American Cinematographer - April 1994 - 97

The ASC recently welcomed John
Jensen and Jonathan Erland into the

You Need

Tree

City USA
City trees add thebusysoftlives.
touchThey
of
nature to our

cool

fight pollution,
give wildlife a
home, and make our neighbor¬
our

conserve

cities,

manufacture of the Cinemobile. He

energy,

joined the union in 1973 and worked as

hoods more liveable.
The trees on city property,
along streets and in parks, are an
essential part of the urban forest.
To

Society as active and associate mem¬
bers, respectively. John Jensen was edu¬
cated in Copenhagen in mechanical en¬
gineering and he emigrated to the U.S. in
1966, coming to work for Fouad Said,
where he was involved in the design and

keep these

trees

healthy and

abundant, your town needs

an

an

assistant

cameraman

and

camera

operator, working with such cinematog¬

raphers

as

Steven Poster, ASC

on

Dead

and Buried: Mario Tosi, ASC on Coast to

Coast, Owen Roizman, ASC on Electric
Horseman, Jordan Cronenweth, ASC on
Altered States, Don Thorin, ASC on An
Officer and

a

Gentleman. He became

a

Canadian

Broadcasting Corporation.

Meanwhile, Erland's eclectic interests
allowed him to augment his income by

working in the field of industrial design,
prototype/product development and in¬
dustrial exhibition. His pursuits in this
area led him to take part in the work of
designer and filmmaker Charles Eames.
One of these projects was the audioanimatronic puppet theaters built for the
IBM pavilion at the New York World's
Fair of 1964.
In 1976, he joined the group
that John Dykstra was assembling to

produce effects for the film Star Wars,
beginning an association that has contin¬
ued to the present. During the formation
of Apogee Productions, Erland estab¬

organized program for their
care.. .an annual action
plan to
plant and prune the city's trees,

since shot thousands of commercials and

opment departments in the modern era

twelve made-for-television movies.

of visual effects facilities. In his current

and

Jensen

nominated for two Emmys
for Into the Badlands and Hallmark Hall
of Fame's An American Story and for an

capacity he has developed and imple¬
mented a wide variety of technical pro¬
cesses for composite photography, three
of which have been patented.
Working closely with such
companies as Eastman Kodak and The
3M Company, he has assisted in the de¬
sign of film stocks and front projection
material, as well as worked on improving
techniques for film-to-tape transfer and
electronic postproduction.
Erland, who has garnered doz¬

to

maintain their health.

Support Tree City USA where
you live. For your free booklet,
write: Tree City USA, The
National Arbor Day Foundation,
Nebraska City, NE 68410.
Arbor
Day Foundation
0The
National

director of

photography in 1984 and has

was

ASC Award for An American Story. He
broke into features with Benefit of the

Doubt, and went

on to photograph
Coolidge's Gambling Bose, which
won him a nomination for an Indepen¬
dent Spirit Award; Lost in Yonkers, an¬
other Coolidge film; Grumpy Old Men:
and Angle.

Martha

As director of research and

lished

one

of the first research and devel¬

of awards for his innovations, is a

development for Apogee Productions,

ens

Jonathan Erland oversees the invention
and development of new technology re¬

member of the

quired for the special effects produced by

Academy,

Scientific and Engineering
mittee and the General

the
Awards Com¬
Membership

serves on

the company. Erland's particular interest
lies in the arena of visual effects com¬

Committee, and is chairman of the Visual

posite photography.

of the British

Erland received his early pro¬
fessional training in his native England,
where he studied theatre at the Central
School of Speech and Drama, and film at
the London International Film School. His
studies were later continued at Goodman
Memorial Theatre in Chicago. Beginning
his professional life as an actor and the¬
atrical technical director in Toronto,

Canada, Erland participated in the golden
age

of live television drama with the

April 1994

Effects Committee. He is also

a

member

Kinematograph Sound and
Television Society. He is a Fellow of
SMPTE and serves on a number of
SMPTE committees, including the HDTV
Production Standards and Education
Committees.
In addition to Star Wars,
Erland's feature film credits include
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The
China Syndrome, Firefox, Never Say
Never Again, Spaceballs, My Step¬
mother is an Alien, and Ghostdad.
<*■

American

Cinematographer

95
American Cinematographer - April 1994

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