£X: movie magic Design supervisor Robert Moon of Thomas Special Effects I’M standing in the mid- when he brings a show dle of the parking lot at in, he has 2 fecting or . , security having all this the Pianerarium. ies fear talent on site for when beautiful cies there’s an emergency or day, not a cloud to be something dificult to seen. So what’s with the snow-covered trees? Thanks to Rebert Moon and the crew from Thomas Special Eficets, whatever Mother Nature can do, thev can do it not only better but also on order. inally from San Francisco, Moon had career as a painter and lithogra- ria- Verdicchio do. That's something, that makes ‘Thomas kind of unique beeause it is a cut-throat busine: very competitive by ness. Lately Pve been getting at feast one job application a day, alot of them from peaple back east whe a coming out here to work in the movies, so there’s a lot of competition. In effects you do a lot of props that protect a lady welder, an ahiminum welder and we're just waiting for the next job to come along so we can have her in the shop. We'd like to see more Women in the business, but Photos submitted THOMAS Special Effects design supervisor Robert Moon works on the harness needed for the flying dog sequence in Look Who's Talking Now. peopie but only a few who do special effects props — props that have to do something. Like I had someone come in who wanted a pair of high-heeled shoes and pher, with his works in permanent collee- tions at the museums of modern art in San ‘a, New York and Los Angeles. A friend asked if he'd like to do sets on The King and I, and he had such a good time that he was hooked. “I was tired of sit- ting alone in a studio all day. It's a very soli- wy. experience. T wanted to be with peo- ple. He moved to the North Shore 10 ycars ago to pursue working with special effects and props, and is now a design supervisor at Thomas Special Effects. ort ofa boys’ club. they wanted the toe to open like a mouth, so the shoes could talk. It was for some interactive video. In fect, she not only had people. For instance we do a lot of rubb it is tools tor fights because it protects the acte and stunt people. We made a rubber anvil for Leslie Niclson in the movie Wrongfilly Accused, a rubber flower pot, a rubber toilet — he was doing a lot of hitting. So to protect the other actors we did these things in cicher rubber or ‘breakaway. Breakaw: sither made of wax or glass that’s not sharp or breaking. ‘Thomas is unique because they scarted out when the film business w young. John Thomas had an ine ble ability to build a team, to bring guys together and male band them into a team. We're kind of sensitive to that male bonding thing. MV: Are you one of the few people in Vancouver to do (breakaway)? RM: One of the three or four. There are a See Team page WV Maria Verdicchio: What exactly goes on at Thomas Special Effects? Robert Moon: We have six coordinators and when a coordinator brings a feature in he spreads the work around the shop because we have a machine shap, a props shop, a car- pentry shop, welding and fabricating shop. By having all those talents in one place, MV: You mean there are no women? ; RM: Actually we recently interviewed ” We Won't Be Undersold v the new People on the block!| 07 including Consumers Gas Our Pre Christmas Gift to You A $225 discount on all insta- Flame products plus a FREE Trim Kit valued at $188 for a total ‘413 DISCOUNT INSTA-FLAME CERAMIC BURNER iS MADE TO LAST A LIFETIME ¢ All InstaFlame Gas Fireplaces come with a comprehensive limited warranty and have furnace standards ’ * Comes with remote or thermostatic gas control systems m- . ' * Heat exchange system maximizes heating efficiency ee . * Heat activated variable speed fan system distributes heat evenly f All showroom mantels for Insta-Flames priced to clear § LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEED | top of the line equipment * A $100,000 dream sequence {involving John Travolta, a child and a dog flying te to the moon) was shot for Look Who's Taiking Now but never actually used in the final version of the movie. The above phcto shows the dog in a test scene. mode! HEB32 shown f ay be rst Ch Enjoy the s tS Ri/sounds of the € hart is Story as'scet throughzthe' “eyes of 500°. * ~‘elaborately costumed actors including the | * Realism ‘of Live. artials.. . A&A has built the insta-Flame name ion the North Shore. 4 See the company that B has sold the mast \ 8 insta-Flame i products in 8.C., first. Dont be fooled — bag Introducing Moe, our full B time licensed expert gas service technician for fiteplaces, furnaces, boilers - available 6 § days a week Insta Flame propane Units 244 . also priced to clear