and handle the basic effects with his own equipment. When three-
quarters of the filming was completed, the crew, pushed to the breaking
point by the production manager, decided to unionize. To handle the
union conversion, money had to be taken from postproduction: editing,
music, and visual effects. Left with less than one-third of the original
visual effects budget, the director and producer met with Magliochetti to
discuss concentrating on just the effects he was working on, or cutting
them all. Although he had only an early version of Photoshop and a mor-
phing program to work with, he convinced them to let him see what he
could do.
"With only 16 megs of RAM, I had to be resourceful. I was trying to
make these programs do things they weren't designed to do. I figured out
a way to make the morphing program do motion tracking--which I still
can't believe I did. Fortunately, there was just enough versatility in these
programs that I was able to squeak by and create all the effects required,
and even do a few fix-its.
"At this point, I thought, `If I can do this with a machine that is just
limping along, what happens if I get a couple of machines that have some
real firepower?' That was the next step."
In 1996, Magliochetti formed his own effects company, Eye Candy. His
first projects were a couple of children's films for Kushner-Locke
Company and Full Moon. From there it was onward and upward, with
work on the miniseries Dune, and features Bounce, Miss Congeniality, and
The Cider House Rules.
Interestingly, the producer of Vanishing Point, Alan Blomquist, who
had been so impressed that Magliochetti was able to create visual effects
with his bargain-basement computer, was one of the producers of The
Cider House Rules, proving the clichés: "What goes around, comes
around," and "It is not only what you know, but who you know."
Magliochetti is currently finishing up work on Ghost World.
Professional Profile: Jeffrey A. Okun, Visual Effects Supervisor
A former comedian, musician, and record producer, it was probably
Jeffrey Okun's work as a magician that best prepared him to be a visual
effects supervisor. He earned an advanced degree in international mar-
keting and management from the United States University in England,
and gained entertainment experience in a variety of areas before discov-
ering his talent for filmmaking.
At one point, Okun drove a tow truck by day and worked nights as a
standup musician, performing a comedic musical act and touring with a
band called The Cross. The group caught the attention of Jimi Hendrix,
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