WHEN special effects wizard Justin Heasman signed up to work on a 15-minute film he had no idea he might soon be mentioned in the same breath as Hollywood legends Samuel L Jackson and Rosanna Arquette.

So he was flabbergasted when, shortly after the film's release, he got a call from the director to say they had won an honorary mention at this year's glitzy Los Angeles Movie Awards.

The father of two, who owns St Columb-based business Sketchwork Productions, provided apocalyptic skies and meteor showers to Burn, a character-drive story set during the end of the world.

Unfortunately he was not able to attend the star-studded ceremony in LA on June 7, which saw Pulp Fiction stars Jackson and Arquette scoop top awards.

Burn was one of just 22 short films worldwide to receive a mention at the prestigious event.

Justin said: "I would love to have gone out there but it's a long way and I'm so busy. At the end of the day it's just nice to know we got it."

He added: "It was really exciting to get the call. The director, Patrick Kiely, said 'we've just won an honourable mention in the narrative short category which is a huge nod to all of us'. I felt very proud. It also means we can plaster the award crest over everything we do which will hopefully open a lot more doors for us!"

The 33-year-old, who lives with his wife and two young daughters at St Columb Road, was asked to join the film's creative team after wowing the director with his portfolio.

He worked on the project entirely by himself and said it took around six to eight weeks to finish all the effects for the film.

The hardest shot was one towards the end which saw a van drive out into the desert under a scorched and stormy sky with about 100 meteors hurtling towards the earth, he said.

"It was a lovely summer's day when they filmed it in Nevada so the sky needed replacing with swirling winds, dust storms and thunder flashes," said Justin.

"And then I had to create all the meteors in 3D and incorporate them into the scene. It can be very difficult to make it look real as you've got to think about things like the shadows that they cast. It was a very complex shot. It was only about 15 seconds worth of footage, but it took a good week to get that one shot."

Justin said he began his career as a theatre actor and director before starting his own film production business four years ago, specialising in effects from state-of-the art computer graphics to props such as severed hands for horror films. He has produced corporate films for the likes of Cornwall College and Nissan as well as more effects work on a range of independent films.

His next project is a fortnightly website series dissecting special effects techniques that he will both produce and present. It is due to start later this summer.