| OSCARS: 'THE GOLDEN COMPASS' RECOGNIZED FOR VFX |  |   | | | HOLLYWOOD – UK facilities Framestore CFC and Cinesite had their visual
effects work honored at the 80th Annual Academy Awards, which took
place on Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The award for Visual
Effects went to The Golden Compass, a film that both facilities contributed to. | | (2/25/2008) | | |  Framestore CFC (www.framestore-cfc.com) created the huge and heroic
polar bear, Iorek, his evil arch-enemy, Ragnar, and a host of
supporting bears. The studio also created the icy CG environments in
which they live. The award was accepted on behalf of the Framestore CFC
team by VFX supervisor Ben Morris, who is one of the four recipients of
the award.
“When Chris Weitz and Mike Fink (director and VFX supervisor) said that
they regarded Iorek as a true co-star and expected an accordingly
strong performance from him, we knew we'd got our work cut out for us,”
recalls Morris. “That we achieved this - and to Oscar level - is the
greatest thrill imaginable. We're all completely knocked out."
Cinesite was also recognized for their contributions to the film. The
studio delivered 400 shots to the production, including photorealistic
CG daemon animal characters and the spectacular battle sequence at
Bolvangar, as well as 3D vehicles, digital matte paintings and various
composites.
Daemon characters created by the studio include a chameleon, owl,
raccoon, rat, raven, spaniel, panther, praying mantis, and several
dogs. All were created using Cinesite’s in-house character animation
pipeline. Specially written fur, feather and muscle systems were also
called on. The spectacular battle sequence at the Bolvanger detention
center was created using digital matte paintings and environments.
The film beat out both Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for the award. The other winning nominees on The Golden Compass team included Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm & Hues, special effects supervisor Trevor Wood and VFX supervisor Michael Fink.
PHOTO: Cinesite created digital matte paintings, as well as characters for the film.
| |
