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 Ken Ziegler
is a visual effects technical director, compositor, and effects animator with a long and impressive industry background. A
graduate of Stanford University who also holds a Masters degree from the prestigious film school at the University of Southern California in Los
Angeles, Ken Ziegler has worked for many years in the entertainment industry as an effects artist for leading VFX and animation facilities
such as the Walt Disney Company, Industrial Light & Magic, and the legendary Boss Films. His feature film credits include Multiplicity,
Turbulence, Air Force One, The Parent Trap, Small Soldiers, Galaxy Quest, The Perfect Storm, Jurassic Park III, and
Star Wars Episodes 1 & 2. Ziegler has also taught visual effects at the university level.
We recently caught up with Ken Ziegler to ask him a little about how he
got his start in the industry and to find out what sort of advice he has for others wishing to make a career for themselves in the world of visual effects.
TeachingSpot: What first inspired you to get into the visual effects business?
Ken: My utter failure to turn FilmSchool into a paying gig as a screenwriter. Actually, that's a little
harsh. I found out at school that the wheeling and dealing side of Hollywood was not very well
matched to my personality, and I started trying to figure out what to do next
TeachingSpot: How did you get your break in the industry?
Ken: At church, surprisingly enough. I was looking for a pay-the-bills job, and met a guy who
worked for Boss Films who said they needed intern help. I had always loved special effects, but had
not really considered it as a career until starting to watch what the artists were doing there. I
realized that after watching and doing support work for them for a while that it was something I had a knack for.
TeachingSpot: What surprised you the most about the VFX business or the film and television industry in general when you began working in it professionally?
Ken: The varying levels of pressure to work overtime, ranging from "too much" to "severely health
threatening". Effects-based motion pictures are a very deadline oriented group effort, and they
deal with inventing new technology on the fly and pleasing fickle creative whims -- two factors that
increase the time pressures exponentially to make those aforementioned deadlines.
TeachingSpot: You have worked in the industry for several years and you have also taught
would-be effects artists. What do think the biggest misconception young, up & coming artists have about being a compositor or a TD or an effects animator?
Ken: That you have creative autonomy. I think many students forget that the job is primarily to
make someone *else's* vision make the screen, not your own. This can be frustrating at times.
The key is to work towards establishing a reputation as an innovator and eventually your contributions become respected and included in the creative process.
TeachingSpot: Which of the VFX projects that you’ve worked on has given you the most
satisfaction?
Ken: Without question, Galaxy Quest... Not only was it a great film, the crew, the effects, and the
amount of input I got to give were all terrific.
TeachingSpot: What was the toughest assignment ever handed to you and why was it so
challenging?
Ken: In the early days (boy, I sound like an old geezer) before deflickering algorithm tools were
readily available, I had to correct eight whole minutes worth of film for Robert Altman's Kansas City where a stage light was out of synch with the camera shutter, causing the highlights on various
objects in the scene to "pulse". That might sound unimpressive, but the fact that it was so much
screen time, had a moving camera, and had other non-flickering lights in the same scene made it a
real feat to come up with creative solutions. The director bought me a bottle of champagne and a nice card for "rescuing his film".
TeachingSpot: Is there one particular shot that you worked on in your career that you would
love to be able to take another stab at if you could?
Ken: Yeah! In Star Wars Episode 1, there's a blink-and-you-miss-it shot of the ramp opening of a
just-landed starship. The shot that is in the film is a cheap-looking side angle, because the more
dramatic three-quarter angle shot that was planned -- but not filmed properly as a miniature --
required too much fix-it work to make happen. We were four days from deadline when George
(Lucas) himself asked me to see what I could do with it, and after an all-nighter and 30 solid hours
of work I had to admit it couldn't be done within the time limits. That darn replacement shot we had to use instead bugs me every time I see it.
TeachingSpot: Can you describe your most memorable experience in dailies on a film project?
Ken: There have been many…One that stands out is when a certain director I'll just call "Wolfgang"
complained about one of our effects shots looking "fake". After we finished laughing, we informed
him the one he was complaining about was a real aerial shot of a real military aircraft that his own
second unit had filmed, and we hadn't touched. That said something about our quality when he thought the real thing looked phony instead.
TeachingSpot: What has been the biggest change in the VFX business since you first started and where do you see the industry going in the next five years?
Ken: It's looking more and more like salaries are shrinking and so are companies. But the overall
number of companies is probably going to grow. More can be done by fewer people and less
equipment, but the demand for ever more spectacular effects -- in both quantity and complexity --
keeps providing a rising tide of work. Smaller "boutique" style companies, that form and disband as needed, may rule the near future.
TeachingSpot: If you could offer only one piece of advice to someone who wants to become a visual effects artist what would it be?
Ken: If you really want to do this kind of work, get prepared to freelance, and learn how to budget
your income for periods of inactivity between jobs.
TeachingSpot: Super Pointless Bonus Question - Excluding any project that you personally
may have worked on, what is your favorite “guilty pleasure” bad movie to watch?
Ken: Well, "bad" is a very subjective thing... Exempting all of the films riffed by the cast of Mystery
Science Theater 3000 -- which all prospective film industry students should watch and love by the way -- I'd have to say that Bionic Showdown, a horrible TV movie made as a reunion show for the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman TV series: A very young pre-Speed Sandra Bullock follows
in the 60 mph footsteps of Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner as a cyborg government agent. She
probably moans every time someone brings it up to her, but I love seeing actors and actresses in
roles in lousy films before they made it big. Sandra has to put up with this ghost of her past like Diedre Hall has to endure being remembered for Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.
TeachingSpot: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with TeachingSpot.
Ken: Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Thanks” don't feed the bulldog. Where's my check?
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