Acting Through a Mask

As a kid watching this bit of performance by David Prowse in "Return of the Jedi", I was absolutely convinced that Vader's mask was--somehow--changing and emoting. I could see the conflict going on inside of Vader.

Breaking it down today, we realize it's not solely Prowse's performance (his posture, his timing, the angle of his head tilts, the slow head turn to his Emperor then back to his son in pain) that sells the emotion; there are several contextual aspects of the scene that add to it.

🎞️ music: Williams' original trilogy score is at a literal crescendo, achieving its emotional zenith
🎞️ costume: we have never seen Vader's costume this dirty (weakened & vulnerable)
🎞️ camera move: there are very few dolly-in moves in the original trilogy, especially in closeup

In summary movies are cool because it's never just one thing that makes a scene work.

It's every craft working together to achieve a common goal.

Original tweet.

Pretend Disney+ Artwork

Disney has been tweeting artwork for each of the movies and TV shows that will be available to stream on its new network, Disney+. One particular tweet caught a lot of folks' attention:

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) pic.twitter.com/2zh56J5fWA

— Disney+ (@disneyplus) October 14, 2019

Yep, that's the 1947 20th Century Fox classic "Miracle on 34th Street", rebranded as a Disney film, since Disney now owns and controls all films under the 20th Century Fox banner. Unsettling as it is, I wondered what it would look like if other Fox hits were rebranded as Disney films.

 Here's a link to the original "Die Hard" tweet, where you can follow the thread to my artwork for "Predator 2", "Fight Club" and "Alien".

 

Bonus: never-before-seen "Predator 2" version:

I Was on the Light the Fuse Podcast

It was my absolute pleasure to be a guest on the always-fun "Mission: Impossible" podcast, Light The Fuse. Charles Hood and Drew Taylor asked terrific questions and really know their stuff. I'm really proud of this appearance.

Light the Fuse, #67 - Todd Vaziri Part 1
An interview a year in the making (seriously), we talk to Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor Todd Vaziri (@tvaziri on Twitter), who worked on two installments in the franchise! We talk about how he got into the series, working on “Mission: Impossible 3” (including the bridge sequence), the shot J.J. Abrams did himself, and where you can spot R2D2 in the movie! We also get into the Dubai sequence from “Ghost Protocol,” so hang on tight!
https://www.lightthefusepodcast.com/podcast-episodes/2019/9/27/episode-sixty-seven-todd-vaziri-interview-digital-effects-artist-for-mi-3-and-ghost-protocol-part-1

Light the Fuse, #68 - Todd Vaziri Part 2
In the second half of our episode with the legendary Todd Vaziri (@tvaziri on Twitter), we do a deep dive into the visual effects of “Ghost Protocol,” including some secrets from the car park sequence, where the A113 Easter eggs are hidden, and what he contributed to the gecko gloves. Also, we get him to dish about what it was like working with Steven Spielberg, Rian Johnson and Michael Bay.
https://www.lightthefusepodcast.com/podcast-episodes/2019/10/4/episode-sixty-eight-todd-vaziri-interview-digital-effects-artist-for-mi-3-and-ghost-protocol-part-2


In the episodes, we talk a lot about one shot in "Mission: Impossible III", a shot I went into great detail here at FXRant: Visual Effects Camera Work: "A Fish Called Wanda" and "Mission: Impossible III"

Here are some supporting tweets to the episodes:

Here’s footage from a 2-camera rig they used to execute that iconic shot from M:I-3! In our interview with @tvaziri, he describes to us how he enhanced this footage with VFX and turned it into the famous shot you know and love! pic.twitter.com/dnADR39cue

— Light the Fuse Podcast (@LightTheFusePod) October 3, 2019

Here are @ILMVFX models from the helicopter chase in M:I-3! @tvaziri sent us these pics from ILM headquarters! Be sure to check out part 1 of our chat with Todd here (or wherever you listen to podcasts): https://t.co/eGsXo7FTKA pic.twitter.com/4YAJfbZcH4

— Light the Fuse Podcast (@LightTheFusePod) October 2, 2019

As @tvaziri discussed in his interview, here’s a piece of the guard rail he got to keep from the epic Chesapeake Bay Bridge sequence in M:I-3! Be sure to check out both parts of our chat with Todd! https://t.co/eGsXo7oiT2 pic.twitter.com/i1SzJcILuD

— Light the Fuse Podcast (@LightTheFusePod) October 8, 2019

Here's a breakdown of one of my shots as seen on the "Mission: Impossible III" DVD making-of doc, which shows all the pieces of photography (helicopter photography from the real Chesapeake Bay bridge and the "bridge" built on the Calabasas hillside) I used to create the shot. pic.twitter.com/nOzg6HipNr

— Todd Vaziri (@tvaziri) October 18, 2019

Twin Suns Setting and Beyond: The Perfect Star Wars Shots

Hal Hickel and I had a lot of fun talking with Ashley Barry-Biancuzzo about our favorite shots from the "Star Wars" movie series for StarWars.com

Twin Suns Setting and Beyond: The Perfect Star Wars Shots
https://www.starwars.com/news/perfect-star-wars-shots

From Luke Skywalker gazing wistfully at the twin suns to the X-wings swooping through the trenches of the Death Star, Star Wars is chock-full of iconic shots. But what’s going on in these images from a filmmaking perspective? To satiate our curiosity, StarWars.com sat down with Industrial Light & Magic’s Hal Hickel and Todd Vaziri to find out. They shared with us the emotional impact of their favorite scenes, the technical trickery of a Texas Switch, the challenges of hand-drawn animation, and much more.

Here's an excerpt:

StarWars.com: In your opinion, what’s the most beautifully designed shot in Star Wars?

Todd Vaziri: The shot where the Millennium Falcon flies toward the camera with the core of the Death Star exploding behind it in Return of the Jedi resonates with me on a technical and aesthetic level. There’s a real progression to it, too. First you’re inside these claustrophobic tunnels and then you’re zooming around inside the main reactor, which is huge and cavernous. The last part of the sequence has you going through those tight tunnels again, but doing the exact inverse. It has this rubber-band effect where the tension releases and then builds up again.

I tweeted about this moment earlier this year. Click on the tweet below to see the whole thread:

shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design shot design pic.twitter.com/3bappIkWho

— Todd Vaziri 🎃 (@tvaziri) February 9, 2019

Designing the Look of the Blockade Runner Engines from "Rogue One"

"Rogue One" (2016), visual effects by ILM. Visual effects supervisor John Knoll.

Lighting by Tom Martinek, compositing by Todd Vaziri and Will McCoy. Full ILM credits.

Making The Blockade Runner Engine Look for ROGUE ONE
Written by Todd Vaziri, lead artist at Industrial Light & Magic
originally published on ILM.com

I was thrilled to get to work on this shot from "Rogue One" with my friend and frequent collaborator, ILM lighter Tom Martinek. Leia's Blockade Runner escapes, which ties directly to the start of "Star Wars" (1977)? Yes, please! We'd love to bring this moment to life. It was a thrill to be able to help create the updated look of a classic ship we haven't seen on screen since 1977. Also, it's fun to realize that pretty much no one agrees how to pronounce "Tantive IV"

Our first task was to study those first fleeting glimpses of the Tantive IV from the original "Star Wars". Replicating the engine look of the engines precisely from the first film would not work for our movie. This was a recurring theme for our design challenges we took on for "Rogue One".

I created the Blockade Runner 'engine look' to appear the way you think you remember it from "Star Wars", not the way it actually appeared -- honoring the spirit of the original look and updating it to fit modern sensibilities and the stylistic signature of our new film.

First, I matched the hue of the engine glow from the original film. From there, I wanted to add an organic "jet engine" texture to the inside of each engine, so I rotoscoped and stabilized some footage from a Bell 209 helicopter engine, which had a lot of built-in dynamic energy.

I placed the texture inside the engine geometry of each of the eleven engines so we could get peeks at it when looking down the tunnel, and offset and rotated the helicopter engine footage for each engine (so each engine would have unique energy signature).

Tom developed a flickery cucoloris effect to create the interactive light from the engine cast onto the inside of the chamber--I split that into 11 passes to animate them separately. Then I had to come up with a way for the engines to ignite as if from a cold start.

I knew we never saw a Blockade Runner power up in any of the movies, but I asked Pablo Hidalgo and others to see if there was any precedent set in any of the animated shows. Apparently there was none! So I thought it would look cool if the four corner engines fired up first for stability, then the other seven engines followed up behind. I didn't want the shot to become a big lens flare show, so I only had a few crisp flares peek through (taking my cues from the original trilogy X-wing engine flares).

This engine look became a quick-start setup for the other Blockade Runners you see in the film. Finally for this shot, I added a hopefully-subtle camera rumble as the engines ignited.

We had a lot of fun talking about the rotating dish atop the Tantive IV. Look carefully at it in the original "Star Wars" (1977)--in shot 1, it's not visible. In shot 2, it's rotating counter clockwise. In shot 3 it's rotating clockwise! For "Rogue One", we animated the dish counterclockwise.

Todd Vaziri is a lead artist and compositing supervisor at ILM.

One Visual Effects Shot from "Pirates 2"

 "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (2006), visual effects by ILM. Visual effects supervisor John Knoll. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Rotoscoping by Lauren Morimoto, compositing by Todd Vaziri.

This was a fun shot. The foreground was shot on a docked boat facing the sea, but the entire background was replaced with synthetic water, to match the look of the rest of the sequence. Every single thing on the boat, for this shot, had to be rotoscoped or extracted.

The actor playing Captain Bellamy was photographed with the other two actors saying their lines. He pretended to react to a non-existent tentacle grabbing him with wide eyes and an open mouth, flinging his arms up in the air. Later, without the other two actors a stuntman was rigged with a wire and stood in the same spot, and was flung off the deck of the ship. I had to seamlessly transition from the actor to the stuntman. The morph transition finishes entirely* before he goes behind that middle actor. It was fast but complicated.

I did the morph completely in After Effects using Re:Flex to first shape the stuntman into the actor's position, then carefully revealing different parts of the stuntman at a time. The buttons on his jacket were particularly difficult. I wanted the tentacle to grab Bellamy between his arm and his body; I already isolated and animated his foreground arm (bending it with FE Bend It), so it was straightforward to matte it behind the arm. It gave the shot a little more complexity, and hopefully realism.

I kept the honest movement of the stuntman intact after he becomes airborne (couldn't re-animate him anyway, since he was photographed with all those ropes on screen right) but I thought it would be fun to track Bellamy's face on the stuntman as long as I could which made for a nice little moment when you see his great facial expression as he flies through the air between the two remaining actors. The water effects, droplets and splashes are several photographed splashes tracked in 2D and some generated in AE Particle World.

It's barely noticeable, but there's the face of Alex Norton (Captain Bellamy). If your eye happened to be in the vicinity, you would have seen him, rather than the motion-blurred face of a stuntman who didn't really look like him.

As for the splashes, the CG water folks had their hands full with other, giant shots, and since this was a relatively subtle, non-spectacular shot, I was confident I could do all the effects in 2D. I probably used six or seven photographed splash effects (filmed against black).

Coming up with the right combo of droplets, splashes and mist to create the motion and energy the shot required was fun. When comping filmed elements that have action, the trick is to NOT over-animate them in 2D because you can easily negate the natural energy of the elements.

Original Tweet.

A "Fury Road" Appreciation

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015) pic.twitter.com/BKcCLAlhJS

— ULTRAKiLLBLAST (@ultrakillblast) March 1, 2019

We take this movie for granted. What a masterpiece.

Remember how Ebert would sometimes screen a film with an audience and if anyone yelled STOP he'd pause the film and they'd talk about it? It would be a real experience to do something similar with "Mad Max: Fury Road".

In terms of action pieces, the final chase has SO MUCH STORYTELLING IN IT. It's almost criminal how well the choreography, cinematography, stunts and editing all work together.

I'm sure connective moments were "found" in the edit, but a great deal of planning and care was required to create the individual pieces.

These cuts are not random. The edit builds and builds and builds. It's all about momentum. The stakes keep getting higher. And the action is always personal, never clinical or objective. The audience feels the danger.

In any other movie, this many cuts in such a short sequence [including two shots of a hallucination!] would be a crime.

Look at how the sequence is put together. There's no confusion. You know what's happening. This isn't quick cutting solely to simulate energy - it IS energy.

Framing (frequently center framing the action), careful attention to the 180° line, consistent eyelines and cutting precisely when a cut needs to happen allow the audience go along for the ride, rather than bombard them with seemingly random, unrelated shots that don't connect.

I've watched this movie a lot, but I keep learning more about cinema each time I watch it.

All about the film’s cinematography, straight from John Seale and David Burr.

Did somebody say....Center Framed?https://t.co/Aa94T1E4hp#piggyback

— Vashi Nedomansky, ACE (@vashikoo) March 5, 2019

Steven Soderbergh on "Mad Max: Fury Road":

Original Tweet

Breaking Down a Visual Effects Shot from "Inferno"

"Inferno" (1999), visual effects by Banned from the Ranch Entertainment. Visual effects supervisor Van Ling, compositing/layout/roto by Todd Vaziri.

This movie (aka "Desert Heat") is objectively bad and should not be viewed by humans. The production shot this great footage of the moon rising with a super-long lens, and wanted to add some coyotes (a mom, dad and pup) running along the ridge as the last shot of the film. The production also shot some footage of a coyote running in the desert and wondered if we could somehow use this footage for the shot. It was a really fun little project.

I rotoscoped the coyote (traced its shape) for all of the frames that I had available, to isolate it. In addition, I stabilized the footage (smoothing out the camera operation) to help me lock the coyote in screen space, as if it was running on a treadmill, removing all the little bits of random motion from both the camera and the coyote's velocity changes.

Using my mattes and the stabilized footage, I created a run cycle for the coyote that was infinitely loopable. I threw the coyote over the footage and made position path that matched the ridge with as few keyframes as possible. All of this is in After Effects, btw.

I used the Auto-Orient to Path feature in After Effects, which meant zero rotation keyframes. I duplicated my coyote animation it to create the 2nd, messed with its path a little bit (to break it up) and offset the run cycle so they wouldn't be in perfect sync. For the pup I scaled it down and sped up its run cycle a little bit, to make it seem like its little legs had to work harder to keep up. I messed with its path, too, so that it caught up... then fell behind... then caught up again, giving the pup a little character.

Finally, I didn't want to try color correcting the coyotes to fit in the scene, so I used the coyote shapes and filled it with the landscape from the moonrise photography (moved up in Y), and mixed it with only a tiny percentage of the actual coyote footage.

It was a fun shot to put together, and I did pretty much everything (tracking/stabilization/animation/comp) in After Effects. I probably did the rotoscoping in Commotion.

Original Tweet

Oscar Pool Ballot, 91st Academy Awards

It's time for the Awesomest Oscar Pool Ballot In The History Of Oscar Pool Ballots.

Every year I create a special ballot based on a typical Academy Awards printable ballot -- but on my ballot, each category has a different point value. The highest valued category is "Best Picture," while the mainstream films' categories are valued at two points. The non-mainstream categories (like the documentary and short film categories) are valued at one point.

This way, in a tight race for the winner of the pool, the winner most likely would not be determined by the non-mainstream films (in other words, blind guesses).

Download the ballot here for the 91st Academy Awards and use it at your Oscar party.

click here for larger

And if you're wondering why Tom Cruise is on my ballot... he's been on every one of my Oscar ballots. Because he's soooooooooo cool.

Scenes From Movies with Music From Other Movies

The amazing armored car chase from "The Dark Knight" (2008) was presented without any musical score from Hans Zimmer, so I always wondered how the sequence would play if it had other music underneath.

So I put a track from "Dunkirk" (also directed by Christopher Nolan and scored by Zimmer) underneath the chase sequence on Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago.

direct YouTube link
And then I wondered what the sequence would feel like if it had music from the truck chase in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", so here it is. The track is "Desert Chase".

direct YouTube link
Another one of my favorite car chases of all-time is the San Francisco chase in "Bullitt" (1968), which also doesn't have any musical score. So I again took the "Dunkirk" track ("Supermarine") and put it underneath the chase sequence.

direct YouTube link
I did all of these edits in near-real-time, meaning, I basically threw together the sequence and the track, did a tiny bit of editing and levels correction, then rendered the sequence (I spent only a little more time working on it than the sequence itself).
Original tweet.

Who is the Mystery Person Behind Han Solo? SOLVED!

It’s time for another edition of your favorite movie game show, “Wait, That Was Always There? No, Way!”

Here’s a scene from “Star Wars”.

direct YouTube link

You see it, right?

I never noticed this person behind Han. And it’s been there the entire time. And it doesn’t matter there’s a crew member clearing the edge of the set—in the editing room Marcia/Hirsch/Chew/George probably liked the pacing of this shot with this particular in-point.

There are so many lessons about cinema and filmmaking to be made with this example.

[I blame Auralnauts for pointing this out to me, since I never knew about this before yesterday. ]

Okay, so I cut together a shot from later in the sequence (just before the jump to hyperspace) with our “mystery crew member” shot. It sure looks like it’s Alec Guinness and the “mystery” shot is the tail of a take from the earlier shot. Pretty cool.

direct YouTube link
Original tweet.

"Jaws" De-Dioptered

direct YouTube link
Over on Twitter, we have fun pointing out split diopter shots in movies; shots that contain two fields of focus, allowing an extreme foreground object and a background object to simultaneously be sharp. Filmmakers like Brian DePalma and Steven Spielberg use the split diopter as a way of visually connecting foregrounds and backgrounds. It's supposed to be jarring, a little disorienting, and off-putting.
But some people absolutely hate the effect for that reason. (Monsters, all of them.) So I thought it would be fun to start removing the split diopter lens effects from movies, just to see how the scenes would play with more traditional depth-of-field. I started with "Jaws" (1975).
After finding all the split diopter shots in the film, I took each shot into Adobe After Effects and split up the frame into a foreground and a background by rotoscoping certain foreground shapes, and applied focus effects to simulate traditional depth of field. In some cases I had to do some background restoration (painting additional bits of background) to help sell the effect. In most shots I applied a rack focus in the shot from foreground to background (or vice-versa), based on the timing of the dialogue. Since the film was shot with anamorphic lenses, I made sure to use anamorphic-shaped bokehs, and also added the irregular lens breathing associated with these lenses that you see with dramatic focus changes.
This was a fun exercise. It's always a blast to see one of your favorite films from a slightly tweaked perspective.
As a bonus, here is a side-by-side comparison of the original split diopter shots, next to my traditional depth-of-field versions of those same shots.
direct YouTube link
If you want to learn more about the technique, read Cheating Depth: The Magic of Split Diopter Shots by my buddy Tad Leckman.

91st Academy Award Nominees for Visual Effects

The nominees for the 91st Academy Awards have been announced. As always, the nominees were determined by the visual effects branch of the Academy after attending a bake-off of 10 films.  The full Academy membership will vote on the winners of each category.  The awards ceremony will take place on February 24, 2019.

Here are the nominees for Achievement in Visual Effects for the 91st Academy Awards. Congratulations to everyone involved in the creation of these amazing images.

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, Dan Sudick

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones, Chris Corbould

FIRST MAN

Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, J.D. Schwalm

READY PLAYER ONE

Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Mattew E. Butler, David Shirk

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, Dominic Tuohy

Visual Effects Bake-Off for the 91st Academy Awards

Visual Effects Branch Academy Governors John Knoll, Craig Barron and Richard Edlund talk to the “Solo” visual effects leadership team Pat Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Rob Bredow (Dominic Tuohy not pictured) at the Academy VFX Bake-Off. 

Some quick thoughts about the visual effects Academy Bake-Off which took place on January 5, 2019.

First and foremost, it was a super fun night and the work that was presented was jaw-dropping. The work being done by our industry is astounding. Films that didn't even make the Bake-Off might have won the Oscar just a few years ago.

As a reminder, here were the list of 20 films that qualified to be in the Bake-Off, as chose by the VFX Academy branch's executive committee: Ant-Man 2, Aquaman, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Bumblebee, Chistopher Robin, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, First Man, Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Mary Poppins Returns, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Mortal Engines, Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Paddington 2, A Quiet Place, Ready Player One, Solo and Welcome to Marwen.

Going to the bake-off (again, determined by the executive committee) was Ant-Man 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Chistopher Robin, First Man, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Mary Poppins Returns, Ready Player One, Solo and Welcome to Marwen.

The new format changes are great. The first presenter can introduce their work while a reel of 'breakdown' or before/afters plays on the screen behind them. Then the 10-minute reel of finished work (with audio), then the three governors (Barron, Knoll, Edlund) ask questions of the four presenters per-film, and take questions from the Academy branch members. It's much more casual and fun than previous formats, and the inclusion of before/after material is vitally important and a huge improvement.

Finally, instead of Academy members voting in-person moments after the event, voting now takes place online. The event was also live-streamed to San Francisco, London and Wellington. These are also great improvements.

I'm going to quickly go through the films that presented at the Bake-Off, which presented in alphabetical order, none in 3-D.

🎥 Ant-Man 2: The work is incredibly well-done and consistent-the reel played very well. The youth work on Michelle Pfeiffer is remarkable.
🎥 Avengers Infinity: Crazy reel, everyone was wowed by Thanos work. Only 80 shots in the film were not touched by visual effects.
🎥 Black Panther: Emphasis on the beautiful Wakanda environments, every single shot in the movie touched by visual effects.
🎥 ChristopherRobin: super subtle, effective animation, great integration of first-unit camera work. Very impressive.
🎥 First Man: Leaned hard on miniatures and the wonderful projection work. Restoration/re-working of real launch footage was cool.
🎥 Jurassic World FK: Dinos look so good, different approach with stand-in dinos on set, practical roller coaster is so cool.
🎥 Mary Poppins R: Integration of live-action/CG/traditional animation was huge, director eschewed digital doubles, heavy wire-work.,
🎥 ReadyPlayerOne: The volume of work is astounding, audible gasps for The Shining presentation.
🎥 Solo: Emphasis on the rear projection work providing imagery and lighting in extensive cockpit sequences, reel was super fun.
🎥 Welcome to Marwen: Greatly benefited from before/after introduction, helped us understand the very difficult design/execution process, fun self-aware presentation.

Of the ten films that presented at the:
🍿7/10 are sequels or part of cinematic universes
🍿1/10 based on classic Disney character
🍿1/10 based on real events
🍿1/10 based on documentary

🧑🏽Special effects supervisor Dan Sudick is a potential nominee for THREE films this year (Ant Man 2, Avengers IW, Black Panther)
🧑🏽Creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan is a potential nominee for TWO films this year (Jurassic World FK, Solo)

Finally, and frustratingly, 35 out of the 36 people on stage were white males [3 branch governors and 33 potential visual effects Oscar nominees presented]. We have an enormous inclusion problem and we have so much work to do.

Great writeup from AWN of the Bake-Off, including tons of breakdown reels from each film (these are *not* the breakdown/clip reels shown at the Academy event, FYI): 2019 Academy VFX Bake-Off: Celebrating A Year of Excellence in Visual Effects.

Original Twitter Thread

VES Announces Nominations for 17th VES Awards

The nominees for the 17th Visual Effects Society Awards were announced, and the two biggest feature film nomination earners were "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Ready Player One".

The two films earned six and five nominations, respectively. Coming up next with three nominations each were "Solo", "Welcome to Marwen" and "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom". "Christopher Robin," "First Man" and "Aquaman" earned two nominations each.

Nabbing a single nomination was "12 Strong", "Bird Box", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Outlaw King", "Ant-Man and the Wasp", "Mortal Engines", "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald", and "Venom".

Of the ten films that were in the Academy Bake-Off, the two films that didn't earn any VES Awards nominations are "Black Panther" and "Mary Poppins Returns".

Listed below are all of the categories for which live-action feature films were eligible. To see all the nominees, visit The Hollywood Reporter's coverage.  The nominees for the VES Awards are chosen by an Awards nomination process for qualified applications. The full VES membership votes for the winners of the awards, which will be announced at a banquet on February 5, 2019. To learn more about the Visual Effects Society, visit their web site.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature 

Avengers: Infinity War

Daniel DeLeeuw, Jen Underdahl, Kelly Port, Matt Aitken, Daniel Sudick

Christopher Robin

Chris Lawrence, Steve Gaub, Michael Eames, Glenn Melenhorst, Chris Corbould

Ready Player One

Roger Guyett, Jennifer Meislohn, David Shirk, Matthew Butler, Neil Corbould

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Rob Bredow, Erin Dusseault, Matt Shumway, Patrick Tubach, Dominic Tuohy

Welcome to Marwen

Kevin Baillie, Sandra Scott, Seth Hill, Marc Chu, James Paradis

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

12 Strong

Roger Nall, Robert Weaver, Mike Meinardus

Bird Box

Marcus Taormina, David Robinson, Mark Bakowski, Sophie Dawes, Mike Meinardus

Bohemian Rhapsody

Paul Norris, Tim Field, May Leung, Andrew Simmonds

First Man

Paul Lambert, Kevin Elam, Tristan Myles, Ian Hunter, JD Schwalm

Outlaw King

Alex Bicknell, Dan Bethell, Greg O'Connor, Stefano Pepin

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War; Thanos

Jan Philip Cramer, Darren Hendler, Paul Story, Sidney Kombo-Kintombo

Christopher Robin; Tigger

Arslan Elver, Kayn Garcia, Laurent Laban, Mariano Mendiburu

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Indoraptor

Jance Rubinchik, Ted Lister, Yannick Gillain, Keith Ribbons

Ready Player One; Art3mis

David Shirk, Brian Cantwell, Jung-Seung Hong, Kim Ooi

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Ant-Man and the Wasp; Journey to the Quantum Realm

Florian Witzel, Harsh Mistri, Yuri Serizawa, Can Yuksel

Aquaman; Atlantis

Quentin Marmier, Aaron Barr, Jeffrey De Guzman, Ziad Shureih

Ready Player One; The Shining, Overlook Hotel

Mert Yamak, Stanley Wong, Joana Garrido, Daniel Gagiu

Solo: A Star Wars Story; Vandor Planet

Julian Foddy, Christoph Ammann, Clement Gerard, Pontus Albrecht

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Aquaman; Third Act Battle

Claus Pedersen, Mohammad Rastkar, Cedric Lo, Ryan McCoy

Echo; Time Displacement

Victor Perez, Tomas Tjernberg, Tomas Wall, Marcus Dineen

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Gyrosphere Escape

Pawl Fulker, Matt Perrin, Oscar Faura, David Vickery

Ready Player One; New York Race

Daniele Bigi, Edmund Kolloen, Mathieu Vig, Jean-Baptiste Noyau

Welcome to Marwen; Town of Marwen

C. Kim Miles, Matthew Ward, Ryan Beagan, Marc Chu

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Avengers: Infinity War; Nidavellir Forge Megastructure

Chad Roen, Ryan Rogers, Jeff Tetzlaff, Ming Pan

Incredibles 2; Underminer Vehicle

Neil Blevins, Philip Metschan, Kevin Singleton

Mortal Engines; London

Matthew Sandoval, James Ogle, Nick Keller, Sam Tack

Ready Player One; DeLorean DMC-12

Giuseppe Laterza, Kim Lindqvist, Mauro Giacomazzo, William Gallyot

Solo: A Star Wars Story; Millennium Falcon

Masa Narita, Steve Walton, David Meny, James Clyne

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War; Titan

Gerardo Aguilera, Ashraf Ghoniem, Vasilis Pazionis, Hartwell Durfor

Avengers: Infinity War; Wakanda

Florian Witzel, Adam Lee, Miguel Perez Senent, Francisco Rodriguez

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Dominik Kirouac, Chloe Ostiguy, Christian Gaumond

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Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

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