PROFILE
J.D. SCHWALM: FOLLOWING HIS FATHER’S PLAYBOOK TO THE MOON AND BEYOND By TREVOR HOGG
Images courtesy of J.D. Schwalm.
22 • VFXVOICE.COM FALL 2020
Following in the career footsteps of his father, Jim Schwalm, who received a VES Award nomination for Spider-Man 2, J.D. Schwalm stood on the stage of the Dolby Theater to receive the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for First Man. Along with being a respected artist, he is also an astute businessman who founded Innovative Workshop in Los Angeles and subsequently branched out to Atlanta, where he currently lives with his family. “At the age of 19, I was working at a high-performance automotive shop filled with race cars,” says Schwalm. “My dad called and asked if I would like to go work on a movie in Hawaii over the summer. I said, ‘yes’ and never looked back.” Visual effects have increased, rather than diminished, the need for practical elements, notes Schwalm. “The first Spider-Man film is when I first realized that visual effects were actually going to make our job more important,” notes Schwalm. “When doing movies like Hobbs & Shaw, it’s important to embrace the visual effects element because the audience is expecting massive-scale explosions and gags. We try to do everything practically in-camera and then hand it over to the CG guys for enhancement. When you shoot a car into a building or flip a car at high speeds practically, it gives the CG guys a template to follow and allows them to make it bigger, better and, in the end, feel more realistic.” The early pre-production meetings for First Man, helmed by Damien Chazelle, were intimidating. “We had a tight budget and Damien wanted to do everything practically. The team that the producers put together, with [Production Designer] Nathan Crowley and [Visual Effects Supervisor] Paul Lambert, was critical in making that movie work. Nathan could think completely outside of the box, as could Paul. Nathan crafted sets that had a hugeness to them, but he built only what the camera needed to see. There was little to no waste. This, paired with extensive planning by Paul and Damien, allowed for the film to have a blockbuster feel on a modest budget. First Man proved that if everyone studies the shots, an epic special effects movie can be made affordably.” High-tech equipment has been embraced by Schwalm. “The advancement in technology has given my company the ability to have a full-fledged manufacturing facility right down to fullyautomated computerized milling machines, robotic arms, 3D printers and laser cutters. Essentially, when we create a gag, we’re building giant prototypes. It’s a one-off thing that has to be built fast. Technology has enabled us to build with rapid turnaround. For The Right Stuff television series, we had to build a gimbal in two weeks. In the old days, a gimbal like that would have taken eight to 10 weeks to construct. My engineers drew the entire thing from top to bottom in a computer and it took them five or six days. We were sending drawings to an outside engineering company daily to keep them in the loop. This allowed us to have approval on the build at the time design was finished. From there, individual pieces were broken apart in the software and loaded directly into the CNC machines. After pieces were cut, the welders assembled the gimbal as if they were building LEGOs. There is no grinding and trimming here and there. Each piece that goes into these builds is perfectly machine-cut and has a laser-precision fit. This means completing the job quicker, which in turn allows the stunt
“A strict rule around my crew is, ‘Do not ever let production rush you,’ It is always safer to not do the gag than to risk getting hurt. It’s extremely important to never get too comfortable with what you’ve built and the knowledge that you’ve amassed over the years -- that’s how you get bit. To avoid that, we try to ensure that everything that rolls out of our shop door has a CAD file that has been reviewed by an outside engineer. Only then do we go ahead and build. That’s an important message that should be known around the industry.” —J.D. Schwalm, Special Effects Supervisor team and our crew to get on the rig earlier, leaving them more time to work out kinks and to make any necessary changes.” Special effects can be an extremely dangerous profession and requires proper training. “Every day you run the risk of injuring yourself or the people around you,” observes Schwalm. “It’s an array of talented employees. We have engineers who design in CAD, licensed pyrotechnicians from the mining and fireworks industries, CNC machine operators from the automotive industry, hydraulic technicians from large-scale plant operations. You can’t exactly go to school for special effects. They tried it for a bit in California and it fizzled. I try to look at my job as a contractor putting the properly qualified people in the right places. Typically, it’s difficult to find people who do a little bit of everything. You end up with larger crews where each member has specialized skills and we try to optimize their skillsets.” Tight production schedules can pose safety concerns. “A strict
OPPOSITE TOP: J.D. Schwalm TOP: Visual Effects Supervisor Paul Lambert and J.D. Schwalm after their Oscar win for First Man. (Photo: JB Lacroix)
FALL 2020 VFXVOICE.COM • 23
