Dennis Muren

A nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artists who made them and by those who were inspired to turn their visions into reality.

Documentary about the 30-year long process of David Allen's The Primevals.

A brand new hour-long documentary featuring newly filmed interviews on the making of the 1985 film, Innerspace.

Discussion about David Allen's "The Primevals" at Industrial Light and Magic in San Francisco.

A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

The Frankenstein Complex takes a historical as well as a creative perspective, with a mix of fascinating scenes behind the camera, film clips, and dozens of interviews with all the big names in the industry. In addition to the many wonderful anecdotes, the film also offers a wealth of beautiful test material, while along the way showing how the art of filmmaking has changed over the years. An affectionate ode to monster makers throughout history.

Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.

There’s only one person who so accurately personifies movie magic in the history of film, and that man is special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen. Focusing on the man behind the landmark effects on films like Clash Of The Titans, One Million Years B.C., Jason And The Argonauts and many more, this in-depth film features interviews with the great man himself, and with an array of animators and directors influenced by his work including Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Terry Gilliam, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. The film also features unseen footage of tests and experiments recently uncovered.

A multi-part documentary about the making of the Jurassic Park trilogy. Each part walks through the making of part of one of the films, including the hurricane during the shooting of the first film, and how advances in CGI for Jurassic Park helped change the world of special effects forever. All interviews for these retrospective documentaries come with comments from Spielberg, Johnston, Neill, Dern, Goldblum, the effects crews, the child actors, and Peter Stormare. This documentary is broken into six parts: Dawn of a New Era (25 min), Making Prehistory (20 min), The Next Step in Evolution (15 min), Finding the Lost World (28 min), Something Survived (16 min), and The Third Adventure (25 min).

Leslie Iwerks' documentary takes audiences behind the scenes at ILM with in depth interviews with some of the company's top talent and showcases never before seen footage highlighting many of their pioneering milestones. From creating the first ever computer generated character in a feature film to the latest advancements in visual effects for film franchises like Transformers and Iron Man, ILM has created some of the most memorable movie moments in recent history.

This retrospective documentary focuses on the cast and crew reminiscing about the making of the film and its legacy. It features new interviews James Cameron, William Wisher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton, Edward Furlong, Brad Fiedel, Mario Kassar, Stephanie Austin, Adam Greenberg and Dennis Muren.

An in-depth, sad, and beautiful documentary about the stop motion and VFX artist Phil Tippett, a man who changed the landscape of visual effects in film.

Who could have known that in an unassuming and tiny backyard in Burbank, one man's twisted vision could spread like a creative virus and infect thousands with a sense of wonder? Back when "social media" was word of mouth and "crowd-sourcing" meant enlisting your friends and neighbors in an inspired army of the macabre, Bob Burns and his special effects friends --many of whom went on to win Academy Awards®, including Rick Baker (American Werewolf in Londo11), D~nnis Muren (Star Wars) , Robert and Dennis Skotak (Aliens, The Abyss and Terminator'2) , and Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead)-brought their homemade blend of Hollywood magic and vaudeville style to create many years of ingenious Halloween storytelling ... stopping, warming and capturing the hearts of fans and aspiring filmmakers~everywhere! This is their story ...

Visual effects artist Dennis Muren discusses the legacy of Ray Harryhausen.

A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios - from the success of "Toy Story" and Pixar's promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company's relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions.

Mockumentary telling the never before told life story of the fictional robot R2-D2 from the Star Wars film series. The movie was made as a fun project by the cast and crew of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Using interviews, fake archive photos, film clips, and behind the scenes footage the "true" story was told of Artoo's life.

Documentary on the cast and crew, stunts, special effects, and score of 'Hulk' (2003).

Legendary all-stars of cinema bring to life the evolution of science-fiction and special effects films from the wild and funny days of B-movies to blockbusters that have captured the world's imagination. This is the story of the Sci-Fi Boys, who started out as kids making amateur movies inspired by Forrest J Ackerman's FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine and grew up to take Hollywood by storm, inventing the art and technology for filming anything the mind can dream.

Stanley Kubrick's groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey opened the door to all the films and filmmakers who followed it. Through interviews with directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack - as well as special effects professionals and cultural historians - this documentary examines the legacy of Kubrick's masterpiece and its influence on science fiction films, special effects and world cinema.

For over a half century, Ray Harryhausen has amazed and inspired countless filmmakers and fans around the world with his breathtaking motion picture effects and stop-motion animation. Presented here for the first time ever is the authorized collection of his earliest work, along with hours of supplemental features.

A documentary film on the making of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

Fans of Blade Runner discuss the lasting impact of the film, the way it has influenced many directors in the last 25 years and show of some of their most prized memorabilia.

Documentary film exploring the making, and legacy of 'Forbidden Planet'

A Biography of George Lucas.

This documentary about "2001: A Space Odyssey" looks at some of the things that seemed fanciful in 1968, which don't seem quite as much anymore.

A look at the digital effects in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Documentary about the invention of MORF, the program for morphing, which was created for the film "Willow" (1988).

Documentary about the technical achievements of the 1940 film classic The Thief of Bagdad.

This documentary treats film fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Jurassic Park," one of the 90's biggest hits and a milestone in special effects development. Narrated by James Earl Jones, it includes footage of the filming process, as well as interviews with director Steven Spielberg, and other members of the cast and crew, who give their insights into what it was like working together on this project and the efforts it took to bring the film to completion.

Documentary of the making of the sequel to the popular Schwarzenegger film, The Terminator.

Host Howie Long takes viewers on a tour of the "Star Wars" universe, as Fox TV celebrates the re-release of the original three legendary films in this one hour special.

The incredible evolution of George Lucas' special effects dream factory, including an inside look at "Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace."

Behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of director Steven Spielberg's 1997 film "The Lost World."

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Steven Spielberg's 1982 film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."

As an actor, director and producer, Ray Harryhausen has been a vibrant figure in Hollywood, working on everything from family films to mind-bending sci-fi. But his true genius lay in the creation of special effects for movies such as Mighty Joe Young and It Came from Outer Space. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy and featuring appearances by George Lucas and Ray Bradbury, this film documents Harryhausen's remarkable life's work.

Documentary focused on the creation of movie and television special effects, hosted by Roy Scheider and Jonathan Brandis, featuring behind the scenes look at how the visual effects were created for popular films of the era.

A tribute to stopmotion supremo and special effects genius extraordinaire Ray Harryhausen, the man behind some of cinema's greatest fantasy films - The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Jason & The Argonauts and One Million Years BC. Featuring exclusive footage of Harryhausen at work on his first stopmotion for over 20 years, and contributions from many of Hollywood's top special effects directors and creators.

Crossing the Frontier: Making 'The Last Starfighter', an original documentary with a fascinating look at the creation of the film and its groundbreaking computer-generated visual effects. Hosted by star Lance Guest (Alex Rogan) and featuring behind-the-scenes footage and all new interviews with director Nick Castle, production designer Ron Cobb, art director James Bissell, producer Gary Adelson, composer Craig Safan and some of the computer artists who blazed the trail for a new era of effects technology at Digital Productions. Also included are comments from leading artists at Industrial Light and Magic who discuss the historical importance of The Last Starfighter in the annals of the visual effects field.

When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.

Hosted by Mark Hamill, this revealing documentary offers behind-the-scenes glimpses into the amazing special effects that transformed George Lucas’ vision for Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back into reality!

From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga is a 1983 television documentary special that originally aired on PBS. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, with particular emphasis on the final film, Return of the Jedi. Narrated by actor Mark Hamill, the documentary was written by Richard Schickel who had written the previous television documentaries The Making of Star Wars (1977) and SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film Willow (1988). Included are interviews with cast and crew and scenes of the actual filming of the production itself.

Go behind the scenes — and into the costumes — as production footage from Return of the Jedi is interspersed with vintage monster movie clips in this in-depth exploration of the painstaking techniques utilized by George Lucas to create the classic creatures and characters seen in the film.

A documentary following the various stages in the production of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).