Conference
The State of VFX
Then & Now
ON SITE
König-Karl-Halle
Thursday, May 08, 14:30
Celebrating 25 Years of ‘The Perfect Storm’
The visual effects task on Wolfgang Petersen’s ‘The Perfect Storm’ (released in 2000) was monumental—placing real men on a fishing trawler against the fiercest of storms, and even one 100 foot wave. It would require the latest fluid simulation R&D and artistry from Industrial Light & Magic, overseen by visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier. In this retro session, Fangmeier will be joined on stage by befores & afters editor-in-chief Ian Failes to break down the big breakthroughs at the time, share stories from the set, and answer your questions about what had to be solved all the way back then.
Stefen Fangmeier, VFX Supervisor
Stefen Fangmeier joined the computer graphics department at Industrial Light & Magic in 1990 to work on ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’. During his 15 1⁄2 years at ILM, he worked on numerous projects that represent significant mile-stones in visual effects history.
In 1997, Stefen received a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for his visual effects supervision on ‘Twister’ and again in 1998 for ‘Saving Private Ryan’. He won a third BAFTA for ‘The Perfect Storm’ in 2000. He also received Academy Awards nominations for his work on ‘Twister’, ‘The Perfect Storm’ as well as ‘Master and Commander.’
In addition to his visual effect supervision duties, Stefen worked as the second unit director on ‘Galaxy Quest’ in 1998 and ‘Dreamcatcher’ in 2002.
In 2005, he ventured into feature-film directing with ‘Eragon;, which grossed over $250 million in worldwide box office returns upon its release at the end of 2006.
After directing ‘Eragon’, Stefen has been working as an independent Visual Effects Supervisor on a wide range of projects, including on ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘3 Body Problem’.
Ian Failes, Editor-in-Chief, befores & afters
Ian Failes is a journalist based in Sydney specialising in visual effects and animation. Ian recently launched his own VFX and animation publication called befores & afters (beforesandafters.com) and an accompanying print magazine. He has written for fxguide, Cartoon Brew, VFX Voice, 3D Artist, 3D World and many other publications. Ian is the author of the book, ‘Masters of FX’. He holds the world's largest collection of memorabilia from the film Speed.