Article by Adam Eisenberg

With Ghostbusters, producer-director Ivan Reitman and company performed a minor miracle by delivering a major effects production in less than a year - from concept to release. The result was the most successful comedy in film history. For the sequel -- five years later - production and postproduction schedules were even more intense. Physical effects engineer Chuck Gaspar was on hand for his second Ghostbusters outing and Industrial Light & Magic stepped in fresh to handle the visual effects -- delivering not only a full array of ghostly entities, but also a subterranean river of slime and an ambulatory Statue of Liberty. As the production continued to grow, other effects facilities -- including Apogee -- were brought in to absorb the over-flow. Effects team members across the spectrum -- augmented by screenwriting actors Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis -- trace the evolution and execution of the long-awaited Ghostbusters II.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Father, Son and the Holy Grail

Article by Adam Eisenberg

When director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas joined forces to reinvent in feature form the action-packed movie serials of the past, their stylish embellishment proved a boxoffice phenomenon -- from a pair of filmmakers accustomed to making little else. Eight years and three films into the series, the saga of Indiana Jones culminates with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- a rousing finale in which the intrepid archaeologist's past is explored and his relationship with his father reinstated. Filmed in seven countries on three continents, the massive production relied heavily on physical and optical effects to recreate nearly every mode of transportation known to the period. Also required was the full disintegration of a major character -- from flesh to dust -- in one uninterrupted take. Rising to the challenge were physical effects technicians under George Gibbs and the optical illusionists at Industrial Light & Magic.