By Will Mavity
This past weekend, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted its annual Visual Effects “Bake-Off” in order to determine the 5 nominees for Best Visual Effects. As per the Visual Effects Branch’s rules, at a Bake-Off, 10 pre-selected films screen 10-minute reels showcasing the effects work on display in each film, followed by short Q & A’s with the VFX crews discussing some of the most difficult aspects involved in creating the film’s effects work. Following the presentations, the Academy voters present to fill out ballots ranking the VFX work on display, thus choosing the 5 nominees. Click below to read more about my first-hand experience at the 2018 VFX bake-off
Historically, the way a film performs at the Bake-Off directly impacts its likelihood of a nomination. In 2010, reports that audiences laughed at footage of a de-aged Jeff Bridges ("Tron: Legacy") were the first signs for the film’s surprise snub in the category. Last year "Deepwater Horizon’s" impressive reel secured it a nomination over more ‘obvious’ contenders like "Arrival" and "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them." A few years ago, Variety’s David S. Cohen provided an illuminating set of guidelines to consider whenever analyzing a bakeoff:
This year, the 10 films present were (In the order of presentation) “Dunkirk” “The Shape of Water” “Alien: Covenant” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” “Kong: Skull Island” “War for the Planet of the Apes” “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” "Star Wars: The Last Jedi” “Ojka” “Blade Runner 2049″ DUNKIRK
"Dunkirk’s" presentation was all about the practical effects. Visual Effects Supervisor Andrew Jackson introduced the film by emphasizing just how little CGI was on display. The cockpit interior scenes were created by mounting cockpit sets on a gimbal on the edge of a cliff and rotating them around, so as to showcase the sky and ocean simultaneously without ever utilizing green screens. Planes were scale models controlled by remote control. The sinking plane was created by mounting a plane on a scissor life and submerging it in a water tank. "Dunkirk’s" underwater scenes reportedly used little to no CGI.
Other relevant factors to consider: Jackson’s delivery was perhaps too understated and a bit dry. He didn’t make much of an effort to play up the difficulty of the film’s achievements. “How much compositing did you guys do?” “Oh not much…we just used two plates.” Unlike the beautifully made film, the reel itself consisted of clips smashed together with no attempt made to create smooth transitions. There were also jarring gaps between music. That being said, Jackson emphasized that the miniatures were all built by union Los Angeles based SFX guys, which received major applause. If there is a film that all the practical FX folks rally behind, regardless of the quality of the presentation, this will be the film.
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March 2021
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