Film Forum

Micheal Curtiz and William Keighley’s THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, will have a special screening at Film Forum on Saturday, May 20 at 4:40pm, co-presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. General admission tickets are $20, $14 for Film Forum and Academy members.

Before the movie, Oscar®-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Oscar®-winning sound designer Ben Burtt (Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.), whose careers were inspired by classic Hollywood movies, will de-construct the extraordinary artistry behind Robin Hood, with a special emphasis on matte painting and sound effects – including a re-creation of the archery tests that went into finding just that right “zing” sound.

Ben Burtt has more than 30 years of experience as a writer, director, film editor, sound designer and sound mixer. His work includes feature films, documentaries, network television movie specials, and educational specialty films.

Burtt received an Oscar for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices featured in Star Wars (1977) and for Sound Effects Editing for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); he won Oscars for Sound Effects Editing for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). He also has earned nominations in the Sound Mixing category for Return of the Jedi (1983) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; in Sound Effects Editing for Return of the Jedi, Willow (1988) and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), and for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing for WALL-E (2008). 

Burtt is the voice of Pixar’s robot, Wall-E, as well as the breathing of Darth Vader.

Also a film scholar, Burtt is a yearly presenter of programs for the Academy of Motion Pictures along with Craig Barron. The two of them have also hosted features on Turner Classic Movies’ broadcasts as well as the TCM Cruise and film festival.

Perhaps the foremost expert on traditional matte painting, visual effects supervisor Craig Barron began his career at George Lucas’ Industrial Light + Magic, where he worked on such classics as The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. His visual effects company, Matte World Digital, has conjured environments for such films as Titanic, Zodiac, Alice in Wonderland, and Hugo. Barron received an Oscar® nomination for his work on Batman Returns, and an Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He is the co-chair of the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Creative Director of Magnopus (short for "Magnum Opus”), a visual research and development company based in downtown Los Angeles. He also played the part of Darth Vader in one shot of Return of the Jedi – when it was found he was the only one tall enough to fit the costume.

Reviews

“Made with sublime innocence and breathtaking artistry, at a time when simple values rang true… Exists in an eternal summer of bravery and romance.”
– Roger Ebert 

Related Films