Volker Engel

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Volker Engel (born February 17, 1965 in Bremerhaven ) is a German visual effects supervisor and film producer . Since November 9, 2001 he has been honorary professor at the University of Bremerhaven .

Life

Volker Engel started shooting his first cartoons on Super-8 in his hometown of Bremerhaven at the age of 14.

Engel graduated from the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart with a diploma in graphic design in 1991 . In 1990 he created the for the time spectacular visual effects for Roland Emmerich's film Moon 44 , which consisted of more than 300 miniature model shots.

From 1991 to 1992 he completed two semesters of animation studies at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg. From 1992 to 1994 he was a lecturer in animation there.

In the 90s he worked several times with his friend Emmerich in Los Angeles, where he was responsible, among other things, as a VFX supervisor for the effects of Independence Day and 1997/98 for Godzilla . He won an Oscar in 1997 for the effects of Independence Day.

At the end of the 1990s, Engel founded the film production company Uncharted Territory together with Marc Weigert , for and with which he produced the action-adventure film Coronado until 2003 (director: Claudio Faeh). The film has visual effects that are worth seeing for its low budget. In particular, the meticulous planning of all important shots in the form of animatics, the shooting on compressed high-definition tapes instead of expensive celluloid film, the skillful use of CG elements and particle effects as well as the inexpensive PC-based post-production pipeline (including Adobe After Effects as a compositing package) made this extraordinary achievement possible.

In 2004, Volker Engel was co-producer and visual effects supervisor (with Marc Weigert) for “ Die Nibelungen ”, a German-American film adaptation of the Nibelungen saga with Benno Fürmann and Kristanna Loken in the leading roles as Siegfried and Brunhilde.

As a producer and visual effects supervisor, he and Marc Weigert won an Emmy Award in 2006 for the best visual effects of the year for the $ 20 million US three-part film "The Triangle", which was published on German television as "Bermuda Triangle - Gate to a Lost." Time ”was broadcast.

For Roland Emmerich, he then worked as co-producer and visual effects supervisor on the 2012 disaster film . On December 20, 2009, “2012” received the “Golden Satellite Award” from the International Press Academy for its visual effects. In 2011 Engel worked (also under Emmerich's direction) on the historical film Anonymus , which deals with the authorship of Edward de Veres on the plays of Shakespeare . The film was shot entirely in the studios in Potsdam-Babelsberg.

At the beginning of 2011 he led (again together with Marc Weigert) the VFX pre-production phase of Emmerich's planned first part of the “Foundation” trilogy based on the novels by Asimov. However, the project was put on hold indefinitely by Sony studio in April.

In 2012/2013 he was (with Marc Weigert) responsible as co-producer and visual effects supervisor for the 900 VFX shots of the Emmerich film "White House Down".

Awards

  • 2009
    • Golden Satellite Award for "2012"
  • 2006
    • Television Academy Emmy Award for The Triangle
  • 2005
    • Diva Award for Die Nibelungen
  • 1997
    • Academy Award " Oscar " for Independence Day
    • Saturn Award for Independence Day
    • Sci Fi Universe Award for Independence Day
    • Nomination for the British Academy Award for Independence Day
    • Golden Satellite Award for Independence Day

Movies

  • " White House Down " (2013) co-producer and visual effects supervisor
  • " Hugo Cabret " (2011) Visual Effects and Digital Environments (bridge scene)
  • " Anonymus " (2011) Executive Producer and Visual Effects Supervisor
  • " 2012 " (2009) co-producer and visual effects supervisor
  • "The Triangle" (2005) TV three-part producer and visual effects supervisor
  • " Die Nibelungen " (2004) TV two-part co-producer and visual effects director
  • "Coronado" (2003) producer, co-screenwriter and visual effects supervisor
  • " Godzilla " (1998) Visual Effects Supervisor
  • "Independence Day" (1996) Visual Effects Supervisor
  • "The Last Cosmonaut" (1994) TV Visual Effects Supervisor
  • "Universal Soldier" (1992) Model Unit
  • "Moon 44" (1990) Visual Effects Supervisor

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information from the Federal President's Office
personal data
SURNAME Engel, Volker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German visual effects supervisor and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremerhaven