Ronnie Wass(1925-2010)
- Visual Effects
- Additional Crew
Ronnie worked as a rostrum and aerial image cameraman from about 1939
until 1988 in London. He spent almost the whole of his career with
Studio Film Labs before setting up his own special optical effects
company, Aerial Image Opticals, in 1983. He was one of the most
respected optical effect technicians in the UK, working on hundreds of
films and thousands of TV commercials through his career. Notably he
did the rostrum camera work for the first ever advert shown on UK
commercial television, the Gibbs SR toothpaste set in the block of ice.
He carried out the principal optical effects work on the famous Dam
Busters (1955) film which was nominated for the Visual and Special
Effects Academy Awards Oscar in 1956. Ronnie was a particularly
inventive optical technician, often using unconventional means to
produce desired effects. He was instrumental in developing the aerial
image camera to shoot the title sequence for the film Summer Holiday
(1963). He worked with his son (Nick Wass) for the final few years
(1983-88) in the industry. This period proved to be his most creative,
particularly in co-operation with Charlie Jenkins, animator and
producer.