Tom Smith and friends, from 'Looking at
Mammals' (photo by Isidore
Mankofsky)
Tom Smith supplied us with the following filmography, written in his own
inimitable, witty prose. At the end of his filmography, we've
included a letter he wrote to AFA director Geoff Alexander, telling
about his first films...
Tom writes:
"I have a major credit in at least four times as many films
as I list below but these are the ones I consider to be the best and most
significant. It is written in the third person which I find strange but that's
what I did."
THOMAS G. SMITH - Producer/Director/Writer
After graduating from Northwestern University (1960,) Smith studied film in
Paris under a Fulbright Scholarship at the Institute of Higher Studies in Film (IDHEC).
In 1965, following three-years in the U.S. Air Force, Smith joined
Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation as a writer/director. In the
next 12 years he made more than 60 films. He also made nearly 20 films for other
educational and television distributors including PBS, BFA,
and Churchill Films.
One of Smith's last films for EBEC was SOLAR SYSTEM (1977). Through the use of
visual effects, the film takes the viewer on a ride through space. When George
Lucas saw this film in 1979, he hired Smith to run his visual effects
facility, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM.) From 1980 to 1986, Smith oversaw
the visual effects for many block buster features including: RAIDERS OF THE LOST
ARK (1981), E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982), POLTERGEIST (1982), STAR TREKs 2
and 3 (1982/83), RETURN OF THE JEDI (STAR WARS) (1983), INDIANA JONES AND
THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984) and many others. He also wrote the best selling
visual effects book "INDUSTRIAL LIGHT AND MAGIC - The Art of Special
Effects," now in its twelfth printing. (Ballatine)
In 1986 Smith began producing movies of the week for George Lucas. He produced two EWOK
ADVENTURES for Lucas films and ABC (1986/87) both were nominated for Emmys. In
1988 he joined Walt Disney Studios and was the Executive Producer of HONEY, I
SHRUNK THE KIDS (1989) He won a British Academy Award for his visual effects
work on this film. He went on to produce several 3-D theme park attractions for
Disney. He produced and consulted on the visual effects for many Disney films up
to 1992. Since then Smith has sold a feature film script and produced a feature
film of his own THE ARRIVAL (1996). In 2001, he completed a two-film miniseries
for the Jim Henson company. It will premier this fall (2001) on CBS.
Smith has been a member of the Directors Guild of America for more than a decade
and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 20 years.
- Tom Smith
Here are some of Tom's most significant works as producer/director on short films:
For Encyclopaedia Britannica Films:
Life Story of the Ladybird Beetle (1965)
The Fish In A Changing Environment (1965)
Farm Family Series - Four Films: Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter (1965/66)
Discovering The Forest (1966)
Food from the Sun (1966)
Kentucky Pioneer (1967)
Looking at Mammals
(1967)
Midwest - Heartland Of A Nation (1968)
Lemonade Stand (1970)
Noise - Polluting The Environment (1971)
Introduction To Holography (1971)
Investigating Hibernation: the Golden: the Mantled Ground Squirrel
(1972)
Newspaper Story (1972)
Venereal Disease- The Hidden Epidemic (1973)
The American Indian Speaks (1974)
Learning About Heat (1974)
Pandas: a Gift from China (1974)
Learning About Light (1975)
Learning About Nuclear Energy (1975)
Reflections - A Japanese Folktale (1976)
Golden Lizard: A Folktale from Mexico (1977)
The Solar System (1977)
For BFA (CBS educational division):
Spoon River Anthology (1976)
For PBS:
The Growing Years (1977/78)- a series of half hour films on child
development. I directed five of them.
For Churchill Films:
The Energy Series (1978/80) - a series of 20 minute films dealing
with our energy crisis. I directed three of them.
Ralph S. Mouse (1990) An ABC prime time children's broadcast
(nominated for Emmy as director of a prime time children's show).
Letter from Tom Smith to AFA director Geoff Alexander, discussing his
early days at EB Films (July 12, 2006)
Hi Geoff,
“Food From the Sun” (1965) was my second film at EBF, the first one where I shot
the footage. I was 26-years-old at the time. My first film was “Life Cycle of
the Ladybird Beetle” for which we used a lot of footage shot in Japan and
Izzy shot some more footage for me in California
but I wasn’t even there when he did it and only dealt with him by phone. But
“Food” was written and shot by me. At the same time I was finishing a personal
experimental stop motion film “Chess” which I had begun while in the Air Force.
For the “Chess” movie, I got a bunch of Chicago musicians together and had them
improvise as they saw the film projected. I rented a piano which they “prepared”
wedging paper, foil and stuff between the strings. At one point the pianist
bounced a ball over the strings. As I recall, there were about six musicians. We
did several takes. It worked so well I used this same group for the EBF “Food”
film. I’m sorry I don’t remember their names, this was 40 years ago, they got no
film credit nor did we ever work together again. It was all done in a few hours
one evening in the empty film studio.
I was hired by Milan Herzog to be a writer.
Until I made “Food” no one considered me as a director/writer. Since everyone
was busy making other films, when I finished the script, I just started making
it on my own. Milan saw some of the dailies and said he’d keep providing film
and processing and I could go on so long as I didn’t hire a crew. I recall that
Bert Van Bork wouldn’t let me use a company
16mm Arriflex. He doubted I could handle it. He had no authority to stop me
‘cause he wasn’t my boss but as you know he has a large presence so when he
commanded me (in his German accent) to keep my hands off the camera, I left it
alone. I never knew if he was protecting the equipment or trying to keep down
the competition. So I bought a used 16mm reflex Bolex and shot the film with
that camera using 100 foot rolls. (More on that camera below.) The finished film
was a surprise to management some hated the music but Charles Benton
particularly enjoyed it. After that movie, I was considered a producer/director
and the company provided me with an Arri to use and even a cameraman and crew
when I needed one. No one announced that I was a “producer/director” but I told
Sis Johnson, the office manager, to put “producer” on my company business cards
and she did it without asking anyone if that was really my job title. I suppose
they didn’t want to make it official for fear that I’d ask for a pay raise from
my $130 a week. I didn’t ask for more money, I was just happy anyone would pay
me to make movies.
So that’s the story behind “Food from the Sun,” my first original film at EBF. I
kept that Bolex and later, even when I shot with an Arri or Éclair camera, I
always had the old Bolex as a back-up and used it sometimes for quick grab-shots
or as insurance in case the electric camera malfunctioned. When I joined Lucas
in 1980, I still had the camera but hadn’t used it for years and saw no use for
it now that I was running ILM. I put a notice on the ILM bulletin board
describing the camera and offering it for sale. It was all packed in a nice
silver case and I think I was asking $650 for it with its three lenses. Steven
Spielberg was making “Raiders of the Lost Arc” and came frequently to ILM to see
our visual effects work for this film. He saw the ad and asked to see my camera.
I showed it to him and it almost brought tears to his eyes. He held it like it
was some kind of rare treasure and said this was exactly like his first camera,
which he had since gotten rid of. He turned to his assistant and told her to
write me a check. He walked out the door that day with a smile on his face and
my old Bolex. I would not be surprised if decades from now it will be discovered
in his storehouse and declared that it was his first camera.
Cheers, Tom
