James Ojala (born May 6, 1977) is an American special effects and makeup artist, screenwriter and film director.
Career overview Early years Ojala grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, where he developed an early love of film through horror movies and the works of directors such as Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, George A. Romero and Buddy Giovinazzo. Following his graduation from Duluth Central High School in 1995, Ojala began his career working in public-access television. There, he and his friends created the series My Three Scums, a horror comedy sitcom about a dysfunctional family of mutants and monsters which he described as "sort of an obscene punk rock Munsters on crack". The series ran locally for three years, after which Ojala sent tapes of the show - in a large box filled with inflated helium balloons reading "I LOVE MY THREE SCUMS" - to Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman, who was impressed enough by both the series and its eye-catching promotion to offer Ojala an internship on the feature film Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV. Upon receiving the news, Ojala immediately quit his job as a medical records filing clerk and moved to New York to work on the film.
Early Hollywood career During the production of Citizen Toxie, Ojala stepped into an open spot in the film's makeup effects department, working alongside Tim Considine of special effects company Direct FX. At the film's completion, Considine offered Ojala a full-time assisting position within his company. With Direct FX, Ojala worked on numerous features, commercials and theater, which included manufacturing an entire line of bald caps whose clients included Saturday Night Live and several Broadway productions. Ojala also worked alongside B-movie auteur Larry Fessenden on the 2001 horror film Wendigo and was involved with the Millennium Film Workshop, where he learned how to work with 16mm film under the supervision of underground filmmaker Mike Kuchar.
After the events of September 11, Ojala found it difficult to obtain any type of work in New York, eventually forcing him to seek out career options in California. Only a few days into a week-long visit to Los Angeles, Ojala was hired on the spot as a lab and on-set technician for the visual effects studio Almost Human, Inc., providing various functions including moldmaking, makeup application and puppeteering for film, commercials and television series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. Since leaving Almost Human in 2005, Ojala has worked with several special effects companies including Autonomous FX, Animal Makers, Spectral Motion and Legacy Effects, and has worked on mainstream productions including Hellboy II: The Golden Army, 2012, Where the Wild Things Are, Thor, X-Men: The Last Stand and Pacific Rim.
Current career In 2005, Ojala established his own independent special effects studio and film production company Ojala Productions, specializing in makeup and creature effects for film and television as well as producing in-house projects written and directed by Ojala himself. Among others, Ojala Productions contributed special effects work for films like 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams and the critically acclaimed Deadgirl, television shows including Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and the music videos for Snoop Doggs Malice n Wonderland album. During this time, Ojala wrote and directed the short films The Incredible Torture Trio, which played at the TromaDance Film Festival and was later distributed internationally on a Best of TromaDance DVD compilation, the 48 Hour Film Festival entry Truthus: A Family Holiday and Marvel Zombies: The Movie, a fake trailer based on the Marvel Comics property of the same name. Marvel Zombies: The Movie drew high praise and recognition from online comics communities and eventually went viral, later being featured on the G4 pop culture news series Attack of the Show! where hosts Kevin Pereira and Chris Hardwick called it "one of the most amazing fan movies we've ever seen".
With Monty Broussard, Ojala wrote and directed the 2011 science fiction thriller short Harvest, a proposed pilot for a television or web series. The following year, Ojala was featured in Craig Chenery's book Blood Spatter: A Guide to Cinematic Zombie Violence, Gore and Special Effects and in 2013, he directed the music video for comedy punk band The Radioactive Chicken Heads "Deviled Egg", which was highlighted on horror channel Fearnet as their "Music Video of the Week". In 2016, Ojala provided make-up effects for popular indie pop band Lucius music video "Gone Insane"; the video received notable mainstream recognition, with Rolling Stone describing the effects "strange [and] striking" and the Village Voice calling them "exceptional".
Beginning in 2017, Ojala has served as co-producer for the Shudder original talk show The Core, in which he also appears as a regular on-screen guest detailing the secrets and artistry behind practical special effects.
In October 2018, after four years in production, Ojala released his first feature film as a writer-director, Strange Nature.
After producing and directing several music videos, Ojala, shot, edited and directed "The Last Time." It is the first official music video for legendary punk band, Fear (band) and stars original singer/songwriter Lee Ving and original drummer, Spit Stix.
Filmography As director/screenwriter Year Film Notes 2004The Incredible Torture Trio Short film 2006Truthus: A Family Holiday Short filmco-writer/director with Monty Broussard 2008 Marvel Zombies: The Movie Short filmco-writer/director with Scott Fields 2011 Harvest Short filmco-writer with Monty Broussard 2013 "Deviled Egg" Music video by The Radioactive Chicken Heads 2018 Strange Nature Feature film
As makeup artist/special effects technician
Film Year Film Notes 2000Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV 2001Wendigo Creature effects crew 2003 Monster Makers 2004 Dead Birds Mold maker The Fallen Frankenfish Lightning Bug Pagans Tales from the Crapper 2005 Alien Apocalypse Creature effects crew All Souls Day: Dia de los Muertos On-set dresser Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo Dirty Uncredited House of the Dead 2 Lackawanna Blues Man with the Screaming Brain 2006 Big Bad Wolf On-set makeup artist The Darkroom Lady in the Water Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead Creature effects (baby zombie chick puppet) The Thirst Voodoo Moon X-Men: The Last Stand 2007 The Devil's Muse Special effects director Fade Quench Special effects coordinator2008 Dark Reel Deadgirl Special makeup effects artist & designer Hellboy II: The Golden Army Marvel Zombies: The Movie 2009 2012 Puppeteer Blood: The Last Vampire Mold department Where the Wild Things Are Mold department2010 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams Tron: Legacy 2011 Thor 2012 Children of Sorrow Jack & Diane John Dies at the End2013 Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan Pacific Rim Uncredited Proxy Special effects coordinator Saint Bernard Prosthetic makeup effects artist2014 Brutal Makeup designer In the Mind's Eye Redlands Silent Retreat Volcano Zombies Whispers 2016 Crabs!
Television Year Film Notes 2001-2002 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seasons 6-7 2001-2004 Angel Seasons 3-5 2002 Firefly 2003 Miracles 2005 Point Pleasant The Inside 2007 House Episode: "Insensitive" 2010 Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Episodes: "Crows" and "Chrimbus Special"2011 Jon Benjamin Has a Van Episode: "Breakdown Van" True Blood Episodes: "I'm Alive and on Fire" and "If You Love Me, Why Am I Dyin'?" 2014 - 2015 Comedy Bang! Bang!
Short films Year Film 2005 Broken 2008 Marvel Zombies: The Movie 2009 Stealth2010 Kill Devil Hill Malice n Wonderland 2011 Randy the Vegetarian Zombie 2013 Heartless2014 A Boy's Life Gahiji Unbelief
References
External links
Ojala Productions, Inc. homepage Strange Nature official website Duluth PACT TV interview with Strange Nature director, Jim Ojala