Academy Votes Special Award to Effects Pioneer Bill Taylor

Longtime effects supervisor and Illusion Arts co-founder Bill Taylor will receive Academy's John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation

Bill Taylor, the co-founder of Illusion Arts and a visual effects supervisor who has worked on more than 200 films, has been voted the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation by the Academy's Board of Governors, AMPAS announced on Tuesday.

Taylor will receive the award at the Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony on Feb. 9 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He won a Technical Achievement Award at that ceremony 32 years ago for the concept and specifications for a Two-Format, Rotating Head, Aerial Image Optical Printer.

AMPAS(The Sci-Tech Awards are full of people winning awards for things like that – they're devoted to the ones who put the sciences in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)

Taylor has served as visual effects supervisor on films including "Lawless," "Public Enemies," "Milk" and "Bruce Almighty." His other VFX and matte photography credits during a near-40-year career include "DragonHeart," "What Dreams May Come," "Mystery Men," "Spaceballs," "Batman Forever" and "The Fast and the Furious."

At the Academy, he has served as one of the Visual Effects Branch's representatives on the Board of Governors, and he co-founded the organization's Science and Technology Council.

Also read: Academy Announces Scientific and Technical Achievement Honorees

He is also the co-author of chapters on bluescreen and greenscreen compositing in "The American Cinematographer Manual" and "The VES Handbook of Visual Effects."

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