Academy Announces the List of 10

The executive Committee of the visual effects branch of the Academy has announced the list of ten films that will be going to the bake off.

• Ant-Man

• Avengers: Age of Ultron

• Ex Machina

• Jurassic World

• Mad Max: Fury Road

• The Martian

• The Revenant

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

• Tomorrowland

• The Walk

Back in December, the executive committee announced the list of 20 eligible films. This two-step process allows the committee to see all the films and make a better determination as to which films make it to the bake off. 

If you are keeping track, that means the following films have been knocked out of the competition: Bridge of Spies, Everest, Furious Seven, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, In the Heart of the Sea, Jupiter Ascending, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Spectre, and Terminator Genisys.

In January, the visual effects branch will hold the bake off; each of the ten films presents a ten minute reel of finished work (no breakdowns or before/after reels) to the entire branch, along with a short question and answer session. Then, after all of the films have been presented, the branch votes for their top five choices. The five films with the most votes become the Oscar nominees. The nominations for the 88th Academy Awards will be announced on January 14, 2016.

The full Academy membership votes for the winner of the visual effects Academy Award, which will be presented at the full awards ceremony on February 28, 2016.

My Pre-Release "Force Awakens" Thoughts

For nearly a year, I helped create visual effects for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". I feel honored and grateful for the experience. I tried to summarize my feelings before the release of the film in a series of tweets, Storify'd below.

One More Week

Academy Announces the List of 20

The Academy announced the twenty films of 2015 that will be eligible to attend the visual effects bake-off. The list of twenty was determined by the Executive Committee of the visual effects branch.

• Ant-Man

• Avengers: Age of Ultron

• Bridge of Spies

• Chappie

• Everest

• Ex Machina

• Furious Seven

• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

• In the Heart of the Sea

• Jupiter Ascending

• Jurassic World

• Mad Max: Fury Road

• The Martian

• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

• The Revenant

• Spectre

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

• Terminator Genisys

• Tomorrowland

• The Walk

Later this month, the Executive Committee will narrow this list down to the ten films that will participate in the bake-off.  At the bake-off, the ten films present their ten minute reels, and the visual effects branch of the Academy votes that night, determining the final five nominees for Best Visual Effects. The nominations will be announced on January 14, 2016.

The full Academy membership votes for the winner of the visual effects Academy Award, which will be presented at the full awards ceremony on February 28, 2016.