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Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Oscars 2026: This is why visual effects-heavy 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' is nominated for best costume design
ABC7 San Francisco: The best costume design Oscar nomination for "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is one some have found surprising, since it's a film filled with visual effects.
But as we explain, don't be fooled, because the digital costumes on the screen are very real.
3 comments:
Sid J
said...
I do not like the new Avatar movies but their visual effects are stunning. I think the process described here of making the costumes in real life before transferring them to the visual effects space is really interesting. I think many people would see that as redundant and inefficient, and generally when creating things most people like to start in the platform/material that the final product will be in. But in techniques where we start in a different material like building a muslin, we’re often a lot more successful. When you build the costumes in real life you can see so much more depth, detail, and the way the piece moves, which helps bring those stunning digital creations to life and make them more flushed out. I had never thought of doing it this way, but it makes me happy to know that theres a real costume designer working with the visual effects team in this way.
I have never actually seen any of the Avatar movies but I have seen so many trailers and videos about them. Avatar makeup has become a big trend on TikTok and I think that speaks to how cool the visual effects are in the costumes, makeup and hair department. The behind the scenes videos of Avatar have always been so interesting to me because I love to see the process of how it's filmed. This article was super interesting to read, I love hearing the process and techniques used to finish this production. Also with the debate on if these costume designs should be allowed for the Oscars because of the additional visual effects added I think is completely unfair. I would say that those added elements are a part of the design and even if not every movie nominated uses those visual effects, that doesn’t make it “ illegal” for Oscars costume design.
A lot of the hate that I see for VFX and in particular CGI is due to many mainstream production companies using it too much while not giving artists enough time to create visually stunning or even appealing work. The age old tale of companies pushing for speed and quantity over taking time with the work and producing top quality products. When time and care are taken into consideration in every aspect of a film it can help raise the value of the whole piece and this can put it in the running for awards and recognition. Taking the time to make physical costumes that are then rendered digitally while it takes time, clearly was the right choice because of the way the digitalization or the costumes worked so perfectly. Another thing that contributed to the VFX being done in such an amazing way was the decision to use WetaFX as the VFX company. As far as I have seen they are the best VFX company in the business.
3 comments:
I do not like the new Avatar movies but their visual effects are stunning. I think the process described here of making the costumes in real life before transferring them to the visual effects space is really interesting. I think many people would see that as redundant and inefficient, and generally when creating things most people like to start in the platform/material that the final product will be in. But in techniques where we start in a different material like building a muslin, we’re often a lot more successful. When you build the costumes in real life you can see so much more depth, detail, and the way the piece moves, which helps bring those stunning digital creations to life and make them more flushed out. I had never thought of doing it this way, but it makes me happy to know that theres a real costume designer working with the visual effects team in this way.
I have never actually seen any of the Avatar movies but I have seen so many trailers and videos about them. Avatar makeup has become a big trend on TikTok and I think that speaks to how cool the visual effects are in the costumes, makeup and hair department. The behind the scenes videos of Avatar have always been so interesting to me because I love to see the process of how it's filmed. This article was super interesting to read, I love hearing the process and techniques used to finish this production. Also with the debate on if these costume designs should be allowed for the Oscars because of the additional visual effects added I think is completely unfair. I would say that those added elements are a part of the design and even if not every movie nominated uses those visual effects, that doesn’t make it “ illegal” for Oscars costume design.
A lot of the hate that I see for VFX and in particular CGI is due to many mainstream production companies using it too much while not giving artists enough time to create visually stunning or even appealing work. The age old tale of companies pushing for speed and quantity over taking time with the work and producing top quality products. When time and care are taken into consideration in every aspect of a film it can help raise the value of the whole piece and this can put it in the running for awards and recognition. Taking the time to make physical costumes that are then rendered digitally while it takes time, clearly was the right choice because of the way the digitalization or the costumes worked so perfectly. Another thing that contributed to the VFX being done in such an amazing way was the decision to use WetaFX as the VFX company. As far as I have seen they are the best VFX company in the business.
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