Visual effects pioneer Ken Ralston is Senior Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at the Academy Award winning visual effects studio, Sony Pictures Imageworks. For more than three decades, Ralston has taken audiences to unimaginable worlds with his intuitive vision and unparalleled mastery of visual effects. Ken most recently completed supervising visual effects at Sony Pictures Imageworks on director Tim Burton’s stunning film, Alice in Wonderland (3D), for Disney.
Many groundbreaking projects at Sony Pictures Imageworks have benefited from Ralston’s artistic acumen including his many collaborations with Academy Award® winning director Robert Zemeckis on the epic Beowulf (3D), The Polar Express (3D) and Cast Away. Prior to joining Imageworks, Ralston placed his artistic and technical stamp on the films at Industrial Light & Magic. Breaking technological ground, Ralston played a pivotal role in advancing the company’s renown.
Ralston has earned an impressive five Academy Awards including a Special Achievement Oscar for the visual effects in the 1983 phenomenon, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. In addition to this, he received Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects for his work as visual effects supervisor on Forrest Gump (which was also awarded the Oscar for Best Picture), Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Ron Howard’s Cocoon.
Ralston’s other notable film credits include visual effects supervisor on The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Star Trek IV: The Vovage Home, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Dragonslayer, for which he was also nominated for an Oscar, and all three films from the Back to the Future trilogy, earning an Academy Award® nomination for best visual effects on Back to the Future Part II.
Ralston’s career began at the seminal commercial animation and visual effects company, Cascade Pictures in Hollywood, where he worked on over 150 memorable advertising campaigns in the early 1970s. He built sets, sculpted models, animated puppets, created optical effects and stop motion animation for such iconic commercial characters as Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and the Jolly Green Giant.
After the motion capture is done, no one ever appreciates the mountain of effort that goes in on the so-called back end. It isn't really the back end. It's really the main production. The effort required to grasp that material and get it on screen looking the way it does is beyond monumental
Visual Effects Filmography
2010 Alice in Wonderland (senior visual effects supervisor)
2007 Beowulf (visual effects design consultant)
2004 The Polar Express (visual effects supervisor)
2004 The Forgotten (visual effects consultant)
2002 Men in Black II (senior visual effects supervisor: SPI)
2001 America's Sweethearts (visual effects consultant)
2000 Cast Away (visual effects supervisor)
1998 Patch Adams (visual effects guru - uncredited)
1997 Contact (senior visual effects supervisor)
1996 Michael (senior visual effects supervisor: SPI)
1996 Phenomenon (visual effects supervisor: SPI)
1995 Jumanji (visual effects supervisor)
1995 The American President (visual effects supervisor)
1994 The Mask (visual effects consultant)
1994 Forrest Gump (visual effects supervisor)
1992 Death Becomes Her (visual effects supervisor)
1991 Rocketeer (visual effects supervisor)
1990 Back to the Future Part III (visual effects supervisor)
1990 Dreams (visual effects supervisor)
1989 Back to the Future Part II (visual effects supervisor)
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (visual effects supervisor)
1986 The Golden Child (visual effects supervisor)
1986 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (visual effects supervisor)
1985 Back to the Future (supervisor of visual effects: ILM - uncredited)
1985 Cocoon (visual effects supervisor)
1984 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (visual effects supervisor - as Kenneth Ralston)
1983 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (visual effects)
1982 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (special visual effects supervisor: ILM)
1981 Dragonslayer (dragon supervisor: ILM)
1980 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (effects cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit)
1977 Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (assistant cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit - as Kenneth Ralston)
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