Special effects of success
by Linda Hein
A chance encounter lands Ben Walker a prize gig with an Australian movie business heavyweight.
UniSA graduate Ben Walker has stepped into filmmaking’s big league, working at award-winning design, animation and effects company Animal Logic on the visual effects for director Baz Luhrmann’s latest film – outback epic Australia, starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.
After completing his undergraduate and honours in multimedia, Walker acted on the advice of his honours supervisor, Ian Hutchison, and completed a Graduate Diploma in Computer Animation and Visual Effects at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney.
"I had always been interested in the animation side of multimedia and I started my degree thinking I would move into design - either interactive, web or graphic design," he says.
"It’s been a gradual process, trying different things, but it was film and video sub-majors which really piqued my interest. I realised I could blend film and computer skills and move into visual effects."
Walker captured the attention of Oscar and Golden Globe nominated film director Luhrmann through a friend working on the film’s score and says it was amazing to have such an opportunity present itself.
"I got a very excited call from my friend earlier this year - she had been in a meeting with Baz and he’d seen one of my pictures on the desktop of her computer. He said, ‘I love it – I would love this guy to work on this film’.
"It can take years to get noticed. There are so many people out there who want to work in this field, so it’s an absolute leap forward."
Walker quickly agrees his role on a large scale and big budget film like Australia is a fascinating experience.
"As a matte painter we combine computer-generated images, photographs and live-action footage to create digital sets and backgrounds that can be incorporated into the film.
"Then we hope the audience doesn’t notice that what they’re looking at is almost completely artificial!"
Walker, who also has short films, TV commercials and other animations under his belt, including the animated "four seasons" Rundle Mall commercial, says he wants to continue refining his skills in film.