Graham Edwards's Blog, page 8

Dennis Muren at VIEW 2020

If you’re a fan of Star Wars, visual effects, or just movies in general, you won’t want to miss this hour-long virtual session with Dennis Muren, senior visual effects supervisor and creative director of Industrial Light & Magic. On Friday 23 October, 2020, the final day of this year’s epic VIEW Conference, Muren will not only talk about his long career and unique artistic vision, but also respond to questions from conference attendees.

Winner of nine Academy Awards® or Best Achieveme...

VIEW 2020 Full Program Now Available

Yes, the full program of events for VIEW Conference 2020 is now available. So stop reading this, and head over to the VIEW 2020 website to prepare your schedule for the week.

Check out the VIEW 2020 Program

The 21st International VIEW Conference takes place 18-23 October 2020 in Turin, Italy. Visit the VIEW Conference website for more details and to purchase tickets.

VIEW Conference 2020 official website

Roots of Cinema – Projection Screens

Da-Lite Screen & Scenic Co. advertisement, 1926.

My current work-in-progress – a novel set in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s – regularly sends me down all kinds of research rabbit-holes. Much as I’m writing fiction, I want to get as many of the facts straight as possible.

My latest quest was driven by a simple question: in a small studio screening room of the period, what material would the projection screen have been made from? Easy enough to find the answer, you might think. Just ask G...

From “Moana” to “Raya and the Last Dragon”

Here’s a great opportunity to hear from Osnat Shurer, the Academy Award®-nominated producer of Disney’s mega-hit Moana. In a special virtual session at VIEW Conference 2020, Shurer will share insights from her career as a filmmaker and documentarian and talk about her latest project, Disney’s upcoming animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon, set to release in theaters March 2021.

The live event takes place on Tuesday, October 20th, 2020 at 10:00am PDT/ 19:00 CET, and will be streamed li...

Painting Dragons

When I turned my attention to the cover design for my self-published novel The Dragons of Bloodrock, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted: a giant grey dragon speeding over a desert, with a huge wall of red rock looming in the background.

I roughed out a few pencil compositions before settling on one featuring a dragon with improbably large wings. I based the posture on some photographic reference of bats captured in mid-wing-beat by high-speed cameras. Boy, do those little critters...

VIEW 2020 stages free online event with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” co-director Peter Ramsey

Registration is now open for an exclusive online event in which Academy Award®-winning director Peter Ramsey discusses his extraordinary career journey, including his highly acclaimed recent work as co-director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. “Peter is a master storyteller,” says Conference Director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “Listening to him speak about his passion for making movies is a privilege.”

During this live session – one of a series of special PreVIEW sessions leading up ...

Pixar Co-Founder Dr. Ed Catmull Delivers Keynote at VIEW 2020

There are legends and there are legends. This guy’s both.

A physics and computer science graduate of University of Utah, Dr. Edwin Catmull is one of the true pioneers of modern computer generated imagery. His early work led to his appointment in 1979 as vice president of Lucasfilm’s nascent Computer Division. When Steve Jobs bought the division in 1986 to create Pixar, which was co-founded by Catmull and fellow computer scientist Alvy Ray Smith.

In 2019, Dr. Catmull received the $1 mil...

VIEW 2020 – Preview

I lead a double life. In my day job, I write extensively about visual effects for Cinefex magazine. In my own time, I write novels. For the next couple of months, I’ll be levelling up to a triple life, as I help spread the word about VIEW Conference 2020. As things hot up, I’ll be interviewing a range of VIEW Conference delegates from the world of visual effects and animation, digging into some of the secrets behind your favourite movies and TV shows.

What’s VIEW Conference? In a nuts...

The Dragons of Bloodrock – Desktop Wallpapers

Desperate to put a dragon on your desktop? Just right-click on a thumbnail to download one of these exclusive images from my fantasy novel The Dragons of Bloodrock.

Order The Dragons of Bloodrock from AmazonLearn more about The Dragons of Bloodrock



“The Dragons of Bloodrock” Desktop 1: 1920x1080px “The Dragons of Bloodrock” Desktop 2: 1920x1080px “The Dragons of Bloodrock” iPhone Home Screen

The Dragons of Bloodrock – Read the First Chapter Free

To celebrate the launch of my new fantasy novel The Dragons of Bloodrock, I’m inviting you to spread your wings and read the first chapter absolutely free, exclusively on this blog. If this extract draws you in, why not head over to Amazon and grab yourself a copy of the book? It’s available in paperbook or for Kindle.

Buy The Dragons of Bloodrock

Pyx opened his eyes into the glare of the desert sun. Clouds filtered the light, but only a little. The clouds were yellow, filled with ...