Brian Johnson (special effects artist) - Director

fiction.wikisort.org - Director

Brian Johnson (born 29 June 1939[1] or 29 June 1940[2]) is a British designer and director of film and television special effects.

Brian Johnson
Born	Brian Johncock 29 June 1939/1940 (aged 80/81) Surrey, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Special effects artist, film director
Years active	1957–2006
Known for	Alien (1979) The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Television	Thunderbirds (1965–66) Space: 1999 (1975–78)
Awards	Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (1980) Special Achievement Academy Award (1981) Saturn Award (1981) BAFTA Award (1987)

Life and career

Born Brian Johncock,[3] he changed his surname to Johnson during the 1960s.[3] Joining the team of special effects artist Les Bowie, Johnson started his career behind the scenes for Bowie Films on productions such as On The Buses, and for Hammer Films. He is known for his special effects work on TV series including Thunderbirds (1965–66) and films including Alien (1979),[4] for which he received the 1980 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (shared with H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Ayling and Nick Allder). Previously, he had built miniature spacecraft models for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.[5]

Johnson's work on Space: 1999 influenced the effects of the Star Wars films of the 1970s and 1980s.[6] Impressed by his work, George Lucas visited Johnson during the production of the TV series to offer him the role of effects supervisor for the 1977 film. Having already been commissioned for the second series of Space: 1999, Johnson was unable to accept at the time.[7] He worked on the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), whose special effects were recognised in the form of a 1981 Special Achievement Academy Award (which Johnson shared with Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson).

Awards

Johnson has won Academy Awards for both Alien (1979) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). He was further nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Dragonslayer (1981). In addition, Johnson is the recipient of a Saturn Award for The Empire Strikes Back and a BAFTA Award for James Cameron's Aliens.

Filmography

Special effects

Quatermass 2 (1957) (special effects assistant, uncredited)
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) (special effects assistant, uncredited)
Thunderbirds (TV series) (1965–66) (special effects director)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (special effects assistant, uncredited)
Moon Zero Two (1969) (special effects assistant, uncredited)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) (special effects) (as Brian Johncock)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) (special effects) (as Brian Johncock)
A Clockwork Orange (1971) (special effects assistant, uncredited)
Space: 1999 (TV series) (special effects—24 episodes, 1975–76; special effects director—24 episodes, 1976–78; special effects designer—18 episodes, 1976–78; special effect designer—6 episodes, 1976)
The Day After Tomorrow (TV pilot, 1975) (special effects designer)
The Medusa Touch (1978) (special effects supervisor)
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) (special effects)
Alien (1979) (special effects supervisor)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (special effects supervisor)
Dragonslayer (1981) (supervisor of special mechanical effects)
The Pirates of Penzance (1983) (special effects supervisor)
The NeverEnding Story (1984) (director of special effects)
Spies Like Us (1985) (special effects supervisor)
Aliens (1986) (special effects)
Slipstream (1989) (special effects)
Dragonheart (1996) (micro-light coordinator)
Space Truckers (1996) (special effects supervisor)
Dream Street (1999) (director)

Director

Scragg 'n' Bones (2006)

References

"Brian Johnson". 15 April 2016.
Imagining Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century
Archer, Simon; Hearn, Marcus (2002). What Made Thunderbirds Go! The Authorised Biography of Gerry Anderson. London: BBC Books. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-563-53481-5.
"Bring on the Gore: Top Ten Practical Effects in Horror!". BloodyDisgusting. 28 April 2016.
Drake, Chris: UFO and Space: 1999. Boxtree. p. 58.
The Catacombs—Brian Johnson. space1999.net.
Brian Johnson Interview, 1979. space1999.net.

External links

Brian Johnson at IMDb

Awards for Brian Johnson

v t e Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
1963–1980	Emil Kosa Jr. (1963) Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett and Hamilton Luske (1964) John Stears (1965) Art Cruickshank (1966) L. B. Abbott (1967) Stanley Kubrick (1968) Robie Robertson (1969) L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers (1970) Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett and Danny Lee (1971) L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers (1972) No Award (1973) Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson and Albert Whitlock (1974) Glen Robinson and Albert Whitlock (1975) Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson and Frank Van der Veer (1976) John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune and Robert Blalack (1977) Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings and Zoran Perisic (1978) H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder and Dennis Ayling (1979) Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson (1980)
1981–2000	Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson and Joe Johnston (1981) Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston and Phil Tippett (1983) Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, Lorne Peterson and George Gibbs (1984) Ken Ralston, Ralph McQuarrie, Scott Farrar and David Berry (1985) Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson and Suzanne M. Benson (1986) Dennis Muren, William George, Harley Jessup and Kenneth F. Smith (1987) Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones and George Gibbs (1988) John Bruno, Dennis Muren, Hoyt Yeatman and Dennis Skotak (1989) Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern and Alex Funke (1990) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren Jr. and Robert Skotak (1991) Ken Ralston, Doug Chiang, Douglas Smythe and Tom Woodruff Jr. (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett and Michael Lantieri (1993) Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum and Allen Hall (1994) Scott E. Anderson, Charles Gibson, Neal Scanlan and John Cox (1995) Volker Engel, Douglas Smith, Clay Pinney and Joe Viskocil (1996) Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher and Michael Kanfer (1997) Joel Hynek, Nicholas Brooks, Stuart Robertson and Kevin Mack (1998) John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, and Jon Thum (1999) John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke and Rob Harvey (2000)
2001–2020	Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor and Mark Stetson (2001) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier (2004) Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor (2005) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall (2006) Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood (2007) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones (2009) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb (2010) Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning (2011) Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer and Donald R. Elliott (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould (2013) Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott R. Fisher (2014) Mark Williams Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris and Andrew Whitehurst (2015) Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon (2016) John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover (2017) Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm (2018) Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy (2019) Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Jackson, David Lee and Andrew Lockley (2020)
2021–present	Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer (2021)

BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects

1982–2000

Richard Edlund (1982)
Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Kit West (1983)
Dennis Muren, George Gibbs, Michael J. McAlister, and Lorne Peterson (1984)
George Gibbs, and Richard Conway (1985)
Robert Skotak, Brian Johnson, John Richardson, and Stan Winston (1986)
Michael Lantieri, Michael Owens, Ed Jones, and Bruce Walters (1987)
George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston, and Ed Jones (1988)
Ken Ralston, Michael Lantieri, John Bell, and Steve Gawley (1989)
The special visual effects team of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1990)
Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak (1991)
Michael Lantieri, Ken Ralston, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Doug Chiang, and Douglas Smythe (1992)
Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri (1993)
Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Doug Chiang, and Allen Hall (1994)
Robert Legato, Michael Kanfer, Matt Sweeney, and Leslie Ekker (1995)
Stefen Fangmeier, John Frazier, Henry LaBounta, and Habib Zargarpour (1996)
Mark Stetson, Karen Goulekas, Nick Allder, Neil Corbould, and Nick Dudman (1997)
Stefen Fangmeier, Roger Guyett, and Neil Corbould (1998)
John Gaeta, Steve Courtley, Janek Sirrs, and Jon Thum (1999)
Stefen Fangmeier, John Frazier, Walt Conti, Habib Zargarpour, and Tim Alexander (2000)

2001–present

Jim Rygiel, Richard Taylor, Alex Funke, Randall William Cook, and Mark Stetson (2001)
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2002)
Joe Letteri, Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2003)
Karen Goulekas, Neil Corbould, Greg Strause, and Remo Balcells (2004)
Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul, and Richard Taylor (2005)
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall (2006)
Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood (2007)
Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, and Edson Williams (2008)
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb (2010)
Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, and David Vickery (2011)
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, and Erik-Jan de Boer (2012)
Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould, and Nikki Penny (2013)
Paul Franklin, Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Lockley, and Ian Hunter (2014)
Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, and Neal Scanlan (2015)
Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, and Adam Valdez (2016)
Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, and John Nelson (2017)
Geoffrey Baumann, Jesse James Chisholm, Craig Hammack, and Dan Sudick (2018)
Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, and Dominic Tuohy (2019)
Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Lockley (2020)
Brian Connor, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, and Gerd Nefzer (2021)

Special Achievement Academy Award

L. B. Abbott, A. D. Flowers (1972)
Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, Albert Whitlock (1974)
Peter Berkos / Albert Whitlock, Glen Robinson (1975)
Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, Frank Van der Veer / L. B. Abbott, Glen Robinson, Matthew Yuricich (1976)
Ben Burtt / Frank Warner (1977)
Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, Zoran Perisic (1978)
Alan Splet (1979)
Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Bruce Nicholson (1980)
Ben Burtt, Richard L. Anderson (1981)
Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, Phil Tippett (1983)
Kay Rose (1984)
Stephen Hunter Flick, John Pospisil (1987)
Richard Williams (1988)
Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, Alex Funke (1990)
John Lasseter (1995)
Alejandro González Iñárritu (2017)

v t e Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
1970s	Marcel Vercoutere (1972) Joe Dante and Mark Goldblatt (1973) Douglas Knapp, Bill Taylor, John Carpenter, and Dan O'Bannon (1974/75) L. B. Abbott (1976) John Dykstra and John Stears (1977) Colin Chilvers (1978) Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, and Richard Yuricich (1979)
1980s	Brian Johnson and Richard Edlund (1980) Richard Edlund (1981) Carlo Rambaldi and Dennis Muren (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Ken Ralston (1983) Chris Walas (1984) Kevin Pike (1985) Stan Winston, Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak (1986) Peter Kuran, Phil Tippett, Rob Bottin, and Rocco Gioffre (1987) George Gibbs, Ken Ralston, and Richard Williams (1988) Ken Ralston (1989/90)
1990s	Stan Winston (1991) Ken Ralston, Tom Woodruff Jr., and Alec Gillis (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri (1993) John Bruno (1994) Stan Parks (1995) Volker Engel, Clay Pinney, Douglas Smith, and Joe Viskocil (1996) Phil Tippett, Scott E. Anderson, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., John Richardson (1997) Volker Engel, Patrick Tatopoulos, Karen E. Goulekas, and Clay Pinney (1998) Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires (1999)
2000s	Scott E. Anderson, Craig Hayes, Scott Stokdyk, and Stan Parks (2000) Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston, Michael Lantieri (2001) Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier (2004) Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, and Brian Van't Hul (2005) John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall (2006) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, and John Frazier (2007) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, and Paul J. Franklin (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
2010s	Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Paul J. Franklin, and Peter Bebb (2010) Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett (2011) Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould (2013) Paul J. Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher (2014) Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould (2015) John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, and Neil Corbould (2016) Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick (2017) Dan DeLeeuw, Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick (2018/2019) Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy (2019/2020)
Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.

Space: 1999

Episodes

Year One

"Breakaway"
"Force of Life"
"Collision Course"
"War Games"
"Voyager's Return"
"Dragon's Domain"
"Mission of the Darians"
"Guardian of Piri"
"Matter of Life and Death"
"Earthbound"
"The Full Circle"
"Another Time, Another Place"
"The Infernal Machine"
"Ring Around the Moon"
"Missing Link"
"The Last Sunset"
"The Troubled Spirit"
"The Testament of Arkadia"
"The Last Enemy"

Year Two

"The Metamorph"
"Journey to Where"
"One Moment of Humanity"
"Brian the Brain"
"New Adam, New Eve"
"The Mark of Archanon"
"All That Glisters"
"The Taybor"
"Seed of Destruction"
"The AB Chrysalis"
"Catacombs of the Moon"
"Space Warp"
"The Beta Cloud"
"The Lambda Factor"
"The Bringers of Wonder, Part One"
"The Bringers of Wonder, Part Two"
"The Seance Spectre"
"Devil's Planet"
"The Dorcons"