'Skyfall' VFX specialist Steve Begg wins BAFTA for lifetime achievement

Visual effects specialist Steve Begg has been awarded a BAFTA in Scotland for lifetime contribution to the craft, crowning 31 years in the industry which has seen him compile an impressive résumé which includes Batman, James Bond and Robin Hood.

"When I was a kid I wanted to do this kind of thing," said Steve. "I was inspired by programmes like Thunderbirds, and I was lucky enough to meet the producer, Gerry Anderson, who offered me a job at Bray Studios."

The 54-year-old is now responsible for producing some of the most impressive effects on the silver screen, including bad guy Raoul Silva detaching his jaw in Skyfall.

"Shooting a scene like that takes barely a minute but beforehand we spend weeks and weeks using high end computers and CGI (computer generated imagery) to make it look like he's pulling out his jaw and mouth piece. You have got to have a lot of patience. The new technology gives you a lot more freedom. At first I made a lot of mistakes, it was a baptism of fire, but I learnt from that."

Steve, who is currently filming action thriller The Secret Service, was invited to an event at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on Sunday, November 17, but had no idea he would be presented with the BAFTA.

"They invited me to some event but wouldn't say what it was," said the Scot. "I thought it was going to be a film screening. I couldn't believe it. I was completely surprised and utterly shocked."

Discuss this news here...