Here are your Visual Effects Society nominees. As a reminder, this is your shortlist for the category:
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Bloodshot
Love and Monsters
Mank
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Soul
Tenet
Welcome to Chechnya
VES has a bunch of different categories, so we’re just gonna take them as they come and then try to piece some thoughts together at the end.
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
The Midnight Sky
Project Power
Tenet
The Witches
Well, only two shortlisted entries here, and this is the big category. That’s nuts. So I guess it’s gonna be one of those years, where there’s not really a whole lot to say because only a certain number of the nominees are even able to be nominated.
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Da 5 Bloods
Extraction
Mank
News of the World
Welcome to Chechnya
There’s two more. Damn. And those are the big categories. I remember every year when I’m getting toward guesses that things almost never win without being nominated in either of these categories. So shit. Though admittedly, these are four of the five films I’d expect to see on the final list (with the final one being in the next category), so maybe this is just confirming what I expect to be the extremely obvious category. But we’ll see.
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
The Croods: A New Age
Onward
Over the Moon
Soul
Trolls World Tour
And Soul. Now half the list has been represented. That leaves Birds of Prey, Bloodshot, Love and Monsters, Mulan and One and Only Ivan as the films that didn’t get on the major categories here. So let’s see if they can muster any nominations in the other categories.
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
Die Känguru-Chroniken; Kangaroo
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey; Don Juan Diego
The One and Only Ivan; Ivan
The Witches; Daisy
Well there’s Ivan. Also a lot of Jingle Jangle love so far. I love it.
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature
Onward; Dad Pants
Over the Moon; Chang’e
Soul; Terry
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run; SpongeBob
“Dad Pants”
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
Bloodshot; Neuralspace
Mulan; Imperial City
The Eight Hundred; 1937 Shanghai Downtown
The Eight Hundred; Shanghai Warehouse District
Bloodshot and Mulan make appearances now too. So that just leaves Birds of Prey and Love and Monsters from the short list that are unrepresented thus far.
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
Onward; Swamp Gas
Soul; You Seminar
Trolls World Tour; Techno Reef
Trolls World Tour; Volcano Rock City
“Swamp Gas”
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project
Ghost of Tsushima; A Storm is Coming
Soul
The Mandalorian; The Believer
The Mandalorian; The Siege
This seems like a mix of commercials, movie and episodes. But sure. Another Soul nomination.
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project
The Mandalorian; Boba Fett’s Ship
The Mandalorian; The Rescue; Light Cruiser
The Midnight Sky; Aether
The Witches; Rollercoaster
Rollercoaster? Oh, right. That Lego set thing they’re on. Not that it matters.
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
Bloodshot
Greyhound
Monster Hunter
Mulan
Project Power
Bloodshot again. Mulan again.
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
Onward
Over the Moon
Soul
Trolls World Tour
The Willoughbys
Soul up and down.
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature
Greyhound
Mulan
Project Power
Underwater
And one more Mulan.
– – – – – – –
So where does this leave us?
- Photoreal: Midnight Sky, Tenet
- Supporting: Mank, Welcome to Chechnya
- Animated Character: One and Only Ivan
- Created Environment: Bloodshot, Mulan
- Model: Midnight Sky
- Effects Simulations: Bloodshot, Mulan
- Composting: Mulan
And Soul was nominated across five animated categories. Leaving Love and Monsters and Birds of Prey as the two shortlisted films with no VES nominations.
Damn. What a thin year. Feels like this is one of those ‘class wins out’ situations. Mank, Midnight Sky, Soul, Tenet, Chechnya as your category, and then either Bloodshot or Mulan as ‘theoretically could happen’ (I guess?) and then Birds of Prey as something I wouldn’t guess but almost have to respect because I think they respect it more than the other two.
Looking at BAFTA’s longlist — I expect them to nominate Mank, Midnight Sky, News of the World, Tenet and then either Greyhound or Soul. I guess Da 5 Bloods or Invisible Man could get on if they’re into either, but neither is shortlisted, so it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is: the only shortlisted films longlisted at BAFTA are Mank, Midnight Sky, Mulan, One and Only Ivan, Soul and Tenet. And assuming Ivan and Mulan don’t get nominated, then I am gonna stand by my assumed list of five and then leave Mulan as the likely first alternate and then Bloodshot and ‘Ivan’ as the two ‘could surprise you’ nominees. But even then, usually BAFTA is involved in telling you what the surprise nominee is. So if they go chalk, then the category will probably go chalk.
What a boring Visual Effects category we’re gonna have this year in terms of guessing.
– – – – – – – – – –