ILM’s Fangmeier admired the CG work in ROTK, but thought that Gollum took the digital artists’ attention away from the details of the Mumakil battle. © 2002 and 2003 New Line Prods. Photos by Pierre Vinet.

Of The Return of the King, Knoll says, “There’s a lot of very bold work. Again the story comes first and the visual effects are there to help to the story and support it. I think there are a number of shots that are there primarily for spectacle — such as helicopter shots moving over the advancing troops, but I think they’re there for a good reason, to show the sweep of it all.”

His appreciation for both films is based on different reasons. “I liked Master and Commander because I’m a big fan of those seafaring pictures and there hasn’t been one for a good long time. I felt it really communicated very accurately what that era was like. In The Return of the King, it was wonderful to see how they built up everything in terms of how ambitious the work is. Each one doubled the complexity of the work that was done on the previous film, and for the most part I’d say it was super-successful. They really transported you to an alien world that seems very real — you can really believe the integrity of that world.”

Granting Asylum
Nathan McGuinness of Asylum has scored his first nomination after having been in previous Bake-Offs with Black Hawk Down and Minority Report. Now nominated for his breathtaking work on Master and Commander, McGuinness speaks of his great pride in being nominated alongside such marvelous contenders. “They all must be super-proud of their work!”

Asylum’s McGuinness singles out Weta’s vfx supervisor Jim Rygiel (above) for setting new character work standards and for stepping up the quality with each succeeding installment of LOTR.

In discussing The Return of the King, McGuinness speaks with true enthusiasm. “Looking at the film as a filmmaker as well as a visual effects artist, I’m still amazed by its intensity, size and scope. Even on the third go around they came up with even more amazing images, after having gone through such a giant journey. The creativity and the thought and the integration created by Peter Jackson and his team made The Return of the King spectacular…”

McGuinness points out that the character work set new standards. “I think Gollum is technically a masterpiece of achievement. The Mumakils were incredible in design and execution. But really you have to take into account the entire job Weta did. To create 1,500 odd shots, and have such a level of amazing work, and come away feeling the third is even better than the first or second — that was a huge effort. Hats off to Jim Rygiel as the head supervisor! That whole group at Weta is just amazing. They stuck together through all three films, and really kept it as mind blowing as ever!”

McGuinness adds that Pirates is very similar in size and scope to Master and Commander. “What stands out to me obviously are the skeletons. The texturing, the flesh and the bone, and the animation, was typically ILM spot-on perfect. The rest of the film was excellent, but the skeletons were the highlight for me from the visual effects standpoint. What was very clever was that overall they were able to put effects into the film in a way that matched the era, really suiting what the director wanted in terms of the style of the film.”

Henry Turner is a writer and award-winning filmmaker, whose Lovecraft-inspired horror feature, Wilbur Whateley, won top awards at the Chicago International Film Festival. His writing on film has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, L’ecran Fantastique, Variety and many other publications. A longtime film festival executive, he has programmed for the Slamdance Film Festival, and currently heads FilmTraffick L.A.