From Iconic Movie VFX to Writing & Directing with John Schlag

#filmmaking #filmpodcast #jurassicpark

This week on the podcast I'm talking to Visual Effects Guru and Writer Director John Schlag. Johns been in the industry a long time and has worked on some absolute classic movies like Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Death Becomes Her, Forest Gump and Star Trek Generations. 

He's also recently moved into writing and directing his own short films. So I talked to John about some of those classic films, got some inside stories and asked him about his move into short films and some of the challenges he's faced on his third career. Enjoy! 

Check out the re-release of Jim's first solo directing feature The Witches Hammer - out now on amazon 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0F235F4T8/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to John and some of the iconic movies he's worked on
• 1:21 How did John start in the business?
• 2:12 Did John always have movies in mind?
• 2:47 Terminator 2 - John's first movie
• 4:28 Memories from Terminator 2
• 5:41 Had John seen The Terminator and did he like it?
• 6:26 Is John a sci fi fan?
• 7:11 If John could reboot any book or short story into a feature what would it be?
• 8:15 Death Becomes Her - Memories from the production
• 9:12 Star Trek Generations
• 11:15 Working as a team or going for productions?
• 12:46 Jurassic Park
• 12:57 Building software - what does that mean?
• 15:30 Memories from Forest Gump
• 16:55 Render time
• 17:49 Are there any common personality traits for a VFX person?
• 19:27 Advice for someone new wanting to get into VFX?
• 20:45 What prompted the move into Writing and Directing?
• 24:04 What does John wish he'd known working on his first short film?
• 28:03 What are the transferrable skills from VFX to Directing?
• 29:31 Crossing the line - rules for filming scenes
• 35:20 Budgeting a short film
• 38:02 Does John have a motto or a mantra?
• 38:57 In Johns opinion what is the best use of VFX in a film ever?