Word: dykstra
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Half the fun of Star Wars comes from taking in all those special effects. Although the technology never approaches the rarefied levels of visual fireworks achieved in 2001: A Space Odyssey, special photographic effects supervisor John Dykstra has pieced together an impressive collection of robots, futuristic weaponry and space age interior sets that will keep the eye titillated while the intellectual faculties take five. The spellbinding dogfight and final assault on the Empire's central nervous system that wind up Star Wars are particularly noteworthy for the way that Lucas so easily integrates the gimmickry into the climax...
...dyspeptic that Artoo is sagely counseled to let Chewjbacca win.) All science fiction movies these days are measured against Stanley Kubrick's monumental 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). But even by that standard, Star Wars is tops. To work out the photographic special effects, Lucas hired John Dykstra, an expert in the field. For his space scenes, Kubrick had used what is called composite opticals: he would put one -part of a scene-a spaceship, say -on film and black out the background. Then he would cover over the spaceship, roll the film through the camera again...
Lucas and Dykstra had the advantage over 2001 of another decade of com puter technology. They were able to link the camera to a sophisticated calculator, which recorded and memorized every shot. By consulting it they could add new elements to their scenes in far less time than it took Kubrick. The result is a breathtaking series of space shots unlike anything seen before in a science fiction film. Says Dykstra: "We have spaceships crossing over planets all the time, and Kubrick never did. His ships are almost invariably linear and can be seen only from one angle. Ours...
...earned more than $600,000, and four other G.M. vice presidents were paid more than $500,000. Over at Ford, helped by record 1962 sales that lifted executive bonuses, Chairman Henry Ford II earned $540,000 in salary and cash bonus last year. Ford's retiring President John Dykstra earned $515,000, and incoming President Arjay Miller got $417,917. Ford's ten top officers serving as directors received at least $215,000 each...
...president-staff group. In a newly formed triumvirate that will include Chairman Henry Ford and Scottish-born Charles H. Patterson, 60, for whom the post of executive vice president was re-created last week, Miller will supervise everything from planning and design to sales, have vastly more control than Dykstra...