Neil Joseph Krepela (born April 1947 in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American special effects artist and cinematographer.
He was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Special Effects.
Neil Krepela was born in 1947 as son of Carl Charles Krepela (1905–1964) and Ruth Clarissa Krepela (Goodall, 1911–1983). [1] [2]
Krepelas father, who was an amateur photographer, sparked his interest in photography. When Krepela served in the US Navy, he started to photograph the places, he visited. [3] He studied at the University of Nebraska and the Laney College. He later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and started to shoot his own 16 mm films. [3]
Krepela began his career in the movie industry in the 1970s. Richard Edlund engaged him as matte painting photographer for The Empire Strikes Back . Krepela worked at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) on films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark , Dragonslayer , E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Poltergeist , The Dark Crystal und Return of the Jedi . He later worked for Edlund's Boss Film Studios.
Krepela is married to Cristine Ackel and has two children from this marriage (born 2001, 2007). [2] He has another daughter (born 1982) from his previous marriage. [2]
Benjamin Burtt Jr. is an American sound designer, film director, film editor, screenwriter, and voice actor. As a sound designer, his credits include the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), WALL-E (2008), and Star Trek (2009).
Mark Shostrom is a Hong Kong-born American special makeup effects artist for the film industry.
Richard Edlund, ASC is an American visual effects artist and inventor. He was a founding member of Industrial Light & Magic, having already founded Pignose amplifiers, and later co-founded Boss Film Studios and DuMonde VFX. He has won four Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, as well as two Special Achievement Awards, two Scientific and Technical Awards, and the Medal of Commendation. He is also a BAFTA and Emmy Award recipient.
Boss Film Studios was a prominent American visual effects company, founded by visual effects veteran Richard Edlund after his departure from Industrial Light and Magic, producing visual effects for over thirty films from 1983 to 1997. Before that period Edlund had worked at ILM on films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and the original Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983).
Terry Windell (1956–2018) was an American director of television commercials and long-form television, as well as a background artist and effects animator for feature films. He directed several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Enterprise.
Norman Reynolds was a British production designer and art director, best known for his work on the original Star Wars trilogy and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Kenneth Ralston is an American visual effects artist, currently the Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Ralston began his career at the commercial animation and visual effects company, Cascade Pictures in Hollywood, where he worked on over 150 advertising campaigns in the early 1970s. In 1976, he was hired at Industrial Light & Magic by Dennis Muren to help George Lucas create the effects for Star Wars. He remained at ILM for 20 years before joining Sony Pictures Imageworks as president. Ralston is best known for his work in the films of Robert Zemeckis.
Craig Barron is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus, a media company that produces visual development and virtual production services for motion pictures, television, museums and multimedia platforms.
Bruce Nicholson is a special effects artist who received the Special Achievement Academy Award in 1980 for the visual effects of the film The Empire Strikes Back, which he shared with Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren. He won his first competitive Oscar for Raiders of the Lost Ark at the 1981 in the category of Best Visual Effects, where he shared his award with Richard Edlund, Kit West and Joe Johnston. He got one more Oscar nomination, for the 1982 for the film Poltergeist, which lost to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Richard L. Anderson is an American sound effects editor, best known for Raiders of the Lost Ark. He has been nominated twice for sound editing, and received a Special Achievement Academy Award in 1981. He has nearly 140 film credits since his start in 1972.
Kit West was a British special effects artist who was most known for his work in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi and Dune.
Kenneth F. Smith is a special effects artist. He works at ILM as well. He also won 2 Academy awards.
John Bruno is an American visual effects artist and filmmaker known for his prolific collaborations with director James Cameron on films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Titanic, Avatar, and The Abyss, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Steve Gawley is a visual effects artist who was nominated at the 62nd Academy Awards in the category of Best Visual effects for his work on the film Back to the Future Part II. His nomination was shared with John Bell, Michael Lantieri and Ken Ralston.
Lorne Peterson is a Canadian special effects artist most known for the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films.
Ed Hirsh is a special effects artist who was nominated at the 74th Academy Awards in the category of Best Visual Effects for his work on Pearl Harbor. He shared his nomination with Eric Brevig, John Frazier and Ben Snow.
David Berry is a special effects artist who won at the 58th Academy Awards in the category for Best Visual Effects for his work on the film Cocoon. His win was shared with Scott Farrar, Ralph McQuarrie and Ken Ralston.
Steve Johnson is an American special effects artist whose career has spanned more than thirty years. His work has appeared in over 200 films, countless television shows, theme parks, commercials, and music videos. Some of his best-known creations include Slimer for Ghostbusters (1984), the alien seductress Sil for Species (1995), Robin Williams's robotics for Bicentennial Man (1999), and Doctor Octopus's arms for Spider-Man 2 (2004).
Michael Wood is an American special effects artist. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Visual Effects for the film Poltergeist.
Bill Neil is an American visual effects artist. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Visual Effects for the film Poltergeist II: The Other Side. He is the younger brother of documentary filmmaker Eleanor Coppola.