A collection of works by and interviews with Phil Tippett, the special effects legend known for his stop-motion animation on Star Wars, Robocop and Starship Troopers

Curated by The Sadnesses

Total Runtime: 0:38:30

Phil Tippett (born 1951) is a movie director and an award-winning visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design and character animation.

In 1978, Phil headed the ILM animation department with Jon Berg for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (released in 1980). For this film, Tippett co-developed the animation technique called go motion to animate the sinister AT-AT Imperial Walkers and the hybrid alientauntauns. In 1981 Tippett continued using go motion for Dragonslayer, and received his first Academy Award nomination for the extraordinarily realistic dragon animation. By 1983, Tippett led the famed Lucasfilm creature shop for Return of the Jedi for which he was awarded his firstOscar in 1984.

In 1984 Tippett Studio was born when Phil left ILM and set up a studio in his garage to create a 10-minute experimental film called Prehistoric Beast. The realism of the dinosaurs it depicted and the film's reflection of contemporary scientific theory led to the 1985 CBS animated documentary Dinosaur! Tippett Studio won its first award, an Emmy for Special Visual Effects, for the animated dinosaur sequences.

In 1986 producer Jon Davison hired Tippett to create the animated robot sequences for RoboCop. The ED-209 stop motion model was designed by Craig Davies, who also built the full size models, and animated by Tippett. As one of the setpieces of the movie, the ED-209’s look and animated sequences were under the close supervision of director Paul Verhoeven, who sometimes acted out the robot's movements himself. ED 209 was voiced by producer Jon Davison. This project became the start of a long and successful collaboration between Davies and Tippet.

He also modeled the Dark Overlord creatures seen in Howard the Duck.

1993 Tippett Studios Demo Reel
2008 Interview
Robocop Behind the Scenes
All Robocain Animation from Robocop 2
Starship Troopers Behind the Scenes
Starship Troopers Bug Test Reel
Jurassic Park Raptor Test
Tippett Studios Interview/Doc

Collection - Phil Tippett

◀ PREVNEXT ▶

THIS VIDEO:

MORE INFO ABOUT THIS SHOW »

Our Curators Recommend:

Russ Meyer Weekend

EXOTIC! EROTIC! BUXOTIC!

Trailer Trash: Revenge!

Eight Reels of Radical Retribution!

Collection - Chris & Cosey

Videos and interview with the electronic music legends!

Reel Wild Cinema: Ep. 5, "Sci-Fi Mutant Invasion"

Featuring an interview with Fred Olen Ray!

Network Awesome Originals:

Heavy Metal Week

Nothing but the best of the best documentaries, live music shows, films, and video collections exploring the themes of the loudest musical genre

Electronic Music Week

John Cage 100th Birthday

A Special 37 hour Day to honor the Avant Garde Composer

Women In Prison Weekend

DEPRAVED! INCORRIGIBLE! SEE WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND BARS!

Previously This Week:

Sat, May 27

Live Music Show - Italian Disco Is Insane

Art - Giocattoli Futuristi/Futurists Toys (Claudio Castelli, 2007)

Collection: Memphis Design

Collection: Dolce & Gabbana

Collection - Keith Emerson on Italian TV

Eurotika - Blood and Black Lace: A Short History of the Italian Horror Film Ep 3

Fri, May 26

Collection - Daphne Oram

Doc - a Male Assistant Please Miss? (1973)

Doc - Pierre Henry: The Art of Sounds (2007)

Art - The Eye and The Ear (Franciszka & Stefan Themerson, 1945)

Collection - The Film Music of Ennio Morricone

Movie - The Decameron (Pasolini, 1971)

Thu, May 25

120 Megabytes - Episode 45

Art - Video Art 1976-1991 (Dean Winkler)

Collection - Felix Kubin Videos

A Big Chunk of The Kenny Everett Video Show (1978 -1981)

Collection - Olafur Eliasson

Movie - King Kong (1976)

Wed, May 24

Live Music Show - Secos & Molhados

The Mini-Munsters (Pilot, 1973)

Doc - Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground

Art - The Tell-Tale Heart (Ted Parmelee, 1953)

Movie - At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (José Mojica Marins, 1963)

Movie - The Strange Hostel of Pleasures (José Mojica Marins, 1972)

Tue, May 23

Collection - Dimanche Mon Amour Goes to Brasil

The Captive by René Laloux (1988)

Collection - Etienne Daho

Doc - Michel Foucault: Beyond Good and Evil (1993)

Collection - Dalida

Movie - The Stranger (Orson Welles, 1946)

Mon, May 22

Art - Peyote Queen (Storm de Hirsch, 1965)

Doc - Buying Guns and Drugs on the Deep Web

Sunshine Factory - Respecting Adults and Others

Doc - Brazil's Space-Age Moon Capitol (Oscar Niemeyer)

Doc - Krzysztof Penderecki: Turning history into avant-garde

Movie - Savage Messiah (Ken Russell, 1972)