Filming 'Close-up on the Planets' for Disney (1982)

Charles L "Chuck" Finance’s career spans more than 40 years in film. Chuck was born in Klagenfurt, Austria, but grew up in Switzerland, where his father was a well-known chef. His family emigrated to the US in 1952. Chuck studied film at USC’s famed Department of Cinema, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1957. Following a two-year stint in the Army Signal Corps as a still and motion picture photographer he returned to USC to complete his work for a Master’s degree in Cinema. Chuck’s first films were made in 1961-1963 when he was brought on board as associate producer on a series of films for the Chemical Education Materials Study, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

In 1963 he was accepted for a staff position at the West Coast Film Unit of Encyclopaedia Britannica Films and became engaged in producing and directing a number of films in the legendary AGI (American Geological Institute) series, working alongside series advisor John Shelton and cameraman Isidore Mankofsky. After the AGI series, he began making films for EB’s Biology and Physiology series.

When EB decided to close its West Coast Film Unit, Chuck continued working as an independent producer/director, and for the next ten years made films for EB, the National Science Foundation, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Churchill Films, BFA, Stanton Films, and others. He also wrote scripts, production managed, and directed non-theatrical films for other clients.

Chuck’s academic films are engaging and, in the case of his films on the human body (‘Work of the Heart’, 1967), are often wonderfully inventive treatments involving endoscopes and other medical devices. The high quality of his films has earned him more than 20 awards at film festivals in the U.S. and abroad. 

Filmography

A partial list of his work as director/producer includes:

Rocks that Form on the Earth’s Surface (1964)
Evidence for the Ice Age (1965)
Waves on Water (1965)
Rocks that Originate Underground (1966)
Why Plants Bend Toward Light (1966)
Work of the Heart (1967)
Eyes and Seeing (1968)
How Solid Is Rock? (1968)
Respiration in Man (1968) (as producer)
Ears and Hearing (2^nd ed., 1969) as producer
Muscle: Dynamics of Contraction (1969)
Muscle: Electrical Activity of Contraction (1969)

Controversy over the Moon (1970)
Nerve Impulse (1970)
Controversy over Industrial Pollution (1972)
Regulating Body Temperature (1972)
Work of the Kidneys (2^nd ed., 1972) as producer
Energy: A Matter of Choices (1973)
Lungs and the Respiratory System (1975)
The Moon: A Giant Step in Geology (1975)
Skeleton (1979)

Major Goals in Gastrointestinal Emergency Care (ca.1980)
Recognition of Orthopedic Emergencies (ca.1980)
The above two titles never appeared in a general-interest EB catalogue.  About them, Chuck writes:  "The emergency nursing film(s) (were) made for EB around 1980 or so for a separate training program the company produced on the general topic of Emergency Nursing...  EB must have made a good dozen or more of these emergency nursing films, all of which (I believe) were produced by freelancers such as myself."

For BFA:

Elections in the United States (1976)
Political Parties in the United States (1976)

Energy: The Dilemma (1980)
Energy: The Nuclear Alternative (1980)

'Solar System' series (5 films, including 'Earth,' 'Moon,' 'Sun,' 'Inner Planets,' and 'Outer Planets', all 1983)

Close-up on the Planets (1982)
Comets: Time Capsules of the Solar System (1982)

For Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

I Will See Such Things (unidentified date)
Ulysses – Voyage to the Sun (unidentified date)
Voyager at Uranus (1986)

In 1983, Chuck’s colleague from their Britannica days, Tom Smith, introduced him to the producer of David Lynch’s film "Dune," who promptly hired him as the film’s visual effects coordinator. It proved to be a major turning point in Chuck’s professional life: since then, he has worked primarily as a Visual Effects Producer in feature films. In 1986, he co-founded a full-service visual effects facility, where he oversaw production of titles, opticals, and visual effects for numerous feature films, including "Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure," "Leviathan," and "Mom and Dad Save the World." Since 1994, he has worked as a freelance visual effects producer. Among his credits are "The Arrival," "George of the Jungle," and "Dungeons and Dragons." Chuck is now retired from active visual effects production, but he continues to teach at visual effects seminars and plays an active role on the Awards Committee of the Visual Effects Society.

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