TIM ALEXANDER, 36. Visual-effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, currently at work on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, to be released next summer. Shot on location in Chinatown by Anön; special visual effects by ILM art director Aaron McBride and ILM digital artist Devon Cutler.
Photography, playing designer board games and making Harry Potter actually appear to vanquish big-screen villains is just a typical day in the life of Tim Alexander. But to talk with one of the youngest visual-effects supervisors at ILM is to conclude that he's the most humble person on the planet. He persistently attributes his successes to hundreds of his hardworking colleagues who remain behind the scenes. Never mind that he won a BAFTA for his work on The Perfect Storm. "It's recognition enough to see good work get out there and have people enjoy it," he says.
The Honolulu native came here while compositing for Disney on James and the Giant Peach, a highlight of his career, and stayed because "there's something about San Francisco that draws people from Hawaii."
Don't know what a compositor does? Neither did we. Alexander explains, "They're the last person to touch [a shot], and they're the ones that glue everything together. It's kind of like scrapbooking. You put a bunch of stuff down, and then you stick it all together."
Alexander's work on Titanic, Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I, The Spiderwick Chronicles, the last three Harry Potter movies and the 2001 rerelease of ET has taught him the value of fantasy: "You want to make people go outside and look at nature in a different way, to think maybe they could experience these fairies if they only look closely enough."
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Tell us about your designer board game obsession. It's a little bit of a weird one. I've always liked board games. I played all the classics as a kid, but about six or seven years ago I played a big one called Settlers of Catan and really enjoyed it. I've built up a really big collection. I've probably got three or four hundred games. Some of them are collectibles and some of them are stuff that's coming out now. I've played almost all of them. Maybe it's [because of] the industry I work in, but there is always a group of people that I can play games with. It's a social experience.
Where do you get all of your games? There's a good store in the city called Gamescape up on Divisadero that has a pretty big selection of current stuff, but if you want to actually buy an old game you usually have to look on e-Bay. There's also a website called boardgamegeek.com, where people can sell and trade games. There are conventions and things that people can go to, which is super nerdy, but sometimes they'll do an auction, which is another good way to pick up old or rare games. The last one I went to, there was a game for sale for over $700, and that was a good deal—it usually goes for $1,200.
What's one thing you don't like about San Francisco? I've done quite a bit of traveling recently to places like Portland and I think San Francisco is a little dirty. There are a lot more cities that are quite a bit cleaner.
Best place to hang out in SoMa? The City Beer Store is excellent. We always go in there and play cards or dominos or something like that. Also, the new area by Mission Bay has a few parks and it's quite nice if you go down to the Embarcadero and walk down that way. The farmers market on Saturday over at the Ferry Building is also fun. It's actually close enough that I can walk down there.
John Varvatos trench coat ($595), shirt ($265), jeans ($225), boots ($895) at John Varvatos, 415-986-0138.
TIM ALEXANDER, 36. Visual-effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, currently at work on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, to be released next summer. Shot on location in Chinatown by Anön; special visual effects by ILM art director Aaron McBride and ILM digital artist Devon Cutler.
Photography, playing designer board games and making Harry Potter actually appear to vanquish big-screen villains is just a typical day in the life of Tim Alexander. But to talk with one of the youngest visual-effects supervisors at ILM is to conclude that he's the most humble person on the planet. He persistently attributes his successes to hundreds of his hardworking colleagues who remain behind the scenes. Never mind that he won a BAFTA for his work on The Perfect Storm. "It's recognition enough to see good work get out there and have people enjoy it," he says.
The Honolulu native came here while compositing for Disney on James and the Giant Peach, a highlight of his career, and stayed because "there's something about San Francisco that draws people from Hawaii."
Don't know what a compositor does? Neither did we. Alexander explains, "They're the last person to touch [a shot], and they're the ones that glue everything together. It's kind of like scrapbooking. You put a bunch of stuff down, and then you stick it all together."
Alexander's work on Titanic, Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I, The Spiderwick Chronicles, the last three Harry Potter movies and the 2001 rerelease of ET has taught him the value of fantasy: "You want to make people go outside and look at nature in a different way, to think maybe they could experience these fairies if they only look closely enough."
Web Exclusive:
Tell us about your designer board game obsession. It's a little bit of a weird one. I've always liked board games. I played all the classics as a kid, but about six or seven years ago I played a big one called Settlers of Catan and really enjoyed it. I've built up a really big collection. I've probably got three or four hundred games. Some of them are collectibles and some of them are stuff that's coming out now. I've played almost all of them. Maybe it's [because of] the industry I work in, but there is always a group of people that I can play games with. It's a social experience.
Where do you get all of your games? There's a good store in the city called Gamescape up on Divisadero that has a pretty big selection of current stuff, but if you want to actually buy an old game you usually have to look on e-Bay. There's also a website called boardgamegeek.com, where people can sell and trade games. There are conventions and things that people can go to, which is super nerdy, but sometimes they'll do an auction, which is another good way to pick up old or rare games. The last one I went to, there was a game for sale for over $700, and that was a good deal—it usually goes for $1,200.
What's one thing you don't like about San Francisco? I've done quite a bit of traveling recently to places like Portland and I think San Francisco is a little dirty. There are a lot more cities that are quite a bit cleaner.
Best place to hang out in SoMa? The City Beer Store is excellent. We always go in there and play cards or dominos or something like that. Also, the new area by Mission Bay has a few parks and it's quite nice if you go down to the Embarcadero and walk down that way. The farmers market on Saturday over at the Ferry Building is also fun. It's actually close enough that I can walk down there.
John Varvatos trench coat ($595), shirt ($265), jeans ($225), boots ($895) at John Varvatos, 415-986-0138.
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