John Barry was a British production designer. Started his career in the
art department of the movie Cleopatra (1963). He is known chiefly for
his imaginative design work on "Star Wars" and "Superman: The Movie".
Barry got the opportunity to direct the sci-fi movie "Saturn 3" but was
replaced during filming. However, he returned to the Star Wars universe
on "The Empire Strikes Back" as a second unit director. On May 31st
1979, (two weeks into filming) he collapsed on-set and was hospitalized
as his temperature rose to 104 degrees. He died at 2am on June 1st, a
victim of meningitis.
Movie-goers are skilfully manipulated by film-makers. It's our job to execute effortlessly the 'sleight of hand', if you will. Images flash across the silver screen pretty quickly and audiences shouldn't have time to dwell on what they see.