Mahalobay

28 years ago today, James Cameron’s Titanic was released to the world, stayed on its theatrical run for something like eight months and went on to make a bajillion-jillion dollars. I was a vfx noob back then, and it was my first movie credit.

Annette was pregnant when we attended the cast & crew screening a few weeks prior to its release (on the Paramount lot, I think). The opening shot – a submarine descending towards the wreck of the Titanic, accompanied by a very loud sonar ping (in Dolby Surround, no less). This made Annette jump, because it was the first time she felt the baby kick.

My oldest is now 27. The success of Titanic jumpstarted a long and rewarding career in vfx, and sometimes over coffee and at gatherings (and usually in December), we tell this story to explain how our family measures time – by the ping of deep submersibles.