On Tuesday evening, students attending the LYNX Camp summer program of the University of Colorado’s Denver campus welcomed CGI pioneer and historian Ed Kramer.
Kramer’s presentation, titled “Wizards of Hollywood”, revealed the often-overlooked evolution of the CGI industry, as illustrated by stories from his own 40-year career. Students learned how his love of monster magazines as a kid led to a career making CGI creatures for movies at Industrial Light & Magic, working for George Lucas and other Hollywood directors. Students also saw his early work for NASA animating a Mars Mission, and heard how important Denver is to the history of computer animation. The talk then informed attendees how CGI is done for movies, often using examples from Kramer’s own work on The Mummy and Galaxy Quest. Kramer spoke about the many skills that go into computer-generated effects, and introduced some of the actual people who created each step of the process. He concluded with a look into the future of CGI using Virtual Reality, and after the presentation, students could come to get a close look at a table of memorabilia from his career. It was a smashing success, with students staying a long time asking questions and taking selfies. (Kramer instagrams as edkramer_wizard.)
LYNX Camp is in its fifth year at CU Denver as a summer program for future college students to explore filmmaking, music and animation. The program is coordinated by David Walter. For more information, visit
https://artsandmedia.ucdenver.edu/prospective-students/lynx-camps/lynx-guest-artists .
