Visiting Artists | CalArts Animation: The Early Years
This lecture series is open to CalArts students, faculty, staff, and alumni only. If you are interested in attending and would like a list of the films available for viewing before the class meetings please email Michael Scroggins via aka@calarts.edu to request access to the videos (some are password protected).
Jerry Rees is a prolific director, producer, and writer of live-action, animation, trans-media, and specialty venue films as well as theme park attractions.
While still in high school, Jerry mentored at Disney Studios under the wing of one of Walt Disney’s legendary “Nine Old Men.” Awarded a Disney Scholarship, he attended California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) as teacher’s assistant for the now famous inaugural class, featured in Vanity Fair.
Jerry began his career as a Disney feature animator, working up to visual effects supervisor on TRON. He is credited with introducing John Lasseter to computer animation.
As a director, Jerry’s theatrical credits include The Marrying Man and The Brave Little Toaster.
Jerry has directed a record-setting 16 trans-media Disney Theme Park attractions in Anaheim, Calif; Orlando, Fla., Hong Kong; and Paris. His projects span multiple formats, such as Showscan, Hi-Res Digital and in-theater illusions, and include the attraction CinéMagique which won with a THEA Award for Best Attraction. His recent attraction, Animation Magic, which plays aboard Disney's new cruise ships, won a THEA Award for "most innovative use of technology."
As a producer, his credits include the Warner Bros. animated feature film Space Jam starring Michael Jordan, and the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, shown in the 2400-seat amphitheater at Disney’s MGM Studios. As a writer, Jerry’s credits include the beloved The Brave Little Toaster and MGM/Zanuck’s Betty Boop.
Jerry directed the first official Augmented Reality US Postage Stamp in association with Smithsonian.
In 2014, he directed all narrative media for The Marvel Experience, a continuously traveling next-gen themed attraction covering two acres and housing stereoscopic 3D, 4D, motion-based, and interactive content inside seven colossal domes.
An animator, sculptor, and fine-artist dedicated to the use of digital technology in the service of emotion, character, and storytelling, Jerry resides in Los Angeles and is a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
He is currently serving at WDI as a PH Executive Research & Development Imagineer.
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