Camera Effects

Camera Effects was a film opticals (post-production and visual effects) studio based in Soho, London, from 1964 till its closure in 1987. It had a world wide reputation for producing film special effects and titles for television commercial and feature film projects. The company produced title sequences for major features such as The Three Musketeers, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tommy, the Superman films and Supergirl.

The company was started by Roy Pace using an animation rostrum camera in a basement at 2 Bourchier Street in 1964. It moved premises to 6 Dean Street, then to 147 Wardour Street before finally settling at 8-11 Bateman Street as the biggest optical house in Soho with six camera rooms, an optical printer and two film studios.

Film opticals were created using Oxberry aerial image cameras, with "many animation techniques used in the process." The combination of an animation stand with a 35mm projector enabled the fast turnaround of film opticals and was a system popular with designers demanding precise title layouts by rotoscoping directly from the animation stand.

Referring to her own experience at the company, Janet Yale said "This was before computer graphics and all film effects work was done with chemicals, rostrum cameras and optical printers. It was basically a craft skill, there was no formal training for it."

As demand grew in the Spanish and Turkish commercials sectors, Camera Effects set up a production office in Barcelona and an independent aerial image camera unit in Istanbul, with cameramen from London doing 'tour of duties' on a rotation basis.