Visual Effects

Craig Barron

Craig Barron (born April 6, 1961) is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus. This media company produces visual development and virtual production services for motion pictures, television, museums and multimedia platforms. Working at Industrial Light & Magic, Barron contributed to the visual effects of such films as The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At his VFX studio, Matte World Digital, he produced visual effects on Zodiac, Alice in Wonderland and Hugo. Over the course of his VFX career, Barron contributed to the visual effects of more than 100 films. He is an Emmy Award recipient for By Dawn's Early Light, and he received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects on Batman Returns. In 2009, he won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Barron is a film historian, museum exhibit curator, and educator focusing on the history of visual effects in classic films before and after the digital age. He hosts presentations and lectures on the visual effects of Hollywood's studio age. He produces short documentaries that reveal the formerly secret history of how visual effects pioneers created seamless visuals using matte paintings, miniatures and optical effects.