Joe Lewis went to California Institute of the Arts, received a Master of Fine Arts, and stayed as a technical faculty member teaching sculpture skills for 2 years.
After leaving Cal Arts, Joe started working in Hollywood designing and building specialized photographic equipment to support of “Star Trek the Motion Picture” in 1978, as well as numerous television commercials.
Joe established General Lift in Los Angeles in 1981.
As a company, General Lift has been serving the motion picture and commercial film business for over 30 years. We have a long history of providing innovative and creative solutions for the many challenging shots our clients have created. We designed and built the first underwater motion control system, the Aquaflex, for the film “Hollow Man” (1999). We designed and built one of the first light-weight portable systems for use in the film “Dead Ringers” (1987). We designed and built live action and miniature systems for Peter Jackson's entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy” (2000) to (2002), as well as "King Kong” (2005) .... This deep and resourceful record has given us a unique position in our industry to apply our knowledge of design to the entire Genuflex series of motion control systems.
We have always been known for our motion control services and enjoy an unparalleled record with regards to motion picture and commercial credits.
Some of the many challenging design projects that Joe was involved in included a “Hot Air Blimp” that carried 4 people. He was also involved with the only working “Rocket Belt” – a one man flying rocket back pack. This is where the name “General Lift” came from, odd flying devices without wings!