The Hollywood Reporter announced this morning that
Inception had triumphed with the most prestigious honour at the annual Visual Effects Society Awards. Inception won four prizes including the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture which might just be the most awkwardly titled awards category of all time! The award was shared between Paul Franklin (Visual Effects Supervisor), Chris Corbould (special effects supervisor), Mike Chambers (Visual Effects Producer) and Matthew Plummer. Franklin and Corbould also collaborated together on The Dark Knight and we spoke to Franklin late last year about his work on Inception; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4JqZ9-TThE The award has been in existence since 2002 and historically the winners have gone on to achieve Oscar success on all but two occasions and hopefully Inception will go on to do the same in this category. The film did little for me emotionally but the visuals were simply sublime and the perfect example of a big budget film not forgetting to inflame the imagination of the audience as opposed to just haphazardly throwing money on the screen. I generally haven't been very impressed with the visual progression of the last decade. To me Avatar looked like an exaggerated version of one of those mini-films you see in between levels of computer games and don't get me started on the CGI driven madness of franchises such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Spiderman. However the visual effects success of Inception will hopefully inspire more modern film-makers to be as creative and daring. My favourite visual sequence in Christopher Nolan's film is when Harvey Cobb and Adriadne travel down the elevator of dreams, an image that seemed to combine the creative oddball genius of author Roald Dahl and film-maker Terry Gilliam.
Other films that were awarded on the night included
Hereafter which walked away with Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture,
How to Train Your Dragon which won Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I which picked up the prize for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture for the visual imagining of the character Dobby. At this year's Oscar ceremony Inception will be fighting for the Achievement in Visual Effects Award against fellow contenders Alice in Wonderland, Hereafter, Iron Man 2 and Harry Potter.