Oscar Watch: Why Pirates Will Win Best Visual Effects
Filed under: Action, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Disney, Warner Brothers, Tech Stuff, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels, Oscar Watch
If you want to know about the specific achievements in visual effects made by this year's Oscar nominees, the CG Society website has a great spotlight on the VFX supervisors of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Poseidon and Superman Returns. Obviously we can see on screen the end results of each effect team's work, but there is a lot of interesting information that isn't so apparent, like how ILM had to invent new software for Pirates and how Poseidon actually created some innovative effects in addition to the simulated tidal wave. Through the interviews with the four men (two are from Pirates), and some great visual aids, you can get a better understanding of how and why these three films were chosen, what sequences were shown to voters during the shortlist "bakeoff" event and what each supervisor thinks of his competition. In case it wasn't already a given, Pirates seems the best bet to win, evident in the detailing of what was achieved and in the compliments given by the other two films' supervisors (plus it won the BAFTA Award and top honors at the VFX Society Awards). One thing that everyone also agrees on is that Charlotte's Web should have at least been shortlisted for the award.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-13-2007 @ 5:19PM
Neil said...
I'm not sure I'm convinced by any of this. Ultimately, the proof ought to be in the pudding, as it were. We don't guage acting awards or Best Picture on effort, but on what's onscreen. Lord knows, if it was on effort, Best Picture would go to some terrible DIY indie movie that none of use saw.
And, in the case of [i]Poseidon[/i], the effects on screen were embarrassingly awful. Just vastly less believable than the effects in the original movie, which was 30 years ago. Those guys should erase whatever new program they wrote and go get jobs doing something they don't suck at.
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2-13-2007 @ 5:40PM
kathy said...
I hope POTC2 win 4awards at Ocsar. I wish Johnny Depp win the Ocsar,but he is not nominee.Good Luck POTC2.
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2-13-2007 @ 6:57PM
Bryan Moriarty said...
I don't think having to invent technology to get the result should really be counted. If that were the case, give them a scientific Oscar. Unless it's a criterium for being eligible for nomination, I don't think that has any barring. They also had to invent new flying rigs for Superman Returns, so I guess they all really meet that standard. My point is though that in my honest opinion, S.R. is the movie that should win, because the flying effects were so much beyond anything they've done in a Superman movie before, let alone other characters that fly on film. Pirates will most likely win, But I don't think it deserves it because I thought the computer effects were overused in the film.
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2-25-2007 @ 4:53PM
bobby said...
I'm rooting for Poseidon, but it unfortunately won't win because the judges decision may have been skewed for a number of reasons. Like, the film only made about $60 million at the box office, and it's reviews were mixed. 'Pirates' is probably going to win because it made more money (actually the most money in 2006), and it is nominated for many other Oscars.
Poseidon deserves the award, because people aren't taking into account the other elements of the film that make it as phenomenal as it did. We can argue that the movie itself was not good, but the visual effects are different.
None of the sets were computer animated, including the scene in which the cast must cross the galley on the collapsed elevator. All of that was built, including two sets; one right side up, the other upside down.
Visual effects is not just animation and computer graphics. The opening title sequence when the camera pans the ship is said to be the most difficult, costliest, and longest shots in film history.
It wouldn't surprise me if Poseidon didn't win. I know films aren't all about visual effects, but the effort into making this film was extremely underrated.
It's a shame it might not be recognized; there is so many other elements influencing the judges, that a fair decision is never actually possible.
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