On the latest episode of 8111 I talk with “Optical God” Jon Alexander! Jon grew up in Ohio. As a young person he loved the Wizard of Oz. He recently retired from ILM after 38 years (and change).

During the Vietnam era Jon’s lottery number came up. While serving he learned the value of building good relationships and working across rank and experience. This knowledge and experience helped him be successful in his career in visual effects.

Later, Jon attended a few universities where he considered majoring in engineering. He eventually landed at Ohio State where he earned his undergraduate degree in Cinema. He made numerous short films there and shot film for the football team.

In 1980, Jon moved to Los Angeles and landed a job working for a small company called Calico Creations doing motion control work. In 1986, Jon was hired by ILM to come work in the animation department on Howard the Duck. He later worked in the optical department where he became expert on the MC (motion control) optical printer. He transitioned into digital composting where he worked on all manner of film projects, special projects, simulator rides, you name it.

Jon is a great storyteller and his career mirrors the technological development of visual effects from the analog age to today. It was great to get to talk to Jon about his incredible career. He’s one of my all time favorite former co-workers.

On this episode of 8111 I talk with Craig Barron. Craig is an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor, entrepreneur, and film historian with a groundbreaking career spanning over two decades. He has contributed to visual effects on more than 100 films and served as a founding member of the Visual Effects Society. Barron also spent nine years on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors and was co-chair of the Science & Technology Council.

At just 18, Barron joined Industrial Light & Magic during the "Star Wars" era, contributing to classics like The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. He later co-founded Matte World, an Emmy-winning studio that evolved into Matte World Digital, known for its innovative visual effects in films such as Batman Returns, Zodiac, Hugo, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for which he won an Oscar and BAFTA in 2009.

Barron co-authored The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Painting, an award-winning book chronicling the history of matte painting. A dedicated film historian, he frequently lectures for AMPAS and Turner Classic Movies, collaborating with sound designer Ben Burtt to showcase the artistry behind classic films like Modern Times and Forbidden Planet.

In recent years, Barron has worked as a visual effects supervisor at Tippett Studio and now serves as Creative Director of Magnopus, a cutting-edge visual storytelling company based in Los Angeles.

It was a genuine pleasure to talk with Craig about his incredible career.

Erik Jensen grew up in New Jersey. As a young person he loved monster movies. For a time he considered pursuing a career as a veterinarian. But when his friend Chris Walas moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the movie FX business, Erik wasn't too far behind.

In Hollywood Erik worked on several low budget horror movies honing his skills and making connections. It was a small community and led to working with Rob Bottin on some projects, including John Carpenter's 1982 remake "The Thing". Erik worked in both production and as an artist.

Erik's work landed him a job on Dragonslayer at ILM where he would work on multiple projects for more than 20 years. HIs list of credits are amazing and include; Young Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek IV, Ghostbusters II, Star Wars: Episode 1, Space Cowboys, AI, Peter Pan, Star Wars: Episode III, and Jarhead. He also left ILM to work at Skellington on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.

He later worked at TraumaFX building realistic task trainers for both human and K9 simulators for emergency medical training. Today Erik is retired and lives with his wife being an active grandparent. It was great fun talking with Erik about his life and incredible career (which is obvious as this is a long one).