Brian Johnson

Sfx Designer, Director:

Brian Johnson (born Johncock) born in Surrey, England in 1940. After attending a public school, Johnsonıs ambition was to take up flying as a career, but was medically advised against it. Instead, he got a job with a company specialising in the making of television commercials and after a time found himself promoted to the laboratory. The next three and a half years were spent working with cameras on a variety of film documentaries and TV commercials, and then as an assistant on feature films. Johnson budding career was then interrupted in 1959 by the National Service, where he performed various duties in RAF Transport Command for two years. Shortly after returning to civilian life he found himself working on visual effects camerawork, a field in which he has specialised even since.

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Brian Johnson - Filmography

 

Late 1950s

As Brian Johncock:

- TV commercials (camera assistant)

Various films incl.

- Dunkirk (1957) directed by Leslie Norman

 

- The Strange World of Planet X (1957) directed by Gilbert Gunn (at Isleworth Studios with Les Bowie)

 

Various documentaries (camera assistant) incl.

- Busmans Holiday (documentary, 1958) Anglo-Scottish Pictures Ltd.

 

1960s

(Special effects camera operator for Les Bowie)

- The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) directed by Val Guest

- Phantom of the Opera (1962) directed by Terence Fisher

 

[with Derek Meddings at AP (Anderson Provis) Films]

- Fireball XL5 (TV, 1961-1962)

- Stingray (TV, 1962-1964)

- Thunderbirds (TV, 1964-1966) (effects director on series 1&2)

 

- The Dirty Dozen (1967) directed by Robert Aldrich (with Bowie Films on the explosion sequences)

 

(with Les Bowie)

- Moon Zero Two (1968) directed by Roy Ward Baker

 

- Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969) directed by Peter Sasdy

- When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1969) directed by Val Guest

- Budgie (TV series, 1969)

As Brian Johnson:

- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) directed by Stanley Kubrick (Special Effects Assistant)

 

1970s

- Mosquito Squadron (1970) directed by Boris Sagal (with Les Bowie)

- On The Buses (TV, 1970)

- Please Sir! (TV series, 1970)

- The Protectors (TV series, 1971-1973)

- A Clockwork Orange (1972) directed by Stanley Kubrick (for Bowie Films)

- The Italian Job (1972) directed by Peter Collinson (post production effects / Kit West/Pat Moore)

- Nothing but the Night (1972) directed by Peter Sasdy

- The Blockhouse (1973) directed by Clive Rees

- The Tamarind Seed (1974) directed by Blake Edwards (special effects)

- Space: 1999 (TV, 1973-1976) (special effects supervisor)

- Into Infinity (TV Pilot, 1976) directed by Charles Crichton (special effects supervisor)

- Alien Attack (TV commercial) directed by Gerry Anderson

- Glitterball (1977) directed by Harley Cokliss (special effects)

- The Medusa Touch (1978) directed by Jack Gold (special effects supervisor)

- Revenge of The Pink Panther (1978) directed by Blake Edwards (effects director)

- Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott (first Oscar)

 

1980s

- The Empire Strikes Back (1980) directed by Irwin Kerschner (second Oscar)

- Dragonslayer (1981) directed by Mattew Robbins (mechanical/model effects supervisor) (Oscar nomination)

- The Pirates Of Penzance (1983) directed by Wilford Leach

- Legend (1985) directed by Ridley Scott

- The Never Ending Story (1985) directed by Wolfgang Petersen

- Enemy Mine (1985) directed by Wolfgang Petersen

- Spies Like Us (1985) directed by John Landis (special effects supervisor)

- Aliens (1986) directed by James Cameron (post production visual effects supervisor)

- Orochi the Eight Headed Dragon (Japanese Theme Park show) (producer/director)

- Telepathy (1987) Cinevox (director) Robert Gordon Edwards Producer [folded in pre production in Germany]

- Slipstream (1989) directed by Steven Lisberger

 

1990s

- Walking Pylons (North Sea Gas commercial)

- Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994) directed by Andrew Morahan

- Dragonheart (1996) directed by Rob Cohen (microlight coordinator)

- Star Truckers (1997) directed by Stuart Gordon (special effects supervisor)

- Dream Street (TV series 52 episodes, 1998/9) (director)

 

2000s

- Dream Street (TV series, 2000)

- Biggles Flies North (pre production into 2001)
 

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