embraced the creative challenges on the show in a way that continually inspired the team to go above and beyond what was expected, and the resulting body of work is beautiful.There are over 7,500 kilometers between Ken Satos home in Tokyo and the team in Vancouver that built the vibrant new world seen in Ultraman: Rising. It took two years, and countless hours, but the final product is a breathtaking addition to the Ultraman franchise, and a bold new direction for ILM as they begin to expand their catalog of animated projects, including the recently released Transformers One (2024). Two worlds came together across great distances to bring this story to life by ILMs passionate artists who knew the magic it would take to to effectively showcase the heart of Ultraman: Rising. (Credit: Netflix).Adam Berry is the Studio Operations Manager for the ILM Vancouver studio. His passion for film led Adam to ILM in 2022, coming from an extensive career across different sectors of the hospitality industry including cruise ships, luxury hotels and resorts. If hes not at the movies or traveling to new destinations, you can find Adam staying active and exploring Vancouver.