Posts that cover the broader range of discussion about VFX only.
Have Laptop Will Travel Recently, a producer friend of mine mentioned that I’ve worked remotely for a very long time, even before the lockdowns and before the remote shops popped up in the mid-2000s. With a hearty laptop (the first one courtesy of Tim Sassoon), and a good home setup I’ve …
Avatar Is a Stunning Stereo3D Work of Art—Here is Why. Aside from a spiffy special presentation poster at the door of the feature, what is my takeaway from the IMAX 3D presentation of AVATAR? My history with stereo3D filmmaking informs me a lot about the process, and I’ll go into a little …
A Legend Lost Not Found Updated 04/17/19 In 1977 Star Wars stunned the world, and changed cinema forever. It was a long, hard slog for creator George Lucas, who suffered physical ailments, and the possibility of financial ruin due to to all the challenges of the film. All the …
I’d Like To Sleep For A Week. I wrote this article in 2014: As I sit here working another wee hour on a project, I am beginning to envy my cat. As is mostly the case, I am awake because I love what I do, and fitting in another job, …
You can’t talk about #greebles without mentioning, likely the most iconic miniature ever shot, the #starwars #stardestroyer at only 3 feet long -@FonHDavis Context is Everything Modern cinema maintains a series of technical terms via oral tradition, that really no longer make sense. How many people really itnow the origin of terms like …
During a screening of Doctor Strange at a Visual Effects Society event, someone asked the film’s Director whether he preferred the 3D version, or the 2D version? He said: “I am torn, as I love the 3D version, but also the Expanded Dynamic Range version as well.” I gravitate …
Exploring the Evolution of a Lost Shot From Script to Screen [Image from the Empire Strikes Back Blu-ray. Color correction emphasizes blue spill that was normally lost to viewer.] The near final shot of The Empire Strikes Back (TESB) of the Millenium Falcon flying off into the sunset — or rather …
Join VFX. See The World! I love my Skechers Midway tennis shoes. Older, used pairs of the shoe sit in the back of my closet in vain hope for a re-issue of the particular model — eventually I face reality and have to throw them out. I really like how …
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Stereo Conversion is Awe Inspiring and You Should See It. In a darkened IMAX3D theater I saw Star Wars: the Force Awakens for the second time. My first viewing was at the Motion Picture Academy screening with JJ Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Roger Guyett, and many others. …
It Came From the 1990’s Okay, this will take a little bit of back-story… In 1997, I started to write an article in conjunction with Digital Domain’s Andre Bustanoby (fresh off of Titanic VFX) for the (now archival) website VFXHQ. This article was to chronicle what we saw as the beginning of a new …
Evolution of a Design This article contains an image recreated from memory of an actual photo in an ex-ILMer’s archive — it is a re-creation for research purposes only, and not an official StarWars art piece. (However, the design has been verified to exist in the LFL archives by an insider.) …
The Great Dust Bowl 2 There is little to no rain in California. For the last several years the once verdant fields of this great American state (both in size and productivity) have produced fewer crops as water restrictions expand every year. Los Angeles, is a desert, and has always …
Hollywood’s Juvenile Response to Brilliance. For 2014 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences promises in a Variety article to “get the visual effects presentation right this year.” They are in reference to last year’s global debacle of a presentation after The Life of Pi was played offstage as …
Youtube Analysis Of VFX Documentary Viewers. In 2008 I added a Youtube Channel, dedicated to collecting, and favoriting links to documentaries and inspiring visual effects. I uploaded several of the documentaries that I enjoyed as I was growing up (and had to take a few of them down — thank …
Splitting Up to Carry On. Government kickbacks are not the only concern weighing on the Visual Effects (VFX) industry. We have innovated our way into solving everyone else’s problems, taking on the burden that used to belong to other departments. VFX have threatened the jobs of other parts of the …
Focusing the Hatred of the Galaxy, a Digital Star is Born! There are long diatribes on the Internet tearing George Lucas to shreds for the creation of Jar Jar Binks. Such vile hatred for a character in a movie —an individual that does not exist — is curious. Normally this level of …
Visual Effects Stories Losing Their Fire? I remember when something unusual happened while making Special Effects, it was bandied about in a good story, either in a magazine, or as an urban legend. When an artist had a particular view of his or her work, they would let it be …
We Are Eating Ourselves. It’s almost as if someone planned it. A Macivelian overlord sat down one day, scheming how to drive down prices, institute near slave-driven hours (without compensation as often as possible) by arbitrarily putting a date on a calendar, increase their profits, pay for no benefits, accept …
In 1996 the Internet was still young, and George Lucas was making changes to Star Wars. As I was an avid Star Wars fan — it was instrumental in my career choice — I created The Bogus Star Wars Homepage to chronicle it, collecting what the fans were finding, and …
A Quality Product Should Be Its Own Reward It is hard to realize that the iPhone is not even a decade old. For the most part it works so well, that it fades into the background of our daily lives — quietly doing its job. Now remove it from our …
Welcome to the blog. What is PunkWerks, one may ask? Officially this is an offshoot site of Agrapha Productions, but it is not directly related to the VFX content the company provides — it is one of the side effects of a life of art. Those projects and ideas that …
