Bidding for this lot will end on Thursday, March 27th. The auction will begin at 10:30AM PDT and lots are sold sequentially via live auctioneer; tune in to the live streaming broadcast on auction day to follow the pace. Note other lots in the auction may close on Wednesday, March 26th or Friday, March 28th.

Four hand-illustrated visual effects storyboards from the production of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Civilians from Muncie, Indiana, including Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon), gathered at the Crescendo Summit to watch as UFOs flew by their town.

This set comes from the collection of special photographic effects artist Douglas Trumbull. It consists of four storyboards, each with a black-and-white printed photo of model miniatures created to simulate the layout of the Crescendo Summit set, taped to illustration board, applied with a hand-painted acetate cel, and mounted with a black matte board frame designed to frame the scene in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 for reference when creating matte paintings. The paintwork on the cels is believed to be rendered as reference for the night sky by production illustrator George Jensen. The storyboards feature handwritten annotations as well as small crude drawings of the general layout of two shots drawn ink on blue paper taped to two of the boards. This lot exhibits discoloration, sticking pages, as well as water damage to two of the boards. Dimensions: (each) 15" x 10" x 0.25" (38.25 cm x 25.5 cm x 0.75 cm)

Sold without copyright; see notice in the Buyer's Guide.

About Matter Yuricich



Visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull was born in Los Angeles in 1942. After abandoning architecture for technical drawing and cartooning, his talent for photorealism soon earned him work at Graphic Films, an esteemed Hollywood studio for which he designed groundbreaking cosmic effects for the 1964 New York World's Fair. After seeing Trumbull's work, director Stanley Kubrick hired him to create animations and VFX shots - including the iconic Star Gate sequence - for what would become his seminal masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. From that film's success, Trumbull became one of the industry's most trusted photographic effects experts, designing and producing legendary screen moments in such sci-fi landmarks as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Blade Runner, all three of which earned him Academy Award® nominations. In addition to directing the cult classics Silent Running and Brainstorm, Trumbull later received a Scientific and Engineering Award for his high-speed photography process Showscan in 1993, one of two specialty awards given to him by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences before his death in 2022. 60 years since he first made his mark on global cinema, Propstore today celebrates Douglas Trumbull by presenting a selection of rare memorabilia from his personal collection to the public.