Tippett's sophisticated knowledge of filmmaking and powerful ability to visualize a sequence of events through dynamic movement has earned him two Oscar wins out of six nominations, as well as two Emmys. He is the artist who breathes life into animated characters, giving each one so much individual personality through movement and gesture that the audience accepts it completely. "He's an artist who can come to the center of a character." said Dennis Muren, who worked with Tippett on JURASSIC PARK. "And he's got experience that hardly anybody else has in bringing creatures to life".
Tippett's career has spanned over 20 years and has successfully transitioned from his beginnings as a hands-on stop-motion animator to the creative head of a full service digital facility with 150+ employees.
At the age of seven, he saw Ray Harryhausen's special effects classic, THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, and his life's direction was set. He completed a Bachelor's degree in Art at the University of California, Irvine, and went to work at the animation studio Cascade Pictures in Los Angeles.
In 1978, he headed the ILM animation department with Jon Berg for the THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Tippett animated the sinister Imperial Walkers and the hybrid alien creature called the Tauntaun. In 1982 Tippett co-developed the animation technique called Go-Motion for DRAGONSLAYER, and received his first Academy Award nomination for the extraordinarily realistic animation of the dragon. By 1983 Tippett was head of the famed Lucasfilm creature shop for RETURN OF THE JEDI. He was awarded his first Oscar, for JEDI in 1984.
In 1983 Tippett Studio was born when Tippett left ILM and set up a studio in his garage to create a 10-minute experimental film called "Prehistoric Beast." The realism of the dinosaurs it depicted and the film's reflection of contemporary scientific theory led to the 1985 CBS animated documentary "Dinosaur!" Tippett Studio won its first award, an Emmy for Special Visual Effects, for the animated dinosaur sequences for the CBS show.
In 1985 producer Jon Davison hired Tippett to create the animated robot sequences for ROBOCOP. Craig Hayes was simultaneously hired to design and build the ED209 robot. This project became the start of a long and successful collaboration between Tippett and Hayes.
In 1991, because of Tippett's background and understanding of dinosaur movement and behavior, Steven Spielberg selected him to supervise animation on 50 dinosaur shots for JURASSIC PARK. As animation director for the film, Tippett supervised both the Tippett Studio and the ILM animators. The resulting realistic portraits of dinosaurs that breathe, flex, twitch and react, earned him a second Oscar. JURASSIC PARK resulted in the development by Tippett Studio's Craig Hayes of the DID (Digital Input Device) which was pivotal in the transition from stop-motion to computer generated animation has in brining creatures to life.
In 1995, Tippett Studio was hired to create the giant, hostile alien arachnids in Paul Verhoeven's adaptation of Robert Heinlein's classic science fiction novel Starship Troopers. Tippett marshalled a team of 100 animators, model makers, computer artists and technicians and expanded to a second all-CGI facility. Because of the intensity of his involvement, and his ability to pre-visualize the hoards of teeming arachnids, Verhoeven has credited Phil with co-directing the large-scale battle sequences for STARSHIP TROOPERS. The excellence of the work in this film resulted in Tippett's sixth nomination in 1997 for an Academy Award.
The late 90's were a time of substantial growth at Tippett Studio. Tippett has supervised animation and effects in VIRUS for Universal and MY FAVORITE MARTIAN for Disney. He co-supervised effects with Craig Hayes, on Jan De Bont's, THE HAUNTING, for Dreamworks. Tippett Studio created over 100 complex effects shots that expressed the horrific character of the house and the manifestation of the spirits that live there. Along with continuing to expand Tippett Studio, Tippett is also in developing his own project, "Expedition," at Disney.
Tippett also supervised visual effects for EVOLUTION (2001) and animation for THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES (scheduled for 2008 release).
Nominated for Visual Effects 1981: DRAGONSLAYER (w. Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston & Brian Johnson)
Special Achievement Award 1983: RETURN OF THE JEDI - Visual Effects (w. Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren & Ken Ralston)
Nominated for Achievement in Visual Effects 1988: WILLOW (w. Dennis Muren, Michael McAlister & Chris Evans)
Best Achievement in Visual Effects 1993: JURASSIC PARK (w. Dennis Muren, Stan Winston & Michael Lantieri)
Nominated for Achievement in Visual Effects 1996: DRAGONHEART (w. Scott Squires, James Straus & Kit West)
Nominated for Achievement in Visual Effects 1997: STARSHIP TROOPERS (w. Scott E. Anderson, Alec Gillis & John Richardson)
5 nominations, 1 Award, 1 Special Achievement Award