SCAD alumnus wins Emmy for his work on HBO miniseries “John Adams”

Published: September 23, 2008

SAVANNAH, Ga. -  Alumnus Edwardo Mendez (M.F.A., computer art, 2000) won a Primetime Emmy Sept. 21 for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or Special, for his work on the HBO miniseries "John Adams."  The miniseries chronicled decades from the life of John Adams, second President of the United States. Mendez is compositing supervisor for the series.

"This project was unlike most visual effects shows I have worked on," said Mendez. "These effects were meant to be seamless, and the viewer was to have no idea that the shots were visual-effect shots."

To re-create scenes from John Adams' life, the visual effects team created everything from set extensions, virtual environments and 3-D crowds, to matte paintings and fluid dynamic sea simulations.  For the scene where John Adams is in Boston, Mass., the visual effects team virtually added the third story to the buildings on set, which had only been constructed with the first two stories. Other additions to the set included roofing and extended city environments such as chimney smoke, church steeples, clouds and trees. Mendez was in Savannah to visit friends and speak to SCAD students when he learned of his Emmy nomination.

"I even spoke about 'John Adams' [in the class] and showed a couple of behind-the-scenes shots from episode one," Mendez said.

Mendez attributed much of his success to the classes and professors at SCAD who prepared him for the working environment. "SCAD gave me access to the same tools artists were using in the industry," said Mendez. "Because of my experience I gained while at SCAD, I was able to land a compositing job straight out of school. I have been working ever since."

The "John Adams" series received 23 Emmy Award nominations, the most of any program this year. Winning along with Mendez were Erik Henry, Jeff Goldman and Paul Graff, visual effects supervisors; Steve Kullback, Christina Graff and David Van Dyke, visual effects producers; Robert Stromberg, visual effects designer; and Ken Gorrell, special effects coordinator.

Mendez is the compositing supervisor at Dive in Philadelphia, Pa. His latest project is a screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's book, "The Road."

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