The best of the best: The SP-FX houses - Page 4

Re: The best of the best: The SP-FX houses

Ouch.

Don't hold back or anything chuck.

Re: The best of the best: The SP-FX houses

The Academy has revealed the final seven films that will be vying for the three slots in the Best Visual Effects category. The chosen seven are...

"300"
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"Evan Almighty"
"The Golden Compass"
"I Am Legend"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers"

The VES (Visual Effects Society) also announced their nominations. "Transformers" earned the most nods, follow the link to check out the rest of the nomiees...

http:http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/...elease2008.pdf

Re: The best of the best: The SP-FX houses

ILM earned their 37th and 38th Oscar nods this morning for their work on "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Transformers". The third nod for Best FX went to the combined work of Rythm & Hues, Framestore, and Cinesite for "The Golden Compass".

"Transformers" looks to be the early favorite for the award, which would earn ILM their 16th Oscar for Best Visual FX.

Given how Pirates and "Transformers" dominated the VES nominations, it should come as no great surprise that the battle for the Oscar would come down between them, although "The Golden Compass" could pull an upset (although its highly unlikely at this point).

Re: The best of the best: The SP-FX houses

Visual Effects Society winners announced...

VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY ANNOUNCES 6th ANNUAL VES
AWARDS WINNERS
Los Angeles, February 11, 2008 – The VES Awards were given out last night
during the Visual Effects Society’s (VES) sixth annual gala event at the Kodak
Theatre Grand Ballroom in Hollywood. The sold-out event attracted more than a
thousand visual effects and animation artists, dozens of nominees and members
of the film, television, commercial and video game industries. During the
evening, filmmaker Steven Spielberg received the VES Lifetime Achievement
Award in recognition of his contribution to the art and science of visual effects.
“The work we celebrated tonight is a testament to the crucial role the talent,
knowledge and experience visual effects artists play in the storytelling process.
Because visual effects “geeks' are at the cutting edge of technology, they are
also at the cutting edge of entertainment as well,” says Eric Roth, VES Executive
Director. “I think it is remarkably appropriate that we awarded our highest honor –
the VES Lifetime Achievement Award -- to Steven Spielberg, because he is not
only one of the greatest storytellers of our time, he is also an honorary technogeek
for us tonight.”

And the winners are:

Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture
"Transformers"
Scott Farrar
Shari Hanson
Russell Earl
Scott Benza

Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture
"Ratatouille"
Michael Fong
Apurva Shah
Christine Waggoner
Michael Fu

Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special
"Battlestar Galactica – Razor"
Mike Gibson
Gary Hutzel
Sean Jackson
Pierre Drolet

Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series
"Fight for Life – Episode 4"
Philip Dobree
Nicola Instone
Marco Iozzi
Matt Chandler

Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
Rome 2 – Episode 6 – "Philippi"
James Madigan
Barrie Hemsley
Duncan Kinnard
Gary Brozenich

Visual Effects in a Commercial
Smirnoff "Sea"
William Bartlett
Scott Griffin
Dan Seddon
David Mellor

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
"Transformers" (Desert highway sequence)
Scott Farrar
Shari Hanson
Shawn Kelly
Michael Jamieson

Real Time Visuals in a Video Game
Halo 3
Marcus Lehto
Jonty Barnes
Stephen Scott
CJ Cowan

Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game
"World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade"
Jeff Chamberlain
Scott Abeyta

Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
"Sea Monsters"
Sean Phillips
Jack Geist
Robin Aristorenas
Mark Dubeau

Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Davy Jones)
Hal Hickel
Marc Chu
Jakub Pistecky
Maia Kayser

Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture
"Ratatouille" (Colette)
Janeane Garofalo
Jamie Landes
Sonoko Konishi
Paul Aichele

Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial
Chemical Brothers "Salmon Dance"
Nicklas Andersson
Mike Mellor
Sylvain Marc
Florent DeLa Taille

Effects in an Animated Motion Picture
"Ratatouille" (food)
Jon Reisch
Jason Johnston
Eric Froemling
Tolga Göktekin

Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (the Maelstrom)
Frank Losasso Petterson
Paul Sharpe
Joakim Arnesson
David Meny

Created Environment in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial
"Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee"
Phi Tran
Matthew Lee
Martin Hilke
Justin Mitchell

Models or Miniatures in a Motion Picture
"Transformers"
Dave Fogler
Ron Woodall
Alex Jaeger
Brian Gernand

Models or Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
"Halo 3/Believe Campaign"
Matthew Gratzner
Alan Scott
Seth Curlin
Greg Boettcher

Compositing in a Motion Picture
"Transformers"
Pat Tubach
Beth D'Amato
Todd Vaziri
Mike Conte

Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Nike "Leave Nothing"
James Allen
Rob Trent

Special Effects in a Motion Picture
"Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix"
John Richardson
Stephen Hamilton
Richard Farns
Stephen Hutchinson

Special Effects in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Lexus Hydrant "Actively Safe"
Dave Peterson
Anthony De La Cruz

Re: The best of the best: The SP-FX houses

The likely nominees so far this year seem to be "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Iron Man". No telling what will earn the third slot.

Re: The best of the best: The SP-FX houses

(from the Rotten Tomatoes site)

20 CGI CLASSICS – FROM T2 TO BATMAN BEGINS TO WALL-E

RenderMan, a piece of software created by those masters at Pixar, revolutionised computer-generated special effects when it was originally released 20 years ago this year. Designed to take the information in a CG file and "render" it into an image, the software made the creation of visual effects an art limited only by imagination.

"At [the time of RenderMan's release] CG was nowhere in the special effects business," Pixar's co-founder and president Ed Catmull told The Hollywood Reporter, who published a feature on the software's anniversary today. The feature, which explains the history of the software in more detail, includes a timeline explaining the product's milestones.

From infancy in 1985's Young Sherlock Holmes - the first use of the name "RenderMan" didn't happen until the product matured in 1988 - right up to this year's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, WALL-E and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, RenderMan has been an essential part of the summer season for its entire lifespan.

To further celebrate 20 years of RenderMan, RT scoured Pixar's own list of movies that have employed RenderMan to pick 20 visual classics - in chronological order - that wouldn't exist today were it not for the software's creation...

#1 “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991)
#2 “Jurassic Park” (1993)
#3 “Toy Story” (1995)
#4 “Titanic” (1997)
#5 “The Matrix” (1999)
#6 “Gladiator” (2000)
#7 “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” (2001)
#8 “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001)
#9 “Finding Nemo” (2003)
#10 “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003)
#11 “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)
#12 “The Day After Tomorrow” (2004)
#13 “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004)
#14 “Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith” (2005)
#15 “Batman Begins” (2005)
#16 “War of the Worlds” (2005)
#17 “King Kong” (2005)
#18 “Sunshine” (2007)
#19 “Beowulf” (2007)
#20 “Wall-E” (2008)

Agree or disagree with this list?