Name Jan Nickman | Role Film director | |
Movies Echoes of Creation, Infinity's Child, The Mind's Eye: A Computer, Sacred Earth, Planetary Traveler Similar People Paul Speer, David Lanz, Chris Wedge, Tom Kane | ||
Nature Immersion Experience - Echoes of Creation - Embrace Everything
Jan Nickman (born October 17, 1950) is a multiple award-winning American film and television director, producer, cinematographer and writer. As the co-founder of Miramar Images, Inc. and Sacred Earth Pictures, Nickman's career in film and television spans three decades.
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Career
Nickman's career in film and television began as a studio camera person and editor with the ABC in Sydney, Australia. Upon returning to the U.S. and graduating with a degree in communications from Washington State University, Nickman then produced and created stage and lighting designs for leading-edge, live multi-media concerts combining rock bands with symphony orchestras along with his filmed images projected onto large screens above the performers. Most notably, "Leviticus" and "Trinity" performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. After directing and producing live productions, Nickman returned to television as a news photographer with NBC affiliate KING T.V. out of Seattle, Washington. He eventually became a senior producer and director in the production department and produced and directed the Emmy Award-winning television program REV, an innovative rock and roll series featuring live music performances, music reviews and comedy sketches. The program was responsible for debuting many musical groups including Queensrÿche and is commonly credited for catalyzing the Seattle music scene in the 1990s.
Nickman went on to co-found Miramar Images with the release of Natural States (1985) featuring the music of David Lanz and Paul Speer. The film was one of the largest selling, non-theatrical releases of its time and recognized as one of the top 10 videos by People Magazine. Natural States went double platinum, selling more than 100,000 copies, and launched the success of Miramar Images. Miramar then released two more of Nickman's films, Desert Vision, and Canyon Dreams and earned Tangerine Dream a Grammy nomination for their music score.
In 1990, Nickman directed and co-produced The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey, the first of the The Mind's Eye series, a collection of art films rendered using computer-generated imagery. His body of work, which also includes Planetary Traveler and "Infinity's Child" has firmly established him as a computer-generated imagery (CGI) pioneer and a master of long-form films that use music as the primary narrative.
Nickman's film The Mind's Eye was a double platinum-selling film considered to be a milestone in the field of computer animation and reached number 12 on Billboard′s video hits chart. Combining the artistry of numerous computer animators from around the world with a score by James Reynolds, The Mind's Eye is credited with giving rise to such films as Toy Story. Animation Magazine reviewer Karl Rathcke wrote the film was "... the type of audio-visual ‘head trip’ for the 90’s that Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was for the 60’s.”
In 1995 Nickman's feature film "Third Stone from the Sun" was released. The film received the Gold Special Jury Award (top honors) at the Houston International Film Festival and also screened at the first International Enviornmental Film Festival in Boulder, CO and the Seattle International Film Festival .
Donald Liebenson of the Chicago Tribune described Nickman's next release, Planetary Traveler, as "boldly [going] where no computer animation video has gone before." At a time when computer animation (CGI) was created solely on dedicated computer graphics work stations, Planetary Traveler became the first original, full-length program ever created entirely on standard desk-top computers. The seminal work was the result of a two-year collaboration by Nickman with seven artists from five different states via the internet. Former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger composed the music score. As a result, Nickman was invited to give the Keynote Address at the MacWorld Conference in Düsseldorf, Germany, in November 1997. The sequel to Planetary Traveler is entitled Infinity's Child and was released by Sacred Earth Pictures in 2009.
Two of Nickman's most recent films, Echoes of Creation and Sacred Earth began airing on Public Television nationwide in 2015. Both films are true to his signature fusing of picture to music and were specifically designed as a way for viewers to connect emotionally with the beauty of our planet, rather than intellectualize it through a discussion about it. Using music as the narrative, Echoes of Creation is a 40-minute journey through Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and as far south as California, featuring a soundtrack by Grammy nominated composer David Arkenstone and spoken word by Karen Hutton. Its prequel Sacred Earth also follows Nickman's unique fusion of picture to music throughout the American Southwest, featuring music by Grammy-nominated composer David Lanz and spoken word by Academy Award-winning actor Linda Hunt and in the finale features a dance performance by Caroline Richardson, former First Soloist with the National Ballet of Canada .