Visual Effects | Dr Stuart Bender, Brendan Seals

As visual effects technologies advance and audience engagement changes, what could movies look like in the future?In this episode, Sarah is joined by Dr Stuart Bender and VFX Supervisor Brendan Seals, who has worked on 30 movies, including the Oscar-nominated Spider-Man: No Way Home, for VFX vendor Luma Pictures. They discuss how visual effects are used on screen more than we realise, examine why audience reactions to visual effects have changed in the past 20 years, and predict how new technologies could transform the visual effects industry and even impact the real world.Brendan’s visual effects work [01:19]How audience attitudes to visual effects have changed [05:14]LED StageCraft technologies as seen in The Mandalorian [13:02]Shooting on camera vs. adding visual effects: the case of Top Gun: Maverick [15:13]Deepfakes in the industry and the real world [19:05]Advice for future visual effects artists [26:42]What’s next for Stuart and Brendan? [31:27]Learn moreCurtin University: Screen Arts Undergraduate majorYouTube: Spider-Man: No Way Home | VFX Breakdown | Luma PicturesIndustrial Light & Magic: StagecraftThe Guardian: What are deepfakes – and how can you spot them?Connect with our guestsDr Stuart Bender is the Major Coordinator for the Screen Arts program at Curtin University in the new Bachelor of Creative Arts.He has heavily researched psychological responses to high-emotion media, including cinema visual effects. In the past few years, he has frequently offered expert commentary on representations of violence, trauma and aggression in the media.Dr Bender’s LinkedIn profileDr Bender’s staff profileJournal of Popular Film and Television: Blood in the CorridorBrendan Seals is a Visual Effects Supervisor at Luma Pictures, a world-class VFX studio based in Melbourne, Australia. With a design background in FX, lighting and composition, Seals’s credentials include working on the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed Spider-Man: No Way Home and Jojo Rabbit.He is a graduate of Curtin University’s Bachelor of Arts program. Seals’s LinkedIn profileLuma Pictures’s websiteYouTube: Brendan Seals, visual effects artist | Curtin AlumniJoin Curtin UniversityThis podcast is brought to you by Curtin University. Curtin is a global university known for its commitment to making positive change happen through high-impact research, strong industry partnerships and practical teaching.Work with usStudy a research degreeStart postgraduate educationGot any questions, or suggestions for future topics?Email thefutureof@curtin.edu.auSocial mediaTwitterFacebookInstagramYouTubeLinkedInTranscriptRead the transcriptBehind the scenesHost: Sarah TaillierResearcher and Editor: Daniel Jauk Recordist: Annabelle FouchardExecutive Producers: Anita Shore and Jarrad LongAssistant Producer: Alexandra EftosSocial Media Coordinator: Amy HoskingFirst Nations AcknowledgementCurtin University acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which Curtin Perth is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation, and on Curtin Kalgoorlie, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields; and the First Nations peoples on all Curtin locations.MusicOKAY by 13ounce Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Music promoted by Audio Library. Curtin University supports academic freedom of speech. The views expressed in The Future Of podcast may not reflect those of Curtin University.