Oscar 2011 - VFX

I'll start with the visual effects section, considering that for the moment is a bit more fresh in my head than the others. I actually had in mind to write a combined post including also the art direction, but I don't have enough time now for both of them. And besides that ... I think I'm gonna try to let a series of clips to "comment" more than I will (for sure it will bring more accurate info than I'm able to)

The first title on the nominee list (which is always alphabetical ordered) is "Alice in Wonderland". In a top for the Oscar favorites on this category, this movie probably would be the 2nd, meaning there are a few chances. The problem is that the effects, which are almost 90% of what you see on the screen, are on the same line with the specific Tim Burton "chaotic" style. Style, which I don't know how is perceived by other people, but on my case it manages to annoy me (well.. not every time, but in this case it does). I think that "Alice in Wonderland" was the perfect subject possible for this guy through the story/context nature, due to his directing style. And actually the result was pretty much as I expected. Shortly put - exaggeratedly dispersed out of the main storyline direction, which is quite lost among the whole mess. Maybe more on this in the next entry, because now I don't have enough time. Going back to the effects, even if, like I mentioned, these actually "carry" pretty much the whole movie, I think that in the same time also manage to make it a bit harder to watch. Maybe it's a matter of taste ... Anyway, to get to more objective info, the most parts of the film were shot in studio + computer generated. More on this in the next clip:

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" .. left pretty much of the effects for Part 2. It looks quite weak on this side, not that any from the whole series was in any way exceptional. Not only this, but also as a movie is probably among the worst of all the HP's. It suffers from the same problem as the rest actually. I don't have anything against J.K. Rowling but you can see from a mile away that she didn't have a clue about what she'll write in the 7th volume when she wrote the first. And this won't be a problem if it would be for a series, like I don't know .. Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, let's say .. where besides the main character you don't have any other connection between the books. But in case of Potter, it's completely different, we have to deal with a soapy saga from the first episode to the last. And of course we get the same result as in any script where the author doesn't know what he/she'll write after the next two episodes = weak, flawed & not very credible. More exactly in each Potter we get all sorts of new elements in the action, and these in theory are supposed to be known/exist from the first part (or even before), but until the current movie were probably classified as top-secret material = nobody mentioned anything about them. In this Potter we have the almighty/allpowerful/alleverything "Deathly Hallows" falling exactly in the mentioned category. But ... this topic was about VFX, wasn't it ? Yep, only that about VFX I don't have much to say, and I doubt that the Academy will have too. There is an aerial chase in the beginning of the movie (which I didn't found on YouTube to give as sample), some animation that is quite good where is placed (but I don't know if that matters as effects) and pretty much all the rest is about throwing lightnings from the wands accompanied by a la Gollum goblins. And this can actually be seen also in the next clip:

"Hereafter" ... just let me write it one more time ... I hope it's clear now. It's not ? Then -> ... It's the last Eastwood movie and as a movie is ok. Shortly put, is a drama with some romance touch in the end, centered on the idea of "what happens after you move your residence in the underground". Or more precise, about the perception of the living on the subject between "". Again, as a movie is fine, especially if you're in the mood for a slow-paced drama (although for the "afterlife" subject I personally prefer something more like "The Jacket") but ... it doesn't have effects ! Well, ok ... it has ... one scene/sequence in the beginning that consists in a tsunami sweeping an entire beach and beyond that. And this is actually quite nicely done, being pretty "immersive" so to speak :) for the viewer. However, a nomination for that ... I'm pretty sure that even the VFX team is more than happy with what they already got and don't expect more. Unfortunately (or maybe not) I can't give a spoiler with the single important effect in the movie - the tsunami, because I didn't find any clip .. so I'll go for the trailer:

I've written about "Inception" last summer on my Ro version of the blog ( sorry, no translation :) ) so I'll be a bit shorter on this. Anyway, I'll talk more when I'll get to some other categories. So, strictly related to VFX, I'm pretty convinced that here is the Oscar destination. Besides the fact that it actually helps the viewer to get "more deep" into the story (unlike "Alice" for example where the chromatic might actually make you close your eyes sometimes), "Inception" is also quite innovative on the VFX. From all the 5 nominees I think it has by far the many original elements, not necessarily in technical terms, but visually not seen very often before. Probably the next clip will set this more clearly:

"Iron Man 2" doesn't bring much original stuff on the VFX. I think the first "Iron Man" was better on this chapter. And in the second we pretty much have what we had in the first in terms of effects + some new CGI. Again, about the movie I've already written last summer on my Ro blog ( and again, sorry no translation :) ). In a few words - you may want to watch the film only if you really really like super-hero movies and you don't mind the eternally overused good-hero-almost-dying-but-then-rises-and-kicks-ass tagline or the lack of credibility of some hilarious Russian scientist played by .. Mickey Rourke. I think this is more than enough to say .. oh, and a clip about the VFX:

Back next time with Art Direction ;) ...