Rolling back the years once again we present Danny’s Diary, a series of articles written back in 2007 – 2008 and originally posted on Lightsabre.co.uk by ILM and Kerner Optical multi-tasker Danny Wagner.
Saturday 8th December 2007
Dear Diary,
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Working on the last Star Wars film was delight and heartbreak all at the same time.
The end of an era. I am very proud and honored to be a part of this franchise and story. To contribute some of the most imaginative special effects this business has to offer and share this experience with a crew of people that share the same passion and love for the art as I do.
I said to myself in the past, in the early years of my career…I wish I was born earlier to have worked on the original Star Wars and create creatures using transformation techniques in the 80’s. That would have been so cool…
I certainly will always admire those effects and be inspired by them but I feel now I have experience such a mass of wonderful things in my life so far I feel that I should be 80 instead of 40. I certainly packed a lot of things in my head and learned a tremendous amount of skill, techniques and procedures that I understand and believe I am truly honored and lucky to have been born at all.
I made it as a true professional and was still be able to contribute practical effects during the CGI era, which was a very hard thing to do!
As for the Star Wars films it was the beginning of the end for those movies.
But now it’s the beginning of a new company called Kerner Optical and it will Kick ASS!!!
