SWATH AT THE OSCARS 2013: CHARLIZE DANCES, KRISTEN LIMPS WITH A SMILE, COLLEEN ATTENDS (VIDEO & PHOTOS)

Source: Zimbio

SWATH was well represented at the 85th Academy Awards (now known as the "Oscars") ceremony last night at the Dolby theater (formerly known as Kodak) in Los Angeles.  

More after the jump

SWATH REPRESENTS AT OSCARS: KRISTEN STEWART TO PRESENT!

Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart at the Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tweeted that Kristen Stewart will be a presenter at the Oscars' ceremony this Sunday, February 24th. 

Stewart is no rookie with presenting at the Oscars.  In 2010, she presented alongside her Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner.

Charlize Theron will be making an appearance with costume designer Colleen Atwood and the Visual EFX team nominated for the prestigious award. SWATH will be well represented at the Oscars. 

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SWATH VISUAL EFFECTS COMPANY FILE CHAPTER 11 AFTER BAFTA WIN

Poster created by R&H for their site during 
SWATH filming.

The Wrap is reporting that visual effects company Rhythm and Hues was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  R&H won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts ("BAFTA") last night for their work on the film Life of Pi.

R&H work on the visual effects for SWATH. Variety writes:

R&H is famed for its creatures and animals and created the digital animals on "Life of Pi" and "Snow White and the Huntsman," both up for the vfx Oscar. It uses proprietary software, which increases training time for artists that join the company and makes it hard for its studio clients to pull animation work in progress and hand it to another facility. To do so essentially means starting over.

The Wrap further states that Lionsgate has already pulled its film Catching Fire from R&H from doing its effects work.  R&H told it's 1,400 employees that some of them will be laid off. 

The Wrap reports the root cause for current economic issues for the visual-effects industry is due to tax incentives. 

"Some visual-effects industry executives and artists blame studios' hunger for tax incentives for fostering an environment where foreign and state governments are constantly undercutting each other with ever more generous film production credit packages. That in turn, has lured many major projects out of Los Angeles to places like Canada and the United Kingdom, forcing visual-effects shops to open up far-flung outposts to stay competitive." 

 
SWATH is currently nominated for an Oscar for its visual effects alongside Life of Pi. 

Read more about the R&H story here. 



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UNIVERSAL WINS BIG AT BAFTAS

Universal Studios should be pretty cheery about their wins at the 66th Annual EE British Academy of Film and Television Arts ("BAFTA") Awards held tonight at the Royal Opera House in London.

Universal's Les Misérables led the award winners with 4 awards for Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), Production Design, Hair & Makeup and Sound.

SWATH's Colleen Atwood did not win Costume Design, however Universal's Anna Karenina costume designer Jacqueline Durran did win.

Special effects company Rhythm & Hues who worked on the effects for SWATH won for Special Visual Effects for Life of Pi. 

Argo was the second biggest winner receiving 3 BAFTAs for Best Film, Director and Editing. Skyfall, Pi and Django Unchained were the other big winners. 

Check out the entire list of winners below.

BAFTA WINNERS

Best Film
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Outstanding British Film
Anna Karenina
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Anne Hathaway for LES MISERABLES
Les Miserables
Seven Psychopaths
Skyfall


Leading Actor
Ben Affleck - Argo
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Leading Actress
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust And Bone
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Emmanuel Riva - Amour

Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Argo
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - The Master
Judi Dench - Skyfall
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions


Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Bart Layton (director), Dimitri Doganis (producer) - The Imposter
David Morris (director), Jacqui Morris (director/producer) - McCullin
Dexter Fletcher (director/writer), Danny King (writer) - Wild Bill
James Bobin (director) - The Muppets
Tina Gharavi (director/writer) - I Am Nasrine

Film Not in the English Language
Amour
Headhunters
The Hunt
Rust and Bone
Untouchable

Documentary
The Imposter
Marley
McCullin
Searching for Sugarman
West of Memphis

Animated Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranorman

Director
Michael Haneke - Amour
Ben Affleck - Argo
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained
Ang Lee - Life Of Pi
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty

Original Screenplay
Amour
Django Unchained
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

Adapted Screenplay
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook



Original Music
Dario Marianelli - Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat - Argo
Mychael Danna - Life Of Pi
John Williams - Lincoln
Thomas Newman - Skyfall

Cinematography
Seamus McGarvey - Anna Karenina
Danny Cohen - Les Misérables
Claudio Miranda - Life of Pi
Janusz Kaminski - Lincoln
Roger Deakins - Skyfall

Editing
William Goldenberg - Argo
Fred Raskin - Django Unchained
Tim Squyres - Life of Pi
Stuart Baird - Skyfall
Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg - Zero Dark Thirty

Production Design
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer - Anna Karenina
Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson - Les Misérables
David Gropman, Anna Pinnock - Life of Pi
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson - Lincoln
Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock - Skyfall

Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran - Anna Karenina
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor - Great Expectations
Paco Delgado - Les Misérables
Joanna Johnston - Lincoln
Colleen Atwood - Snow White and the Huntsman

Make Up & Hair
Ivana Primorac - Anna Karenina
Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger - Hitchcock
Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lisa Westcott - Les Misérables
Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou - Lincoln

Sound
Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman - Django Unchained
Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst - Les Misérables Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill - Life of Pi
Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers - Skyfall

Special Visual Effects
Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley - The Dark Knight Rises
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer - Life of Pi from Rhythm & Hues
Nominees TBC - The Avengers
Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth - Prometheus

Short Animation
Here to Fall
I'm Fine, Thanks
The Making of Longbird
Short Film
The Curse
Good Night
Swimmer
Tumult
The Voorman Problem

EE Rising Star Award
Elizabeth Olsen
Juno Temple
Suraj Sharma
Andrea Riseborough
Alicia Vikander



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SERENADED BY WOLVERINE AND NOW AN OSCAR NOM,  SWATH EFX EXPERT TALKS ABOUT HIS DWARF WORK AS HE READIES FOR THE OSCARS

Source

One would think receiving an Oscar nomination would be the highlight of an outstanding special effects career, however in an interview with the Edinburgh Evening News, Philip Brennan tells how he was serenaded by...well....Hugh Jackman. Jealous ladies?  Later for that story.

Brennan who is nominated for an Academy Award as a member of the Visual Effects team for SWATH, told the EEN that being nominated felt "quite surreal."  

A native of Barnton UK, Brennan has been residing in Los Angeles for the past 20 years working on special effects in films such as Les Miserables, the Pirates of the Carribean trilogy, Moulin Rouge, Minority Report and the just wrapped Wolverine II.  Brennan was also honored at the Visual Effect Awards in 2004, according to EEN.

More after the jump

OSCAR RACE: SEE SWATH'S 

VISUAL EFX VIDEO BREAKDOWN 

Although previously posted on this site, The Mill and Blue Bolt released these videos to show their visual effects work in order to prop up support for their Academy Award Best Visual Effects nomination for SWATH, according to ComicBookMovie.com.

Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson make up the nominated visual effects team.

The 85th Academy Awards will air on February 24th.

Source/Source

SWATH GETS OSCAR NOMS:
 ATWOOD (COSTUMES) 
VISUAL FX (DWARFS & MORE)

Although there was a hope for Original Song and even Hair and Makeup, however the pride is still there for the nominations received for Snow White and the Huntsman for the 85th Academy Awards.  

As expected previous Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood was nominated for Costume Design.  Her work immediately in the opening scene.  A well deserved nomination.

Next was for the Visual Effects team (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson) which is another well deserved nomination for their work particularly with the dwarfs and troll.  

Read more about their work on SWATH here and here. 

Universal Pictures received even bigger nominations with their film Les Miserables which received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and more. 

Their successful R-rated comedy Ted also received a nomination for Original Song for "Everybody Needs a Friend."

Read the rest of the Oscar nominations here.

Costume Design

"Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran 

"Les Misérables" Paco Delgado 

"Lincoln" Joanna Johnston 

"Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka 

"Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Visual Effects 

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White

"Life of Pi" Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott 

"Marvel's The Avengers" Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick 

"Prometheus" Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill 

"Snow White and the Huntsman" Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

3D WORLD TAKES A LOOK AT THE 'MIRROR MAN'

3D World takes a look at the brains behind bringing the Mirror Man to life.  3D World writes:

While Tarsem Singh delivered a family-friendly interpretation of the Snow White fairy tale with Mirror Mirror, his fellow ex-commercials director Rupert Sanders reworked the story into a dramatic, action-laden piece for the Twilight generation.


In conjunction with the SWATH DVD release, 3D World reflects upon an interview with Visual Effects Supervisor Nicolas Hernandez of The Mill who are the creators of the Mirror Man's special effects image. 

Check out the step-by-step making of the Mirror Man in their article here and take a look at the Behind-the-Scenes video below and check out the creation of the Mirror Man.







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VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR NICOLAS-TROYAN TALKS DWARF, TROLL & OTHER SPECIAL EFFECTS

Universal

"[Dwarf effect] was mainly achieved with good old school tricks, of raising the other actors in the shot or having the 'dwarf' actors lower than anybody else," says Cedric Nicolas-Troyan director of Visual Effects on SWATH.

Coinciding with the release of the SWATH Blu-ray DVD this week, Moviemaker.com gives insight into some of the visual effects secrets of the film. 

One effect secret was how the actors who portrayed the dwarves were made into little people on screen.  A trick Nicolas-Troyan talks about was digging trenches allowing the actors to stand in them making them shorter as well as using body doubles with CGI.

Nicolas-Troyan states, "...we created a dwarf double of the principal actor with matching wardrobe and extremely precise matching make-up, exceptionally crafted by David White and his team. On some of those shots we did some digital face replacements. We also digitally dwarfed the principal actors, shortening their limbs to make them look smaller. A lot of it was simple 2D compositing. We peppered those shots at key moments to always remind the audience who those dwarves were."

Nicolas-Troyan says there were a lot of challenges on set and with the effects.  However, the "troll sequence" was challenging but went smoothly.

"...very challenging sequence on paper and almost the easiest to shoot. The reason: We prepared it, rehearsed it and shot it without changing anything. The result: One of the most memorable sequence in the film. We got lucky." 

Read more of his interview here and order your copy of the DVD from Amazon from the link on our site.

RAY WINSTONE SWOONS THE AUDIENCE ON 
THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW: 

TALKS SWATH, DWARFS,  AND MORE

Looking as dapper as ever and giving a swoon-worthy karaoke performance, Ray Winstone appeared on a UK show called The Jonathan Ross Show on August 25th.  Ray is gearing up for the release of his film The Sweeney on September 12th in the UK. 

Around 2:33, Ray charms the audience with a little SWATH talk as he describes the special effects techniques used for becoming a dwarf and also gives a little demonstration.  He later sings karaoke and he sounds really good.  

However, he did a little stereotyping of rap music stating that he is not into it and proceeds to describe it as music about "shooting people." Uh Ray...you are in The Sweeney!  

But for the record Ray, rap music has never just been about violence.  Like rock and roll music and other types of music, rap has its niches.  I'm sure Ray can hang with a little Sugar Hill Gang rapping about eating a bad meal at your friends house. *chuckles* 

But getting back the the karaoke, Ray's crooning of "I've Got You Under My Skin" is a MUST SEE!  

So check out this fun interview (ignoring the rap stereotypes) in the video above and don't forget to check out The Sweeney on September 12th in the UK.



via @malenacasey/Source   

VIDEO: SWATH TITLE EFFECTS

Snow White & the Huntsman - Titles from The Mill Visual Effects Studio on Vimeo.



Snow White & The Huntsman International Finishing from greenhausGFX on Vimeo.


Here are SWATH end title treatments for both US and international.  Title treatments were done by The Mill Visual Effects Studio. 



via @malenacasey/via/Source/Source

THE MAKING OF SWATH: FROM PRE-VISUALIZATION TO DWARF EFFECTS    ~ SEE HOW IT WAS DONE ~ 

Dwarf effect

FlickeringMyth.com interviews the Snow White and the Huntsman effects team who talk about how all of the effects came about and working with Director Rupert Sanders.  The Effects Team is:  Effects Supervisors Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Phil Brennan, Todd Shifflett, Bryan Hirota, Nicolas Hernandez, Edson Williams, Steve Moncur, Angela Barson, Lindsay MacGowan, Nvizage owner / founder Martin Chamney.


Visual Effects Supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan talks about what direction the effects were to take in the film.


"We wanted to keep the fairy tale aspect somewhat grounded,’ states Cedric Nicolas-Troyan. “The first thing was not trying to explain everything and anything. The second thing was to avoid any type of light, glowy or over-the-top effectsy FX as much as possible..."

Original plate at top - Finished comp at bottom

Due to the schedule constraints along with the budget, the effects work was divided among several vendors:


"...we had to take the divide and conquer approach based on the design of the film,” states Cedric Nicolas-Troyan when explaining how he and his colleague select the various VFX vendors and achieved a unified look throughout the picture. “Animals, creatures and all ‘life’ by design went to Rhythm & Hues. The dark, cold and ‘death’ by design went to Double Negative. The battle and soldiers went to Pixomondo. The Mirror Man went to The Mill. We chose the vendors based on what we believed were their forte."  

"Bringing the Enchanted Forest to big screen was the responsibility of the main VFX vendor for the fantasy adventure."




The effects team talk about the pre-visualization as well as CGI effects. 

Rupert had input on all aspects of the effects even the unique title treatment at the beginning and end of the movie.


"...like Rupert has a great eye for detail,” states The Mill Creative Director Henry Hobson. “Even though he was deep in thousands of other visual effects shots he would always pop in to chat about the titles, bringing some great ideas and thoughts into the process." 

Take a look at the different photos of effects from SWATH below.  Read the entire article about all of the SWATH effects here.

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Images belong to Universal Pictures, Rythm & Hues, Pixomondo, The Mill London, Base Black, Blue Bolt and Nvizage