Cinefex Weekly Update | Issue 02

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Article by Don Shay

Nominations were announced today for the 76th annual Academy Awards. As determined by the visual effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, three films will vie for best visual effects: The Return of the King, Master and Commander and Pirates of the Caribbean. The branch -- comprised of some 250 effects professionals -- met last week for what has become known as the 'bakeoff' to review and choose the most worthy candidates from among the films released in 2003. Others considered in the customary field of seven were The Hulk, Peter Pan, Terminator 3 and X2.

Artists representing each of the films were given five minutes to discuss the work on their particular project before presenting a 15-minute effects reel and then following up with an additional three minutes of discussion or questions. Branch members -- who had earlier been sent written materials on all seven films -- then voted secretly to select the top three. A final vote by all Academy members will determine the Oscar recipient.

Lingering over the proceedings was a gnawing question: What about The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions? How could two of the biggest effects films of the year fail even to make the bakeoff? Was it personal? Was it political? Or did the 40-member visual effects steering committee, charged with whittling the year's contenders down to seven, find these films somehow lacking in merit?

Cinefex sat down with veteran visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund, chairman of the Academy visual effects branch since its formation nine years ago, to discuss the selection process.

How does one become a member of the visual effects branch?

You need to be in a key creative position in the industry for eight years and be sponsored by two branch members. You then come up before the executive committee -- which currently has 34 members -- and a simple majority vote is required for selection. Someone who has been in the industry for a shorter time, but has done something particularly laudatory, may also be considered; but, in that case, the executive committee must vote unanimously.

How about the steering committee that selects the bakeoff films?

That committee consists of the executive committee, plus a few extras to bring the number up to 40. These are top people in the business, representing all disciplines, including physical effects. And the committee is diversified in that no one company has more than one or two representatives.

How are the bakeoff films selected?

We begin by reading off the names of all the movies that have qualified for Academy consideration. From that list, we select those that have enough effects to warrant discussion. This year, about 40 made that first cut. After that, we go through each film, and anyone on the committee is free to discuss its merits or failings. In the course of that process, we come up with our short list -- which this year was 19 films. Then everybody completes a ballot on which they can rank order up to ten movies. Price Waterhouse tabulates the votes and the seven top films are announced the next day.

A lot of people were shocked that neither of the Matrix films made the list.

I was surprised myself. The balloting is secret, but I can only assume that it missed by a vote or two. I think the studio was partially at fault. Rather than have the two Matrix films compete against each other and split the vote, Warner Brothers withdrew Matrix Reloaded from consideration -- which it was entitled to do -- leaving only Revolutions. I think a lot of people felt that the second one should have been put up, and not the third. Plus Revolutions was released late in the year and Warners was very tight about letting anybody who worked on the effects talk about it. It was a big secret. And a lot of people were just 'matrixed' out. Any of these factors could have had an effect on the vote. Still, it was great work, and it should not have been overlooked.

What are your criteria for selection? How do you weigh number of shots versus degree of difficulty versus technical innovation versus ...

Versus support of the drama. Right. To be honest, I don't know how you do that. We have no stated criteria. The field is just too broad and encompasses too many disciplines. How do you gauge Gollum against a sea battle? How do you judge fantasy effects versus reality-based effects? Three years ago, Dinosaur -- which had about 1,000 visual effects shots in it -- failed to get a nomination, while Gladiator, which had only about 70, went on to win the Oscar. Why? Because, to a degree, voting is always subjective. Everyone has to establish his own criteria based on personal experience and expertise. By and large, I think the system works. Every now and then a film slips by; but for the most part, the visual effects steering committee has a good record of picking the cream of the crop.

Compiled by Joe Fordham

Oscar Nominations : As announced this morning, The Return of the King topped the list of Oscar candidates with 11 nominations, including best picture and best director. Atypically, nominations in both visual effects and makeup categories went to the same three films: The Return of the King, Master and Commander and Pirates of the Caribbean. Click here for the full list of nominees. The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 29.
Golden Globes: At a star-studded gala on Sunday evening, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association crowned Peter Jackson best director and The Return of the King best motion picture drama. The third Lord of the Rings installment -- which won in all of its nominated categories -- also garnered recognition for best original score and song. Top winner of the evening was in the television realm, with five awards going to HBO's adaptation of Angels in America.
The Fountain: CHUD.com reports that during the Golden Globes preshow coverage, actress Ellen Burstyn announced that her next project will be Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain -- an ambitious science fiction epic that was derailed in 2002, after extensive preproduction in Australia, when lead actor Brad Pitt withdrew from the project. Burstyn earned an Oscar nomination for her work in Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream.
Fantasy Deluge: USA Today reports on a slew of -- brace yourself -- eight fantasy film franchises in development around Hollywood, including:

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Paramount's upcoming adaptation of the thirteen-book series by mysterious author 'Lemony Snicket' about a group of orphans and a greedy count, directed by Brad Silberling and starring Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep. The film is slated for a December release.
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, from author C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia series, directed by Andrew Adamson with effects by Weta Workshop. Production is expected to start this year, although the production company, Walden Media, is still seeking a distributor.

His Dark Materials, based on Philip Pullman's children's fantasy novels -- The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass -- has been adapted by Tom Stoppard into a pair of screenplays to be shot back-to-back by New Line Cinema. The story is about a young girl, Lyra Silvertongue, who embarks on a journey filled with armored polar bears and 'daemons,' based on Milton's Paradise Lost.

Artemis Fowl, under development as a Miramax franchise, based on a series of children's books by Irish author Eoin Colfer about a twelve-year-old 'criminal mastermind.' Described as 'Die Hard with fairies.'

Others cited in the story include Eragon, a Fox 2000 project based on teenage author Christopher Paolini's tale about a boy with a telepathic link to a dragon, and The Elric Saga, a Universal adaptation of Michael Moorcock's six sword and sorcery children's books. Finally, New Line Cinema CEO Robert Shaye, commenting on rumors that the studio might expand its Lord of the Rings trilogy with a film adaptation of The Hobbit, stated that there was "a reasonable possibility that we can negotiate an agreement" regarding J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth prequel, though it would hinge on Peter Jackson's involvement.
The Brothers Grimm: Director Terry Gilliam is quoted at Empire Online, discussing his upcoming fractured fairy tale. Principal photography is complete and "hundreds of special effects" are underway. The article also mentions that Gilliam hopes to use the momentum that Grimm has given him to resurrect his The Man Who Killed Don Quixote project, aborted during early production in 2000 as painfully detailed in the documentary, Lost in La Mancha.
Madman/Fantastic Four: Dark Horizons reports on two more comic book adventures in the works -- Robert Rodriguez is preparing to direct an adaptation of Mike Alldred's Madman comic, while actor Sean Astin is apparently vying with Steven Soderbergh to direct a Twentieth Century Fox adaptation of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four.
Frankenstein: Variety reports that Martin Scorsese is teaming up with horror novelist Dean Koontz, director Marcus Nispel and producer Tony Krantz to bring Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to the USA Network, transposing the classic monster tale to a murder mystery setting in present-day Seattle. Koontz wrote the two-hour pilot as a spec script, and is now working on four subsequent episodes. Nispel most recently directed the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Krantz produced the TV series 24. Scorsese is expected to direct the pilot, which begins shooting in mid-April.
James Cameron: Ain't It Cool News reports James Cameron appeared in a Q&A session after a screening of Terminator 2 at Hollywood's ArcLight Cinemas, and hinted that his next feature project will be a big-budget Hollywood studio picture that uses state-of-the-art CGI shot on high definition digital 3D, similar to his most recent Imax film. Cameron reportedly commented that, upon seeing The Return of the King, he realized it was time to return to visual effects filmmaking.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Click here to see the trailer for director Michel Gondry's upcoming surreal mind-tripping comedy, starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst, written by Charlie Kaufman (not Donald).
Kill Bill: Vol. 2: Click here to sample the first teaser trailer for part deux of Quentin Tarantino's chop-socky fable of feminine empowerment, now slated to be in theaters April 16, a few months later than originally planned. The original Kill Bill was recently nominated for a British Academy of Film & Television Arts award for best visual effects, competing against Big Fish, Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Return of the King.
Shrek 3: Variety reports that DreamWorks is pleased enough with how the upcoming Shrek 2 is shaping up to move ahead with plans for a third theatrical feature starring their jowly green giant, who this time becomes entangled with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Shrek 2 -- with a screenplay by David Stern, Joe Stillman and David Weiss -- will be in theaters May 21.
Shark Tale 1 & 2: The Shrek writing trio is also at work on a sequel to DreamWorks' upcoming Shark Tale, a CG adventure featuring the voices of Will Smith, Robert DeNiro, Renée Zellwegger, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and -- no, you are not hallucinating -- Martin Scorsese, as a school of fish that fall in with some fast-talking sharks. The first Shark Tale will be in theaters October 1, while a release date for the sequel has not yet been announced. Click here to cruise the website.

Star Wars Episodes 2 & 3, Harry Potter 2 & 3, The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Polar Express, Spider-Man 1 & 2. Our resume speaks for itself: Gentle Giant’s scanning arsenal is the de facto standard when creating a digital library for your production’s visual effects needs.