By Will Mavity
Fears that the mass delays of 2020 films to 2021 and beyond would result in a barren Oscar field for this year have fortunately proved unfounded. Each Oscar acting category is full of far more contenders than there are slots. This may be because many of the delayed films were tentpole type films that would not have contended for above-the-line Oscars anyway. However, even blockbuster-friendly categories like Best Sound are bloodbaths of competition. However, there is one category that has been affected: Best Visual Effects. To be sure, there were a few of the traditional showy spectacle heavy contenders released this year. "Tenet" and "The Midnight Sky" seem all but assured of nominations. Early released blockbusters like "Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Birds of Prey" may benefit from having been some of the few films voters saw in theaters this year and end up sticking around until the end as a result. But the VFX branch will still have to find 10 films to participate in its annual "bake-off" ceremony to select the category’s five nominees. Without the usual "Avengers" and "Star Wars"-type fare that the branch has come to count on filling the bake-off in recent years, VFX branch voters are going to have to be more creative. Fortunately, 2020 was still a banner year for VFX work. Choosing the nominees that best demonstrate that fact will require the branch to think outside the box. Here are some out-of-the-box contenders that could end up being major players in this year’s Visual Effects Oscar Race... "Greyhound"
When talking about out-of-the-box contenders, "Greyhound" would not be as unusual a choice as some of the films on this list. After all, "1917" just won the category last year. However, by and large, war films are not Visual Effects Oscar players. Even films like "Dunkirk" and "Saving Private Ryan" missed nominations here. Part of the reason those films failed to garner nominations, however, was their emphasis on practical effects. While branch members are sometimes drawn to practical VFX showcases, the category has tended towards CGI-heavy players recently. Fortunately for "Greyhound," unlike "Dunkirk," it is extremely CGI-heavy. The film boasts more than 1,300 visual effects shots. A landlocked ship interior was built on a gimbal to recreate a rocking sea motion, but much of the practical work didn't translate on film and thus had to be reworked in post by the VFX team. All of the water and exterior ship shots were CGI. Because the filmmakers were sticklers for detail, the VFX team was forced to emphasize just how dark all the nighttime shots would look (because any lights, even a cigarette light, would give away the ship to enemy submarines and aircraft). As such, the team had to make the images are dark as possible while still ensuring all of the action was visible. Additionally, they had to research extensively and mathematically map out based on the weight and positioning of the ships how they would interact with the water for each shot, so as not to look unrealistic.
"The Invisible Man"
Historically, films featuring invisibility have played well with the Visual Effects branch – look no further than "Hollow Man" receiving a nomination despite its poor reviews. Of course, the key difference was "Hollow Man" boasted a nearly $100 million budget. In comparison, the Independent Spirit Award Nominated "The Invisible Man" was forced to make do with a meager $7 million budget. For context, that's less than it costs to make your average Sundance movie like "Manchester by the Sea" or "Precious." However, thanks to a well-planned production that involved the VFX team from the start, "The Invisible Man" ends up looking as crisp and professional as something with a "Hollow Man"-type budget. The film only has about 350 VFX shots in total. Many shots used camera movement and careful framing, emphasizing negative space to give the sense that someone else was present in the room. The team often used practical effects and wires to demonstrate objects moving around in a shot as though handled by an unseen force. Whenever the titular "Invisible Man" was shown, it would be an actor in a green suit. The team used motion control rigs and careful blocking so as to make the difficult post-work of transforming the green suit into an invisible figure as inexpensive and efficient as possible. It's the kind of smart "every dollar counts" filmmaking that landed "Ex Machina" an Oscar win.
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March 2021
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