"Tech Support": WANDERERS FROM THE PACK
The Academy’s nominations announcement has come and gone. So what have the craftsmen and craftswomen told us this year?
The first thing that jumps to mind is that the branches weren’t afraid to think for themselves this year.
For the first time since the black-and-white and color categories merged in 1967, the Best cinematography category is completely void of Best Picture nominees. Tom Stern (“Letters from Iwo Jima”), Rodrigo Prieto (“Babel”) and Michael Ballhaus (“The Departed”) are all MIA. The branch also continues to shy, unapologetically, away from digital photography. Dean Semler’s work on “Apocalypto” was a guild nominee seemingly on track for an Oscar mention.
Comments
Not terribly surprising to see Pirates shut out of makeup. Had makeup nominated it, it would have won, because so many people think there was a lot of makeup involved in the crew of the Flying Dutchman. but the entire crew, save one (Skarrsgaard), were entirely CGI, no makeup, cgi artisans got the jobs, not makeup artisans, that sort of resentment is similar to but much stronger than the prejudice against digital by the academy branch of cinematographers.
for a look at just what the makeup branch DID NOT do, and why Pirates will win VFX as easily as any movie ever has, check out this link:
http://www.ilm.com/theshow/
click experience come alive and then check out the looped clips under Davy Jones and the Chest.
Posted by: movielocke![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 25, 2007 02:33 PM
Skarsgaard was by no means the only extraordinary makeup effect on "Pirates." The cannibals? Depp's eye makeup as their God? All the rundown people in the villages? All the disctinctive Pirate looks? The battle wounds?
I have no doubt that use of Visual Effects for Nighy & crew probably did in their chances. I'm just saying, in addition to disagreeing with the assessment, that if they were going to be DQed, I felt it would have been at the bakeoff stage.
Posted by: Gerard Kennedy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.incontention.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| January 25, 2007 06:23 PM