{"id":939,"date":"2021-02-28T22:28:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T11:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thescottclan.org\/jason\/?p=939"},"modified":"2024-07-31T14:22:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T04:52:43","slug":"scfx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thescottclan.org\/jason\/2021\/02\/28\/scfx\/","title":{"rendered":"SCFX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Want to learn about the organization that has probably contributed to special and visual effects potentially more than any other? Come find out about SCFX, USC’s Special Effects Organization\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Update 3 March 2021<\/em>: I’ve been receiving a lot of updated\/additional info from alums, so I’ve tried to incorporate it all below, including new information about Tassilo Baur, one of the original founders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SCFX is the Special Effects Organization at the University of Southern California<\/a>. While it is “just” a student club, it was (as far as I know) founded around 1981 by Tassilo Baur (who went on to be a successful special effects coordinator and founding member of the Alliance of Special Effects & Pyrotechnic Operators<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early members included Steve Koch (a designer and sculptor on many films including the Alien<\/em> franchise) and John Knoll (current Executive Creative Director and Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic, as well as one of the co-developers of Photoshop).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
SCFX excursion in 1982 to Nevada desert, courtesy of Steve Koch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The above picture depicts an SCFX excursion in 1982 to the Nevada desert to blow up the front of the old film school building for a short film. Shown left-to-right are Scott Ressler, John Knoll, Dave Johnson, York Baur, Steve Koch, and founder Tassilo Baur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other members over the years include Daren Dochterman (various significant contributions to the Star Trek<\/em> franchise), Bill Spitzak (who developed Nuke<\/a>), Charles de Lauzirika (director and producer of the Alien<\/em> and Blade Runner<\/em> anthology collections), and Evan Schiff (editor of John Wick: Chapter 2<\/em> and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has contributed visual effects to a variety of student films, most notably Jon M. Chu’s When the Kids Are Away<\/a><\/em>, and many of its alumni have gone on to great success in the visual effects industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My Connection<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"University<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When I showed up for orientation at USC, every student was issued a copy of the SCampus (because everything was branded with “‘SC”, get it?), which was the student handbook, covering everything from policies to registration to housing to student activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was under the section for student activities that I found a mention of “SCFX”, USC’s Special Effects Organization (as an example of a great student club). Seeing as this was the exact career I was pursuing, naturally I was pretty excited!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, as my freshman year went on, I kept waiting for the club to surface\u2014<\/strong>asking around, checking bulletin boards (yes, physical ones\u2026it was the 90s\u2026), and bugging Dr. Richard Weinberg<\/a>, the faculty advisor on file. But nothing ever happened\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when it came to the fall of my sophomore year, I was determined to restart SCFX. Since I had chosen to live another year in the Dean’s Halls (in Marks Hall), I met Evan Schiff<\/a> as he moved in. Evan, as it turned out, had previously worked at Stan Winston Studio<\/a> and was willing to help me restart the organization. Since we needed 4 officers to start, I started looking around for 2 more\u2014<\/strong>Zach Turner (who had expressed interest in FX the previous year) and Val Jones<\/a> (who would later work on the ICT Light Stages<\/a>). Paperwork was submitted, and SCFX was reborn!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Better<\/a>
SCFX tagline<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the next few years, little bits of SCFX history started to become clearer, and it was “re-founded” many times after periods of dormancy (including by myself), but I still don’t have all the pieces (hence me writing this bit):<\/p>\n\n\n\n