He became a valued assistant in several of Sloan's marionette theatres as well as in productions for the Hollywood Bowl Ballet and the "Cavalcade of Texas." In 1939, he was hired by
Walt Disney Productions and became the youngest member of its Effects and Model Department, where he sculpted the
maquette of
Pinocchio which was used as reference for the film's animation, and articulated deer models for
Bambi. After recovering from
polio, Chang became acquainted with animator
George Pal, working with him on his
Puppetoons series of stop-motion animated films for
Paramount Pictures and his live-action films such as
The Time Machine (1960). In the mid-1940s Chang formed a joint studio business with Sloan, The East-West Film Company, and produced such memorable films as
Pick a Bale of Cotton (an interview and performance with the legendary blues and folk singer
Lead Belly in 1944) and
Frank Tashlin's highly controversial anti-war short,
The Way of Peace (1947), created in part with elaborate miniature sets and puppets in stop-motion. A Desilu invoice dated August 22, 1966, shows Chang "reworking phasers" for $520.00. influenced the design of
clamshell cellular phones. Chang's communicator design has been credited as an inspiration for modern flip-type
cell phones and the 1960s
Grillo folding telephone. His Balok effigy was used in "
The Corbomite Maneuver"
Star Trek episode — and at the conclusion of many
closing credits sequences of the series. His other film credits include designing the headdress worn by
Elizabeth Taylor in the feature film
Cleopatra. Other work included building the time machine and sphinx from 1960s movie
The Time Machine, and the dragon (seen only in the English-dubbed version) of
Goliath and the Dragon (1960). Chang's firm, Project Unlimited, Inc., would win
Academy Award recognition for its
special effects, but Chang was not listed on the award, due to the way the credits were submitted to the academy. Film historian Bob Burns reported that Chang did not object to this. "He was the most humble, gentle man I've ever known in my life," Burns said. "He never boasted about anything he did, and he just did remarkable stuff." In addition, Chang built the artificial creature in "
The Architects of Fear" episode of the original
The Outer Limits, and also sculpted the Zanti aliens in “
The Zanti Misfits” because the Project Unlimited crew were told by producer Joseph Stefano that the aliens were “not pretty enough”, he also created props for the original
Planet of the Apes film, the frightening skeleton animated in
The Power, the flying machine in
The Master of the World, and the
dinosaurs in
Land of the Lost. Chang's work as a
stop-motion animator through the effects company
Centaur Productions, operated with fellow artist
Gene Warren, has been enjoyed for years in the cartoons
Hardrock, Coco and Joe and
Suzy Snowflake. == Later life ==