
At the weekend SPARK FX '09 event in downtown Vancouver, award-winning visual effects wizards Dennis Muren and Harrison Ellenshaw were on hand to talk about their craft.

As Senior Visual Effects Supervisor for George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic, Muren personally arranged the original "Star Wars" feature film "Trilogy' to be showcased on the big screen @ the Vancity Theatre for a rare showing Saturday night.
As a last minute thought, Muren decided to change his topic for discussion to “Six Challenges for Every Effects Shot.

The six challenges Muren discussed were:
1. New visible ideas - things you haven’t seen before
2. Emotional reaction - if you feel it, hopefully the audience will too
3. Correct purpose - the director needs to have a vision and be able to communicate it to everyone involved.
4. In the director’s style - it should fit seamlessly with the film
5. Look real
6. Want to see more - is the audience left wondering if there is more to be seen?

When looking for shots that resonate, shots that connect with the audience, Muren looks to real life, with a vast collection of photos, artwork and internet images that he feels speaks to the viewer.

For Muren, these samples from nature help SFX artists add realism of movement, reaction and physicality to their 'creations'.
“Some people say everything’s been done," Muren said. "Well, I totally disagree with that..."

Muren’s next job is to match the director’s style. According to him, about one third of directors have a distinct style. If your shot seems like it fits the rest of the movie, it will seem more real.
"George (Lucas) is about one shot, one thought," he said.
"While Steven (Spielberg) bookends his dream sequences..."
Muren said that Realism is also important for achieving quality special effects. It’s not just about the quality of the shot itself but whether or not the audience thinks it could be real. According to Muren, the more the audience is drawn into the story, the more money the film will make.

Muren’s sixth and final point was the significance of making the audience want to see more. This curiosity is attained with the use of fog, smoke or by only capturing part of the action in the frame.

When asked what was the worst film experience he ever had, Muren said it is a film where the director doesn't know what he wants.
In his opinion, a poor final product is due to the lack of a singular vision.
Ticket holders were also treated to a talk given by Harrison Ellenshaw, who began his career as a matte painter in the 1970’s and became a Visual Effects Artist and Designer for both I.L.M. and Disney.
Ellenshaw’s lecture was titled, “What if David Lean had CGI?”, screening scenes from Lean's "Ryan’s Daughter" and "Lawrence of Arabia".
Like Muren, Ellenshaw stressed the gravity of knowing the purpose of every shot, as too many shows depend on the importance of dialogue and back-story.
“It’s all about visual," Ellenshaw said.
"No one says, ‘Hey honey, let’s go down to the multiplex and listen to a movie.’ ”
Ellenshaw talked a bit about Disney's "Tron", admitting that a lot of the success of the effects in that movie were due to the fact that they had no idea what they were doing.


Ellenshaw countered that Visual Effects are all about telling the story. That’s why you have to ask, “Why is this shot here?”
"Film is a two dimensional medium," he said. "Eventually it will move beyond the screen. We will be plugged in and it will play in our heads....”