Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Oscar Effects

Oscar Effects

Previous
12Archive
the martian vfx oscar

How The Martian’s filmmakers turned a Jordanian desert into The Red Planet

It was no easy task to bring the surface of Mars to Earth for Ridley Scott's popular film. Here's how the VFX team accomplished that feat.
Rick Marshall
oscars vfx mad max fury road feat

How Mad Max Fury Road twisted real steel for effects computers can’t top

The visual effects of George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road earned an Oscar nomination by keeping an eye toward practical effects with digital polish.
Rick Marshall
An android touches a face on the wall in Ex Machina.

How Ex Machina built a better, beautiful, and utterly believable android

The VFX supervisor responsible for Ex Machina's artificially intelligent android explain how they blurred the line between human and robot.
Rick Marshall
oscar effects x men days of future past vfx hk global comp 0420 before v001 1001

This scene might win X-Men: Days of Future Past a VFX Oscar. Here’s how they did it

Oscar Effects: How Quicksilver managed to put time in a bottle for his memorable, super-speed scene in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
Rick Marshall
Oscar Effects: Interstellar

How Interstellar won over scientists (and audiences) by building a better black hole

Oscar Effects: How Christopher Nolan's Interstellar won over scientists and audiences by building a the best simulation of a black hole ever created.
Rick Marshall
Oscar Effects: Guardians of the Galaxy

How a raccoon and a tree became the human heart of Guardians of the Galaxy

Oscar Effects: How two VFX studios teamed up to make a talking raccoon and a sentient tree the stars of Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy
Rick Marshall
Oscars Effects Dawn of the Planet of the Apes featured

How outdoor motion capture brought Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to a new level

Oscars Effects: How the science of wagging tongues and the ability to take the studio outside raised the VFX bar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Rick Marshall
inside the visual effects for captain america winter soldier oscar 25203

How digital face mapping helped time (and Falcon) fly in The Winter Soldier

Oscar Effects: How digital face-mapping helped Anthony Mackie's Falcon fly and time go by for Hayley Atwell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Rick Marshall
Star Trek Into Darkness VFX 003

Oscar Effects: The Rise and Fall of San Francisco in ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

Industrial Light & Magic had to envision what San Francisco will look like in the 23rd century in order to convincingly demolish it at the climax of Star Trek Into Darkness.
Rick Marshall
The Lone Ranger VFX 021

Oscar Effects: Going Locomotive in ‘The Lone Ranger’

A look at why The Lone Ranger's train sequences turned out to be one of the most extensive and expensive visual effects processes that acclaimed shop Industrial Light & Magic ever worked on.
Rick Marshall
iron man 3 special fx 011 1016x678

Oscar Effects: Creating the Iron Legion of Iron Man 3

We take a close look at the work Weta Digital and others did to bring an army of modern and vintage Iron Man suits to life in Iron Man 3.
Rick Marshall
The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug FX 046

Oscar Effects: Building A Better Dragon in The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug

We look at The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and how Peter Jackson's team created a better dragon.
Rick Marshall
Gravity VFX 010

Oscar Effects: Before Alfonso Cuarón could make ‘Gravity,’ he had to overcome it

Alfonso Cuarón's ‘Gravity’ required more than a few special effects, it required an entirely new way to look at special effects. We spoke with the team that made the effects, and learned how they overcame the challenges of recreating zero gravity.
K. Kelly

Oscar Effects: How Prometheus explored the future by looking into the past

Despite Prometheus' futuristic setting, Ridley Scott's return to the Alien franchise stressed practical effects over digital magic.
Rick Marshall

Oscar Effects: How Life Of Pi caught a digital tiger by the tail

It took a mix of CGI magic and all-too-real tigers to bring the story of a shipwrecked boy and a jungle cat to the screen in Life Of Pi.
Rick Marshall

Oscar Effects: How Snow White and the Huntsman made a big cast smaller

The team behind this dark retelling of a classic fairy tale mixed high-tech and old-school techniques to earn an Oscar nomination for Snow White and the Huntsman.
Rick Marshall
oscar effects avengers hulk fire

Oscar Effects: How The Avengers built a better Hulk

After two big-screen flops, the Hulk's success in The Avengers has put the movie on the path toward an Oscar.
Rick Marshall

Oscar Effects: How ‘The Hobbit’ doubled down on technical achievement

Will this year's Academy Awards give a vote of approval for 48fps filmmaking?
Rick Marshall
Previous
12Archive
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Contributing Editor, Entertainment

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and emerging technology, Rick has been writing for Digital Trends since 2011.

Over the years, Rick has served as an editor for MTV News and Wizard Magazine, as well as a columnist for Time Inc., Movies.com, Fandango, and IFC.com. He is a member of Critics Choice Association and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic for films and television series. A voracious consumer of movies and TV series, as well as a lifetime fan of comic books, video games, and all manner of geekery, his work can also be found in Mental Floss, Space.com, and various other print and online outlets.

Dubbed a “Professional Geek,” Rick has appeared on Spike TV, MTV, ABC, CBS, Fox Business, and NPR to offer commentary on entertainment and pop culture trends. He served as co-producer and host of WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s “RetConned” podcast, interviewing a wide spectrum of pop-culture personalities and creators from 2016-2018.

A native of New York’s Capital Region, Rick began his journalism career at the alternative newsweekly Metroland. He was named the New York Press Association’s Writer of the Year while covering local, state, and national news around New York’s capital city and surrounding region.

Rick attended college at SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Albany, earning degrees in Computer Science, Environmental Science, and Journalism. He is a proud father of two great kids, husband to an endlessly patient partner who tolerates his love for “The Transformers: The Movie,” and a big fan of good beer.