The Companion Podcast

Probably the only person at ILM to prefer Star Trek over Star Wars, Visual Effects Supervisor/Senior Art Director) Henry LaBounta shares his incredible career with Ed Kramer on CGI Fridays Episode 4.

The first generation to have been inspired by big screen CGI, Henry LaBounta was working on commercials for Crawford Digital Effects in Atlanta when Robert Patrick’s liquid metal T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) literally changed his life.

Learn how LaBounta got his start at Industrial Light and Magic, before moving to DreamWorks, and then changing lanes entirely as senior art director at Electronic Arts.

Henry LaBounta's full IMDb profile is:

Need for Speed: Heat (Video Game) (senior art director)

Need for Speed: Payback (Video Game)

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Video Game) (senior art director)

Skate 2 (Video Game)

Burnout Paradise (Video Game)

Skate. (Video Game)

SSX 3 (Video Game) (senior art director)

BraceFace Brandi (Short) (visual effects compositor)

People I Know (visual effects supervisor: PDI/Dreamworks)

Minority Report (visual effects supervisor: PDI/Dreamworks)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (visual effects supervisor: PDI)

Mission: Impossible II (visual effects supervisor: PDI - as Henry Labounta)

Supernova (digital effects producer: PDI)

Forces of Nature (visual effects supervisor)

The Prince of Egypt (supervising sequence lead: "Red Sea" sequence)

Twister (digital tornado designer)

Casper (senior CG supervisor)

Star Trek: Generations (computer effects artist: ILM)

Baby's Day Out (senior digital artist)

From pitching Tron to opening the Stargate, Frank Vitz discusses his career as a Research and Development Artist and Programmer in the new episode of Ed Kramer’s CGI Fridays.

Vitz is best known for his work at animation studio Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co, where – alongside CGI Fridays host Ed Kramer and previous guest Jeff Kleiser – he contributed to the visual effects of the late Doug Trumbull’s multimedia Luxor Las Vegas attraction, and its spiritual successor, Roland Emmerich’s ancient astronaut action movie and accidental franchise-starter, Stargate (1994). 

His association with Kleiser goes back further than the company when by eerie coincidence, Vitz – then working for Robert Abel and Associates – found himself at ground zero for the birth of modern CGI: 1982’s Tron.

Frank Vitz currently works as Senior Art Director/CG Supervisor at Electronic Arts.

Frank Vitz's full IMDB profile reads:

How to Boil a Frog (Documentary) (cgi supervisor)

X-Men 2 (visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Evolution (TV Mini Series documentary) (animator - 7 episodes, 2002) (visual effects supervisor - 7 episodes, 2002)

Corkscrew Hill (Short) (technical supervisor)

X-Men (visual effects supervisor: Kleiser Walczak)

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Video short) (visual effects)

The Rage: Carrie 2 (visual effects coordinator)

Judge Dredd (head of software: Kleiser-Walczak)

Stargate (software development: Kleiser-Walczak)

In Search of the Obelisk (Short) (head of software: Klesier Walczak)

TRON (systems programmer: Robert Abel and Associates)

If you’re a fan of Stargate SG-1 then you should know Jeff Kleiser’s name. 

It’s not your fault if you don’t, he can’t be found in a single episode of the show, but along with CGI Fridays host Ed Kramer, and future podcast guest Frank Vitz, they created the visual language of 1994’s Stargate movie – the iconic kawoosh of the Stargate opening and morphing helmets of the Jackal Guards and Horus Guards – that are now indelibly linked to the series.

But how we got there has more twists and turns – and Tide – than you might expect from a résumé that groans under the weight of visual effects triumphs.

Jeff Kleiser's full IMDb profile reads:

The Legen of Ne Zha (visual effects supervisor: synthespian studios)

Defrost: The Virtual Series (TV Short) (vfx consultant)

RoboCop (visual effects supervisor: Perception NYC)

Ra.One (visual effects supervisor)

Surrogates (visual effects plate supervisor: Synthespian Studios)

X-Men: The Last Stand (visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Scary Movie 4 (visual effects supervisor: Synthespian Studios)

Slither (senior visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Fantastic Four (executive producer: Kleiser-Walczak - as Jeff Kleiser)

Son of the Mask (visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Exorcist: The Beginning (executive producer: Kleiser-Walczak)

Scary Movie 3 (executive producer: Kleiser-Walczak - as Jeff Kleiser)

X-Men 2 (senior visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

The One (senior visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

X-Men (creative advisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Video short) (animation director)

The Rage: Carrie 2 (digital effects executive producer: Kleiser-Walczak)

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (digital effects producer: Kleiser-Walczak)

It's My Party (computer animation supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Judge Dredd (computer animation supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (Short) (animation director - uncredited)

Stargate (executive producer: Kleiser-Walczak - as Jeff Kleiser)

Clear and Present Danger (computer animation supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Secrets of the Luxor Pyramid (visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Luxor Live (Short) (visual effects supervisor)

Theater of Time (Short) (visual effects supervisor)

In Search of the Obelisk (Short) (visual effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak)

Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (digital effects supervisor: Kleiser-Walczak - uncredited)

Flight of the Navigator (digital effects supervisor)

Still of the Night (optical effects: EFX Unlimited, New York - as J. Kleiser)

Summer Lovers (special optical effects: EFX Unlimited - as Jeff Kleiser)

TRON (computer production supervisor: Digital Effects Inc.)

Xanadu (layout artist: special visual effects unit)

The Blue Lagoon (special optical effects)

From clown college to CGI, practical modeller turned digital modeller Mark Siegel talks Ghostbusters, Star Wars, ET, Planet of the Apes, Van Helsing, Pirates of the Caribbean, and getting into the visual effects industry in Ed Kramer’s CGI Fridays podcast. If you’re looking for entry points into the industry, then Mark Siegel is a pretty unorthodox example, but perhaps that’s what makes it so inspiring. His career goes from a slapstick starting point to sculpting Klingon foreheads in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock to puppeteering some of 80s cinema’s craziest critters in Ghostbusters, and then into the emerging field of CGI as a stalwart of Industrial Light and Magic. 

CGI Pioneer Ed Kramer tells incredible 'making of' stories from the biggest movies of the 90s and 00s. He shares his rare mementos from his time at ILM and you'll learn about his role in Star Wars Episodes I-III, Stargate, The Mummy, Galaxy Quest, and more. This is a collectible geek's dream.

For more content, including the video version of this episode, join The Companion at http://www.thecompanion.app

Lori Petty revisits the chaotic cult classic of science fiction's most unruly antiheroine twenty-five years after the film's release.  This article was originally published in March of 2021. 

Tank Girl was the first true unruly female anti-hero. There hasn’t really been such a powerful, no-holds-barred riotous female character on screen until very recently. Tank Girl walked so Harley Quinn could run. To no one’s surprise, Margot Robbie’s production company has now optioned the rights to make a new Tank Girl adaptation. In Talalay and Petty’s hands, she deviated from the comic books but became her own, unique blend of madness, humor and sexiness. Petty says it best: “She doesn’t need to fit into a system. She’s her own system.”

Read the original article here.

Robert Picardo's "To Boldly Ask" interview gives insight into the man behind the iconic Star Trek: Voyager character, The Doctor, from his early medical ambitions to his enthusiastic involvement with The Planetary Society.  And there's plenty of talk about homemade pizza along the way.

For more podcasts, videos and events, and long-read articles, join us at https://www.thecompanion.app/

It sounds like a Zen koan: what does Everything Everywhere All at Once sound like? Son Lux's composer Rafiq Bhatia explores the glorious anarchy.

Find the original article on The Companion here.

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, we wanted to share this interview that Clint Worthington had with Rafiq Bhatia on the scoring of Oscar-nominated Everything Everywhere All at Once. 

The film has received the most nominations at the 95th Academy Awards with 11 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song, which Bhatia played a big part in. 

Clint Worthington adapted his interview into an article found on our website. The full interview originally aired via his own podcast, Right on Cue, back in April of 2022 and we thought it was so good, we’re sharing it with you here. Check out Right on Cue for more interesting interviews and perspectives about film, tv, and video game music: https://thespool.net/podcasts/right-on-cue/

This episode of To Boldly Ask... is a little bit different. When it comes to answering difficult questions, Marina Sirtis needs no urging. The London-born Betazoid shares with veteran Star Trek correspondent Ian Spelling the commonalities between football and fandom, her return to the serene ship’s counselor Deanna Troi in Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks, and how her difficult upbringing shaped her approach to life.

For more podcasts, videos and events, and long-read articles, join us at https://www.thecompanion.app/

The legendary Amanda Tapping sat down with inspiring writer and presenter Sam Maggs for a frank and thrilling conversation about Amanda’s incredible career, touching on everything from Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary to her current role as executive producer of Motherland: Fort Salem.

For more podcasts, videos and events, and long-read articles, join us at https://www.thecompanion.app/