Master and Commander and the like have such seamless vfx that they mask the challenges of creating them. ™ and © 2003 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and Universal Studios and Miramax Film Corp. All rights reserved. 

The Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences has been honoring visual effects since 1963, when The Birds lost to Cleopatra. However, it used to be that vfx were measured and honored for their invisible craft, whereas now the big effects-driven blockbusters get most of the attention and acclaim, thanks to their popularity and higher profile. Low-key effects that even a visual effect professional might have trouble recognizing are understandably passed over by the public. Frequently in reality-based films and even in historical epics and comic book fantasies, the filmmakers themselves downplay the effects, not wanting to call attention to them. Recognition of this subtle artistry, therefore, continues to be the subject of much discussion in the vfx industry, especially since seamless effects have come back with a vengeance in the last few years, witness the likes of Master and Commander, The Last Samurai, The Aviator and the various “sword and sandal” actioners.

Second unit director and visual effects supervisor Ted Rae (The Passion of the Christ, Any Given Sunday), wonders how you can even judge the effects of big budget films against those with smaller budgets. “How can you compare a budget of $50 million dollars where you hire an army of people to produce a large volume of shots that look like very nice CG to a production where 10-15 people create 100 shots that are 95% invisible.” Visual effects supervisor Jeff Okun (The Last Samurai, Cutthroat Island) agrees: “The Perfect Storm had two years and $30 million dollars to develop the software. Compare that to a show that had three months and $1-2 million dollars. How do you judge that?”

For Rae, an important criterion for visual effects is that they fold right into the filmmaking process and are aesthetically part of the storytelling. The drama drives the effects. Rae likes the fact that he doesn’t always see invisible effects in his peer’s work. “I had no idea that there were 300 visual effects shots in Cold Mountain. I can’t find the 800 effects in Master and Commander, even though I’ve seen the film five times.” Commenting on the 400-plus effects shots in The Aviator, Rae admits, “I could sit through it again.” In The Passion of the Christ, Rae spent more than 19 months shooting the visual effects in collaboration with special makeup designer and producer Keith VanderLaan. They used a combination of real and digital elements to achieve a brutally realistic scourging that appears to have been done on set.

Visual effects supervisor Rob Legato (The Aviator, Apollo 13) prefers reality-based films such as The Godfather. He doesn’t want to draw attention to the effects either. Big effects films often use the effects to impress the viewer — a see what I can do attitude. There’s no hiding the fact that effects are being used. Legato doesn’t want the effects he creates “to star above the art direction or photography.” He believes “the work should fit in like it was shot.”

Legato doesn’t dislike computer graphics, but thinks that, like a new toy, they have been overused and don’t have the impact or production value they once had. “There is a backlash from overuse. Now there is a trend toward using more truthful, simpler effects that are shot like a conventional shot.”

Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman (Master and Commander, The Bourne Supremacy, Star Wars: Episode II) has worked on both big and small effects shows. He enjoys both, but also believes that, “just because we can do it, doesn’t mean that we should. With technology it’s easy to get excited on set. We are all very visual and get hung-up on those things.”