Hong Kong visual effects firm behind X-Men nominated for an Oscar

A Hong Kong-listed visual effects company has captured a share of the Hollywood spotlight, garnering an Oscar nod as the awards season kicks into high gear. Digital Domain, a digital production firm, was nominated in Los Angeles on Thursday for “Best Visual Effects” at the 87th Academy Awards for its work on superhero movie X-Men: Days of Future Past, one of the world’s highest-grossing films last year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscar trophies each year, also handed two “Scientific and Technical Awards” to Digital Domain for its innovative technologies: Mova, a facial performance-capture system, and Drop, a software toolkit for simulating large-scale destruction scenes. “Our artists produce the most amazing work on every project, and it is truly a great day when that work is recognised by the academy,” Digital Domain chief executive Daniel Seah Ang said yesterday. It is the second Academy Award nomination for the company, formerly known as Sun Innovation. Its work on Iron Man 3 landed it a nomination last year. The firm paid HK$392 million in July 2013 to acquire the visual-effects group founded in 1993 by US film director James Cameron. Its name was changed to Digital Domain in December 2013. Joining the Oscar race is the icing on the cake for Digital Domain, which has featured in other awards races. On Tuesday, Digital Domain artists received six nominations in four categories at the Visual Effects Society’s 13th Annual VES Awards. The event will be held on February 4. WATCH: A breakdown of the special effects used by Digital Domain in X-Men Each year, the society, the official organisation of the visual effects industry, recognises outstanding artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games. “The honour not only highlights our efforts in the innovative design and development of visual effects, but is also high praise for our continuous commitment in contributing significant value and creativity to the process of making motion pictures,” Seah said. Last week, the company received a nomination from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) for best “Special Visual Effects” for its work on X-Men: Days of Future Past. Digital Domain’s visual-effects work on two other blockbusters released last year, the dark fantasy Maleficent and the comedy Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, were among those shortlisted last month for an Oscar nomination. The Bafta Film Awards will be held on February 8 and the Oscars on February 22. Among those who will represent Digital Domain at the Oscars ceremony are three first-time Academy Award nominees: Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer. They will be joined by Richard Stammer, who was previously nominated for the science-fiction film Prometheus in 2012. Pecora, the company’s visual effects supervisor on the X-Men movie, said: “It’s a shame that I can’t bring all 242 people at Digital Domain who worked with us on the film to go with me through this next month. It would be a hell of a party.” The first Oscar received by the original Digital Domain, which Cameron co-founded with digital media executive Scott Ross and special make-up effects creator Stan Winston, was for the ground-breaking effects on the 1997 epic Titanic. In a report, global consulting firm A T Kearney forecast revenue for the US movie industry’s visual effects services market to reach US$2.7 billion this year from an estimated US$2.3 billion last year. Visual effects services encompass all processes involved in creating and manipulating visual imagery apart from shooting the film. A T Kearney said more movie budget dollars were being allocated to visual effects, which now accounts for 30 per cent to 35 per cent of production spending for the top 50 movies, compared with about 25 per cent in 2009. Seah, who also took on the role of Digital Domain chairman last week, said the company would sharpen its focus on its media and entertainment business this year. The Hong Kong-listed firm still operates its pre-Hollywood property investment and metal scrap trading businesses. Digital Domain operates facilities in California and Vancouver, where its artists create visual images for the entertainment and advertising industries. The media and entertainment business accounted for 59 per cent of its HK$429.56 million revenue in the first half of last year. “Moving forward, we will continue to expand frontiers, add value to the group and advance industry trends,” Seah said. The firm’s Mova facial performance capture system, for example, uses an array of cameras and an advanced lighting rig to record all the details of an actor’s face. Special software uses that data to create a high-resolution, digital three-dimensional image, which is used to reproduce the actor in a different scene or transfer the actor’s performance to a different character altogether. Mova set the standard for this technique in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which actor Brad Pitt’s titular character ages backwards from his 80s to childhood. Digital Domain won an Oscar for its work on that movie in 2008. Universal Pictures president Jimmy Horowitz said he expected Seah’s leadership at Digital Domain to find new ways to showcase the firm’s visual effects expertise. “In a constantly evolving business he has a talent for finding creative solutions and new opportunities,” Horowitz said.

Hong Kong visual effects firm behind X-Men nominated for an Oscar

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A Hong Kong-listed visual effects company has captured a share of the Hollywood spotlight, garnering an Oscar nod as the awards season kicks into high gear.

A Hong Kong-listed visual effects company has captured a share of the Hollywood spotlight, garnering an Oscar nod as the awards season kicks into high gear.