Sean MacLeod Phillips has created memorable images in virtually every motion picture medium--from national television commercials to IMAX™ 3D, the world's largest movie format. Nearly every week for the last ten years at least one film that he directed, photographed or supervised the visual effects for has been on Variety’s box office chart. He one of the most experienced 3D filmmakers in the world. He just finished directing National Geographic’s “Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure,” now playing world wide in 3D IMAX and RealD Theaters.
He has photographed and directed national and international commercials for General Foods, Ameritech, Washington Mutual, Game Boy, Coors Beer, ASICS Shoes, Acura, and Samsung Electronics, garnering CLIO Recognition Awards as well as five New York Film and Television Awards, A BPA Silver Award, and an ACE Award.
He directed the 3-D narrative film “Ahead of Time” for Sony Pictures ImageWorks, and its sequel, “Time Out. “
Phillips also photographed and directed “Journey to Technopia,” a motion-based adventure film that became the #1 smash hit of the Taijon World Expo. Technopia has won Imagina and Telly Awards, and by popular demand plays permanently at the Expo site.
He directed and photographed the opening King Kong VFX sequence for Ben Burtt’s IMAX™ film “Special Effects,” which received an Academy Award Documentary Short nomination.
He was the Director of Photography of two very successful and ground breaking large format films: “Wild Safari 3D,” the first giant screen 3D wildlife film, as well as “Encounter in the Third Dimension,” which he also Co-Produced.
He supervised the visual effects for Imax's “T. Rex, Back to the Cretaceous” which features photo-real 3D dinosaurs seven stories tall. Critics from The New York Times to Variety agreed that ‘T. Rex’ successfully took “Jurassic Park” quality dinosaurs into 3D with the stunning resolution of the IMAX ™ format.
Sean is also the recipient of the Kodak Vision Award for Large Format Cinematography and an Achievement award from the Visual Effects Society.
He shot “R.L. Stine’s Haunted Lighthouse,” a Busch Entertainment 3D theme park attraction for Gremlins director Joe Dante; Tom Hank’s Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D; and Bugs!, a 3D IMAX™ feature that won the GSCA Award for Best Cinematography. Bugs! is the highest grossing British documentary of all time. He recently shot Coke: The Search for the Secret Formula, a new 4D Attraction, Monster Trucks 4D as well as supervising the visual effects for National Geographic’s “Sea Monsters.”