For the 40th edition of Imagine, we’re welcoming legendary stop motion animator and VFX pioneer Phil Tippett as our Guest of Honour. His Tippett Studio has had an enormous influence on the development of VFX, and his stop motion inspired generations of animators. Among his admirers are George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Paul Verhoeven.
In 1975, Tippett created the chess scene for Star Wars. Three years later, he led Industrial Light and Magic’s animation team, which was responsible for the creation of the Tauntauns and the Imperial Walkers in The Empire Strikes Back. Tippett then used a revolutionary mix of stop-motion and digital animation for classics such as RoboCop (1987) and Jurassic Park (1993), and for the alien insects in Starship Troopers (1997).
In the 21st Century, Tippett remains an innovative and influential artist. He led the design of the wolf pack in the Twilight films and came up with the sets for The Mandalorian in 2021. In that same year, he finally released his magnum opus Mad God after working on it for decades.
In addition to Mad God, Imagine will show the documentary Phil Tippett – Mad Dreams and Monsters (2019) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), featuring Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion animation, which was an important influence on Tippett.
In this extensive Career Talk, media scholar Dan Hassler-Forest will talk to Tippett about his work, inspirations and influence.
