Oscar Winning Editors Explain Good Editing (2015)

Also check out:

// Interview with editor Michael Kahn

Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

Kevin Pollak hosts a look at the Oscar-nominated animated short film nominees from 2013 including a panel with the filmmakers. Held on February 25, 2014, with films including "Feral" (Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden), "Get a Horse!" (Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim), "Mr. Hublot" Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares, "Possessions" (Shuhei Morita) and "Room on the Broom" (Max Lang and Jan Lachauer).

Watch: Documentary ‘Life After Pi’ Chronicles Collapse of Rhythm & Hues

LIFE AFTER PI is a short documentary about Rhythm & Hues Studios, the L.A. based Visual Effects company that won an Academy Award for its groundbreaking work on "Life of Pi" -- just two weeks after declaring bankruptcy. The film explores rapidly changing forces impacting the global VFX community and the Film Industry as a whole.

INFO: ADAPT Oscar March in March Rally

// OSCAR MARCH IN MARCH RALLY

Sunday, March 2, 2014

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. PST

Hollywood Blvd. & Vine

We are holding a rally to support legal action to help end the current subsidy race that is damaging the Visual Effects and Film industries. These subsidies are a form of corporate welfare used by Hollywood producers to game various governments against each other. These actions have led to a bidding war between governments that maximizes the amount of free taxpayer money for Hollywood productions that end up making billions of dollars. At the same time, this has unknowingly cost taxpayers billions... more on ADAPT website


// Oscars 2014: Why Are Special Effects Wizards Planning to Protest at the Ceremony?

// The State Of The VFX Industry

// VFX Soldier

New Oscar Rules 'Mocap Isn't Animation'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oscars open visual-effects prize to 5 nominees

(AP) – 21 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — The visual-effects category has gotten an upgrade at the next Academy Awards ceremony.
The board of governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences increased the number of nominees to five, up from three, at the 83rd awards show next Feb. 27.
The switch brings more awards attention to visual effects, which play a bigger role in Hollywood blockbusters as digital-animation technology continues to advance.
Since 1996, the visual-effects category has featured only three nominees, including last year's winner, the science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar."
The academy also announced Thursday some changes to the feature-animation category, including shortening the minimum running-time for animated contenders to greater than 40 minutes. That's down from the previous minimum of 70 minutes.
The change brings the animation rules in line with the minimum running times in other feature-film categories.
The new rules include language to clarify what constitutes an animated film, stating that "motion capture by itself is not an animation technique."
Motion-capture records performances by live actors wearing special suits covered with sensor dots that are read by digital cameras. The technology was used as the foundation for alien characters in "Avatar," the great ape in "King Kong" and the Gollum character in "The Lord of the Rings" films.

Oscar. Agree to disagree.

Well, last night Tiff and I along with 100billion something other viewers across the world watched the Oscars. I must say that John Steward was a great host this year and the Wii tennis game on stage was awesome! I was really happy for "Big Bird" and the Pixar crew for their Best Animated Feature win for Rats but greatly disappointed in the Academy's choice for Best Animated Short Film "Peter and the Wolf". I thought the story for "Peter and the Wolf" was ok but the ending was lackluster. You can see the short on one of my earlier posts here. I personally was pulling for Alexander Petrov's "My Love" because of it's story, creative difficulty, and artistic beauty. I felt Petrov was snubbed by the Academy but this isn't the first time my artistic tastes have differed from the "House of Oscar" nor will it be the last. I am happy Daniel Day Lewis got his statuette for "There Will Be Blood" because it was a phenomenal performance (he should have won one for his role as "Bill the Butcher" in "Gangs of New York" a few years back as well). It was also wonderful to see legendary art director Robert Boyle receive an honorary Oscar for 7 decades of artistic leadership and creative innovation in Hollywood. But one of the surprises of the night politically came when US soldiers from Iraq presented the awards for best documentary short. I thought it was interesting how the Academy tied in the presenters with the winning documentary. I was also extremely shocked that ILM didn't win this year for best visual effects for "Pirates 3" or "Transformers". I think they were totally snubbed yet again because there was no way "The Golden Compass" surpassed the visual effects superiority of "Pirates". How can you possibly compare a cg polar bear with the maelstrom scene from "Pirates"? You can't. All in all I agreed with the Academy's choices about half the time but I guess that's how it goes every year.



Maelstrom Scene from Pirates 3



Golden Compass VFX