Chris Watts

A 20+ year industry veteran, Watts invented the process now referred to as "Digital Intermediate" with "Pleasantville." Later, he pioneered the use of digital still cameras as a high resolution replacement for film cameras on "Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride." On the Academy Award-winning Gravity, Watts was part of the team that designed the zero-g shooting methodology that allowed the actors to deliver their performances in impossible situations in shots of unprecedented duration. Famous for doing the impossible, on a budget. He has worked in visual effects since the early 1990s. He served as visual effects supervisor on the films "Street Kings", "Case 39", and "Where the Wild Things Are" and in 2007 made visual effects history with Zack Snyder's "300". Watts also helmed vfx for the the remake of John Carpenter's classic horror film "The Fog," and was a consultant to Tim Burton's stop-motion animated feature "Corpse Bride." Watts' other credits as visual effects supervisor include Joe Dante's "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" and Andrew Niccol's "Gattaca." He has also worked on such films as Alfonso Cuaron's "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," Roland Emmerich's "The Day After Tomorrow," the animated feature "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," Kevin Reynolds's "Waterworld," and "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," for director Kenneth Branagh. His first movie job was for the 1985 film "Five Corners", directed by Tony Bill. In 2004, Watts won a Visual Effects Society Award for his work on Joseph Kahn's music video for Britney Spears' hit song "Toxic." He was nominated in 2001 for an MTV Music Video Award for U2's "Elevation, and was also nominated by the VES for the "best single shot of the year" for the "crazy horse" shot in 300. Watts, along with Derek Wentworth, Grant Freckelton, and Daniel Leduc, won the 2008 Satellite Award for best Visual Effects for "300" He was also nominated for a Saturn Award and a VES award for his work on "300". In 2012, Watts was VFX supervisor, music licensing administrator and a financial backer of Joseph Kahn's cult hit "Detention." In 2014, Watts and Kahn collaborated on Kahn's highly anticipated Power Rangers (and completely unauthorized) de-boot. Between feature films, Watts supervises visual effects for commercials, music videos, and other venues. He has contributed to videos by U2, Eminem, Britney Spears, Aerosmith and many others. Watts can run a set in English and French, and once had a working knowledge of written and spoken Hangul (Korean). Watts is an accomplished photographer, and is a represented in this capacity by IATSE Local 600. He especially enjoys photographing live music events and has covered shows around the world, including the Coachella Valley Music Festival, and has photographed artists ranging from underground Los Angeles acts to international stars. Chris Watts currently resides in Los Angeles and has never lived in Colorado.