And The Nominees Are...

Here are the nominees for Best Visual Effects for the 81st Annual Academy Awards:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

“The Dark Knight”
Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin

“Iron Man”
John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Congratulations to all the nominees and everyone who contributed to the visual effects of these three films! The winner of the Academy Award will be announced February 22, 2009.

VES Announces Nominations for 7th VES Awards

Hi, all! Here's the press release sent out by the Visual Effects Society, announcing their nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards. I'll provide some personal notes in a forthcoming post. What follows is an edited list of nominees, listing live-action feature film categories only.

-todd

VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY (VES) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR 7th ANNUAL VES AWARDS
"Iron Man" Leads with 5 Noms, Awards Ceremony Scheduled for February 21, 2009

Los Angeles, January 19, 2009 - The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects in over a dozen categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 17, 2009, by numerous panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank.

In making the announcement, Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Awards Committee said, "Because visual effects continue to grow in complexity and intensity, touching every aspect of the entertainment industry, we are proud to announce the nominees and their work, which have been deemed by the judges as the best of the best. I congratulate all the artists on their achievements."

The nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards are the following:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, PRINCE CASPIAN
Wendy Rogers, Dean Wright, Andrew Fowler, Greg Butler
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud
HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY
Michael J. Wassel, Lucy Killick, Adrian de Wet, Eamonn Butler
CLOVERFIELD
Kevin Blank, Chantal Feghali, Michael Ellis, Eric Leven
IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Hal Hickel, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture
CHANGELING
Michael Owens, Geoffrey Hancock, Jinnie Pak, Dennis Hoffman
EAGLE EYE
Jim Rygiel, Jim Berney, Crys Forsyth-Smith, David Smith
VALKYRIE
Richard R. Hoover, Maricel Pagulayan, Peter Nofz, Daniel Eaton
NIM'S ISLAND
Camille Cellucci, Scott Gordon, Fred Pienkos, James Straus
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
Mark Russell, Richard Friedlander, Eric Robertson, Brett Miller

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
CLOVERFIELD - Statue of Liberty Crash and Woolworth Tower Collapse
Michael Ellis, Chantal Feghali, David Vickery, Ben Taylor
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin's Secret
Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Steve Preeg, Jonathan Litt
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - Newborn Klaatu
Jeffrey A. Okun, R. Christopher White, Thomas M. Boland, Ben Thompson
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL - Valley Destruction
Stephanie Hornish, Pablo Helman, Jeff White, Craig Hammack
IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Wayne Billheimer, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin Button
Steve Preeg, Matthias Wittmann, Tom St. Amand, David McLean
HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY - Elemental Sequence
Colin McEvoy, Christoph Ammann
IRON MAN
Hal Hickel, Bruce Holcomb, James Tooley, John Walker
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES - Hogsqueal
Todd Labonte, Michael Brunet, Nathan Fredenburg, Aharon Bourland

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture
CHANGELING - 1928 Downtown L.A.
Romain Bayle, Abel Milanes, Allan Lee, Debor Dunphy
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Richard Bluff, Barry Williams, Yanick Dusseault, Yusei Uesugi
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK - Matte Paintings
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner
SPEED RACER - Overall Matte Painting Presentation
Lubo Hristov, Dennis Martin, Ron Crabb

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture
THE DARK KNIGHT - Garbage Truck Crash Models and Miniatures
Ian Hunter, Forest Fischer, Branden Seifert, Adam Gelbart
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
David Fogler, Craig Hammack, Brian Gernand, Geoff Heron
IRON MAN - Suit Up Machine
Aaron McBride, Russell Paul, Gerald Gutschmidt, Keiji Yamaguchi
MY DARLING OF THE MOUNTAINS - Hot Springs
Taro Kiba, Kenji Nagatani, Yuki Minagawa, Hideo Udo

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture
CLOVERFIELD - Brooklyn Bridge Sequence
David Vickery, Phil Johnson, Victor Wade, Sean Stranks
THE DARK KNIGHT - IMAX Gotham City Scapes
Peter Bebb, David Vickery, Philippe Leprince, Andrew Lockley
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL - Temple Heart
Michael Halsted, David Fogler, Steve Walton, David Weitzberg
THE MUMMY - TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR - Avalanche Sequence
Mike Meaker, Rich Mahon, Jason Iverson, Sho Hasegawa
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK - Created Environment
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, PRINCE CASPIAN
Stuart Lashley, Arundi Asregadoo, Mark Curtis, Richard Baker
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin Comes Together
Janelle Croshaw, Paul Lambert, Sonja Burchard, Sarahjane Javelo
IRON MAN - Head Under Display - HUD Compositing
Jonathan Rothbart, Dav Rauch, Kyle McCulloch, Kent Seki
QUANTUM OF SOLACE - Sienna Chase and Fight Sequence
Anthony Smith, Christian Kaestner, Adrian Metzelaar, Jon Thum

Outstanding Special Effects in a Motion Picture
THE DARK KNIGHT
Chris Corbould, Peter Notley, Ian Lowe
THE DARK KNIGHT - Garbage Truck Crash Mechanical Effects
Scott Beverly, Robert Spurlock, Jon Warren, Brian Kelly Hahn
DEFIANCE - Special Effects
Neil Corbould, Steve Warner, Anne Maria Walters, Alan Young

This year the VES will present producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Phil Tippett with the Georges Méliès Award.

For more information on the VES Awards, sponsorship and tickets, please visit www.visualeffectssociety.com.

Abrams: "It's Amazing"

From Sci Fi Wire:

J.J. Abrams, who directed the upcoming Star Trek reboot movie, addressed the film's new take on starship battles...

Earlier in the evening, screenwriter Roberto Orci described the battles as still maritime-influenced, despite the new, lavish look. Abrams clarified.

"They're big ships, so I'd say that there is a little bit of that, but there's a little bit more flash and fun and action than you've seen before," Abrams said in a group interview. "There are some pretty spectacular visual effects. ILM outdid themselves. It's amazing."

The List of 7

It's Bake-Off time! The visual effects branch of the Academy have narrowed their 'list of 15' films to the seven films that will be participating in the bake-off for the race for this year's Oscar nominations.

• “Australia”
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• “The Dark Knight”
• “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
• “Iron Man”
• “Journey to the Center of the Earth”
• “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”

The Executive Committee narrowed the List of 15 to these seven earlier this week. The Bake Off, which features 15 minute reels from each film, will take place on January 15, where the entire visual effects branch gets to vote on the final three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. As always, the entire Academy then votes for the winner of the award.

My predictions were way off this year. While I got four films right, I thought "Indy," "Caspian" and "Spiderwick" would have made it to the bake-off, rather than "Australia," "Mummy 3" and "Journey."

My not-to-be-trusted predictions for the three nominees? "Dark Knight," "Iron Man," and "Benjamin Button," which are coincidentally my personal choices of the three films that deserve a nomination.