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Vision Crew Unlimited (VCU) was a motion picture and TV commercial visual effects company founded in 1994 by visual effects artists Evan Jacobs, Jon Warren and Douglas Miller. The company later expanded into a full service visual effects firm.

In 1996, VCU contributed miniature effects to James Cameron's film Titanic. While they were initially hired as a subcontractor to lead effects house Digital Domain, VCU was ultimately hired directly by 20th Century Fox to build miniatures for the engine room sequence as well. In an interesting coincidence later that same year, the company was contracted to work on a CBS TV miniseries with the same name.

While the company worked on many feature films, they were much more prolific in the television commercial market, and worked on over forty spots in eight years. Their work was featured in ads for the majority of car brands as well as Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut, and Geico.

In 1998, Jacobs and John Hoffman were nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries representing VCU's work on HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon".

Vision Crew closed in April 2002. The company attributed its shutdown to a difficult business climate and the founders' interest in pursuing other projects and opportunities.

Credits

Feature films

• The Mummy
• Dinosaur
• Jack Frost
• Armageddon
• Species II
• Mortal Kombat Annihilation
• Flubber
• Dante's Peak
• The Fifth Element
• Titanic
• The Arrival
• Kazaam
• Space Jam
• Sometimes They Come Back...Again

Episodic and long-form television

• Monday Night Football graphics
• Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Killing Game"
• From The Earth To The Moon
• The Outer Limits "To Tell the Truth"
• Tower of Terror
• Tempting Fate
• A Wing and a Prayer
• Titanic (miniseries)

Television commercials

References

1. Goldrich, Robert (August 1995). "Visual Effects House Wraps Its First Spot: Coke For CAA". Shoot magazine. p. 1.
2. "VIFX jumps aboard project to add convincing details". ASC.com. American Society of Cinematographers. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
3. Speier, Michael (1997-07-01). "Coming to the Aid of a Sinking Ship". DigitalContentProducer.com. Penton Media. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
4. "Vision Crew Unlimited artisans help Digital Domain lay scale-model keels for TITANIC". DigitalContentProducer.com. Penton Media. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
5. Yanover, Neal (1997-07-01). "That Sinking Feeling" (reprint). Variety On Production.
6. Nightingale, Margot (1995-08-01). "New Effects Studio". Screen: The Chicago Production Weekly. p. 46.
7. ^ Martel, William (1998-12-04). "Simon says - visual effects artist Simon Brewster" (reprint). Shoot Magazine. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
8. "Vision Crew Unlimited Closes Its Doors" (Press release). VFXPro. 2002-05-07. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
9. DeSalvo, Kathy (1999-10-08). "Divine "Hand" Of Guidance Steers Jeep Wrangler" (reprint). Shoot magazine.
10. Takaki, Millie (1998-06-12). "Calif. ups the anti-smoking ante, unveils 11 spots". Shoot magazine. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
11. "Regional Roundup". Post Magazine. 1996-02-14. p. 133.

External links

• Official website

• Special effects companies
• Visual effects companies
• Computer animation
• Privately held companies based in California
• American companies established in 1994
• American companies disestablished in 2002