Michael Pangrazio
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Michael Pangrazio (commonly credited as Mike Pangrazio) is an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
in the feature film industry best known for his
matte painting A matte painting is a painting, painted representation of a landscape, set (film and TV scenery), set, or distant location that allows filmmaking, filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. H ...
work on ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
'' and ''
The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...
''. As traditional and digital matte artist, he created some of the most famous matte paintings in movie history. His best known painting is the ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' warehouse interior set-extension at the end of the movie.


Career

After graduating high school Pangrazio worked as scenic artist for a television network, which was a euphemistic term for "bucket boy", as he was charged with cleaning paint buckets, dirty brushes and other menial tasks. He subsequently performed these tasks for a small Hollywood effects studio, before he met
Joe Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston II (born May 13, 1950) is an American film director, producer, writer, and visual effects artist. He is best known for directing effects-driven films, including ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' (1989), ''Jumanji'' (1995 ...
of
Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
. It was through him that he was hired in 1978 at ILM. Lacking any experience, conceptual artist and matte painter
Ralph McQuarrie Ralph Angus McQuarrie (; June 13, 1929 – March 3, 2012) was an American conceptual designer and illustrator. His career included work on the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, the film ''E ...
taught him the craft of matte painting, a trade he learned in the course of three years. The backdrops from most of the
stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
shots from the Imperial Walker/
Hoth Hoth is an ice planet in the '' Star Wars'' fictional universe. It first appeared in the 1980 film '' The Empire Strikes Back'' and has also been a setting in ''Star Wars'' books and video games. Description Hoth is the sixth planet of a remote ...
sequence from ''
The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...
'' (1980) were painted by Pangrazio. The final shot of the government warehouse from ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
'' (1981) which was painted on glass by Pangrazio at Industrial Light & Magic, and combined with live-action footage of a government worker pushing the crate up the center aisle. The integration of the live action lighting and painted lighting effects is said to be the best
matte painting A matte painting is a painting, painted representation of a landscape, set (film and TV scenery), set, or distant location that allows filmmaking, filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. H ...
achievement in filmmaking history. He was also responsible for the ''
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise, and a prequel to the 1981 film ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', fea ...
'' (1984) Pankot Palace, Cliff and the Village, as well as most
Young Sherlock Holmes ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' (also known with the title card name of "''Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear''") is a 1985 American mystery adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, based on the characters ...
(1985) matte paintings. After leaving ILM, Pangrazio co-founded Matte World Digital with Craig Barron in 1988. Barron and Pangrazio continued to work with the crew at ILM on notable matte-painting scenes in several classic feature films. Pangrazio moved to Oregon with his family in 1994 in order to pursue his children's book illustration career. He contributed images to numerous book publications. In 2004 Pangrazio returned to the film industry and joined a world leading visual effects studio Weta Digital in New Zealand as Art Director. He has since supervised such blockbuster installments as '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012) and '' Bridge to Terabithia'' (2007).


Personal life

Michael Pangrazio is single and has had two children, Nathanael Pangrazio and Natalee Pangrazio. Michael's former wife Lynda's father was author and speaker
Jim Rohn Emanuel James Rohn (September 17, 1930 – December 5, 2009), professionally known as Jim Rohn, was an American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. Early life Emanuel James "Jim" Rohn was born in Yakima, Washington, to Emmanuel ...
.


Publications

*''Once Upon a Time: Treasury of Modern Fairy Tales'' *''Glim the Glorious, Or, How the Little Folk Bested the Gubgoblins''


Awards and nominations

*
Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for outstanding visual effects for ''
By Dawn's Early Light ''By Dawn's Early Light'' (also known as ''The Grand Tour'') is an HBO original movie, first aired in 1990. It is based on the 1983 novel ''Trinity's Child'', written by William Prochnau. The film is one of the last to depict the events of a fi ...
'' in 1990.


Achievements

*''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' (1977) - the tractor beam set. *''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
'' (1981) - the final shot of the government warehouse was painted on glass by Michael Pangrazio at Industrial Light and Magic, and combined with live-action footage of a government worker pushing the crate up the center aisle. *''
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is the second installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise, and a prequel to the 1981 film ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', fea ...
'' (1984) - Pankot Palace, Cliff, The Village (The Raider.Net article about the matte paintings) *''
Young Sherlock Holmes ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' (also known with the title card name of "''Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear''") is a 1985 American mystery adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus, based on the characters ...
'' (1985) - The first digital matte shot was created by Pangrazio and
Christopher Leith Evans Christopher Leith Evans (born 1954), commonly credited as Christopher Evans or Chris Evans, is an American painter, matte artist, and visual effects art director for major motion pictures. Evans's paintings are characterized by a highly realistic ...
. A stained glass window was painted in acrylics then scanned into LucasFilm's Pixar computer system for digital manipulation. The computer animated Stained-Glass Knight character (the first digitally created character in a motion picture) blended seamlessly with the window.


Further reading


References


External links


Radio interview

Interview with Pangrazio
*
Roger Gibbon remembering Mike Pangrazio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pangrazio, Michael Living people 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Matte painters Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American male artists