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MSU grad turns childhood fascination into Oscar gold
September 07, 2006 -- Carol Schmidt, MSU News
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| Brian Van't Hul's interest in film began as a boy growing up in Bozeman. He parlayed that, and an MSU degree in film, into an Oscar this year after 20 years of patience, persistence and hard work. Photo courtesy of Brian Van't Hul. |
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Brian Van't Hul is a rare man whose life's work centers on such things as magic, monsters and giant apes.
That's because Van't Hul, who graduated from Montana State University's film school in 1987, makes a living bringing fantasy to life. Earlier this year he received an Oscar for his work on the visual effects of Peter Jackson's epic "King Kong."
"I don't know if anyone expects (to win an Oscar)," said Van't Hul, who won the Academy Award with Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers and Joe Letteri, colleagues from New Zealand's WETA Workshop. WETA was also responsible for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
"It was a great opportunity for me to represent a large group of people. Anyone who works on a film as large as 'Kong' and 'Rings' (the Lord of the Rings Trilogy) knows that it is really a huge group effort and we were there to represent the work of hundreds of people."
Which is appropriate for someone with the skill set to make hundreds of people mushroom into thousands, or craft giant trees that can walk the earth.
Van't Hul, who recently joined Walt Disney Feature Animation as a computer graphics lighting and compositor, said he realizes that his job is the stuff of many a young boy's dreams. In fact, he shared those dreams growing up in Bozeman.
"I grew up watching movies that had visual effects," Van't Hul said. "I discovered at an early age that people actually made a living making films and once that was in my head, I decided that was what I wanted to do."
Van't Hul built stop-motion puppets and model spaceships in his basement and filmed them with his Super 8 camera. Growing up within sight of MSU's film school was "a happy coincidence" that Van't Hul capitalized upon early. When he was still in junior high the Bozeman Chronicle ran a film trivia contest offering a prize of free movie tickets. Van't Hul's research for the tickets led to a call to MSU's Media and Theatre Arts department and film professor Bill Neff.
"I can't remember if I won the tickets, but I do remember that I told Bill about my interest and he gave me a tour of the film and television facilities," Van't Hul said. "It was such a great experience at that age that later when it came time to enroll in college, MSU was it."
"I've never had any regrets (about going to MSU)," Van't Hul added. "The whole MSU experience was critical to the success I've had."
After graduating, Van't Hul's first job in Los Angeles was as a driver for a movie camera rental company, a job that Van't Hul still believes he was "extremely lucky to get." He worked his way up to a camera service technician, cleaning, repairing and calibrating movie cameras.
"I spent my first couple of years learning the nuts and bolts of cameras and I eventually met people who knew people, who knew about visual effects," Van't Hul recalled of the L.A. networking process. Through these contacts he later interned for a small special effects studio, learning "motion-control," a special effects technique that uses computer-programmed cameras to shoot repetitive movements of models and miniatures.
In all, Van't Hul estimates that it took him two to three years to break into the business. Among his first feature film work was a job at George Lucas's company, Industrial Light and Magic, working on "Hook" and "Star Trek 6." In the following years he worked on Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas," Robert Zemeckis' "Death Becomes Her," "Forrest Gump" and "Contact." In 1998 he returned to New Zealand, where he had previously worked on Jackson's horror-comedy "The Frighteners," for "Lord of the Rings."
"It was a huge risk," Van't Hul recalled of taking the job in New Zealand. "There were a lot of people who weren't going down there because they thought the project would fail because it was big, the company was small and it was so far away."
Van't Hul said one studio pulled out of the trilogy and the crew waited for months for a green light. Ultimately Jackson's persistence saw the films through, he said. It was a great experience for Van't Hul, not only professionally, but because he met his wife, Trish, while working on "Rings." Other work in New Zealand that followed was "Master and Commander," "Van Helsing" and "I, Robot."
Van't Hul is glad to be back in L.A. where he is working on Disney's "Meet the Robinsons," an animated feature opening next spring.
"It's an exciting time here since Disney has just merged with Pixar, which has done well and is getting involved with what we're doing," Van't Hul said.
Now that he's back, Van't Hul said he looks forward to becoming involved in the growing community of MSU film grads in L.A. He has some advice for young filmmakers who would like to be where he is one day.
"Work really hard, save your money and be patient," he said of his 20-year, "overnight success." "If the opportunity comes where you have to choose between two options, don't necessarily take the one that pays the most, but go for the one that you're most passionate about."
Van't Hul is the third MSU grad to win an Academy Award. Others are Edward Jones, 1978, one of eight winners for the best visual effects Oscar in 1988 for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Jon Johnson, also 1978, won an Academy Award in 2001 for Best Sound Editing for the film "U-571."
Bill Neff (406) 994-6222, wneff@montana.edu
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| [View or Download] | 1. | Brian Van't Hul's interest in film began as a boy growing up in Bozeman. He parlayed that, and an MSU degree in film, into an Oscar this year after 20 years of patience, persistence and hard work. Photo courtesy of Brian Van't Hul. |
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