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San Francisco ACM SIGGRAPH is a Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH. Our mission is to promote and inspire leading-edge theory and practice of computer graphics, emerging technologies and interactive techniques. We host regular professional networking events, as well as presentations of computer graphics work done by both studios and independent artists. Our events feature a mix of film, broadcast, game, motion graphics and interactive work.

Our Next Event

The VFX and Filming of Twisters

Date: Wednesday, August 14th, 5-7pm PT
Location: Online
Tickets: $15 (free for members)
Get Tickets


Take a look at the filming and visual effects of the new movie Twisters with Production Supervisor Ben Snow, who was a digital artist on the original film 28 years ago, and Effects Supervising Technical Director Joakim Arnesson. We’ll start with a discussion of the original film’s VFX and then look at how ILM went about creating the visual effects for director Lee Issac Chung’s new movie.

About the speakers:

A multi Oscar and BAFTA award nominee, Ben Snow carries 35 years of visual effects experience in both feature films and immersive entertainment. He most recently served as the Production Visual Effects Supervisor on Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters. In the same capacity, Snow led visual effects on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves where he was responsible for 1,400 VFX shots including fantasy creatures, environments and magical effects across multiple VFX vendors, earning a Visual Effects Society nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects. To date, Snow’s contributions to film have garnered him four Oscar nominations and between film and real-time projects his work has earned ten
VES nominations.

Snow has also written and directed Virtual Reality projects with ILM Immersive, including the Vader Immortal trilogy for Meta Quest, Rift and Sony PS-VR, and a 360 immersive clip for Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Lucasfilm and Meta. He supervised Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, a location-based virtual reality experience made in collaboration with Lucasfilm and The VOID.

He joined ILM in 1994, where his first project was to help create the three-dimensional computer graphics image of the Enterprise B for Star Trek: Generations. This version had to intercut seamlessly with the motion-control model shot on ILM’s soundstage, one of the first of such endeavors for a feature film.

Joakim Arnesson is an FX supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), where he has made significant contributions to the visual effects industry since joining the company in 1996 as a Technical Director (TD). Over the years, Joakim has consistently met rigorous challenges and has managed increasing responsibilities. Joakim has worked on FX for film, television series, commercials, and special venues, including the Sphere in Las Vegas, showcasing his versatility and expertise across various platforms.

In 2008, Joakim was honored with a Visual Effects Society (VES) Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture for his exceptional work on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, specifically for the Maelstrom sequence. His dedication to visual storytelling and innovation in visual effects has solidified his reputation as a leader in the field.

Originally from Stockholm, Sweden, Joakim gained experience in computer science and software development before venturing into visual creativity. He pursued his passion for computer graphics at the Vancouver Film School and the University of British Columbia, studying in Canada for a year. Prior to his tenure at ILM, he accumulated valuable industry knowledge at post-production facilities in London and New York.