News Detail
Mark Rappaport '72 Recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
On Feb. 11, Justin-Siena alumnus and 2016 Film Forum presenter Mark Rappaport '72 was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards. It’s a prequel to the Academy Awards ceremony.
The Oscars for Scientific and Technical Awards had its ceremony on Saturday night, co-hosted by Leslie Mann and Star Trek’s John Cho. Unlike its mainstream brother ceremony, which was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on Sunday February 26, it recognizes years of work and everyone who attends wins. Although the Sci-Tech awards are not as buzzed about, as Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said, “There’s a reason it’s called the Academy of Arts and Sciences.”
The award recipients are chosen by the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee. This year, thirty-four people and five companies won, recognized for achievements like rendering and facial performance motion capture. Here are the dopest advancements you should know about.
Horse animation technology as seen in The Revenant
Horse animation technology as seen in The Revenant
A team of designers and developers were recognized for animated horse design that has the glorious title of the Creature Effects Animatronic Horse Puppet. This apparatus, which has appeared in films like The Revenant and The Lone Ranger, simultaneously increases realism and actor safety. Mark Rappaport '72 won an award for the concept, design, and development; Scott Oshita for the motion analysis and CAD design; Jeff Cruts for developing faux-hair finish techniques; and Todd Minobe was recognized for the character articulation and drive-train mechanisms.
From Napa Valley Register article on 2/17/17
Mark Rappaport’s work is all fake, but his success is definitely the real thing.
This former Napan recently earned recognition as a special effects creator from the folks who hand out the Oscar statuettes.
On Feb. 11, Rappaport, who now lives in Los Angeles, was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards. It’s a prequel to the Academy Awards ceremony to be held on Feb. 26.
“I’m honored,” said Rappaport. “I’m very proud of the work I’ve done.”
Rappaport, who grew up in Napa, owns a special effects business in Los Angeles called Creature Effects Inc.
His company provides all kinds of human, creature and makeup effects for both film and TV.
Monster puppets, bloody heads, dead horses, zombies, dinosaurs and fake babies – you name it, he’s made it.
The special effects artist and others received a technical achievement award from the Academy on behalf of his work designing and developing animatronic horse “puppets” for motion pictures.
His certificate — not the famous Oscar statuette — is awarded for “accomplishments which contribute to the progress of the industry,” read the Academy website.
Rappaport’s fake horses have been used in films like “Seabiscuit,” “The Revenant,” “Cowboys and Aliens,” “300,” “The Lone Ranger” and “The Last Samurai.”
A total of 18 scientific and technical achievements were presented at the event.
This recognition by the Academy “shows we’re one of the best studios in the world” for special effects, he said.
Rappaport, now 63, said he got into the special effects industry by accident.
Previously, he worked at many different kinds of jobs, including stints as a kitchen worker on a Royal Viking cruise ship, a newspaper delivery person, a prison guard at San Quentin, an Alameda County deputy sheriff and a firefighter in Southern California.
He built puppets while in college and considered starting some kind of puppet show, said Rappaport.
“Bringing life to inanimate objects touches a deep nerve inside me as an artist,” he said. “I really enjoyed that but I didn’t think there was any money in it.”
His father was skeptical too, Rappaport admitted. “My dad was mystified,” he recalled. “He said, ‘What are you doing with your life Mark?’”
“I said, ‘I’m working on these puppets.’”
“He said, ‘You mean dolls?’”
“I said, ‘No, not dolls.’”
And then came a stroke of luck.
Rappaport was delivering the Sunday New York Times in the Marin County area in the mid-1980s when he stumbled onto his next career.
Driving by some kind of studio at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, “I saw these people painting monsters,” he said.
“I drove up to them and I said, ‘This looks great, I want to do this.’”
To his surprise, the crew told him to show up the next day to work. They were working on a project for the special effects maker Chris Walas, who also worked on the movie “Gremlins.”
“I had no real art background,” but “they said I could come be a helping hand,” said Rappaport. “That’s where I started learning about special effects.”
After that start, Rappaport was able to take on other such jobs. He worked on films for Industrial Light & Magic, owned by George Lucas, including “Innerspace” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”
“I was helping out making molds, cleaning up,” he said. “I really knew almost nothing,” but was gaining valuable experience.
Rappaport eventually moved to Los Angeles with his wife Jean Horihata, where he began working special effects for mostly B movies with titles like “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” and the first five “Puppet Master” movies.
“It was really fun,” he said. That kind of work was “perfect for my abilities and understanding at the time.”
While looking for his next job, Rappaport discovered a special effects studio near his home in Los Angeles.
He inquired about renting some space to work on his own special effects projects, and to his surprise, the business owner offered the whole studio, as he was about to move out to a larger space.
Not only that, but the exiting tenant recommended Rappaport for a new film being made called “The Last Samurai,” starring Tom Cruise.
“This was my big break,” said Rappaport.
“They needed horses and lots of horses” for the film, which was shot in New Zealand.
No matter that Rappaport hadn’t made a horse puppet before.
“I said, ‘I will do it. I’m going to put everything I can into making the best animatronic creature ever made’.”
Rappaport assembled a team of special effects artists from previous projects, including puppeteers who had worked with Jim Henson’s company and others who had worked on “Jurassic Park.”
“We made it work,” he said. “This was the beginning for me to start creating horses.”
“We made it work,” he said. “This was the beginning for me to start creating horses.”
The special effects artist said he’s made close to 100 faux horses. Some are full-size models and some only include the top half or other sections of a horse.
The “hides” are actually synthetic fiber fur — not real horse skin or hair — placed over a foam rubber horse body.
Inside are mechanisms and electrical motors that can make a horse’s eyes blink and ears and nostrils move. Some of the horse mechanisms are designed to allow the horse to fall or flip.
“We use computer technology to integrate into the motors of the horse’s body,” he explained.
The puppet horses — or portions of a horse such as a head — can cost anywhere from $9,000 to $250,000, and take as long as two months to make.
According to a news release from the Academy, “The animatronic horse puppet provides increased actor safety, close integration with live action, and improved realism for filmmakers.”
Rappaport gave equal credit for his award to others who helped work on the horse puppet.
“That horse wouldn’t exist without the people in the shop” who helped create it. “Without them this would not have happened.”
That doesn’t mean there weren’t some ups and downs along the way. After a difficult experience working on the movie “I Am Legend,” bigger film projects dried up for a while.
“That was tough,” he said. “But we made it through doing a lot of Disney TV and commercials. And we were doing pretty well.”
Then Rappaport got called to work on the remake of “True Grit,” along with “Cowboys & Aliens” and “The Lone Ranger,” and suddenly the bigger jobs were back.
Rappaport said that he has good memories of growing up in Napa.
“To me Napa was wonderful. It was a small town. You knew everybody in your school.”
Rappaport attended the then-Justin High School, graduating in the class of 1972. He still gets together with some of his classmates.
Over the years, Rappaport and his team have traveled to Japan, Germany, New Zealand, Romania, Canada, Mexico and Spain, to name just a few countries.
In March they’re going to Abu Dhabi to work on a commercial featuring a lizard for an Abu Dhabi company that he could not name.
Napans might have noticed some of his most recent work during Super Bowl LI, including a kangaroo puppet for a Yellow Tail wines commercial, and a beaver puppet for a Skittles commercial.
“l love puppets and creating work for film,” he said.
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Mark Rappaport '72 (center)
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Rappaport with the horse he and his team created for the movie "300."
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Rappaport and his team created this horse for "The Lone Ranger"
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Rappaport and his team created this horse for "The Revenant"
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Justin-Siena High School
Justin-Siena is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory community that serves young people in grades 9–12.