Matchmove Artist/Matchmove Lead Alia Agha (Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain, Laika) | CGI Fridays - Episode 5
08/05/22 • 54 min
From answering the phones at ILM to previs on The Phantom Menace, Alia Agha tells Ed Kramer how she became a “matchmove master” in CGI Fridays Episode 5. It’s hardly surprising when Ed Kramer introduces us to someone with a hand in one of the landmark visual effects sequences in science fiction cinema. What is surprising is that when it comes to James Cameron’s The Abyss (1989), Alia Agha literally had a hand in the eerie funnel of sentient water.
Alia Agha's full IMDb profile is:
The Quarry (Video Game) (facial integration artist: Digital Domain)
The Captain (digital artist: Whiskytree)
Pacific Rim (digital artist: Industrial Light & Magic)
Battleship (digital artist: Industrial Light & Magic)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (digital artist: Industrial Light & Magic)
Rango (digital artist)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (digital artist: ILM)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (digital artist: ILM)
Iron Man (digital artist: ILM)
Eragon (lead layout artist: ILM)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (digital artist: ILM)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (matchmove lead: ILM)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (3D camera matchmove artist: ILM)
The Day After Tomorrow (lead matchmove artist: ILM)
Hidalgo (matchmover: ILM)
Men in Black II (lead 3D matchmover: ILM)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (3D matchmove artist: ILM)
Mission to Mars (3D camera matchmover supervisor: ILM)
Galaxy Quest (location matchmove supervisor: ILM)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (3D matchmove artist: ILM)
Snake Eyes (3D camera matchmover: ILM)
Deep Impact (3D camera matchmove artist: ILM)
Men in Black (3D matchmove artist: ILM)
Mars Attacks! (3D camera matchmove artist: ILM)
Twister (rotoscope artist)
Congo (digital rotoscope & paint artist: ILM)
Star Trek: Generations (visual effects coordinator: ILM)
Wolf (visual effects coordinator: ILM - as Alia Almeida Agha)
Maverick (visual effects coordinator: ILM - as Alia Almeida Agha)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (stage coordinator - as Alia Almeida Ag...
From answering the phones at ILM to previs on The Phantom Menace, Alia Agha tells Ed Kramer how she became a “matchmove master” in CGI Fridays Episode 5. It’s hardly surprising when Ed Kramer introduces us to someone with a hand in one of the landmark visual effects sequences in science fiction cinema. What is surprising is that when it comes to James Cameron’s The Abyss (1989), Alia Agha literally had a hand in the eerie funnel of sentient water.
Alia Agha's full IMDb profile is:
The Quarry (Video Game) (facial integration artist: Digital Domain)
The Captain (digital artist: Whiskytree)
Pacific Rim (digital artist: Industrial Light & Magic)
Battleship (digital artist: Industrial Light & Magic)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (digital artist: Industrial Light & Magic)
Rango (digital artist)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (digital artist: ILM)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (digital artist: ILM)
Iron Man (digital artist: ILM)
Eragon (lead layout artist: ILM)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (digital artist: ILM)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (matchmove lead: ILM)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (3D camera matchmove artist: ILM)
The Day After Tomorrow (lead matchmove artist: ILM)
Hidalgo (matchmover: ILM)
Men in Black II (lead 3D matchmover: ILM)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (3D matchmove artist: ILM)
Mission to Mars (3D camera matchmover supervisor: ILM)
Galaxy Quest (location matchmove supervisor: ILM)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (3D matchmove artist: ILM)
Snake Eyes (3D camera matchmover: ILM)
Deep Impact (3D camera matchmove artist: ILM)
Men in Black (3D matchmove artist: ILM)
Mars Attacks! (3D camera matchmove artist: ILM)
Twister (rotoscope artist)
Congo (digital rotoscope & paint artist: ILM)
Star Trek: Generations (visual effects coordinator: ILM)
Wolf (visual effects coordinator: ILM - as Alia Almeida Agha)
Maverick (visual effects coordinator: ILM - as Alia Almeida Agha)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (stage coordinator - as Alia Almeida Ag...
Previous Episode
Visual Effects Supervisor Henry LaBounta (Industrial Light & Magic, PDI/DreamWorks, EA Ghost) | CGI Fridays - Episode 4
Probably the only person at ILM to prefer Star Trek over Star Wars, Visual Effects Supervisor/Senior Art Director) Henry LaBounta shares his incredible career with Ed Kramer on CGI Fridays Episode 4.
The first generation to have been inspired by big screen CGI, Henry LaBounta was working on commercials for Crawford Digital Effects in Atlanta when Robert Patrick’s liquid metal T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) literally changed his life.
Learn how LaBounta got his start at Industrial Light and Magic, before moving to DreamWorks, and then changing lanes entirely as senior art director at Electronic Arts.
Henry LaBounta's full IMDb profile is:
Need for Speed: Heat (Video Game) (senior art director)
Need for Speed: Payback (Video Game)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Video Game) (senior art director)
Skate 2 (Video Game)
Burnout Paradise (Video Game)
Skate. (Video Game)
SSX 3 (Video Game) (senior art director)
BraceFace Brandi (Short) (visual effects compositor)
People I Know (visual effects supervisor: PDI/Dreamworks)
Minority Report (visual effects supervisor: PDI/Dreamworks)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (visual effects supervisor: PDI)
Mission: Impossible II (visual effects supervisor: PDI - as Henry Labounta)
Supernova (digital effects producer: PDI)
Forces of Nature (visual effects supervisor)
The Prince of Egypt (supervising sequence lead: "Red Sea" sequence)
Twister (digital tornado designer)
Casper (senior CG supervisor)
Star Trek: Generations (computer effects artist: ILM)
Baby's Day Out (senior digital artist)
Next Episode
Animator and Digital Painter Adam Howard Made Phasers Pop on Star Trek: The Next Generation | CGI Fridays - Episode 6
From a firefighter’s mosaic to phasers and photon torpedoes, digital painter and animator Adam Howard reveals a passion for pyro in CGI Fridays Episode 6. It’s easy to drop meaningless platitudes about the power of teachers to change lives, but as Adam Howard tells Ed Kramer in CGI Fridays Episode 6, his entire career has one man at the heart of it – a teacher prepared to go the extra mile.
This interview covers the first half of Adam Howard's career, from his beginnings in Australian television to his four-time Emmy Award-winning work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager with Digital Magic, and finishing with James Cameron's Titanic.
His full IMDb lists his credits as
Axanar (visual effects supervisor) (announced)
Into the Wolves Den (visual effects supervisor) (pre-production)
The Black Demon (visual effects supervisor) (post-production)
Servant (TV Series) (Post VFX Supervisor - 1 episode)
Episode #4.1 (2023) ... (Post VFX Supervisor: Powerhouse VFX)
Queer as Folk (TV Series) (visual effects supervisor - 1 episode)
Babylon (2022) ... (visual effects supervisor)
Lady of the Manor (visual effects supervisor)
Fear of Rain (visual effects supervisor)
The Hurricane Heist (visual effects supervisor)
Powers (TV Series) (visual effects supervisor - 10 episodes)
Pee-wee's Big Holiday (visual effects supervisor)
Self/less (visual effects supervisor)
Away & Back (TV Movie) (on-set visual effects coordinator)
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (visual effects supervisor - uncredited)
My Mistress (additional visual effects)
Prelude to Axanar (Short) (on-set visual effects supervisor)
Cosmos (TV Mini Series documentary) (visual effects consultant - 13 episodes)
So You Think You Can Dance (TV Series) (visual effects artist - 1 episode)
American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (TV Series) (visual effects artist - 16 episodes)
Last Vegas (visual effects supervisor)
The Internship (visual effects consultant)
The 85th Academy Awards (TV Special) (visual effects supervisor - segment "Sally Field and sock puppet sketches", uncredited)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (visual effects supervisor)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (visual effects supervisor)
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