"Monday Night Football"
Novocom/ABC/ESPNGraphics Package
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Outer Limits "To Tell The Truth" Episode
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ABC & ESPN decided to update the on-air graphics and logos package for Monday Night Football in 1998. Leading design company, Novocom, was selected to take on the massive project. In a bold decision, Novocom chose to use miniature backgrounds heavily in their designs. They turned to Vision Crew to provide motion control shots of miniature backgrounds which served as the base for their extensive design work.
This HBO project which centers around the Apollo Space Program. VCU fabricated several miniatures for the show, including the LLRV, Saturn V rocket & Launch Pad. In 1998, VCU was honored with a Emmy award nomination for their contribution to the project. On set pyro and rigging duties were acomplished by Robert "Hutch" Hutchins.
This Walt Disney Television movie-of-the-week is based on a ride at Disneyworld with the same name. VCU is responsible for building and photographing several scenes which take place in the elevator shaft of a deserted old building. Elevator cars go up, elevator cars go down, and eventually (of course) an other-worldly prescence fills the elevator car with a spectral aura.
Evan Jacobs acted as visual effects supervisor for this ABC MOW. VCU provided various effects including digital matte paintings, digital rotoscope, and warping effects.
VCU fabricated a miniature for an explosive scene in 'The Killing Game' episode.
This movie-of-the-week centers around a commercial airline thrown into danger when it's hit by a bolt of lightning. VCU provides full service visual effects for the picture, including a CG airplane and miniature fabrication and photography.
Things always seem to come in waves (no pun intended). CBS produces a 4-hour television show about the Titanic. Vision Crew was brought on to produce several visual effects for a montage that takes place during the actual sinking of the ship. Two quarter-scale models of different parts of the ship's deck were constructed and shot in a 28'x28'x6' tank and on the stage at the Vision Crew facilities.
In a television special produced by termite Productions for Fox television, Vision Crew delves again into "quick and dirty" CGI effects. In scenes where mass havoc was required during disaster reinactments, VCU created three quick shot including: 1) a terrorist bombing in Washington D.C., 2) Huge riot fires in downtown Miami, and 3) a scene depicting a 10.0 earthquake in L.A.
Miniatures and water effects for the pilot episode of "The Painted Word", a Showtime series executive produced by Norman Jewison. A strikingly dramatic scene is accomplished with effects engineered by Evan and Jon. The shot involved a miniature diner with a large plate glass window in front. The scene called for the window to be broken, on cue, and for a "flood" of water to flow from the diner as if it had been full to the ceiling. The effect was flawless and the final shot captivating and believable.
VCU was approached by HBO pictures to provide the miniature cityscape which appears behind David Letterman's desk on the set of his ficticious talk show. Arranging for several existing buiildings to be delivered as well as building several new buildings from scratch to fill-out the scene, VCU helped lend an element of familiarity and believabilty to the set of "The Late Shift."
