David R. Hardberger

Starting in the Universal Optical Department, he moved from there to Robert Abel and Associates doing the 7UP Butterfly Girl commercials and then on to working with Doug Trumbull (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bladerunner, Star Trek - The Motion Picture, Brainstorm). He moved from there to Industrial Light & Magic (Return of the Jedi, Star Trek II - Wrath of Khan, Willow). Leaving visual effects, he switched to the live action world working as an assistant cameraman on several television shows, feature films and several of Trumbull's ShowScan projects as a camera technician. He re entered visual effects after getting a call, while in French Guyana, to work on The Hunt For Red October as a motion control operator for Boss Film and continued doing miniatures as a DP for Digital Domain (Dante's Peak), 3 Foot Six (Lord of the Rings) and a variety of other visual effects houses including the renowned Skotak Brothers. After returning from New Zealand, David decided to move, again, into live action working as a 2nd unit DP , a cinematographer on several documentaries and a unit manager for two small feature films. David lives on the Central Coast of California near San Luis Obispo with his wife and two cats.