For the second consecutive year, the Emmy competition has broken down artistic excellence in visual effects on primetime television into two distinct categories based on the role of VFX in a show–one for VFX-driven programs, the other honoring those efforts in which VFX play a supporting role.
Also under year two of that awards structure is another bit of deja vu as a number of nominees in 2012 are now back again vying for coveted VFX Emmy Awards. This time around, SHOOT focuses on two returnees to the nominations circle–artisans from Zoic Studios and Pixomondo.
Zoic Studios currently has three nominations: two for Outstanding Special Visual Effects on the strength of the Falling Skies‘ “Worlds Apart” episode (on TNT) and Hemlock Grove‘s “Children of the Night” (Netflix); and another in the Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role category, earned on the basis of the pilot for Revolution (NBC). Last year, the Zoic ensemble scored two Outstanding Special Visual Effects noms–for episodes of Falling Skies and Once Upon A Time (ABC).
Meanwhile Pixomondo is being recognized on two fronts–one for its fine hand in the VFX for “Valar Dohaeris” episode of Game of Thrones (HBO). This work is in the running for the Outstanding Special Visual Effects Emmy Award. Last year, artisans from Pixomondo won that same category Emmy for Game of Throne‘s “Valar Morghulis” episode.
Additionally, this year Pixomondo garnered an Emmy nom for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Supporting Role based on its contributions to “The Lovers” episode of Da Vinci’s Demons (Starz).
As defined by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Outstanding Visual Effects category honors nominees behind effects-driven programs where VFX are routinely present and essential to the storytelling–shows which could not have been realized without the inclusion of VFX. Programs in this category could include shows dealing with space travel, the supernatural, creatures, fantasy themes, superhero powers and/or CG or puppeteered creatures, etc., and have extensive use of computer graphics, virtual sets (environments which are created almost entirely in computer and could include performers shot on green or blue screen), and large-scale pyrotechnic and mechanical special effects.
By contrast, the Emmy category Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role honors the overall achievement of VFX in programs where those effects are used on a more modest scale, play a supporting role contributing to the storytelling, and are often photorealistic and invisible to the viewer. A supporting role may include set extensions (the creation, enhancement or augmentation of a practical location or physical set), sky replacements, atmospheric phenomenon, scientific visualizations, crowd replication, fire, smoke, elemental enhancement, and similar effects. Such effects are used more sparingly to help create the setting, environment or mood of a given scene, or to illustrate a scientific principle–but the program does not absolutely require the use of special visual effects to tell the story.
Prior to 2012, the two VFX Emmy categories were not based on the role or nature of the effects themselves. Instead the categories were predicated on the program format–one category for long-form projects, the other for TV series. The change from program to role-based VFX categories has generally been favorably received, putting nominations on more of an even playing field and akin to the structure which the Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards have had in place for many years.
Pixomondo
Sven Martin, a VFX supervisor at Pixomondo’s Frankfurt, Germany studio, and credited as lead animation supervisor on the “Valar Dohaeris” episode of Game of Thrones, said that this latest season has seen the characters progress and develop from the prior season for which he and his Pixomondo compatriots won the Emmy. In comparing the past two years on the HBO series, Martin related, “We spent much more time on the design this time around. We worked in very close collaboration with Joe Bauer, the production supervisor from HBO, to help define what the dragons would look like, how their new expressive features should appear and what those features should be. We played around with ideas, different images and features, paintings, sculptings. At one point we were playing around with an inner glowing light feature but ultimately we didn’t like that. It was all a process through which we got closer to and then arrived at the final design for the dragons.”
This work of course centered on the large and aggressive hero dragon, Drogon–he of the black scales with blood red horns and wings. “He was where our focus was and from his look we adapted, making slight changes in texture and shape–and through animation were able to refurbish the hero dragon and from that create the different looks of the other dragons,” shared Martin. Pixomondo’s studios in Stuttgart and London were also involved in Game of Thrones, more though on the matte painting front. Also key contributors to the VFX for the nominated Game of Thrones episode were artisans from both Spin VFX (including VFX supervisor Doug Campbell) and Gradient FX.
Toronto-headquartered Spin also saw its talent score a second nomination this year for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Supporting Role on the strength of The Borgias’ episode titled “The Prince” (Showtime).
Zoic
For Zoic’s Supporting Role nomination on the pilot for Revolution, on-set VFX supervisor Mark Stetson related, “Finding the style of the post-apocalyptic future was fun and collaborative. We used several different approaches to motion tracking on this project. Spearheaded by Johnathan Banta, we applied photogrammetric techniques to many of the shots where we were creating or modifying architectural elements, notably the scene of the arrival at Miles’ bar hideout in Chicago. The scope of the scenes of Chicago in ruins was made more challenging by the amount of overgrowth. With the constant motion of the camera as a given, it meant that some of the backgrounds needed to be layered behind foreground greens and trees that were too big to contain behind a bluescreen. Wherever we could, we shot additional elements of foreground greens and trees and layered those into the scenes. Where the shot dynamics prevented that approach from working, we replaced trees with CG. The long tracking shot with Wrigley Field in the background was the biggest example of this. The final integration of both CG and photographed greenery was clean enough that it looks like it was all there to begin with!”
As for its two Outstanding Special Visual Effects nominations, respective Zoic artisans reflected on the challenges posed by Falling Skies and Hemlock Grove.
For the latter, a Netflix original series, Chris Jones, VFX creative director, shared, “”Since we were shooting with real wolves for Hemlock Grove, and were not sure which moment they would switch to CG, we were challenged with creating seamless VFX at various different points in the action. For the werewolf transformations, we worked carefully to create a uniquely painful effect, and deliver it in a way that had never been seen before. This involved a lot of practical reference, coupled with imagination to finesse how the werewolf would burst through the skin.”
As for Falling Skies, Andrew Orloff, VFX creative director, noted, “As the seasons have progressed, the alien creatures have had increasingly more interaction with the actors on the series. The fact that the creatures are interacting a lot more is challenging because we want to ensure that we give the actors a good emotional performance to match. We want to be certain that the characters we create can carry the emotional impact of the scene equally.”
All of Zoic’s VFX work on Falling Skies was done in its Vancouver, B.C. facility. Most of Zoic’s efforts on Hemlock Grove and Revolution took place at its Culver City, Calif. studio.
Over the years, Zoic has had 14 Emmy nominations, including two last year–one for an episode of Falling Skies, the other for an installment of Once Upon A Time (ABC-TV). Zoic has two VFX Emmy wins, the first in 2003 for Firefly (on the Fox network) and the second in 2010 for an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS).
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This is the third installment in a 12-part series that will explore the field of Emmy nominees and winners spanning such disciplines as directing, cinematography, editing, animation and VFX. The series will run right through the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony and the following week’s primetime Emmy Awards live telecast. In addition to appearing on SHOOTonline and in our weekly email newsletter, The SHOOT >e.dition, The Road To Emmy will also have its Part 6 installment in SHOOT’s August 16 print issue.
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Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 1.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 2.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 4.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 5.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 6.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 7.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 8.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 9.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 10.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 11.
Click here to read The Road To Emmy, Part 12.
