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OSCAR OUTLOOK www.postmagazine.com 26 POST NOVEMBER 2015 SAN ANDREAS - VFX A bit of a long-shot — with films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian and the summer-stealer Jurassic World all undoubtedly fighting for the same category — it's hard to think that director Brad Peyton's cata- strophic earthquake that took out California will rumble its way to a win. Or even a nomination. But stranger things have happened. And why not? San Andreas, which stars Dwayne Johnson, ended up earning a very respectable $470M worldwide for Warner Bros. Pictures and, through the expertise of VFX supervisors Colin and Greg Strause and the combined efforts of several VFX houses, including the UK-based Cinesite and LA's Method Studios, there was some very realistic, mass destruction work completed for the film. The opening sequence alone of a young woman and her car going over a cliff, featured more than 150 VFX shots achieved through a combination of live action footage with a CG landslide, car panels, mist and lots of flying debris. — LINDA ROMANELLO JOY - DIRECTING, EDITING Director David O. Russell is at it again, making more movies with his besties Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. Already Oscar nominated for his work on American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, Russell returns with Joy, a film that begs some serious attention. Joy is the story of a family across four gener- ations and the woman who rises to be- come founder and matriarch of a power- ful family business dynasty. Maybe 2016 will be a lucky year for Russell, or his two lead editors Alan Baumgarten and Jay Cassidy. Joy is scheduled to open on Christmas day. — LINDA ROMANELLO JURASSIC WORLD - VFX Industrial Light and Magic created 1,000 visual effects for Jurassic World, which is the year's most successful film, and one of the most successful of all time, raking in $651M to date. Colin Trevorrow directed the project and co-wrote the screenplay. "It sounds like a lot," the director told Post contributor Iain Blair, "but compared to most effects-heavy films these days, it's on the low end. Tim Alexander was our VFX supervisor, and he got a much-deserved Oscar nomination for The Lone Ranger. That film had some very complex work integrating practical effects with CGI. It was all designed to feel real and plausible in a period setting. His work here had to do some- thing similar, as we not only had to believe the animals were real, but that this theme park existed. The story fails if you don't believe the world. We built all our sets, and there was very little greenscreen. Tim and Glen McIntosh, our animation supervisors, worked together to make the audience accept that this was a real place you could actually go to. If they had failed, I don't think the movie could work." — MARC LOFTUS HE NAMED ME MALALA - DOCUMENTARY Fox Searchlight's He Named Me Malala tells the story of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was singled out by the Taliban and shot in the head for daring to suggest that girls should have the right to an education. Directed by Davis Guggenheim (Oscar winner for An Inconvenient Truth), the documentary was shot over 18 months with her family in the United Kingdom, and on the road in Nigeria, Kenya, Abu Dhabi and Jordan. The film was shot by DP Erich Roland and edited by Greg Finton, ACE, Brian Johnson and Brad Fuller. Original music was com- posed by Thomas Newman. — MARC LOFTUS