Steve Williams (animator)

Last updated

Steve Williams
Born1963 (age 60–61)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupations
Years active1988–present
Parent
Relatives Harland Williams (brother) [1]

Steven "Spaz" Williams (born 1963) [2] is a Canadian special effects artist, animator, and film and commercials director.

Contents

Biography

Williams studied animation at Sheridan College, graduating in 1984. [3] During the summers he would work at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Computer Laboratory, learning more about computer animation. After graduation, he went on to work at Alias Research (currently a part of Autodesk) in Toronto. He acted as the company's spokesperson, leading to a job at Industrial Light & Magic in 1988. [4] ILM had purchased Silicon Graphics computers to create the computer-generated effects in The Abyss , and said workstations used Alias modeling software. Along with animators Mark A.Z. Dippé, Scott E. Anderson and Jay Riddle, Williams helped develop a photorealistic alien pseudopod made out of seawater, which later earned the film an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. [5] Continuing at ILM, Williams worked in two more breakthrough moments of CG effects that earned the company more Oscars: the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), a liquid metal robot that evolved from the work done in The Abyss; [6] and the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park (1993), one of which was the Tyrannosaurus which Williams personally built. [7]

As the chief computer graphics animator of The Mask , Williams shared a nomination for Best Visual Effects (along with Tom Bertino, Jon Farhat and Scott Squires) at the 67th Academy Awards. [8] Williams left ILM along with Dippé following their work in Spawn (1997), which Dippé directed with Williams being the effects supervisor and second unit director. Along with a job at New Line Productions, [9] Williams opened Hoytyboy Productions in San Francisco. Hoytyboy's biggest work was 2006's The Wild for Walt Disney Pictures, which Williams directed. [10] He also directed more than 200 commercials between 1997 and 2010, for clients including Capital One, Toyota, AT&T, Lexus and McDonald's. [11]

As of 2012, Williams continues directing commercials. [4]

In 2022, a feature-length documentary on the life of Williams, Jurassic Punk (also known as Spaz), debuted at the South by Southwest Film Festival. [12] [13]

Selected filmography

Related Research Articles

<i>Jurassic Park</i> (film) 1993 film by Steven Spielberg

Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen, and starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough. It is the first installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, and the first film in the original Jurassic Park trilogy, and is based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Crichton and David Koepp. The film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, off Central America's Pacific Coast near Costa Rica, where a wealthy businessman John Hammond (Attenborough), and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors, including Hammond's grandchildren, struggle to survive and escape the now perilous island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autodesk Maya</span> 3D computer graphics software

Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya, is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk. It is used to create assets for interactive 3D applications, animated films, TV series, and visual effects.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began production on the original Star Wars, now the fourth episode of the Skywalker Saga.

Go motion is a variation of stop motion animation which incorporates motion blur into each frame involving motion. It was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett. Stop motion animation can create a distinctive and disorienting staccato effect because the animated object is perfectly sharp in every frame, since each frame is shot with the object perfectly still. Real moving objects in similar scenes have motion blur because they move while the camera's shutter is open. Filmmakers use a variety of techniques to simulate motion blur, such as moving the model slightly during the exposure of each film frame, or placing a glass plate smeared with petroleum jelly in front of the camera lens to blur the moving areas.

<i>Spawn</i> (1997 film) Superhero film by Mark A.Z. Dippé

Spawn is a 1997 American superhero film based on the Image Comics character of the same name. Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé, the film stars Michael Jai White in the title role, alongside John Leguizamo, Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle, D. B. Sweeney, Miko Hughes, and Nicol Williamson in his final film role. The film depicts the origin story of the title character, a murdered US Marine who is resurrected as the reluctant leader of Hell's army. Spawn is one of the first films to feature an African American actor portraying a major comic book superhero.

Autodesk Media and Entertainment is a division of Autodesk which offers animation and visual effects products, and was formed by the combination of multiple acquisitions. In 2018, the company began operating as a single operating segment and reporting unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Muren</span> Visual effects pioneer

Dennis Muren, A.S.C is an American film visual effects artist and supervisor. He has worked on the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron, among others, and has won nine Oscars in total: eight for Best Visual Effects and a Technical Achievement Academy Award. The Visual Effects Society has called him "a perpetual student, teacher, innovator, and mentor."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Tippett</span> American film director

Phil Tippett is an American film director and visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design, stop-motion and computerized character animation. Over his career, he has assisted ILM and DreamWorks, and in 1984 formed his own company, Tippett Studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual cinematography</span> CGI essentially

Virtual cinematography is the set of cinematographic techniques performed in a computer graphics environment. It includes a wide variety of subjects like photographing real objects, often with stereo or multi-camera setup, for the purpose of recreating them as three-dimensional objects and algorithms for the automated creation of real and simulated camera angles. Virtual cinematography can be used to shoot scenes from otherwise impossible camera angles, create the photography of animated films, and manipulate the appearance of computer-generated effects.

Tom Bertino is a professional animator, formerly Animation Director and Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic.

John Andrew Berton Jr. is an American computer graphics animator and visual effects supervisor. His most recent completed project is Bedtime Stories. He also worked in India, supervising effects on the film Krrish 3. In the fall of 2013, he joined the faculty of Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Shawn Kelly is an animator of movies and was a co-founder of the company Animation Mentor, an online animation school with student/mentor relationships at its core.

Carlos Baena is a professional animator and now a cofounder of the online school Animation Mentor, which was started in March 2005. It was the first post-secondary school that helped students to pursue a career in animation. At the school, students work with mentors from major studios in a production-style environment, and graduate with a professional demo reel.

James Morris is an American film producer, production executive and visual effects producer. He is currently general manager and president of Pixar. Previously, he held key positions at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for 17 years.

Mark A.Z. Dippé is a Japanese-born American film director and visual effects supervisor. He made his directorial debut in 1997 with Spawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Letteri</span> American visual effects artist

Joseph Bruce Letteri is a senior visual effects artist, winner of five Academy Awards, four BAFTA awards and four VES awards. He is the current Senior Visual Effects Supervisor of the Academy Award-winning Wētā FX having joined the company in 2001. He has received several awards and nominations as visual effects supervisor, the latest being Avatar: The Way of Water, and previously for War for the Planet of the Apes. He attended Center High School (Pennsylvania) in 1975 and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. He gave the keynote address at UC Berkeley's December Convocation on 19 December 2010.

The history of computer animation began as early as the 1940s and 1950s, when people began to experiment with computer graphics – most notably by John Whitney. It was only by the early 1960s when digital computers had become widely established, that new avenues for innovative computer graphics blossomed. Initially, uses were mainly for scientific, engineering and other research purposes, but artistic experimentation began to make its appearance by the mid-1960s – most notably by Dr. Thomas Calvert. By the mid-1970s, many such efforts were beginning to enter into public media. Much computer graphics at this time involved 2-D imagery, though increasingly as computer power improved, efforts to achieve 3-D realism became the emphasis. By the late 1980s, photo-realistic 3-D was beginning to appear in film movies, and by mid-1990s had developed to the point where 3-D animation could be used for entire feature film production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Rosenbaum</span> American film visual effects supervisor

Stephen Rosenbaum is an American visual effects artist and supervisor, and has worked on numerous movie, tv and music productions, including six that have won Academy Awards. He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award and two times for a BAFTA Award. He has won both awards twice for his contributions on Forrest Gump and Avatar, and has played artist and supervisor roles on such pioneering films as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Abyss, X2: X-Men United, Death Becomes Her, Contact and The Perfect Storm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Coleman</span> Canadian animation director

Rob Coleman is a Canadian animation director; he is currently the creative director at Industrial Light & Magic's Sydney branch. Previously, he was the Head of Animation at the award-winning Australian visual effects and animation studio, Animal Logic from 2012-2021.

Dinosaurs in <i>Jurassic Park</i> Dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park franchise

Jurassic Park, later also referred to as Jurassic World, is an American science fiction adventure media franchise. It focuses on the cloning of dinosaurs through ancient DNA, extracted from mosquitoes that have been fossilized in amber. The franchise explores the ethics of cloning and genetic engineering, and the morals behind de-extinction.

References

  1. ↑ Sumi, Glenn (April 17, 2008). "Q&A: Harland Williams". NOW Magazine . Archived from the original on October 19, 2020.
  2. ↑ Tom Sito (2013). Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation. MIT Press. pp. 282–. ISBN   978-0-262-01909-5.
  3. ↑ Steve "Spaz" Williams, Sheridan College
  4. 1 2 Craig Barr (October 15, 2012) CG Evolution/Film Revolution: A Q+A with Steve "Spaz" Williams. autodesk.com
  5. ↑ Tom Sito (2013). Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation. MIT Press. pp. 170–. ISBN   978-0-262-01909-5.
  6. ↑ Richard Corliss (June 24, 2001) They Put The ILM In Film. Time
  7. ↑ Kirsten Acuna (July 11, 2014) How 4 Minutes Of CGI Dinosaurs In ‘Jurassic Park’ Took A Year To Make. businessinsider.com
  8. ↑ "The 67th Academy Awards (1995) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  9. ↑ Edward Guthmann (July 27, 1997) The `Spaz' Who Spawned His Own Style / Computer animator Steve Williams doesn't look or think like a typical designer. San Francisco Chronicle.
  10. ↑ Joe Strike (April 14, 2006) Disney Goes 'Wild'. awn.com
  11. ↑ Kreative Kontent Repping Steve 'Spaz' Williams. lbbonline.com. 2013
  12. ↑ "Inside the Tempestuous Career of FX Revolutionary Steve Williams in Spaz". Austin Chronicle .
  13. ↑ JURASSIC PUNK - Sitges
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.