Feb 29, 2016
Education
San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society has announced that it will present the The Art & Science of Lucasfilm: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the latest event in an educational series produced in collaboration with the local industry powerhouse, Wednesday, March 9, 12:00 pm at the Premier Theater at the Letterman Digital Arts Center. Open exclusively to middle and high school classes engaged in year-round SFFS Education programs, this installment will focus on Industrial Light & Magic’s (ILM) groundbreaking visual effects work on the newest installment of the Star Wars saga. Now finishing its eighth year, the Art & Science series is designed to draw connections between the art, math and science being taught in Bay Area schools and the processes behind the mind-blowing special effects, creative character design and visual storytelling seen in recent blockbuster hits.
In the Art & Science of Lucasfilm program, experienced professionals from the various Lucasfilm divisions share their knowledge with Bay Area middle and high school students in a series of behind-the-scenes, interactive multimedia presentations that demonstrate the intersection of art and science in the entertainment industry. Each event includes time for discussion, where students have the opportunity to ask questions of Lucasfilm and ILM’s supervisors, artists and engineers. A curriculum guide will also be presented to teachers to continue exploring related topics in the classroom.
In 1977, George Lucas began a journey that would change the world of cinema by creating the Star Wars universe. Now, 39 years later, the epic story continues for a whole new generation of young fans with director J.J. Abrams at the helm. The latest installment in the Art & Science of Lucasfilm series will highlight the work of the talented teams at Lucasfilm and ILM, by exploring what it took to bring the new film to the screen. The program’s guest presenters-Creative Executive Rayne Roberts, VP of Physical Production Candice Campos and Visual Effects Supervisor Patrick Tubach-will take attending students behind the scenes to discuss everything from story development to new visual effects technology used on the film. With a predominantly female team of speakers, this session is also designed to provide inspiration and increase engagement in STEAM curriculum for all of the young girls attending.
The Art & Science of Lucasfilm is a collaboration between the San Francisco Film Society’s Education program and ILM’s Studio Talent Group. SFFS youth initiatives are facilitated by Education Program Manager Keith Zwölfer, and serve more than 11,000 students and teachers every year-from kindergarten through college-to develop media literacy, cultural awareness, global understanding and a lifelong appreciation of cinema. SFFS Education aims to cultivate students’ imaginations, prepare them for filmmaking careers and empower them to succeed in an increasingly media-saturated world. SFFS celebrates 25 years of innovative educational programming this year. The Studio Talent Group is ILM’s Technical and Artistic Education Department, supporting the studio’s learning programs in its four global locations: San Francisco, Vancouver, London and Singapore. Director of Talent Development, Danielle O’Hare, leads the Studio Talent Group.
“We are thrilled to continue our successful partnership with the San Francisco Film Society,” said O’Hare. “We are so excited to share how ILM creates amazing visual imagery with some of the Bay Area’s brightest young minds.”
“This collaboration with Lucasfilm and ILM is one of the most innovative and inspiring projects the Film Society is currently engaged in, and it’s terribly exciting to focus this session on a film with such profound cultural significance,” said SFFS Executive Director Noah Cowan. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens provides one of our best opportunities yet to demonstrate the connection between art, science, technology and entertainment for Bay Area students. I envy the kids who will be in that theater; it’s going to be an amazing presentation.”
PRESENTATION PARTICIPANTS
Candice Campos is the Vice President of Physical Production at Lucasfilm. Since joining the team in 2014, she has overseen live action films and is currently a co-producer on Star Wars: Episode VIII. Prior to her role at Lucasfilm, Campos worked on films such as War of the Worlds, Master and Commander, and Spider-Man, and as production supervisor on The Dark Knight Rises, Insurgent, Oblivion, and The Adventures of Tin Tin, a film produced by current Lucasfilm Senior Vice President of Production Jason McGatlin and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.
Rayne Roberts is a development executive at Lucasfilm and a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group. She was a development executive on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and on the upcoming films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: Episode VIII. Her film background includes several years as a development executive at Gold Circle Films, a role as an Associate Producer on the award-winning documentary The Fair Trade. Roberts received her BFA in Photography & Imaging from the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts; she also holds a Graduate-level Certificate in Producing from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
Patrick Tubach joined ILM in 1999 as a Compositor. During his time at the company he has taken on roles of increasing scope and responsibility and now serves as Visual Effects Supervisor for ILM. In this role, Tubach is responsible for working with other key creatives throughout the visual effects process, from bidding to final delivery of work on a film. He also works closely with the production team to help plan the on-set execution of the Visual Effects work for a project, and has often had the opportunity to supervise shoots on location.
“Being exposed to this level of professionalism at a young age is so important, and I hope it inspires people. I’m so happy to be part of this program again,” said Rayne Roberts.
Previous Art & Science of Lucasfilm presentations have included Jurassic World with ILM VFX Supervisor Tim Alexander, Animation Supervisor Glen McIntosh and Creature Supervisor Kaori Ogino (September 2015); Strange Magic with Lucasfilm Creative Executive Rayne Roberts, ILM VFX Supervisor Tony Plett and Production Manager Julie Peng (January 2015); Star Wars Rebels with Executive Producer Dave Filoni, Line Producer Athena Portillo and Art Director Kilian Plunkett (October 2014), We Build Cool Stuff with Lucasfilm Research & Development Software Designers Mike Jutan, Rachel Rose and Matthew Parrott (March 2014); The Animation of Pacific Rim with ILM Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel (November 2013); Assembling the VFX for Marvel’s The Avengers with ILM VFX Supervisor Jeff White, Digital Production Supervisor Jason Smith and Animation Director Marc Chu (November 2012); Skywalker Sound: Creating Sound for Film at California School for the Blind with Will Files and Jon Greber (February 2012); and Inside Motion Capture with ILM Digital Supervisor Michael Sanders (November 2011), among many others.
“The SFFS Art & Science of Lucasfilm series is great because it starts with a topic that the students are extremely interested in-Star Wars-and then goes from there,” said Bay Area teacher Mary Vyas. “The value of these San Francisco Film Society Education events in my opinion is that you are giving the students some training in being more than consumers of film. It’s so great to see them take the time to think about the films as more than entertainment through the discussions and study guides.”
For complete and up-to-date information on all Film Society educational programs, including information about how to participate as an educator, visit sffs.org/education.