Hi Steve! Thank you for your time.
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JSSA: How did you get started in special effects?
Steven Blasini: I have dreamed of a career in Visual Effects since the age of 7. My older brother Tony seeded and fed my yearning by taking me to see most of the effects laden films of the time. Determined to bring my dream to life using any and all tools at my disposal, I would shoot Super 8 movies with "visual effects" created using cardboard, Styrofoam and any other piece of cool looking "junk" I could find. Back then there were no Computer Generated effects and living in New York there was no access to the field. So through trial and error (and a bit of fate sprinkled in) I set myself up in the computer industry where I started my own successful computer consulting firm. Jurassic Park then came along and bridged the worlds of Computers and Visual Effects creating the "backdoor" I needed.
In 1998, after the unexpected demise of my 17 year marriage, I sold my computer business, packed my minivan with everything I owned and drove cross country to establish a new life in the Dream City of Los Angeles. Two months later I landed a job as an animator in a small independent film studio where I advanced in short time to Visual Effects Supervisor and Department Head.
In 2000 I met the woman of my dreams, married her in 2001 and together we founded a rapidly growing Visual Effects and Graphics Design company, BFX Imageworks. So the dream I had at the age of 7 came true some 30 years later. Never give up. Hold on tight to your dreams and never let them go. They DO come true!
JSSA: What was a poignant moment for you as you were learning the skills of special effects?
Steven Blasini: I suppose it was when I created a short film where a T-Rex chases a poor sap and ends up grabbing him
by the leg and carrying him off. That poor sap was ME! So not only did I create the animation, I had to create
a digital double of myself....everyone loved it!
JSSA: Do you have a favorite effect that you've done over the years?
Steven Blasini: There are many, but if I had to choose one, it would be one particular scene from our 2007 Sy-Fy Channel movie "Ice Spiders".
In it, there's one shot where a spider is "chomping" on a dead human carcass.. which I had also created completely in CGI and when the director came by to review it.. he asked me where I had gotten an extra to perform that scene... he was completely unaware that the entire shot was CG. That's the best compliment ever!
JSSA: What was your inspiration in Jersey Shore Shark Attack?
Steven Blasini: Well, Jersey Shore Shark Attack marks our THIRD shark movie that we've done.. so we're becoming somewhat of a Shark Shop when it comes to VFX. For all our movies we have to do TONS of research on whatever creature we're generating and animating so you can imagine how EXPERT we've become on this Shark Subject!
JSSA: Was there a shot in the film that was more tricky than the other?
Steven Blasini: There's a sequence where the yacht that the "preppies" are on is sinking because of a hole made by a ramming shark... they couldn't sink the real boat, nor did we have the time or budget to recreate it in CG.. so I had to come up with a clever way to take the actual real boat, extract it from the scene.. and place it lower and lower into the ocean and add the CGI shark fins all the while keeping a realistic water line. That was a HARD one to figure out.. especially since not only was the boat the camera was on moving and bobbing, but the camera was handheld...
JSSA: How much was creative and how much was technical?
Steven Blasini: I would say in general MOST of our work is 75% creative and 25% technical. Once you setup systems and pipelines to handle most things you encounter.. you are free to be creative.
JSSA: Do you work more independantly off script when doing films?
Steven Blasini: We enjoy a great reputation of pretty much handling most if not all of our effects shots from conception. There are the occasional producer or director notes.. but we are given a lot of autonomy because after having done over 60 films, we really get it. Plus we usually enjoy very good relationships with everyone we work with.
JSSA: What is a great avenue for fans of yours, your effects and Jersey Shore Shark Attack to find information about you?
Steve Blasini:
Our website at:
http://bfximageworks.com
and our Facebook company page at:
https://www.facebook.com/BFXImageworks
JSSA: What words of wisdom do you have for future Special Effects artists?
Steve Blasini: I think I can re-quote myself from question one above... Never give up. Hold on tight to your dreams, never let them go and don't EVER EVER let ANYONE dissuade you. You can most DEFINITELY make them come true! My wife and I are proof of that!
;-)
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