Halon's work on War of the Worlds was integral to the concept now known as On-Set Previs. ™ & © 2005 Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks.

Check out the Iron Man previs clips at AWNtv!

Previs practitioners have come together to form the Previsualization Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the creation and use of the previs medium in multiple industries. The fledgling organization, which boasts more than 150 charter members, including members in Canada, Europe, Australia and South America, officially launches Jan. 15, 2010, at which time it will offer an online portal (www.previssociety.com) with articles, case studies, newsletters, forums, blogs, job boards, historical archives and more. The society will also publish handbooks for practitioners and consumers, and is designed to build an interdisciplinary community made up of and for the benefit of everyone who participates in the previs process.

Founding members include Colin Green (founder of Pixel Liberation Front), president of the Previsualization Society; David Dozoretz (founder of POV Previs LLC); Chris Edwards (CEO, The Third Floor); Ron Frankel (founder of Proof); Daniel Gregoire (founder of Halon Ent.), treasurer of the Previsualization Society; and Brian Pohl (CEO of POV) and Previsualization Society secretary.

Charter members include Production Designer Alex McDowell (Watchmen) and David Morin, Autodesk consultant and co-chair (with Frankel) of the ASC-ADG-VES Joint Technology Subcommittee on Previsualization, which was instrumental in the formation of the new organization.

"We formed the organization after having all met each other [on the subcommittee] and realizing that we shared a lot of common ground and there was a lot of work to be done in the name of previs," Green suggests. We want to advance an understanding and promote proper usage of skills and build a larger community around a production process that already exists."

"We are dedicated to everyone involved in the previs process," Edwards adds. "It's the community surrounding previs that benefits from this process and is involved with previs on a daily basis. We recognize that previs is an interdisciplinary craft and so we aim to involve and we already have charter members in visual effects, DPs, production designers, art directors, storyboard artists, editors, directors, producers and industry executives. So, we're also involved in multiple industries and previs has been a part of the feature film industry, for sure, with previs also being used in television, commercials, game cinematics, architecture and other forms of visualization.