Interview with Special Effects Coordinator Donnie Dean (Emmy Winner – American Horror Story)

You have to really enjoy what you do, so much so that you don’t care about the money. You really have to give yourself over to it just like a Doctor in Medical School, it has to become the most important thing for a while. You don’t know what day that moment will come when you get the call and everything has to go on hold because it’s your opportunity. We work 12-14 hour days 5-6 days per week, you won’t even know what day of the week it is, much less if its a birthday or anniversary, and NO ONE understands why from your “real life”. You can’t RSVP to anything…well you can but you might have to cancel. There are a LOT of people who think they want to work in film in general, but its not for everyone.

Interview with Special Effects Supervisor Daniel Acon (Zoolander 2, Gangs of New York, Passion of the Christ)

I think that practical special effects will always be required for many situations in movies but there is a fast growing technology which allows many practical fx to be recreated in post production by the visual effects team. From explosions to squibs, there are many

visuals that now can replace to a good degree our practical fx. There will always be challenges but also innovations with new technologies, practical special effects are developing with them and are always sharing more with visual effects.

The ART of ART DIRECTION and PRODUCTION DESIGN in the movies.

ART DIRECTING FILMMAKING NOTES Production Design – the domain of the art director – is the visual art and craft of cinematic storytelling. The most important job that no one outside teh industry knows about The art director renders the screenplay in visual metaphors, a color palette, architectural and period specifics, location designs and sets.… Continue reading The ART of ART DIRECTION and PRODUCTION DESIGN in the movies.