Mississippi State University’s art department is bringing one of the world’s most influential people in film and technology to campus. Craig Newman, manager of visual effects at Walt Disney Studios’ Buena Vista Visual Effects Department, will visit MSU to work with students and faculty members of the art department by demonstrating the new age of visual effects.
“Visual Effect – A Tradition of Technology and Art” is the name of his video lecture. It will be presented in Bettersworth Auditorium of the Giles Architecture Building Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Newman will also direct a two-day workshop involving animation visual effects in the MSU art department.
“Newman is the major figure in the new movement of computer animated films, ” Brent Funderburk, interim head and professor in the department of art, said.
During the late ’70s, Newman graduated from the California Institute of the Arts and found a successful career when he became technical director of the movies “Star Trek” and “Tron.”
From technical director, he moved into producing and directing visual effects for several popular films including “Honey, I Blew up the Baby,” “Speed,” “The Pelican Brief,” “Star Trek IV,” “The Jungle Book” and “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.”
“With the premieres of “The Nightmare Before Christmas’ and “Toy Story,’ a new era in the history of feature film animation and creative visual effects had dawned brought to you by Walt Disney Studios,” Funderburk said.
Newman, originally from North Carolina, has been part of this powerful entertainment company for more than four years.
Funderburk said his most recent work was done with the Tim Burton production “James and the Giant Peach,” collaborating with stop-motion and computer animation, as well as digital and special effects.
“This film promises to be as startlingly innovative in its use of electronic artistry as was ‘Toy Story,’ the Oscar-winning movie of the 1995-96 season,” Funderburk said.
The MSU department of art invites everyone to come to Newman’s lecture.
