Going into my 4th year predicting The Oscars, I am 2 for 3 in this category. This is
normally a pretty straight forward category, but last year’s Hugo slipped by me becoming the first film to win this category for effects the industry describes as “supporting” rather than “driving”. (Visit the Visual Effects Society website for more information).
All in all,
there aren’t any major changes to the role of Visual Effects or the Voting
Procedures related to the Oscars, so if you are curious for more information on
visual effects process checkout my post from last year: 84th
Academy Awards – Best Visual Effects
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Nominations:
·
The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
o
Joe
Letteri – 7th nomination. 4
wins: Avatar, King Kong, The Two Towers, and The
Return of the King
o
Eric
Saindon – 1st nomination.
o
David
Clayton – 1st nomination
o
R.
Christopher White – 2nd nomination.
Weta Digital Director Joe Letteri and his
team were heavily favored to win last year with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. They even won the Visual Effect Society Award
for Best Effects-Driven Feature Film, which is normally the best indicator for
who ends up winning the Oscar… at least for the lst 9 out of 10 years. Unfortunately this team has the dubious honor
being the only team NOT to win the Oscar after winning this VES’s main award.
Although these guys seem
great on paper, The Hobbit has not been the kind of juggernaut I expected. And since its reputation has been dwarfed by The
Lord of the Rings, I’m not sure if the Academy will go on this journey…
at least not the way they did for The Hobbits bigger and badder
cinematic brothers.
The results of the VES Awards
haven’t been released yet, so it’s still up in the air. However, as of right now, I don’t think this
will be The Hobbit’s year. That
said, if Smog is as bad-ass as I think he’s going to be, look for Weta as your
front runner next year.
This Visual Effects Team is
also nominated for the Visual Effects Society Award, BAFTA Awards, and the Boston
Film Critics Association Awards. None of
which have been announced.
·
Life
of Pi
o
Bill
Westenhofer – 3rd nomination.
1 win: The Golden Compass. Also nominated for The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe.
o
Guillaume
Rocheron – 1st nomination.
o
Erik-Jan
de Boer – 1st nomination.
o
Donald
R. Elliott – 1st nomination.
I have to say, these guys are
my clear favorites! They are mainly an
animal effects team; however, their work on Life of Pi included a lot
of other more nuanced visual work, like what was honored in Hugo. I am pretty confident they will take home the
Visual Effects Society Award, which will make them the clear front runners for the
win the Oscar.
This Visual Effects Team is
also nominated for the Visual Effects Society Awards, Annie Awards, BAFTA
Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, San Diego Film Critics
Society Awards, and the Satellite Awards.
They have already won the Las
Vegas Film Critics Association Award.
·
Marvel’s
The Avengers
o
Janek
Sirrs – 3rd nomination. 1
win: The Matix.
Also nominated for Iron Man 2.
o
Jeff
White – 1st nomaintion.
o
Guy
Williams – 1st nomination.
o
Dan
Sudick – 5th nomination: Master and Commander, War of the Worlds, Iron
Man, and Iron Man 2.
At
this point, I think it is too soon to discount the team from The
Avengers. If there is a category
where a superhero could win an Oscar (without the help of Heath Ledger), this
is it. And let’s face it… The
Avengers flippin’ rocked!
Normally this category ticks me off because garbage movies get nominated
here all the time just because they spent all their money on visual effects and
not a dime on things like… writers… or directors… or actors who can act their
way out of a wet paper bag. That is not
the case this year and The Avengers is a text book example
of a beautifully written, directed, and acted effects-driven movie. I hope it becomes the gold standard for
summer block busters and for that reason I would be very pleased to see this
team take home The Oscar.
That
said, for all of its merit, The Avengers lacks the kind of emotional
depth that is palpable in Life of Pi.
This Visual Effects Team is
also nominated the Visual Effects Society Award, BAFTA awards, and Broadcast
Film Critics Association Awards,
They have already won the
Hollywood Film Festival.
·
Prometheus
o
Richard
Stammers – 1st nomination.
o
Trevor
Wood – 2nd nomination. 1 win:
The Golden
Compass.
o
Charley
Henley – 1st nomination.
o
Martin
Hill – 1st nomination.
Ridley
Scott has directed and produced a lot of films that have been nominated in this
category. And looking at the presumed “franchise”
affiliation, Prometheus is in fantastic company. Alien
and Aliens
are both Visual Effects winners and Aliens 3 was nominated. However, I’m not sure if Prometheus gives us
anything new. I am sure they do, but don’t
really think it is enough to garner an Oscar.
This
Visual Effects Team is also nominated the Visual Effects Society Award, BAFTA
Award, and the Satellite Award.
·
Snow
White and the Huntsman
o
Cedric
Nicolas-Troyan – 1st nomination.
o
Philip
Brennan – 1st nomination.
o
Neil
Corbould – 3rd nomination. 1
win: Gladiator.
Also nominated for Superman Returns.
o
Michael
Dawson – 1st nomination.
I
hate to be so blunt, but there is no chance of Snow White and the Huntsman
winning this award. The numbers just don’t
support it. This movie is not nominated
for a Visual Effects Society Award… at all.
As I mentioned above, the VES has giving out awards for 10 years and for
9 of those years, the winner of their Effects-Driven Feature Film Award has gone
on to win the Oscar. And even though Hugo
was unexpected last year, it wasn’t because their effects weren’t recognized by
the VES, because they were! Hugo
just didn’t win the Effects-Driven category.
But, they did win the VES award for Supporting Effects in Feature
Film. So at the very least… no film, in
the last ten years, has won the Oscar without having won a Visual Effects
Society Award. Sorry Snow
White, but just are going to make it this year.
**********
Snubs:
Interestingly
enough, the Visual Effects Branch of the Oscars is one of the few that narrows
its field down to a limited number of eligible films before final voting. The branch normally weeds the field down to
15 films before holding an open vote to weed the field down to 10 and then 5.
The other films
that made it to the final 10 are The Amazing Spider-Man, Cloud
Atlas, The Dark Knight Rises, John Carter, and Skyfall.
The inclusion of
John
Carter is just laughable and is a prime example of my pet peeve of
effects-driven films with zero other merit.
However, the fact that Snow White beat out Cloud
Atlas is pretty disappointing. Cloud
Atlas was not nearly the train wreck critics led me to believe and its
six different storylines and setting challenged its Visual Effects team is six
very different ways. The sheer scope of Cloud
Atlas makes the film a more worthy nominee.
On a completely
more subtle note, the Visual Effects in Flight were very good as well… and
really drove the beginning of this film.
Like Huge, its effects were only supporting, which usually aren’t
flashy enough to get nominations but it would have been nice to honor the
delicate balance of story and effects with a nomination.
That said, Flight
has been nominated by the Visual Effects Society for Supporting Effects in a
Feature Film and I hope it wins.
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Oscar
Trends:
Currently, 4 of
the 5 Oscar nominated films for Visual Effects are also nominated for the Visual
Effects Society’s Effects-Driven Feature Film Award. And as I have continually said, this will be
the best indicator for predicting the winner.
So until the VES announces their winners on February 5th, I am
not going to set my picks for this category in stone.
Update (February 6, 2013): As I predicted Life of Pi won the Visual Effects Society Award and thus, I will stand by my picks!
**********
Prediction:
1. Life of Pi
2. Marvel’s The Avengers
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. Prometheus
5. Snow White and the Huntsman
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