Blade Runner 2049 wins 2018 BAFTA

The best of British television and film, the annual BAFTA, awarded best Special Visual Effects at the 2018 British Academy Film Awards, to Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS – BAFTA 2018

WINNER – BLADE RUNNER 2049 Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, John Nelson.

The film’s production visual effects supervisor was John Nelson, who is best known for his Oscar win for Best Visual Effects in Gladiator (2000), and for his numerous other Oscar nominations for films such as I, Robot (2004), Iron Man (2008) and of course, this year’s nomination for Blade Runner 2049.

Rich Hoover accepted the BAFTA at Sunday’s glittering ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, representing Framestore. Hoover led the Framestore team of over 175 artists in Montréal, crafting almost 300 shots for the final picture, which built on extensive concept and pre-production work by Framestore’s Art Department. The Framestore’s creative studio’s remit spanned large-scale CG environment builds and challenging animation work, taking the artists on a flying spinner ride from the asset-packed Trash Mesa to the striking, post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. “It was an epic night for everyone at Framestore. I am very proud to represent all of the dedicated artists who worked so very hard to make our work stand out. I want to especially thank Sabrina Gagnon, Adrien Saint Girons, Luigi Santoro, and our Blade Runner 2049 production team, for being there throughout the difficult schedule. I hope this makes it worth it.’” explained Hoover.

JOI and the complex sex worker Mariette scene was overseen by Paul Lambert as Double Negative’s Supervisor. DNeg did over 350 shots in total. In addition to the holograms, DNeg did environment work building out the 2049 LA. ‘I’m incredibly honoured by this news but I couldn’t have done it without the truly passionate group of artists who I share this award with. This moment is easily the highlight of my career,’ said Lambert. ‘Getting to work with Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins was a truly inspiring experience. My best memory on this show was the first day of the shoot and realising I was working with the best of the best.’’ This latest win is DNeg’s fourth BAFTA Award, following previous BAFTA wins for ‘Inception’, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’ and ‘Interstellar’.  (The company has also previously won three Academy Awards – for ‘Inception’, ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Ex Machina’).

https://vimeo.com/251628808

 

 

Gerd Nefzer, was nominated for his work on the practical special effects side of the film’s effects work. His prior films include Captain America: Civil War, Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 & 2, Bridge of Spies and many others over the past 20+ years he has been contributing and supervising special effects.

Blade Runner 2049 had received eight nominations going into the BAFTAs Sunday night. Importantly, Roger Deakins also won for Best Cinematography for his work on the film. This win will then perhaps bode well for Deakins at the Oscars in March, as Deakins has been nominated 14 times before and never won.

Director DENIS VILLENEUVE on the set of BLADE RUNNER 2049.

Congrats to all the artists that worked on the brilliant Blade Runner 2049 visual effects.

Click here for more on the Double Negative JOI scenes. You can read our Blade Runner 2049 story here on MPC’s work on Rachel. MPC were another key part of the team but focused on the Digital Human vfx work.