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Roy Field
View on WikipediaKey Information
Roy Field (19 August 1932 – 23 May 2002) was a British special effects artist in the film industry. He worked on the first seven James Bond films before joining the team of 1978's Superman. He experimented with using animation to depict the flight of Superman and also used optical printing techniques to depict bullets bouncing off his body. The team shared the 1978 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and the 1978 Michael Balcon award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Field received two BAFTA nominations for visual effects on the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).
Earlier works
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Field was born on 19 August 1932 and was British.[1][2] As a visual effects artist he worked on seven successive James Bond films for Eon Productions, starting with the first Dr. No (1962) and continuing with From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971).[2] He later returned for an eighth film (he missed 1973's Live and Let Die): The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).[2][3] Field also worked on Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and The Omen (1976).[2]
Superman
[edit]Field was part of the special effects team for Superman (1978). The team under supervisors Les Bowie and Derek Meddings included Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop and Zoran Perisic.[2][4] The size of the team reflected the difficulty in depicting realistic flying sequences for the title character.[5] At one stage Field trialled the use of animation for this purpose but rejected it as not being photo-realistic enough.[6] Another of Field's contributions to the film was to use optical printing techniques to superimpose sparks on Superman's body to depict bullets bouncing off.[7] The special effects team members named previously shared the 1978 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.[2][4] Bowie died in January 1979 before he could collect his Oscar.[8] Field described him as fantastically inventive with "an ability to make do with string when other people used rope".[9] The team also shared the Michael Balcon award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema at the 1978 British Academy Film Awards.[4]
Later films
[edit]Field also worked with director Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986), both of which received BAFTA nominations for visual effects. He received the inaugural British Society of Cinematographers Charles D. Staffell Award for Visual Effects in 2001. Field's last credit was for Mutiny (2002), an episode in the television film series Hornblower. He died on 23 May 2002.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Adeyemi, Taiwo (1998). The Aesthetic Value of Special Effects Cinematography in Nigeria. Jofel Books. p. 70. ISBN 978-978-32418-9-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Roy Field BSC". British Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Caplen, Robert A. (2010). Shaken & Stirred: The Feminism of James Bond. Robert Caplen. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4535-1282-1.
- ^ a b c Gunden, Kenneth Von (15 September 2001). Flights of Fancy: The Great Fantasy Films. McFarland. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-7864-1214-3.
- ^ Theatre Crafts. Theatre Crafts Associates. 1986. p. 75.
- ^ Burke, Liam (31 March 2015). The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood's Leading Genre. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 50, 279. ISBN 978-1-62674-518-6.
- ^ Chilvers, Colin; Lam, Aaron. Believing a Man Can Fly: Memories of a Life in Special Effects and Film. BearManor Media. p. 126.
- ^ Fryer, Ian (20 April 2017). The Worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson: The Story Behind International Rescue. Fonthill Media. p. 55.
- ^ Maxford, Howard (8 November 2019). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8.
External links
[edit]
Roy Field
View on GrokipediaEarly life
Early life
Roy Field was born on 19 August 1932 in the United Kingdom. [3] He was British by nationality. [4] Little public information exists regarding his childhood, family background, education, or early influences before entering the film industry. [5] This scarcity of documented details on his pre-professional years is consistent across available biographical sources.Career
Early career and James Bond franchise
Roy Field began his career in the film industry in the 1950s at Bray Studios, initially as a clapper/loader before transitioning into special effects work.[5] He collaborated with special effects pioneers Les Bowie and Vic Margutti and spent 17 years at Pinewood Studios, contributing to the development and refinement of special effects techniques during this period.[5] In the early 1960s, Field established himself as a visual effects artist on the James Bond franchise, contributing to the first seven Eon Productions films: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), and Diamonds Are Forever (1971).[2] He returned for one additional entry in the series, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).[2] His involvement in these productions, filmed primarily at Pinewood Studios, helped shape the practical and miniature effects used for the large-scale action sequences that defined the early Bond films.[2] Field's early credits also extended to other notable British productions, including Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and The Omen (1976).[2] This foundational work in practical effects at British studios laid the groundwork for his later involvement in major international projects such as Superman (1978).[2]Superman (1978) and visual effects contributions
Roy Field served as creative supervisor of optical visual effects on Superman (1978), contributing to one of the most ambitious visual effects undertakings in film history at the time. [6] [7] He worked within a collaborative special effects team supervised by Les Bowie and Derek Meddings, alongside Colin Chilvers as creative supervisor and director of special effects, Denys Coop as creative director of process photography, and Zoran Perisic as creator of the Zoptic special effects system. [6] [7] To achieve convincing flight sequences for Christopher Reeve's Superman, the team combined multiple practical and optical approaches, including wire-flying rigs for take-offs and dynamic shots, mechanical gimbals and counterweight systems for controlled movement, front-projection with Perisic's custom Zoptic process (which synchronized zoom lenses to create depth and apparent motion), and blue-screen compositing for stationary or approaching/receding shots. [7] Field played a key role in addressing technical challenges posed by the production, notably devising a solution for shooting Reeve's blue costume against a blue-screen backdrop by selecting a different shade of blue for the suit; this allowed the matte extraction to proceed cleanly, with the color then corrected back to the desired hue during final grading. [7] These optical and process-oriented contributions built on Field's prior expertise in practical effects from the James Bond franchise, enabling precise compositing and integration essential to depicting Superman's invulnerability and other powers on screen. [2] The innovative effects work on the film garnered major industry recognition for the team. [7]Later career
Following his acclaimed contributions to Superman (1978), Roy Field continued working in visual effects, collaborating on prominent Jim Henson productions.[2] He earned BAFTA nominations for Best Visual Effects on The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).[2] Field's later career remained focused on British-based special effects work, where he served in various team and supervisory capacities across film and television over more than four decades.[2] In recognition of his lifetime contributions, he became the inaugural recipient of the Charles D. Staffell Award for Visual Effects from the British Society of Cinematographers in 2001.[2] His final credited work was on the television film Hornblower: Mutiny (2001).[2] He was posthumously inducted into the Visual Effects Society Hall of Fame in 2021.[5]Awards and recognition
Death
References
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17291971