Enhancing Hollywood’s Hits

If “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” wasn’t on your weekend movie list, it may help to know that Canton’s own Doug Tubach was a visual effects artist for a portion of the film.

From January to mid May, Tubach, owner of in Collinsville, worked in San Francisco as a freelance visual effects compositor for Industrial Light and Magic, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd. The company worked on the Mermaid attack sequence for the film. Tubach also briefly worked on “Super 8.”

Visual effects are those added to a scene after it is shot. A visual effects artist can, for example, add a spark to the barrel of a faux gun used in a scene. Special effects are filmed on scene but the two are often mixed. A small explosion, for example, can be enhanced with visual effects.  

“It’s an interesting combination of science and art,” Tubach said.

These days visual effects are often, but not always, digital.

Whatever the source and effects, it’s the job of Tubach and others to layer it all together, which isn’t always easy.

“Compositing is basically creative problem solving,” he said.

Tubach began his career in the visual and creative arts after studying TV and film production at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.

He moved out to Los Angeles with his wife, and fellow 1981 graduate, Niki (Menzel) Tubach.

Tubach initially worked in television, including time as an associate producer for shows and specials for HBO, FOX, ABC and others.

Around 1992, he landed a job helping Kodak and its subsidiary Cinesite with a process that led to a successful way to produce visual effects digitally and transfer them back on to film without sacrificing quality.

“It was a pretty big deal at the time,” Tubach said.

And essentially, it’s still done today since most theaters still use film.

For Tubach, a lifelong photographer, it was an interesting melding of technologies.

Tubach’s digital art credits while at Cinesite included “Space Jam.”

While Tubach was doing well in the industry, he and his wife had started a family and wanted to raise their children — Nick, now 18, and Christa, now 22 — back in the Farmington Valley. After 13 years in L.A. they moved to Canton in 1997.

Tubach started working on visual effects for Mass Illusion in Lenox, Mass., working on Starship Troopers and doing some initially testing for “What Dreams May Come” and “The Matrix.”

When the company moved to San Francisco, Tubach began producing television projects in the state.

Then in 2004, Tubach began freelancing for ILM. Other than a several-month project in Montreal, he generally works in California, once or twice a year.

It helps that his brother Patrick is 2D supervisor for ILM, giving him a connection and place to stay.

While the pace is grueling, often involving 12-hour days and working seven days a week, Tubach said he enjoys the work and his co-workers.

“I work with an incredible bunch of people,” he said.

Tubach said it’s nice to work on films part of the year, since it can be intense work. 

In all, he’s worked on more than 30 films. 

“It does take its toll,” he said.

And of course, he’s glad to be back with family and working in Collinsville.

Working on films does help pay the bills as well as help Tubach keep the gallery open.

“It definitely sustains the gallery,” he said.