In October of 1988 I worked on a few episodes of the television series titled, simply enough, and not with any nod to accuracy, Friday the 13th: The Series.
The show's visual effects supervisor was John Gajdecki, one of the more talented film-artist/technicians to have worked in this town (Toronto), and also one of the most congenial. He went on to set up his own company, GVFX (Gajdecki Visual Effects).
When I worked at Film Effects - Toronto in the early to mid 1990s, I again met up with John when my employer and GVFX got the 'opticals' contract for the television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. John, and his team, produced original FX elements on a Quantel "Harry" system at his facility; elements which he then outputted to 35mm film, which were then turned over to Film Effects. I took these film rolls and composited them with the appropriate live-action photography on the optical printer/camera.
Back to the photo.
My friends would spot me in a second. I've already gotten: "You look the same!" Think: a tall British-looking guy standing at the back in a brown jacket. My boss is sitting at the front of the gang.
Seeing my overall look now, I don't think I fit the image of an "inker" as much as I do a director from LWT or Thames Television.
Postscript: I remember most of the people in that photo. Gudrun Heinze, extreme left, and Claude Theriault, to my left, I more than remember since they were still with John during my Film Effects years. Fun times, even with the hard work and sometimes long hours.
3 comments:
Trivia: A friend of mine was working on War of the Worlds, across the lot from this series. He referred to Friday the 13th: The Series as "Friday's Curse", for that was its name at that early point ― before I got some work on it.
TV shows that tie into successful film franchises tend to have lumpy titles, don't they? Ie "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". The need to attract fans of the movies, I suppose.
I've not seen any of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but I'm guessing there's a thread of a connection, at least.
Thanks for the info and comment!
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