Framestore Nominated for VFX BAFTA
Framestore has been nominated for the ‘Special Visual Effects’ BAFTA for its work on The Midnight Sky.
Framestore VFX supervisor Chris Lawrence and animation supervisor Max Solomon are both nominated for the coveted award, alongside production VFX supervisor Matt Kasmir and special effects supervisor Dave Watkins.
The ambitious production, directed by and starring George Clooney, saw Framestore deliver 459 shots of pristine, photorealistic VFX for the compelling sci-fi epic. Framestore’s work straddles both space and planet Earth, and saw the Framestore team building the Aether ship inhabited by heroes Dr. Iris ‘Sully’ Sullivan (Felicity Jones) and Commander Adewole (David Oyelowo) and building out the crisp Arctic environment inhabited by Augustine Lofthouse (Clooney) and his enigmatic companion.
As well as careful, pixel-perfect worldbuilding, the team also deployed cutting-edge techniques to craft tense action setpieces. For example, to emulate zero-G and help to sell a pregnant Sully floating in space, digital face replacements were required for the wide, full CG shots (30 in total). The space walk sequence saw incredibly high resolution Anyma scans combined with proprietary shaders to create convincing high-res digital faces, which were then keyframe animated.
Fiona Walkinshaw, Framestore’s global managing director, Film, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for everyone who leant their skill and artistry to The Midnight Sky. Achieving George’s sweeping vision was no small feat, and it required an all-star supervisory team whose collective credits include Gravity, The Martian, Interstellar and two Star Wars instalments - congratulations to them, and to the teams they led.”
In recent weeks, Framestore has been shortlisted for the ‘Best Visual Effects’ Academy Award (also for The Midnight Sky) and nominated for no fewer than 12 Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards for work across The Midnight Sky, Jingle Jangle, Project Power, The Crown, Lovecraft Country and Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made.
