SCFX

Want to learn about the organization that has probably contributed to special and visual effects potentially more than any other? Come find out about SCFX, USC’s Special Effects Organization…

Update 3 March 2021: I’ve been receiving a lot of updated/additional info from alums, so I’ve tried to incorporate it all below, including new information about Tassilo Baur, one of the original founders.

Overview

SCFX is the Special Effects Organization at the University of Southern California. While it is “just” a student club, it was (as far as I know) founded around 1981 by Tassilo Baur (who went on to be a successful special effects coordinator and founding member of the Alliance of Special Effects & Pyrotechnic Operators).

Early members included Steve Koch (a designer and sculptor on many films including the Alien franchise) and John Knoll (current Executive Creative Director and Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic, as well as one of the co-developers of Photoshop).

SCFX excursion in 1982 to Nevada desert, courtesy of Steve Koch

The above picture depicts an SCFX excursion in 1982 to the Nevada desert to blow up the front of the old film school building for a short film. Shown left-to-right are Scott Ressler, John Knoll, Dave Johnson, York Baur, Steve Koch, and founder Tassilo Baur.

Other members over the years include Daren Dochterman (various significant contributions to the Star Trek franchise), Bill Spitzak (who developed Nuke), Charles de Lauzirika (director and producer of the Alien and Blade Runner anthology collections), and Evan Schiff (editor of John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum).

It has contributed visual effects to a variety of student films, most notably Jon M. Chu’s When the Kids Are Away, and many of its alumni have gone on to great success in the visual effects industry.

My Connection

When I showed up for orientation at USC, every student was issued a copy of the SCampus (because everything was branded with “‘SC”, get it?), which was the student handbook, covering everything from policies to registration to housing to student activities.

It was under the section for student activities that I found a mention of “SCFX”, USC’s Special Effects Organization (as an example of a great student club). Seeing as this was the exact career I was pursuing, naturally I was pretty excited!

Unfortunately, as my freshman year went on, I kept waiting for the club to surface—asking around, checking bulletin boards (yes, physical ones…it was the 90s…), and bugging Dr. Richard Weinberg, the faculty advisor on file. But nothing ever happened…

So when it came to the fall of my sophomore year, I was determined to restart SCFX. Since I had chosen to live another year in the Dean’s Halls (in Marks Hall), I met Evan Schiff as he moved in. Evan, as it turned out, had previously worked at Stan Winston Studio and was willing to help me restart the organization. Since we needed 4 officers to start, I started looking around for 2 more—Zach Turner (who had expressed interest in FX the previous year) and Val Jones (who would later work on the ICT Light Stages). Paperwork was submitted, and SCFX was reborn!

History

Better Films Through Trickery and Deceit — SCFX tagline

Over the next few years, little bits of SCFX history started to become clearer, and it was “re-founded” many times after periods of dormancy (including by myself), but I still don’t have all the pieces (hence me writing this bit):

Tassilo Baur founded the group around 1981. Early members included Steve Koch, John Knoll, Scott Russler, Dave Johnson, York Baur, Nathan Schroeder, and Ralph Miller.
The name is (hopefully obviously) a spin on the term “SPFX” for “special effects” but utilizing the aforementioned “‘SC” moniker from USC…
John Parsons re-founded SCFX around 1984 or 1985.
Also hopefully obvious from the time of when it started, the group primarily focused on in-camera effects, as well as prosthetics, make-up, modelmaking, and other practical FX. It wasn’t until the late 90s that “visual effects” (primarily compositing and CG) became a focus.
There was a very active group in the late 80s/early 90s with Charles de Lauzirika, Daren Dochterman, Brian Keeney, Gene Kozicki, Van Ling, Bill Spitzak, and others. They worked on multiple Lightstorm productions, even while still being students!
- I think this is when the group adopted the tagline “Better Films Through Trickery and Deceit”…
- Another possible tagline (per Jed Mortenson) was “Helping to Build the Illusion of a Better Tomorrow”, but the “Trickery and Deceit” line was the winner
The group got quiet in the late 1990s until I restarted it, and we had several years of good activity.

Activities

The nature of the group’s activities has evolved over the years, but a common theme was making their own films, or providing FX for other student films. Due to its work on student films, SCFX even has its own IMDB page.

The organization’s reputation has been pretty high at different times during its history, resulting in being “slashdotted” at one point, helping host the grand opening of USC’s Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, and being invited to introduce Ray Harryhausen at his stop at USC during his last U.S. tour. During my time, we even helped co-produce The Gamers, which involved a complete virtual set for its climax.

We also used to take tours of all the FX houses around Los Angeles, and that again proved the high reputation of the group. I remember calling some places to schedule tours and received a response of something like “SCFX? Wow, we haven’t heard from you in a couple of years…where have you been?”

We’ve hosted industry panels, practical and software workshops,

Alumnus Brian Keeney discussing the industry with then President Brian Smith, Spring 2001

Notable Alumni

Here’s a not-anywhere-close-to-complete list of alumni (and so many of them deserve their own articles on their impact on the VFX industry . . .):

Est. Beg. Year	First Name	Last Name	SCFX Role	Industry Role
1981	Tassilo	Baur	Founder	Special Effects Coordinator
1981	York	Baur
1981	Dave	Johnson
1981	John	Knoll		ILM Executive Creative Director and Senior VFX Supervisor
1981	Steve	Koch		Special Effects Designer
1981	Ralph	Miller
1981	Nathan	Schroeder
1985	John	Parsons	Re-Founder	VR Consultant
1985	Van	Ling		Director, VFX Supervisor
1985	Daren	Dochterman		Concept Artist
1987	Gray	Marshall		SCAD Chair of Visual Effects
1988	Gene	Kozicki		VFX Producer
1988	Bill	Spitzak		Designer of Nuke compositing system
1988	Jed	Mortenson		Director
1989	David	Crowther
1989	Brian	Keeney		VFX Producer
1989	Andy	Gauvreau		Senior TD
1990	Josh	Arsenault
1990	Charles	de Lauzirika		Director, Features and Documentaries on Alien and Blade Runner franchises
1990	Jamil	Moledina		Creative Director
1991	Andy	Dunn	President, 1993
1992	Scott	Souter		VFX Supervisor
1992	Shannon	Gardner	President, 1995	Producer
1992	Beth	Sweeney	Vice President	Post Production Supervisor
1992	Joseph	Grossberg		Compositor
1993	Kevin	La Neave		VFX Editor
1996	Ray	Massa		Motion Capture
2000	Jason	Scott	President, 2000	Head of 3D, Rising Sun Pictures
2000	Evan	Schiff	Vice President	Editor, John Wick: Chapter 2 and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum
2000	Val	Jones	Secretary	Computer Graphics Researcher
2000	Tim	Carras	Vice President	VFX Supervisor
2000	Jason	Porath	President, 2002; Treasurer, 2001
2000	Brian	Smith	President, 2001
2000	Liz	Marriner	Vice President, 2003	Workflow Developer, Marvel Studios
2000	Erin	Reynolds	President, 2004	Founder, Flying Mollusk
2000	Phil	Broste		Compositing Supervisor; author of open letter to Ang Lee
2001	Scott	Arnold	Vice President, 2004
2007	Kaitlyn	Yang	President, 2007-2011	Owner, Alpha Studios; VFX Supervisor
2014	Johnson	Thomasson	President, 2015	Virtual Production, The Third Floor
2017	Kalyan	Sura	President, 2017
2017	Stephanie	Hernandez	Treasurer	VFX Coordinator

If I missed you, please forgive me, and feel free to let me know.

The Future?

As I’m living in Australia right now, I’m not 100% sure of SCFX’s current status. I’ve seen activity here and there in the last couple of years, so it’s not too far off, but in the meantime, SCFX lives on in a couple of (dormant?) social media forms (as far as I know):

So, there you have it! This “little” student organization at USC has contributed mightily to the overall VFX industry, and we hope it can keep contributing in the future!

P.S.

Part of my motivation in writing this is to raise the conversation with past members to fill in the gaps on history, from the beginning to the present. If you’re one of them, feel free to comment below, drop me an e-mail, connect with me on social media, etc.