On September 20, 2020 the Television Academy announced the nominations for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards and Lucasfilm’s hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian was recognized with 15 nominations in a variety of categories including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Special Visual Effects. “The Mandalorian is a collaboration between some of the most creative artists and technology pioneers I’ve ever had the pleasure to work alongside. I’m absolutely thrilled that their efforts have been recognized by their industry peers,” said Richard Bluff, the series’ Visual Effects Supervisor. “I’d also like to congratulations to Jon, Dave, and everyone who contributed to The Mandalorian and to all of our fellow nominees as well.”
The Mandalorian represents a paradigm shift in terms of how filmed entertainment is going to be made in the future. Working with Jon Favreau’s Golem Creations, and utilizing Industrial Light & Magic’s virtual production system called ILM StageCraft, Epic’s Unreal Engine, and technology from partners such as Fuse, Profile Studios, Lux Machina, and Arri, the series was able to bring an array of Star Wars environments to life.
Blending physical set pieces seamlessly with digital creations rendered and displayed in real-time allowed the actors to be photographed in The Volume on ILM’s stage at Manhattan Beach Studios, capturing a majority of the virtual stage shots entirely in-camera. Not only do the LED walls and ceiling provide the background to be captured in-camera but equally important is the fact that they provide most, if not all, of the lighting in a given scene. That lighting also provides physically accurate reflections for items on set, be it the title character’s iconic helmet and armor of his classic ship, the Razorcrest. In addition to the real-time visual effects work captured on set, Industrial Light & Magic and a number of other vendors created the roughly 3,000 traditional effects shots needed for the series. Special Visual Effects nominees for The Mandalorian, Chapter 2: ‘The Child’ include: Outstanding Special Visual Effects.
INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC
Richard Bluff, VFX Supervisor
Jason Porter, VFX Supervisor
Abbigail Keller, VFX Producer
Hayden Jones, VFX Supervisor
Hal Hickel, Animation Supervisor
Roy Cancino, Special Effects Supervisor
John Rosengrant, Supervisor
Enrico Damm, Environment Supervisor
Landis Fields, Virtual Production Visualization Supervisor
