What will impress the Academy — subtle or sensational effects? Lemony Snicket’s images ™ & © 2004 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved. I, Robot images ™ and © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights rese

As usual, Wednesday night’s Visual Effects Bakeoff at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was a treat. This is the evening when visual effects luminaries and their fans gather, watch reels of delicious vfx (sometimes better than the films in which they were featured) and listen to supervisors explain the work. Though I never lose sight of the fact that this is a meeting to determine which three of the seven short-listed visual effects films will be nominated for an Oscar, it really is a lot like going to a party where everyone knows — and likes — each other and their work. This year was no exception: The conversations were great, the explanations were entertaining and informative and the work was — of course — just gorgeous.

The evening really kicks off with a reception nearby at Kate’s (formally known as Kate Mantilini). It’s here that visual effects professionals schmooze, chat, catch up with each other, talk about the projects they’re working on, the projects they’ve completed and the projects they’re going to work on, not to mention their kids and life in general; all those things that go unsaid when you’re working crazy days and nights on a project for weeks on end.

Over at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, we do the same thing — except without the martinis. I always feel a bit sorry for the ushers who watch us like we’re unruly children, as we happily chat in half completed sentences, occasionally look blankly trying to remember someone’s name or dive across seats to hug an old friend now living on the other side of the world.

We do eventually sit down. Those of us there as fans fill the side seats and read the evening’s running order off green sheets. Those of the 253 members of the visual effects branch of the Academy attending to vote (this is a working meeting, after all), sit in the center, preparing to select three of seven films before handing their completed ballots to the Price Waterhouse Coopers officials at the end of the evening.

Let’s not forget that getting to the short list is a huge accomplishment: Starting with the 267 films eligible for Academy consideration, the steering committee of the visual effects branch narrows the field to the 40 films that contain significant vfx. From there, through a secret vote, the committee narrows the field to seven. Chaired by the esteemed Richard Edlund, the committee is comprised of 40 prominent visual effects creators representing numerous disciplines, including, as Edlund says, “makeup effects, visual effects supervisors who were camera men like myself, visual effects supervisors who were CG oriented, Jim Rygiel, who’s a painter…there are people from all different walks of the industry,” confirming Edlund’s observation that the visual effects branch is the most complex of the Academy’s branches.

With so many films, sometimes there are surprises. Edlund notes, “The Polar Express was a remarkable omission… Though the film featured a great deal of animation, the main characters were motion captured.” Noting some possible reasons for the film’s exclusion, he added, “Sometimes a movie gets overlooked. Last year, The Matrix [sequels were] overlooked and everyone was shocked about that. This year Polar Express was overlooked, but when you look at the movies that didn’t get overlooked, they’re pretty damn great.”

Speaking of overlooked, Digital Domain, which was recognized for its stellar contribution to I, Robot, was nonetheless omitted from the list of contributors (a maximum of four) to The Day After Tomorrow. Granted, the case of The Day After Tomorrow is a complicated one, as 13 studios worked for an exceedingly long time to freeze, flood, crack, blow and create just about every possible stormy circumstance they could come up with in a largely computer-generated universe. Upon examination of the names put forward for the film, however, the steering committee noted the absence of Digital Domain, whose contribution had been significant. According to Edlund, “There are 35 members of the (executive) committee; one member made a motion that we examine the credits on this movie, and this was the outcome.”