The Visual Effects Society (VES) has revealed its 2019 class of VES Fellows. The Fellows distinction, bestowed by the VES Board of Directors, signifies that the individual has maintained an outstanding reputation and has made exceptional achievements and sustained contributions to the art, science or business of visual effects, as well as enabling members’ careers and promoting community worldwide and by providing sustained service to the VES which has significantly advanced the Society, its membership and its mission statement for a period of not less than 10 years within the last 20 years.
This year’s venerated VES Fellows who will be bestowed with the post-nominal letters “VES” are: Neil Corbould, Harrison Ellenshaw and Susan Zwerman. The honorees will be recognized at a special reception in Beverly Hills on October 2.
Mike Chambers, VES Board chair, stated, “We are proud to recognize those who helped shape our shared legacy and continue to inspire future generations of VFX practitioners.”
Neil Corbould
Corbould began in special effects in 1978 starting as a trainee on Superman and has worked on some of the most memorable movies of our time, including The Elephant Man, American Werewolf In London, Pink Floyd: The Wall, Cliffhanger and Leon: The Professional. In 1995, Corbould supervised his first movie, The Fifth Element alongside Nick Alder. Corbould went on to supervise classic films, including Saving Private Ryan (BAFTA Award), Gladiator (Academy Award), Black Hawk Down, Gravity (Academy, VES & BAFTA Award), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Academy & BAFTA Nominations). Corbould has been a member of the VES since its inception and was instrumental in helping to reinstate the special effects award into the forthcoming 18th Annual VES Awards. Corbould also served on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive committee, working to keep special effects at the forefront of modern day film production.
Harrison Ellenshaw
Ellenshaw was an original member of the VES Board of Directors; he has served two terms on the VES Board and is also a recipient of the VES Founders Award. His credits as a matte artist and a visual effects supervisor include work on The Man Who Fell To Earth, Star Wars, Big Wednesday, The Black Hole, The Empire Strikes Back, Tron, Dick Tracy and Dave. During the 1980s Ellenshaw headed up several different independent visual effects companies, including Triple DDD, which created 3D effects for the Disney theme park film Captain EO, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by George Lucas. Ellenshaw also founded Olsen, Lane & White, which was created to provide the effects for Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. From 1990 to 1996 Ellenshaw managed Disney’s independent effects facility Buena Vista Visual Effects, which created VFX for over 35 films, including non- Disney films Wilder Napalm, The Phantom and Escape From L.A. Ellenshaw is a recipient of the Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and an Academy Award nomination for The Black Hole.
Susan Zwerman
Zwerman has been a member of the VES since 1998. A successful VFX producer, her credits include Broken Arrow, Alien Resurrection, Men of Honor, Around The World In 80 Days and The Guardian. She frequently acts as a VFX consultant doing VFX breakdowns, budgets and schedules for major studios. Prior to entering the field, Zwerman worked on more than 50 films as an assistant director and unit production manager. She is currently the studio executive producer for Exceptional Minds, a nonprofit professional school and studio that prepares young adults on the Autism Spectrum for careers in digital animation and visual effects. Zwerman serves as chair of the DGA’s UPM/AD VFX Digital Technology Committee, is the recipient of the DGA’s Frank Capra Achievement Award in recognition of her career achievement and industry service, and is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is the co-editor of The VES Handbook of Visual Effects, published in
2010 and 2014, and is currently working with Jeffrey A. Okun, VES on the 3rd edition, slated for publication in 2020.
Other honorees
As previously announced, VES leader Susan Thurmond O’Neal was named recipient of the 2019 VES Founders Award. The Society designated award-winning VFX supervisor Michael Fink, VES with a Lifetime VES Membership and presents FotoKem’s chief strategy officer, Mike Brodersen, with an Honorary VES Membership. This year’s VES Hall of Fame honorees are Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick and Stan Lee.
After Documentaries About Taylor Swift and Brooke Shields, Director Lana Wilson Turns Her Camera To NYC Psychics
Filmmaker Lana Wilson had never thought much about psychics. But the morning after Election Day in 2016, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, she found herself drawn towards a sign that promised "$5 psychic readings" and wandered in.
Much to her surprise, she found it to be a rather profound experience. She can barely even remember what was said, but it was emotional and comforting. And it would set her on a seven-year journey to make a documentary about this strange and misunderstood tradition, "Look Into My Eyes," which expands in theaters this week.
"I think I had totally misjudged the whole psychic tradition," Wilson said. "I had trivialized it and seen it as this silly thing, despite the fact that millions of people around the world engage in it… I'd had this personal experience where I, as a lifelong skeptic, found comfort in a psychic one day. So part of my initial perspective was what if it doesn't matter if it's real or not?
In the years since that fateful encounter, Wilson's own profile has raised significantly for her documentaries about Taylor Swift, " Miss Americana," and Brooke Shields, " Pretty Baby." But the idea of the psychics lingered. The film, unjudgmental, funny and poignant, takes viewers inside the homes, and sessions, of several New York City psychics
Wilson spoke about her process, her revelations and why she decided to not take Shields up on her offer to be one of the subjects in this one. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Did you find many of your friends shared your own assumptions about psychics?
WILSON: One of my closest friends is a therapist and she immediately got it. She was like, "This is totally different than therapy. But, also,... Read More