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= Jeffrey A. Okun (VES) = Jeffrey (Jeff) A. Okun (born February 8, 1953) is an American visual effects artist, supervisor, producer, VFX advocate  and the Chair of the Visual Effects Society. He is best known for creating “organic-looking" visual effects such as the “ka-thudge” and other portal effects in Stargate (1994). He is also known for his proficiency with ‘invisible’ effects. Okun co-edited two books on VFX.

Early Life
Okun was born in Hollywood Hills California. He attended United States International University and studied International Marketing and Management, as well as California State University at Northridge.

Early Career
Jeffrey Okun started as a “go-fer” for Saul Bass. As Bass was editing the NBC 50th anniversary show, he allowed Okun to learn editing by cutting a sequence that had been removed from the program. When the sequence was required again, Okun begged Bass to look at his version before re-cutting the sequence from scratch. Bass approved of Okun’s cut, and Okun was promoted to editor.

Okun developed a large array of filmmaking skills and was given the role of optical effects consultant. In 1983, Okun was offered a position on The Last Starfighter.

Jeff Okun’s credits including editing and visual effects work on music videos artists as Sting, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Janet Jackson, Wayne Newton, Bryan Adams, Amy Grant, Dolly Parton, Prince, Michael Jackson, the Neville Brothers and Rod Stewart, among others.

Visual Effects Career
Jeffrey Okun created the "Periwinkle Effect," a VFX technique that allows for underwater blue screens. Okun is also known for creating the "Pencil Effect," a method of predicting a project's the final visual effects count and budget.

Jeff Okun has stated that he likes to hide penguins in his work. "“...we started sticking penguins everywhere because I thought they were funnier. If you look at The Last Samurai, there is a sequence over the Japanese army looking at the Samurais, every one of those Samurais is a penguin. In Blood Diamond, there is a mass exodus, if you look in the bottom right corner, there is a family of penguins. And nobody sees these things! We do it for two reasons. One, I love the optical illusion. I love being able to put something plain and obvious. And I think it’s fun!”"Jeffrey Okun is the inspiration for the character Dr. Brackish Okun in the Roland Emmerich film Independence Day. Emmerich and Okun had previously worked together on Stargate.

Visual Effects Society (VES)
Okun is the creator and founding chair of the VES Awards Committee and Program (2003-2009). He’s also served as Past Chair, First Vice Chair,  and has been a co-chair and served as a member of several VES committees including Strategic Plan Committee, Leadership Initiative Committee, Town Hall Committee, Production Summit Committee, Handbook Committee, Film Festival Committee, Technology Committee, Business Labor and Law Committees. He currently serves as the VES Treasurer.

Authorship
Okun has co-edited two books on visual effects with S. Zwereman, The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures in 2020, and The VES Handbook of Virtual Production in 2023. Both are designed to be accessible, informative guides to the VFX process.