At The Eighth Annual VES Awards Show held in the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza last Sunday Dr. Ed Catmull was rightly presented with the George Melies Award for Pioneering. His contributions to computer motion graphics and the entertainment industry as we know it today are myriad and foundational. At the podium Dr.Catmull gave a thoughtful, moving and understated speech while accepting the award. At the end of his speech he softly expressed that the best part of the journey had been the people that he had gotten to know through working with them. This brought to my mind two very special people that have since moved on.

Our art has evolved from tricking the eye to accurately duplicating the real world in the computer and merging the imagery with captured footage. The computer is Aladdin’s lamp made real. The most popular film is often the one that plants the largest fist in the eye.  The images are full of “sound and fury” and signify little. At some future date this period of filmmaking like all others will be assessed as to its qualities and intents. Despite my preferences I think these times will be heralded as a golden age of fantasy films.