Mike Sanders is the Senior Visual Director for Activision’s Central Studios overseeing innovation in art, animation and production across Activision’s game franchises, most notably Call of Duty. Mike is focusing on bringing film VFX quality to game development and emerging AR/VR markets and provides creative direction for Activision’s eSports.
He was previously Director of Visual Production for Industrial Light & Magic, collaborating with Disney divisions such as Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel and Imagineering and built much of the foundational creative technology of the ILMxLAB. He has many patents awarded for digital production and virtual cinematography. In 2009, Michael was recognized by the Producer’s Guild of America as a member of their inaugural Digital 25 list for the most notable contributors to digital story telling.
Mike is one of the entertainment industry’s leading experts in advanced technologies for realism in computer graphics for films and games. He has over 25 years of experience in creating cutting edge imagery for more than 90 major motion pictures and AAA game titles. Mike has worked with most top directors and every major studio, including such memorable projects as the digital cast in Titanic, many of the effects in the Star Wars prequels and sequels, the behind-the-scenes tech that launched Avatar, and the believable characters in Pirates of the Caribbean.