Jurassic Punk, Life After Pi, Midnight Son director Scott Leberecht

Director Scott Leberecht began his filmmaking career as a visual
effects art director at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic.
His latest documentary film, Jurassic Punk, is about his fellow ILM
effects artist Steve “Spaz” Williams. A talented artist, Steve
pioneered computer animation VFX in movies, creating the alien
effects for The Abyss and the morphing transitions for the “T-100”
in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Steve's most ambitious and
revolutionary work for the movie and VFX industry was his work on
the completely computer animated dinosaurs for 1993's Jurassic
Park. Scott met Steve during his internship at ILM. Jurassic Punk
was originally meant to be about the whole ILM ensemble at that
pivotal time between The Abyss and Jurassic Park. But as Scott
gathered the stories, he realized that he needed a main character
who had an interesting arc, and Steve definitely fit the profile.
Steve's work on Jurassic Park had never been properly acknowledged,
with credit for the visual effects going mainly to Phil Tippett and
Dennis Muren. Steve himself was always a notoriously difficult,
hard-drinking asshole who had trouble fitting into the corporate
structure of ILM. Scott found it hard to shoot Steve's interviews
for Jurassic Punk, since his friend was at such a low point in his
life. But Steve understood that Scott was trying to tell the story
of what life can be like for a creative worker who gives their all,
only to be left with little credit or money. Scott sees Jurassic
Punk as telling two cautionary tales: be careful about innovating
within corporate structures, and ensure that the people who create
the art are properly acknowledged. Life After Pi, a documentary
short Scott made with Christina Lee Storm in 2014, is also a
personal story about working in the VFX industry. Shortly before
winning the Oscar for their special effects in Life of Pi, the
visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues filed for bankruptcy. Scott
had been working for the company for about six months when everyone
was fired. The doc explores what's been happening to the visual
effects industry, as work is outsourced and it becomes a race to
the bottom for the cheapest price. There was a very short window of
time after Rhythm & Hues' collapse where effects workers could
speak their mind, even staging a demonstration outside the Academy
Awards that year. Today, effects workers continue to voice their
need to form a union, as the quality of effects work declines while
studios demand cheaper VFX done at an even faster pace. You can
watch Jurassic Punk streaming on Amazon and Kanopy. Life After Pi
is on YouTube. Midnight Son has just been released on Blu-Ray and
features a soundtrack by Kays Al-Atrakchi Find Find Scott
Leberecht: https://www.jurassicpunkmovie.com/ Instagram:
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