There is a very interesting question being raised over on Variety today. Should Animated movies also qualify for the category of “Best Visual Effects” along side of non-animated films?
“My job is the visual effects supervisor for ‘Beowulf,'” says SPI’s Jerome Chen. “It’s the same title I had for ‘Stuart Little’ and ‘Stuart Little 2.’ My job function has grown through the years to the point where now, yes, I touch every single frame … but the essence for me, my main function, has stayed the same.”
Moreover, argues “Surf’s Up” visual effects supervisor Rob Bredow, it’s not just the job descriptions that overlap. “The exact same artists and exact same techniques were used on ‘Surf’s Up’ and ‘Spider-Man,'” Bredow says. “They were rendering sand, and we were rendering millions of particles of water. We were literally developing the same tools at the same time.”
When i first thought about the question, my initial reaction was “hell no, it’s a different medium and it shouldn’t qualify”. However, the more and more I think about it, the more it seems to make total sense.
Music in animated films is eligible for nomination right along side of the non-animated films. The musicians score the music the same way no matter if it’s animated or not. The same is true with visual effects artists. They get handed footage (doesn’t matter if it’s animated or non-animated footage) and they apply their digital visual effects the exact same way that they do for either.
So while on the surface it seems like visual effects in animated films should not be considered along side of their non-animated counterparts… when you think about it, there really is absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t be.
What do you guys think? Should Animated films be eligible for best Visual Effects right along with live action films, or should they not? And most important… why?
As a visual effects artist myself, I would like to see them included, however, I think the Oscars and other awards are basically worthless. I’d like to see the public voting on these, rather than a bunch of Hollywood cronies who probably don’t even watch the movies they decide should win. I mean it’s obvious every year who will win the vfx award. This year it’ll be transformers because Spielberg produced it.. regardless of the other fantastic vfx that happened this year…
I think animated films should not qualify for best effects Oscar, because in animation, the animator has complete control over all settings of the current scene, whereas the embedding of VFX in live-action-sequences requires greater skills, because the animators cannot change the settings of the scene (like lighting).
No. There’s a difference between making Nemo look good as he swims in a cartoon ocean, and making Davy Jones look photorealistic standing in broad daylight next to actual human beings.
I agree with those who say there should be consideration about some VFX catergories at the Oscars. However the only problem with that is that you are increasing the amount of catergories at the Oscars (which is already long and big enough) and leading the way for a lot of unnecessary catergories to be introduced. I think Darren gave a great example and Roguepirate got it spot on. Imagine if Shrek The Third won an Oscar. *shudder*.
I echo Roguepirate, who pretty much nailed it.
After all, let’s say this oscar year, An FX nomination goes to The Transformers (and, if it doesn’t get one, there will be riots in the streets) but one of the other nominations goes to say, The Bee Movie. The Bee Movie wins the Oscar.
That would stink. (There also might be riots in the streets)
I’m doing VFX for selfmade movies myself but as a hobby for 3 years now and all i can tell is that it’s really hard. It takes a lot of time and skill to get a shot look good. And I really don’t see any difference between a copletely animated movie and a movie with added VFX if you look at the way they are done. And I have to agree with Roguepirate. There should be some VFX categories like best Characteranimation or most realistic animation of elements (earth fire water etc.), even best compositing, best 3D model or best textures e.g.
There are so many things you have to work on to get Visual Effect look very good. Those people who do all that should be honored separately.
(I’m german sorry for my english – GREETS TO JOHN AND DOUG FROM GERMANY YOU’RE GREAT GUYS)
I believe there should be a category for live action films (where things such as how wel the effects blend with the live action footage are taken into account), and a separate category for outstanding effects in a fully effects based film (animation).
It’s difficult to say, although im leaning toward it not being included. You can’t really use music as an example since music is transparent meaning you can compare music between mediums without problem as with story and scripts. VFX is a bit different in that to me it would seem to be a bit more difficult to incorporate effects into a non-animated film than it is to incorporate it into an animated film. And in that sense the visual effects achievement would be in a way greater than the same effect in an animated film.
Also to take into consideration is what the award is based upon. If the award was weighted toward visual effects presentation then animated films should not be included. If the award was weighted toward visual effects achievements, then it should be presented to the person rather than the film thus voiding the animation/non-animation gap.
Absolutely they should be included.
Yes, especially with all the CGI that goes into animated films nowadays. Haven’t you ever watched an animated film and just been blown away by a new technique they used/developed for the film? Absolutely they should.
Or maybe they should have two different Best Effects Oscars…*shrug*
When you’re talking about the same technologies and skills and people, yes, I absolutely think that they should be considered for best visual effects. Standard animation (which has all but disappeared), not so much.
That being said, I actually think a movie like Beowulf, pretty as it was, should have a pretty tough time winning. The criteria for the award should include consistency, and Beowulf had more than a few scenes that were kind of jarring in their obvious CGI-ness. Not to mention that it’s always more impressive to me when good effects are seamlessly integrated with live action.
I don’t think animated features should be eligible for the best special effects award. The award is supposed to recognize outstanding special effects. In other words, it is supposed to recognize elements of a film that are special, that only appear sporadically to add to the mood of certain scenes. If a movie is comprised entirely of special effects, they can no longer be considered special.
Plus, don’t they have these sort of technical achievements in the Pre-Oscars ceremony the night before the main event?