FEATURE FILM FX

The work we do for feature films usually covers a much broader range of styles than does our commercial work, sometimes allowing us to explore the wierder end of the spectrum. Creating a hallucinatory talking Turkey for "5 Year Engagement", slithering serpents for Snakes on a Plane, a pot-smoking dog for Dude, Where's my Car?, 6 foot tall cockroach creatures for Mimic, decapitated heads, the Frog Host and Theater Ghost for Ghostbusters II, Freddy Krueger and an unborn fetus inside a womb for Nightmare on Elm Street V, and Rick's early freelance work on the opening egg, running facehugger, and Alien Queen of ALIENS are good examples of the range of our feature work.

However, in addition to walking on the dark side, we often must address extreme realism; creating realistic rats for Willard, convincingly aging Emilio Estevez to an 80 year old man for Young Guns II, developing a totally believable monkey stand-in for Outbreak, and mustering up a herd of hyper-realistic elephant elephants for Operation Dumbo Drop show that we can make our on-screen fx virtually indistinguishable from nature.

(Clicking links will take you to a larger version or a page detailing the work)

"FIVE YEAR ENGAGEMENT" Universal, 2012

Animatronic Talking Thanksgiving Turkey Puppet

"SNAKES ON A PLANE" New Line Cinema, 2005

Animatronic and Stunt Snake Replicas

"ALIENS vs PREDATOR" 20th Century Fox, 2004

Splitting Face Hugger, Hybrid Chestburster, Pneumatic Alien Toungue ram

(contract work for ADI, Inc.)

"RACING STRIPES" Warner Bros. 2003

"Buzz" and "Scuzz" Fly Character Design, Macquettes, and Development

“WILLARD" New Line Cinema, 2001-2

Animatronic Rats, Creature Effects

"SWEET HOME ALABAMA" Touchstone Pictures, 2001

Realistic Bloodhound Dog Head Replica

"BIG TROUBLE" Disney, 2001

Animatronic Frog Puppet

"DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR?" 20th Century Fox, 2000

Animatronic Dog and Ostrich Puppets

"MIMIC" Miramax, 1997

Animatronic Creatures and Special Makeup Effects

Genetically-altered insects roam the abandoned subways of New York in "MIMIC".

"ESCAPE FROM L.A." Paramount, 1997

Miniature-Likeness puppets; Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Pam Grier

"OPERATION: DUMBO DROP" Disney, 1994

Animatronic Elephant featuring animatronic tail, head, ear, eye, brow, swaying, and prehensile 5-way trunk movements.

"THE SANTA CLAUSE" Disney, 1994

Miniature Animatronic Reindeer Puppets

"OUTBREAK" Warner Brothers, 1994

Life-sized realistic capuchin monkey replicas

Made from silicone with hundreds of individually hand-punched hairs. Featured a passively jointed skeletal structure and animatronic movements of its breathing, mouth, eyes, head, and brows.

"SHAGGY DOG" Disney, 1994 (TV Movie)

Animatronic Dog Puppets, Special Makeup Effects

"CASPER" Universal, 1993

Full size and Miniature Ghost Reference figures

"FLINTSTONES" Universal, 1993

Kyle MacLachlan Statue, Pebbles, Bam-Bam Replica Figures

"HOCUS POCUS" Disney, 1993

Miniature Likeness Puppets: Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy

"SANDLOT" 20th Century Fox, 1992

Animatronics, Monster Dog Effects

"GROUNDHOG DAY" Columbia Pictures, 1992

Andie MacDowell Ice Sculpture

TCS created the Frozen Likeness Sculpture of Andie MacDowell that Bill Murray is sculpting in the park, while trying to win her love.

"HOOK" Tri-Star Pictures, 1991

Thudbutt, Tinkerbell Puppeteer, Giant Barbie and Ken dolls, Hook's ticking mustache

"RADIO FLYER" Columbia Pictures, 1992

Giant Animatronic Buffalo

"BARTON FINK" 20th Century Fox, 1990

Special Makeup Effects

"YOUNG GUNS II" Morgan Creek Prods, 1990

Emilio Estevez Old Age Makeup

Old age prosthetic; nine-piece appliance with translucent ears and electrostatically flocked beard stubble. Created and applied by David Anderson and Rick Lazzarini.

"GHOSTBUSTERS II" Columbia Pictures, 1989

Theater and Subway Ghosts, Decapitated Heads

A decapitated, mummified head, featured in a great, big close-up in GHOSTBUSTERS II.
Sculpted at TCS by Adam Jones, now guitarist for the band "TOOL".

"NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET V" New Line, 1989

Freddy Prosthetics, Animatronic Fetus

Prosthetic Freddy Kruger appliance, womb set, and animatronic fetus. (That's Rick in the Freddy makeup!)

"BATMAN" Warner Bros., 1988

Michael Keaton Lifecast, Special Costume Consultant

"SPACEBALLS" MGM/Brooksfilms, 1987

Special Makeup Effects, Barf Ear Animatronics, Ape Prosthetic, Ape (Actor), Pizza the Hutt (Actor)

"ALIENS" 20th Century Fox, 1985-86

(contract work for Stan Winston Studios, Inc.)

Animatronic Design/Creation: Queen Alien, Running Facehugger, Opening Egg

If a recent crop of literature and films can lay claim to a concept called "magical reality", then we can easily say that our creature and character effects allow us to create a "fantastic reality". An eight foot tall Buffalo for Radio Flyer, a mongo monster dog for The Sandlot, and a miniature animatronic reindeer puppet for The Santa Clause are all cases where we built authentic looking animal replicas, but then added a certain something to them to take them beyond the limits of reality, yet retain their believability.

Animatronics and prosthetic effects for feature film work must be designed to be more durable than they would be for commercial spots, both practically and cosmetically. By cosmetically, we mean that the camera will linger, and shots will run longer; allowing the audience more time to study an effect. As for practical durability, feature shoot schedules run much longer than a commercial's; so an effect must be built to last over many days of filming.

Feature film fx must have an increased level of quality, too. Whereas commercials will be seen on relatively low-res and small size TV screens, feature films have much higher resolution, which is needed for when an image is projected and shown 12 to 20 feet high.

Feature film fx, because of their increased scope and running time, offer more (but never enough!) preproduction, or "build" time. Ironically, our budgets, when cost out per minute of fx, are generally lower on feature films than they are on TV spots. Commercials allow such precious little time for prep that they have to throw a lot of money to "cure" that situation. You know what they say: "Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick Two!"

For further details (and pictures) about our feature film work, see our individual sections on
Whimsical, Scary, Realistic, Prosthetic, Puppet, and Animatronic characters.

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