(written from a Production point of view)
David "Dave" R. Morton (born 1975; age ~49) is a visual effects artist specializing in matte paintings digital models, and has been employed in that capacity by Foundation Imaging and Eden FX during the time those companies were involved with the production of Star Trek live-action shows.
He began his long relationship with Star Trek by working as digital artist, digital effects supervisor, and CGI supervisor on a number of episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. This led to him working as a digital matte painter for the remastered 2001 DVD release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Morton remained in the employment of Foundation Imaging until the closure of that company and moved from then on to Eden FX, working on Star Trek: Enterprise after that. During his tenure on the Star Trek franchise, Morton was four times nominated for an Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, winning twice. While working on Enterprise, Morton was the creator of the original model for the Xindi-Aquatic species.
Aside from his contributions to the live-action franchise, he has contributed on several occasions to the popular Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar series, some of which, reprinted in its 2006 book derivative.
Career outside Star Trek[]
Morton left Eden FX around 2005/2005 and has subsequently worked as a free-lancer either on own accord or in short term service of companies like Eden Films, Hitsquad, Pixomondo, or even his former employer Eden FX. Since then, he has worked as a digital artist on productions like J.J. Abrams' Alias and Lost series, Joss Whedon's Firefly series and Serenity movie, and, more recently, Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica, including its later prequel, Caprica. The latter earned Morton two Visual Effects Society Awards (VES) in 2010 for Battlestar Galactica, shared with Gary Hutzel, among others, as well as one in 2011 for Caprica, shared with Chris Zapara (among others). Likewise it earned him two additional Emmy Award nominations in 2009 for the former, shared with Hutzel, Sean M. Jackson, Kyle Toucher, and Pierre Drolet (among others), as well as one in 2010 for the latter, shared with again Hutzel, Toucher, Drolet, with Doug Drexler thrown in for good measure. Additionally, Morton has earned a VES award for the revised sci-fi television series V on 2010, a VES award nomination for Terra Nova in 2012, and Emmy Award nominations for the television series Surface, Mammoth (both in 2006), Life After People (2008), and Ghost Whisperer (2009).
Emmy Awards[]
Mortin received the following Emmy Award wins and nominations in the category Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series:
- 2001 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "Workforce", shared with Dan Curry, Paul Hill, David Lombardi, John Teska, Ronald B. Moore, Brandon MacDougall, Greg Rainoff, and Chad Zimmerman
- 2002 Emmy Award win for "Broken Bow", shared with Robert Bonchune, Elizabeth Castro, Arthur J. Codron, Dan Curry, Steven Fong, Paul Hill, Ronald B. Moore, and Gregory Rainoff
- 2003 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Crossing", shared with Dan Curry, Armen V. Kevorkian, Paul Hill, Ronald B. Moore, John Teska, Sean M. Scott, and Pierre Drolet
- 2004 Emmy Award win for the episode "Countdown", shared with Dan Curry, Elizabeth Castro, Paul Hill, Gregory Rainoff, Fred Pienkos, Sean M. Scott, Ronald B. Moore, and Chris Zapara
Bibliography[]
- Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars – Co-illustrator