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David Sosalla (born August 1950; age 73) is a visual effects artist specialized on model work and sculpting.

As a former part of the Apogee, Inc. staff, he worked on effects, props, and miniatures as model maker and model sculptor on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Among his creations are shapes for the K't'inga class model on which he worked with Bruno George, the heads for the thruster suit models, and mini figures of Montgomery Scott and James T. Kirk used for the Travel pod model. He then worked as model sculptor for Industrial Light & Magic along with Kirk Thatcher on the Ceti eel ear prop seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan though uncredited.

Several years later, Sosalla worked as Creature Supervisor for ILM on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He worked on the creation of the Klingon monster dog while Ken Ralston puppeteered it and created with Tom St. Armand the Kruge puppet.

His last contribution to the Star Trek franchise was in 1998 when he worked as Visual Effects Supervisor for the company POP Film and POP Animation on Star Trek: Insurrection.

Career[]

Sosalla attended the University of Colorado where he majored in Fine Arts and Art History. In 1975, he worked as a designer of community art, when he was awarded a commission of five large sculptures by the City of Boulder, located in city's downtown Boulder Walk. [1]

Early in his career while working for Apogee, Inc., Sosalla created models and miniatures for Battlestar Galactica (1978, working with Richard Alexander, David Beasley, David Berry, Mark Cane, Angela Diamos, Don Dow, Patricia Rose Duignan, Richard Edlund, John Erland, Steve Gawley, Rick Gilligan, Denny Kelley, Peter Kuran, David McCue, Grant McCune, Ralph McQuarrie, Alvah J. Miller, Harry Moreau, Max Morgan, Bruce Nicholson, Lorne Peterson, David Scott, Jonathan Seay, Robert Shepherd, John Shourt, Bill Shourt, Douglas James Smith, Michael Sweeney, Ken Swenson, Don Trumbull, Dennis Dorney, and John C. Moulds), Avalanche Express (1979, working with David Beasley, John Dykstra, John Erland, Bruce Logan, David Scott, Robert Shepherd, and Grant McCune), Firefox (1982, with Richard Alexander, David Bartholomew, David Beasley, Mat Beck, Cosmos Bolger, Mark Cane, Angela Diamos, Dennis Dorney, Roger Dorney, John Dykstra, John Erland, Bruno George, Pete Gerard, Rick Gilligan, Richie Helmer, Paul Johnson, Ann M. Johnston, Michael Joyce, Denny Kelley, Bruce Logan, Pat McClung, Grant McCune, Dennis Michelson, Mike Middleton, Alvah J. Miller, Harry Moreau, David B. Nowell, Jerry Pooler, Gary Rhodaback, Steve Sass, Gregory J. Schmidt, David Scott, Robert Shepherd, Bill Shourt, Douglas James Smith, John Sullivan, Michael Sweeney, Ken Swenson, Don Trumbull, Gregory Jein, Robert Short, and Denise Shurtleff), Spaceballs (1987, with John Eaves, Grant McCune, Tom Pahk, Debbi Nikkel, Christopher S. Ross, and Ron Thornton), and The Unholy (1988).

Sosalla worked for Industrial Light & Magic as model maker and supervisor on Poltergeist (1982), Return of the Jedi (1983), Gremlins (1984, starring Zach Galligan and Dick Miller), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Cocoon (1985), Explorers (1985), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), and Howard the Duck (1986).

He worked as model department supervisor for USFX on Top Gun (1986), as visual effects coordinator on The Twilight Zone (1986), as mechanic for Chiodo Brothers Productions, Inc. on Critters 2 (1988, starring Scott Grimes), and as miniatures supervisor on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) which earned him a Saturn Award nomination in the category Best Special Effects in 1991. He also worked as special effects supervisor on Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992).

Further credits as visual effects supervisor/ digital effects supervisor for the company Pacific Title/Mirage Digital include Arachnophobia (1990), Look Who's Talking Now (1993), The Puppet Masters (1994, with Roland Blancaflor, Greg Cannom, Kevin Pike, Larry Odien, and Keith VanderLaan), Outbreak (1995), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Batman Forever (1995), Heat (1995), Black Sheep (1996), Broken Arrow (1996), Stuart Baird's Executive Decision (1996), Eraser (1996), Turbulence (1997), The Peacemaker (1997), Switchback (1997), U.S. Marshals (1998), My Giant (1998), Deep Impact (1998), Dr. Dolittle (1998), and Baby Geniuses (1999).

For POP Film and POP Animation, Sosalla worked as digital effects supervisor on Mystery Men (1999), Three Kings (1999, with Tommy Tancharoen), The Green Mile (1999), Ready to Rumble (2000), U-571 (2000), X-Men (2000, starring Patrick Stewart and Famke Janssen), Little Nicky (2000), and Bounce (2000). For the company R!ot, he worked as visual effects supervisor on Rollerball (2002), The Salton Sea (2002), and Equilibrium (2002).

Between 2002 and 2009, Sosalla worked as visual effects supervisor for the company Pacific Title on a number of projects including Blade II (2002), Men in Black II (2002), X2 (2003), and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Murder by Numbers (2002), The Ring (2002), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Something's Gotta Give (2003, with Scott Rader, Brian Fisher, Don Greenberg, and Brad Kalinoski), The Girl Next Door (2004), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), Catwoman (2004), Collateral (2004), Son of the Mask (2005), The Interpreter (2005), Stealth (2005), The Weather Man (2005), Æon Flux (2005), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006, directed by Justin Lin), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Shooter (2007), Next (2007), Mr. Brooks (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), Eagle Eye (2008), Fast & Furious (2009), and Case 39 (2009).

By 2010, he retired from the motion picture business to Tehachapi, California, where he focus on his personal interests of oil painting, etching, and producing remarkable Etch-A-Sketch work. [2]

External link[]

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