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Alumni Trent Claus creates effects for blockbusters

Michael Reinmiller Author

05/17/2013 Added

156 Plays

Description

Trent Claus used his skills from his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art to become a visual effects man in Hollywood. Since graduating in 2006, he has been nominated for and won awards for work on such pictures as "Prometheus," "Iron-Man," "The Avengers," and "Captain America."

Searchable Transcript

[00:00:00.738](music)
[00:00:06.169]My name is Trent Claus. I graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts, Studio Art, from here at the Hixson-Lied in 2006.
[00:00:14.319]And I'm currently the effects supervisor and compositor with Lola Visual Effects in Santa Monica, California.
[00:00:22.919]I love that I get to work on the movies that I'm excited to go see. I've been lucky in that we have been able to work on some of the big tent pole pictures the last several years.
[00:00:36.179]...all the Marvel movies, movies by directors I really admire - like David Fincher. We've worked on "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and a few other things.
[00:00:48.477]One of the most recent ones I did was "Prometheus;" it came out last summer. That was the biggest movie I've acted as the effects supervisor on.
[00:00:59.919](I) worked on some of the action sequences with him; creating the battle damage and things that happen in the scenes.
[00:01:07.202]That was an exciting one for me. Quite a few of the movies that we've worked on have been nominated for best visual effects.
[00:01:14.385]I think four of them have won so far, so that's exciting. I did get to go to the Visual Effects Society Awards last year.
[00:01:26.851]I was nominated for best compositing, and I won, actually. That was for "Captain America."
[00:01:36.536]Once I got here, I had finally decided on pursuing art, and everything went great.
[00:01:44.954]The professor that had the biggest impact on me was easily Sandra Williams. I had her for color theory and visual literacy.
[00:01:51.978]That really influenced my ability to get a job later - having those skills. I used those exact skills that I practiced in that class to get my map painting job in the beginning.
[00:02:04.320]I needed a college that had a good art program, and I think I found one here at UNL.
[00:02:11.886]I think my lasting impression of UNL will just be - as the place that set me on the path of where I wanted to go.

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