Me in Tank Girl

[James]

OK, goofy post, but I finally got to see 'Tank Girl' in widescreen. I worked on the special effects for the miniature fx (models, spaceships, etc). I was also the 'guard' overlooking the hangar bay. (that's me on the right)

I made my guard tower out of cardboard and foam with grey spraypaint. :big grin

[Mike]

No way! That is very cool. Why did you get out of doing special effects?

[James]

hey mike,

I did it for over 12 years and worked on T2, Batman Returns, Dante's Peak, Mars Attacks, Titanic (mechanical fx supervisor credit for 4ward productions) and a bunch of other movies. IMDB credits
(http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177081/)
At the end of the 90's computers took over much of the workload we did and you dont see much miniatures anymore. Work was harder to find and I segwayed into set construction for a bit.

I was always a fan of FBB's and started shooting videos while doing set construction. I built up my catalog online and had a hit. (the Marja Lehtonen video) So eventually I was able to quit that and do FTVideo full time.

[Mike]

Well certainly the subjects now are prettier than miniature models. :camera:

[ibarramedia]

Glad to know all this James.:cheers: We all have our humble beginnings.

[James]

Thanks! I like what I do now. Any 'Escape from New York" fans? I have the miniature Gulf Fire, which was the glider that Kurt Russell flies in on in the beginning of the movie. Miniatures are super rare now because they arent used anymore.

[greg]

Sure John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors ;)