Jeff Olm

For more than 35 years, Jeff Olm has worked at the cutting edge of editorial, color, visual effects, and virtual and augmented reality. He has helped create Academy Award–nominated and award-winning films — among them Titanic, The Fifth Element, Minority Report, Armageddon, Mighty Joe Young, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Avengers, Terminator, and The Revenant.

He has held supervisory roles at DreamWorks, Disney, Sony Imageworks, Warner Bros., Universal, and New Line, and worked across the creative, production, and post-production teams for Disney, Paul McCartney, the NFL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball. At Autodesk, he was part of the Flame, Smoke, and Lustre product launches.

In recent years his focus has turned to cinematic virtual reality — directing Warbird Veterans and Fireworks in Virtual Reality — alongside research into VR/AR user interfaces and immersive retail experiences. He has toured more than 25 universities across China, lecturing on shooting and post-production for virtual and augmented reality.

Jeff co-authored chapters of the Visual Effects Society Handbook, and serves as Co-Chair of the VR/AR Association's Stories Committee and a member of its Education and Training committees. As a producer and director he is developing the feature Golf Gods and the documentary Farm State, and has colored the independent films I Dream of Psychopomp, 18Khz, and Mags and Julie Go on a Road Trip.

Between projects, you'll find him on his Wisconsin farm caring for the animals, mentoring up-and-coming filmmakers, directing and editing his own work — and playing with his grandbaby.