Oscars 2018: Best Visual Effects nominees

Watch behind-the-scenes footage revealing the secrets of the FX artists for the five films nominated for this year's Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Winners of this year's Oscars will be announced on Sunday, March 4, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood.

"Blade Runner 2049"
John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover

The FX highlight of this sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic was a recreation of Sean Young's replicant Rachel from the original "Blade Runner." How did they get the character to appear as Young did 35 years ago?

The filmmakers created a digital model of Young based on footage and photos from the original period, built over a digital "skull" (constructed with the program Maya) that matched her facial features, and applied surface textures using Mari. Young was also photographed with a special lighting rig that captured all angles, with light sources from different directions, to help with lighting the digital construct.

Body double Loren Peta performed the actions on set, using motion capture, while the digital head was composited onto the footage and animated. The result: a beautiful vision of Rachel that entirely avoids the "uncanny valley" phenomenon of CGI humans who appear almost but not quite human.

Nelson previously won for the effects of "Gladiator," and was nominated for "Iron Man" and "I, Robot." Hoover was previously nominated for "Superman Returns" and "Armageddon."

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick

The latest entry in this franchise, festooned with pop art-inspired colors and a delightfully cheeky wit, displays an inventive use of environments in which to populate its characters, many of which are CGI creations, including Baby Groot, Rocket Raccoon, and that slimy beastie that pervades the opening credits.

Sudick has a remarkable eight previous Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects. Fawkner was nominated for the first "Guardians of the Galaxy." Townsend and Williams were both nominated for "Iron Man 3," while Williams also earned a nomination for "Marvel's The Avengers."

"Kong: Skull Island"
Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus

This VFX breakdown reel from Industrial Light & Magic shows the full dramatic range of the film's simian star, as well as the pyrotechnics, water effects, and battles with giant creatures that made him all the more believable.

Rosenbaum has won two Oscars for Best Visual Effects, for "Avatar" and "Forrest Gump." White was nominated for "Marvel's The Avengers," and Benza was nominated for "Transformers" and "Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon."

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

Industrial Light & Magic's VFX breakdown clip of the Resistance's bombing run against a First Order dreadnought shows a mixture of live action, miniatures, CGI effects and explosions composited to create a truly epic space battle.

Morris previously won the Oscar for "The Golden Compass." Scanlan won for "Babe," and was nominated for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Corbould won for "Inception," and was also nominated for "The Dark Knight" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

"War for the Planet of the Apes"
Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist

Andy Serkis' remarkable motion-capture performances as Caesar, leader of the apes, still have not gotten Oscar recognition. But at least the special effects artists for the three recent "Apes" films have been nominated for their remarkable ability to transform an actor into a simian without losing the performer's humanity. 

In this featurette we see how the artists of Weta Digital funnel Serkis' performance into the digital realm.

Letteri has four Oscars for Best Visual Effects ("The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "King Kong" and Avatar), and received an additional five nominations, including for the two previous "Apes" films." Lemmon and Barrett were also both nominated for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Dawn of the Planet of the apes," while Barrett won last year's Oscar for "The Jungle Book."

See also: 

• Oscars 2018: Best Actress nominees - Watch excerpts of nominated performances
• Oscars 2018: Best Actor nominees - Watch excerpts of nominated performances
• Oscars 2018: Best Supporting Actor nominees - Watch excerpts of nominated performances
• Oscars 2018: Best Supporting Actress nominees - Watch excerpts of nominated performances
• Oscars 2018: Best Original Song nominees - Listen to the five songs up for this year's Academy Award
  
• Oscars 2018: Best Original Score nominees - Listen to excerpts from the five nominated music scores

       
For more info:

• oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)
  
• oscars.com (Official site of Oscar telecast)
  
• Complete CBSNews.com coverage: The Academy Awards
  
• Complete CBSNews.com coverage: Movies