It is with great sadness that we must advise that our friend and associate, multi-award winning vfx supervisor, Alan Church, passed away unexpectedly on 23rd December 2024.
Alan, along with his partner Simon and the rest of their vfx team, had just won Royal Television Society and Broadcast Awards for their work on Tattooist of Auschwitz for Sky, of which Alan was immensely and rightly proud. A huge fan of the Bond movies, Alan started out his career as a trainee optical assistant and went on to work alongside the legendary Maurice Binder on various title sequences including the dramatic last traditional gun barrel sequence for “Licence to Kill” which Binder entrusted entirely to Alan. Alan later worked on the rear projection shots with Roy Moores on “Golden Eye” He was regularly asked, in recent years, to speak at Bond events all over the world, where he fascinated audiences with stories of how he and his colleagues created incredible effects often with the most prosaic of props like a paddling pool from Argos and a watering can to create ripples.
Alan’s dedication to the detail of his craft was second to none. He was determined to deliver beautiful, accurate and realistic shots and was valued by producers for his ability to do this within budget! His experience and knowledge of film was also second to none. He told the most amazing and entertaining stories, always with humility, a twinkle in his eye and a wonderful sense of humour.
Over the last 30 years Alan along with his partner Simon, has helped Spotlite and many productions to manage claims involving vfx. They have ensured the work was performed to the highest standards and in the most cost-efficient way for all concerned. We at Spotlite will miss Alan’s advice and professionalism enormously, but count ourselves fortunate that Alan’s partner, Simon Giles, also an award winning vfx supervisor, continues to work with us on our vfx claims.”
