Oscar nominees announced! And the VFX nominees are……

It is an exciting time! The Oscar awards are right around the corner and the nominees for the various categories have just been announced. How do you think the contenders in the VFX category faired?

Contenders who are now the VFX nominees of the Oscars 2015

Shall we see who made the cut? In no particular order listed below at the movies that remaining standing.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As the whole world is threatened again, it falls to Captain America and Black Window to protect it from the Winter Solider, a threat that arrived in our present right out the history books. Of course, the movie and story line was great but that is not why this movie was nominated in this category. The threat was caused by the Winter Soldier, the real threat came in the form of the helicarrier that is a more advanced version of what we saw in the Avengers. It can used to target and kill millions at a time without even entering the orbit of earth. It was the building of this marvel and the visual effects that we used in creating the episodes that lead to a great deal of destruction that won them a shot at the Oscars! We also have to mention the use of V Ray technology  that was built into the dome and came in handy during the integration of the highly complex shots with the main characters fighting all over the helicarrier.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The Dawn of the Planets of the Apes has a story that was built with complete knowledge that they needed to integrate VFX as the very foundation. The incorporation of the ground breaking technique of Motion Capture or MoCap as we like to call it, gave the team the time to work on the expressions and facial movements of the apes. The combined brilliance of both effects is why they stand a chance at the Oscars this year.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Groot and Rocket! Need we say more! These two characters who play a great role in saving the universe from the crazed villain most definitely are not the result of makeup. The tree like facial features of Groot was shot in the movie by using a mime in a blue body shoot and mask that looked Groot’s tree like appearance. Groot had to fit in during the post-production so that he could be rendered his tree like look. And a genetically modified raccoon that can talk, of course they built that character from scratch! Both of these characters and the level of realism in their movements is a great job in itself. But what made them real hit was their emotional and almost human responses that hooked the audience!

Interstellar

This movie needs no introduction! The science and depiction of the story is accurate that it actually led to a scientific discovery! The awe inspiring black hole, the worm hole journey and not to mention the star scape of the planet that they were to land on. Come on, we all that it was a mountain until that gigantic wave was almost in our faces. Can it get better than that? We will just have to wait and see to find out who tops this one!

X-Men: Days of the Future Past

And the X-Men franchise lives on! Who doesn’t love this series? Many scenes in this part alone deserve a mention here, like the ones where they battle the ruthless aliens and more. But the one scene that nobody can ever forget is the slow motion prison break. That is not easy to shoot and more difficult to execute on the effects front. Not only did they do a stunning job with the effects, they even made it funny and engaging. Wow does not even begin to do justice to that shot.

And the question that now remains is WHO SHALL CLAIM VICTORY? Tell us whom you would vote for in the comments below!

Anoop Chaphekar

Last updated: April 18, 2024

A Fine Arts Graduate, Anoop brings 20+ yrs experience in the VFX and Animation industry. He brings his expertise in Animation-VFX for Television Commercials to Visual Effects for feature films, TV and Web series.