“The Midnight Sky” and “Soul” were the big film winners at the 19th annual Ves Awards, which were presented on Tuesday night by the Visual Effects Society.
George Clooney’s cautionary sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky” won two awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Ves category that most closely corresponds to the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Winners in the category have gone on to win the Oscar 10 times in the past 18 years, but the last film to do so was “The Jungle Book” in 2017.
The Pixar film “Soul,” which was shortlisted but not nominated for the VFX Oscar, won five awards, the most of any film or television program. In addition to Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, it won for its animated character, created environment, effects simulation and virtual cinematography.
“Project Power” also won two awards, while additional film prizes went to “Mank,...
George Clooney’s cautionary sci-fi drama “The Midnight Sky” won two awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Ves category that most closely corresponds to the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Winners in the category have gone on to win the Oscar 10 times in the past 18 years, but the last film to do so was “The Jungle Book” in 2017.
The Pixar film “Soul,” which was shortlisted but not nominated for the VFX Oscar, won five awards, the most of any film or television program. In addition to Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, it won for its animated character, created environment, effects simulation and virtual cinematography.
“Project Power” also won two awards, while additional film prizes went to “Mank,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
George Clooney’s existential sci-fi drama, “The Midnight” Sky,” moved a step closer in the VFX Oscar race Tuesday, taking top honors at the 19th annual Ves Awards. The Netflix film (with VFX by Framestore) also earned the model award for the Aether spacecraft. Strangely, though, the unforgettable Ballet of Blood scene, containing simulated zero-g and remarkable liquid simulation, wasn’t even nominated, yet this highlight could prove decisive if “The Midnight Sky” wins the Oscar.
But that’s a big if in this wide open race that also includes Christopher Nolan’s time-inverted “Tenet” (which is finally available on the Academy’s online voting portal) and dark horse “Love and Monsters,” with its terrific array of Ray Harryhausen-like creatures. In the last four years, the Ves has only aligned with the Academy once (for “The Jungle Book”). Then again, the Ves nod could be enough to put “The Midnight Sky...
But that’s a big if in this wide open race that also includes Christopher Nolan’s time-inverted “Tenet” (which is finally available on the Academy’s online voting portal) and dark horse “Love and Monsters,” with its terrific array of Ray Harryhausen-like creatures. In the last four years, the Ves has only aligned with the Academy once (for “The Jungle Book”). Then again, the Ves nod could be enough to put “The Midnight Sky...
- 4/7/2021
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Pixar’s “Soul,” George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky” and “The Mandalorian” led the winners at the 19th annual Visual Effects Society (Ves) Awards.
Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host for the 10th time for the virtual ceremony which celebrated the art of visual effects across 25 categories.
“Soul” was named top animated film, winning five awards. “The Mandalorian” was named best photoreal episode and garnered three awards, and “The Midnight Sky” was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering two awards.
Sacha Baron Cohen presented the Ves Award for Creative Excellence to acclaimed visual effects supervisor, second unit director and director of photography Robert Legato, ASC. Cate Blanchett presented the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Jackson. The “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker was lauded in a virtual tribute that featured Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, James Cameron and Gollum.
Full List of Winners:
Outstanding Visual Effects...
Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host for the 10th time for the virtual ceremony which celebrated the art of visual effects across 25 categories.
“Soul” was named top animated film, winning five awards. “The Mandalorian” was named best photoreal episode and garnered three awards, and “The Midnight Sky” was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering two awards.
Sacha Baron Cohen presented the Ves Award for Creative Excellence to acclaimed visual effects supervisor, second unit director and director of photography Robert Legato, ASC. Cate Blanchett presented the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Jackson. The “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker was lauded in a virtual tribute that featured Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, James Cameron and Gollum.
Full List of Winners:
Outstanding Visual Effects...
- 4/7/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Thanks to the insightful writing of “Soul” co-director Kemp Powers (who also wrote the Oscar-nominated “One Night in Miami”), the barbershop scene is the most important moment in Pixar’s first Black-led feature. It introduces the community that the barbershop provides, and serves as the turning point for jazz pianist Joe (Jamie Foxx) to discover his true purpose in life.
“Joe is a Black man in New York, and part of your time you go through what I call ‘authentic Black spaces,’ where you’re around other people like yourself,” Powers said. “The barbershop scene came from that, and a desire, quite honestly, to see Black hair. When giving notes on the scene about Joe getting a suit from his mom, I also mentioned that Joe needs to get a haircut. Folks said that wasn’t as important as him getting a suit, and I begged to differ. For Joe,...
“Joe is a Black man in New York, and part of your time you go through what I call ‘authentic Black spaces,’ where you’re around other people like yourself,” Powers said. “The barbershop scene came from that, and a desire, quite honestly, to see Black hair. When giving notes on the scene about Joe getting a suit from his mom, I also mentioned that Joe needs to get a haircut. Folks said that wasn’t as important as him getting a suit, and I begged to differ. For Joe,...
- 3/24/2021
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Pete Docter, director and co-writer of Pixar’s “Soul,” appraised his co-workers by saying, “This team is crazy good.”
The film entailed four years of production and hundreds of workers. “I think most of the team were excited to stretch outside the box of what people might expect from an animated movie. Subjects like why are we alive? What are we doing with our time on Earth?” Docter says. He notes that the film, a hot contender during the long Oscar season, owes a lot to “individual contributors and these great leaders who help shape and direct the work.”
Ren Klyce, supervising sound editor
“We knew sound would be crucial. Ren created sounds and we auditioned them; the sound started to influence the way we visualized it. We hadn’t started building the Great Before and asked Ren, ‘What’s the ambience of the place?’ He brought in elements of nature sounds,...
The film entailed four years of production and hundreds of workers. “I think most of the team were excited to stretch outside the box of what people might expect from an animated movie. Subjects like why are we alive? What are we doing with our time on Earth?” Docter says. He notes that the film, a hot contender during the long Oscar season, owes a lot to “individual contributors and these great leaders who help shape and direct the work.”
Ren Klyce, supervising sound editor
“We knew sound would be crucial. Ren created sounds and we auditioned them; the sound started to influence the way we visualized it. We hadn’t started building the Great Before and asked Ren, ‘What’s the ambience of the place?’ He brought in elements of nature sounds,...
- 3/4/2021
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Pixar’s ‘Soul’ Is an ‘Utterly Mind-Blowing,’ ‘Genuinely Profound’ ‘Captivating Journey,’ Critics Say
The pandemic may have pushed “Soul” out of theaters, but if critics’ reviews of Pixar’s latest film are any indication, it is on its way to becoming known as one of the animation studio’s finest films.
While only a handful of reviews have been published so far from the film’s screening at the London Film Festival, “Soul” has been effusively praised as one of Pixar’s most visually and thematically ambitious stories yet. The film follows Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a music teacher who risks his financially stable job to fulfill his dream of a jazz career.
But just when he nails the audition, a freak accident hurtles him into a dimension of souls, where he is offered a chance to return to his life if he can teach a stubborn soul-in-training named 22 (Tina Fey) that life is worth living.
Under special rules instituted by the Academy...
While only a handful of reviews have been published so far from the film’s screening at the London Film Festival, “Soul” has been effusively praised as one of Pixar’s most visually and thematically ambitious stories yet. The film follows Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a music teacher who risks his financially stable job to fulfill his dream of a jazz career.
But just when he nails the audition, a freak accident hurtles him into a dimension of souls, where he is offered a chance to return to his life if he can teach a stubborn soul-in-training named 22 (Tina Fey) that life is worth living.
Under special rules instituted by the Academy...
- 10/12/2020
- by Rosemary Rossi and Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
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