Technology in films can make water turn into glass, create ocean action without letting actors drown, and illustrate explosions full of fire and smoke that would demolish any studio that tried to do it in reality. The computer scientists that use digital special effects to make this movie magic didn’t wake up one day knowing how to create impossible images. The path to creating the impossible on screen starts with education, and for one computer scientist, his path started at the College of Charleston.
On Oct. 15, the College’s computer science department welcomed back recent Academy Award Winner Nafees Bin Zafar, C of C class of 1998.  Bin Zafar and his colleagues won the Academy Award for their work on virtual effect in water graphics.  Their work can be seen in movies such as “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” and the upcoming film “2012.”
Bin Zafar returned to campus to speak about his time at C of C and his career path.
A native of Bangladesh who moved to Charleston at the age of 11, Bin Zafar started at C of C as a 16-year-old honors student. At such a young age, Bin Zafar failed out of the Honors College his first semester.
“The pressure was off at that point,” he said.
Bin Zafar found his home in the computer science department.  He liked that the program was about problem solving and how much the professors loved teaching.
After graduating, Bin Zafar worked at the Medical University of S.C. before moving to Venice, Calif. to work at Digital Domain. Digital Domain has done virtual effects for movies like “Transformers,” “Speed Racer,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and various TV commercials. 
Digital Domain uses virtual effects to captivate an audience with a vivid imaginary world.
“[Digital Domain can create] things that are stupid, impossible and improbable for a human,” said Bin Zafar.
What motivated Bin Zafar and his colleagues to improve the virtual effect of water graphics was that they wanted to change reality that cannot be captured on camera.
 “There has been a long time drive to make water, smoke and fire explosions digital,” Bin Zafar said.
Such effects are expensive and dangerous on set.
After successfully creating a short water graphic scene for the 2003 “Peter Pan” remake, Bin Zafar was able to move on to creating an entire ocean scene with small water details for “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” which won him an Academy Award.
Bin Zafar enjoyed the celebrity perks of winning the award.
 “The real award was really to have Jessica Alba applauding you,” Bin Zafar said.
Bin Zafar also works on directable fluids that can be seen in numerous commercials including one for Bacardi. 
“You can take water and make it dance around and form a bottle of booze,” said Bin Zafar.
The next major movie done by Bin Zafar and Digital Domain is “2012,” to be released in November.  The major scene that they worked on is when a city collapses into the ocean, seen in the movie’s trailer.  This scene took over a year to complete due to the amount of detail that is needed to make it look real. 
Even though Bin Zafar has been apart of many great films, his favorite to work on was “Flags of our Fathers,” released in 2006.
“Clint Eastwood is a great director who knows exactly what he wants,” Bin Zafar said, “It was a very interesting story to tell.”
Also in the program, Dr. Christopher Starr, Associate Professor and chairman of the computer science department, announced a new program for the College: Computing in the Arts.
This new program is a collaboration between the computer science and art departments. The program aims to prepare C of C students to prosper in today’s highly technological world and is set to start in fall 2010, Starr said.
Bin Zafar told students to always try to learn new things to become successful.
“There is a lot here that is accessible,” Bin Zafar said. “Go out and explore it.”