A miniature effect is a special effect created for motion pictures and television programs using scale models. Scale models are often combined with high speed photography or matte shots to make gravitational and other effects appear convincing to the viewer. The use of miniatures has largely been superseded by computer-generated imagery in contemporary cinema.
Science fiction is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, dinosaurs, mutants, interstellar travel, time travel, or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition.
Wētā FX, formerly known as Weta Digital, is a New Zealand-based digital visual effects company based in Miramar, Wellington. It was founded by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk in 1993 to produce the digital special effects for Heavenly Creatures. The company went on to produce some of the highest-grossing films ever made, such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water. Considered one of the most influential film companies of the 21st century, Wētā FX has won several Academy Awards and BAFTAs. The company is named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insects, which was historically featured in the company logo.
Rhythm & Hues Studios was an American visual effects and animation company that received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1995 for Babe, in 2008 for The Golden Compass, and in 2013 for Life of Pi. It also received four Scientific and Technical Academy Awards.
Scanline VFX is a global visual effects and animation company founded 1989 in Munich. The studio is led by VFX Supervisor Stephan Trojansky. The company has 7 locations including Munich, Stuttgart, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, London, and Seoul.
Marc Weigert is a film producer and film/TV visual effects supervisor and 2nd unit director.
Dean Wright is a film director and visual effects supervisor, best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Craig Barron is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus, a media company that produces visual development and virtual production services for motion pictures, television, museums and multimedia platforms.
Joseph Bruce Letteri is a senior visual effects artist, winner of five Academy Awards, four BAFTA awards and four VES awards. He is the current Senior Visual Effects Supervisor of the Academy Award-winning Wētā FX having joined the company in 2001. He has received several awards and nominations as visual effects supervisor, the latest being Avatar: The Way of Water, and previously for War for the Planet of the Apes. He attended Center High School (Pennsylvania) in 1975 and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. He gave the keynote address at UC Berkeley's December Convocation on 19 December 2010.
Dan Lemmon is a New Zealand visual effects supervisor. In 2012, he was nominated for an Academy Award for the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This was in the category of Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, his nomination was shared with Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri and R. Christopher White.
SilhouetteFX began as a rotoscoping tool for the visual effects industry. SilhouetteFX has been expanded to include capabilities facilitating paint, warping and morphing, 2D to 3D conversion and alternative matting methods. As of V6, SilhouetteFX retains all of the aforementioned capabilities now embedded in a node-based digital compositing application.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting from 2002. Since its inception, the award's title has gone through six different title changes, and one major category shift. First awarded in 2002, the award was titled "Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Motion Picture" and given to the best character animation in a live action film, with no specific character cited. This would change in 2004, when the category was re-titled "Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture", and given to visual effects artists for work on a specified character. The category was again re-titled in 2008, this time to "Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture". In 2014, it was titled "Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture", but changed in 2016 to "Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature" and once again in 2017 to its current title.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting from 2004. The award was originally titled "Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture", and changed in 2007 to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture". It was again changed in 2009, this time to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture", and again in 2011 to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture". Before its final change in 2015, to its current title, it was re-titled in 2014 to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture".
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting in 2002. While the award's title has changed several time within this period, the recipient has always been a visual effects-heavy feature film; film's with more background effects work have their own category, the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society. The award goes to artists whose work in models, miniatures, have been deemed worthy of recognition. Originally, the award was given separately to artists in both film and television, with the categories "Best Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture" and "Best Models and Miniatures in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial". In 2004, there was only one category, recognizing only work in motion pictures with "Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture". In 2005, television was honored, once again, with "Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Broadcast Program, Commercial or Music Video". Television series and/or televised content would be honored, intermittently, until 2015, when the category was redesigned to honor any motion media project. It has continued to do so since then.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society, starting in 2002. It is awarded to visual effects artists for their work in compositing.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting in 2002. While the award's title has changed several time within this period, the recipient has always been a visual effects-heavy television episode. Episodes with more background effects work have their own category, the Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode. Until 2012, miniseries and television movies had their own category.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society, starting in 2004. While the award's title has changed several time within this period, the recipients have been television episodes and/or movies or specials with less prominent, more subtle visual effects work.
The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society, starting in 2003. It is awarded to visual effects artists for their work in compositing. It has gone through several title changes over the years; from 2003 to 2012, the category included commercials in the category, before refocusing in 2013, specifically nominating television programs.
