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(Top) 1 Filmography 2 References 3 External links

Ken Ralston

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Kenneth Ralston (born 1954) is an American visual effects artist, currently the Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Ralston began his career at the commercial animation and visual effects company, Cascade Pictures in Hollywood, where he worked on over 150 advertising campaigns in the early 1970s.^[1] In 1976, he was hired at Industrial Light & MagicbyDennis Muren to help George Lucas create the effects for Star Wars.^[2] He remained at ILM for 20 years before joining Sony Pictures Imageworks as president.^[3] Ralston is best known for his work in the films of Robert Zemeckis.^[1]

Ralston has won five Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, including a Special Achievement Oscar for the visual effects in Return of the Jedi (1983), and regular awards for his work on Cocoon (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Death Becomes Her (1992) and Forrest Gump (1994). He was nominated three more times for Dragonslayer (1981), Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Alice in Wonderland (2010).^[1]

Ken has contributed to several DVD commentaries:

King Kong (1933) - with visual effects creator Ray Harryhausen
Mighty Joe Young (1949) - with visual effects creator Ray Harryhausen and actress Terry Moore
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - with director Robert Zemeckis, producer Frank Marshall, associate producer Steve Starkey, screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman
Contact (1997) - with visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum
Cast Away (2000) - with cinematographer Don Burgess, visual effects supervisor Carey Villegas, sound designer Randy Thom

Filmography[edit]

Star Wars (1977) (assistant cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (effects cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit)
Dragonslayer (1981) (dragon supervisor: ILM)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) (special visual effects supervisor: ILM)
Return of the Jedi (1983) (visual effects)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) (visual effects supervisor)
Cocoon (1985) (visual effects supervisor)
Back to the Future (1985) (visual effects supervisor: Bafta)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) (effects supervisor)
The Golden Child (1986) (visual effects supervisor)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (visual effects supervisor)
Back to the Future Part II (1989) (visual effects supervisor)
Dreams (1990) (visual effects supervisor)
Back to the Future Part III (1990) (visual effects supervisor)
The Rocketeer (1991) (visual effects supervisor, second unit director)
Death Becomes Her (1992) (visual effects supervisor, second unit director)
Forrest Gump (1994) (visual effects supervisor)
The Mask (1994) (visual effects consultant)
The American President (1995) (visual effects supervisor)
Jumanji (1995) (visual effects supervisor)
Phenomenon (1996) (visual effects supervisor: SPI)
Michael (1996) (visual effects supervisor: SPI)
Contact (1997) (visual effects supervisor)
Patch Adams (1998) (visual effects guru)
Cast Away (2000) (visual effects supervisor)
America's Sweethearts (2001) (visual effects consultant)
Men in Black II (2002) (visual effects supervisor: SPI)
The Forgotten (2004) (visual effects consultant)
The Polar Express (2004) (visual effects supervisor)
Beowulf (2007) (visual effects design consultant, special effects)
Alice in Wonderland (2010) (senior visual effects supervisor)
Men in Black 3 (2012) (visual effects supervisor)
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) (visual effects supervisor)

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Sony Pictures Imageworks - Sony Pictures Imageworks". www.sonypictures.com.

^ "Phil Tippett: Hands-On Effects". Archived from the original on June 6, 2008. Retrieved 2013-08-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), StarWars.com

^ Linda Seger, Edward Jay Whetmore (2004). From script to screen: the collaborative art of filmmaking. Lone Eagle Pub. p. 161. ISBN 1580650546.

External links[edit]

Ken RalstonatIMDb

Awards for Ken Ralston

v t e Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
1963–1980	Emil Kosa Jr. – Cleopatra (1963) Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett, and Hamilton Luske – Mary Poppins (1964) John Stears – Thunderball (1965) Art Cruickshank – Fantastic Voyage (1966) L. B. Abbott – Doctor Dolittle (1967) Stanley Kubrick – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Robie Robertson – Marooned (1969) A. D. Flowers and L. B. Abbott – Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett, and Danny Lee – Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers – The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, and Albert Whitlock – Earthquake (1974) Albert Whitlock and Glen Robinson – The Hindenburg (1975) Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, and Frank Van der Veer – King Kong (1976) John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune, and Robert Blalack – Star Wars (1977) Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, and Zoran Perisic – Superman (1978) H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling – Alien (1979) Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Bruce Nicholson – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1981–2000	Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, and Joe Johnston – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren, and Kenneth F. Smith – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Phil Tippett – Return of the Jedi (1983) Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, Lorne Peterson, and George Gibbs – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Ken Ralston, Ralph McQuarrie, Scott Farrar, and David Berry – Cocoon (1985) Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson, and Suzanne M. Benson – Aliens (1986) Dennis Muren, Bill George, Harley Jessup, and Kenneth F. Smith - Innerspace (1987) Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones, and George Gibbs – Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) John Bruno, Dennis Muren, Hoyt Yeatman, and Dennis Skotak – The Abyss (1989) Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, and Alex Funke – Total Recall (1990) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Ken Ralston, Doug Chiang, Douglas Smythe, and Tom Woodruff Jr. – Death Becomes Her (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri – Jurassic Park (1993) Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, and Allen Hall – Forrest Gump (1994) Scott E. Anderson, Charles Gibson, Neal Scanlan, and John Cox – Babe (1995) Volker Engel, Douglas Smith, Clay Pinney, and Joe Viskocil – Independence Day (1996) Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher, and Michael Kanfer – Titanic (1997) Joel Hynek, Nicholas Brooks, Stuart Robertson, and Kevin Mack – What Dreams May Come (1998) John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, and Jon Thum – The Matrix (1999) John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, and Rob Harvey – Gladiator (2000)
2001–2020	Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor, and Mark Stetson – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier – Spider-Man 2 (2004) Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers, and Richard Taylor – King Kong (2005) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass (2007) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones – Avatar (2009) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb – Inception (2010) Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning – Hugo (2011) Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer, and Donald R. Elliott – Life of Pi (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould – Gravity (2013) Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher – Interstellar (2014) Mark Williams Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris, and Andrew Whitehurst – Ex Machina (2015) Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, and Dan Lemmon – The Jungle Book (2016) John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover – Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, and J. D. Schwalm – First Man (2018) Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, and Dominic Tuohy – 1917 (2019) Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, and Scott R. Fisher – Tenet (2020)
2021–present	Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer – Dune (2021) Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett – Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Tatsuji Nojima – Godzilla Minus One (2023)

BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects

1982–2000

Richard Edlund - Poltergeist (1982)
Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Kit West - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Dennis Muren, George Gibbs, Michael J. McAlister, and Lorne Peterson - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
George Gibbs and Richard Conway - Brazil (1985)
Robert Skotak, Brian Johnson, Suzanne M. Benson, John Richardson, and Stan Winston - Aliens (1986)
Michael Lantieri, Michael Owens, Edward Jones, and Bruce Walters - The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston, and Edward Jones - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Ken Ralston, Michael Lantieri, John Bell, and Steve Gawley - Back to the Future Part II (1989)
The production team of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1990)
Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Michael Lantieri, Ken Ralston, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Doug Chiang, and Douglas Smythe - Death Becomes Her (1992)
Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri - Jurassic Park (1993)
Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Doug Chiang, and Allen Hall - Forrest Gump (1994)
Robert Legato, Michael Kanfer, Matt Sweeney, and Leslie Ekker - Apollo 13 (1995)
Stefen Fangmeier, John Frazier, Henry LaBounta, and Habib Zargarpour - Twister (1996)
Mark Stetson, Karen Goulekas, Nick Allder, Neil Corbould, and Nick Dudman - The Fifth Element (1997)
Stefen Fangmeier, Roger Guyett, and Neil Corbould - Saving Private Ryan (1998)
John Gaeta, Steve Courtley, Janek Sirrs, and Jon Thum - The Matrix (1999)
Stefen Fangmeier, John Frazier, Walt Conti, Habib Zargarpour, and Tim Alexander - The Perfect Storm (2000)

2001–present

Jim Rygiel, Richard Taylor, Alex Funke, Randall William Cook, and Mark Stetson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Joe Letteri, Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Karen Goulekas, Neil Corbould, Greg Strause, and Remo Balcells - The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul, and Richard Taylor - King Kong (2005)
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood - The Golden Compass (2007)
Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, and Edson Williams - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones - Avatar (2009)
Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb - Inception (2010)
Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, and David Vickery - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, and Erik-Jan de Boer - Life of Pi (2012)
Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould, and Nikki Penny - Gravity (2013)
Paul Franklin, Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Lockley, and Ian Hunter - Interstellar (2014)
Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, and Neal Scanlan - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, and Adam Valdez - The Jungle Book (2016)
Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, and John Nelson - Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Geoffrey Baumann, Jesse James Chisholm, Craig Hammack, and Dan Sudick - Black Panther (2018)
Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, and Dominic Tuohy - 1917 (2019)
Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Lockley - Tenet (2020)
Brian Connor, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, and Gerd Nefzer - Dune (2021)
Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri and Eric Saindon - Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Simon Hughes - Poor Things (2023)

v t e Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects
1990s	Volker Engel and Douglas Smith (1996) Ken Ralston (1997) Ellen Somers (1998) Jerome Chen, John Dykstra, Henry F. Anderson III, and Eric Allard (1999)
2000s	John Nelson (2000) Chris Godfrey (2001) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2002) Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness, Robert Stromberg, and Dan Sudick (2003) Andy Brown and Kirsty Millar / Robert Legato, Peter G. Travers, Matthew Gratzner, and R. Bruce Steinheimer (2004) John Knoll and Hal Hickel (2005) John Knoll and Hal Hickel (2006) Chris Watts, Grant Freckelton, Derek Wentworth, and Daniel Leduc (2007) Chris Godfrey, James E. Price, and Diana Giorgiutti (2008) Volker Engel, Marc Weigert, and Mike Vézina (2009)
2010s	Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, and Sean Phillips (2010) Robert Legato, Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, and Adam Watkins (2011) Jim Gibbs, Kevin Baillie, Michael Lantieri, and Ryan Tudhope (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould (2013) Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, and Matt Kutcher (2014) Jim Gibbs, Kevin Baillie, Viktor Muller, and Sébastien Moreau (2015) Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, and Adam Valdez (2016) John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, and Gerd Nefzer (2017) Geoffrey Baumann, Jesse James Chisholm, Craig Hammack, and Dan Sudick (2018) Joe Letteri and Eric Saindon (2019)
2020s	Scott R. Fisher and Andrew Jackson (2020) Brian Connor, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, and Gerd Nefzer (2021) Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, Richie Baneham, and Daniel Barrett (2022) Simone Coco, Neil Corbould, Jeff Sutherland, and Alex Wuttke (2023)

Special Achievement Academy Award

L. B. Abbott, A. D. Flowers (1972)
Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, Albert Whitlock (1974)
Peter Berkos / Albert Whitlock, Glen Robinson (1975)
Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, Frank Van der Veer / L. B. Abbott, Glen Robinson, Matthew Yuricich (1976)
Ben Burtt / Frank Warner (1977)
Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, Zoran Perisic (1978)
Alan Splet (1979)
Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Bruce Nicholson (1980)
Ben Burtt, Richard L. Anderson (1981)
Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, Phil Tippett (1983)
Kay Rose (1984)
Stephen Hunter Flick, John Pospisil (1987)
Richard Williams (1988)
Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, Alex Funke (1990)
John Lasseter (1995)
Alejandro González Iñárritu (2017)

v t e Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
1970s	Marcel Vercoutere (1972) Joe Dante and Mark Goldblatt (1973) Douglas Knapp, Bill Taylor, John Carpenter, and Dan O'Bannon (1974/75) L. B. Abbott (1976) John Dykstra and John Stears (1977) Colin Chilvers (1978) Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, and Richard Yuricich (1979)
1980s	Brian Johnson and Richard Edlund (1980) Richard Edlund (1981) Carlo Rambaldi and Dennis Muren (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Ken Ralston (1983) Chris Walas (1984) Kevin Pike (1985) Stan Winston, Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak (1986) Peter Kuran, Phil Tippett, Rob Bottin, and Rocco Gioffre (1987) George Gibbs, Ken Ralston, and Richard Williams (1988) Ken Ralston (1989/90)
1990s	Stan Winston (1991) Ken Ralston, Tom Woodruff Jr., and Alec Gillis (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri (1993) John Bruno (1994) Stan Parks (1995) Volker Engel, Clay Pinney, Douglas Smith, and Joe Viskocil (1996) Phil Tippett, Scott E. Anderson, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., John Richardson (1997) Volker Engel, Patrick Tatopoulos, Karen E. Goulekas, and Clay Pinney (1998) Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires (1999)
2000s	Scott E. Anderson, Craig Hayes, Scott Stokdyk, and Stan Parks (2000) Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston, Michael Lantieri (2001) Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier (2004) Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, and Brian Van't Hul (2005) John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall (2006) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, and John Frazier (2007) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, and Paul J. Franklin (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
2010s	Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Paul J. Franklin, and Peter Bebb (2010) Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett (2011) Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould (2013) Paul J. Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher (2014) Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould (2015) John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, and Neil Corbould (2016) Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick (2017) Dan DeLeeuw, Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick (2018/19) Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy (2019/20)
2020s	John “D.J.” Des Jardin, Bryan Hirota, Kevin Andrew Smith, and Mike Meinardus (2021/22) Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett (2022/23)
Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.

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