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Visual effects wizard Robert Campbell Blalack was a co-founder of Industrial Light & Magic, a division of the production company Lucasfilm. His reputation as a leading pioneer in the field of CGI rests on his collaboration with John Dykstra in designing/supervising the ILM VistaVision Photographic Optical Composite and Rotoscope Animation blue screen production pipeline (notably employed to achieve the glowing lightsaber effect) first seen in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). For his contribution, the Panamanian-born shared the 1978 Academy Award, adding to this accolade six years later with a Primetime Emmy for his special effects work on the apocalyptic TV movie The Day After (1983). Earlier, in 1980, Blalack had been in charge of visual effects for Carl Sagan's groundbreaking documentary series Cosmos (1980).

Robert Blalack graduated with a B.A. in English Literature/Theater Arts from Pomona College and subsequently completed film studies at the California Institute of the Arts. By the time Blalack met Dykstra in 1974 he had already produced several experimental short films and headed his own company (Praxis Film Works, headquartered in North Hollywood). Under the Praxis umbrella, he also directed numerous commercials integrating live action with computer generated effects. His later film work included the 'cat vision' optics in Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People (1982), as well as special visual effects for The Last Dragon (1985) and Timestalkers (1987).

Later becoming active as an instructor in multi-media, Blalack gave lectures and attended conferences at universities and film schools in Europe and in Asia. He died from cancer in Paris on February 2 2022, aged 73.

Awards

Robert Blalack

Academy Awards, USA

Primetime Emmy Awards

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