Movie stars get plenty of love every Oscars season, and we’re not here to get mixed up in another Best Actress debate. But what about the artists behind the screen that bring movies to life? You know, the visual creatives that elevate a movie from a video recording to an art form. The Academy recently announced its nominees for the 2022 Oscars, and leading up to the ceremony on March 27th, we’re looking at a few categories through a purely visual lens. Just as we did in 2020, We’ll start with Best Cinematography, but you can also click below to navigate to a different category.
Best Cinematography
Best Visual Effects
Best Production Design
Best Animated Feature
Best Cinematography
2021 Winner: Mank (Erik Messerschmidt)
2022 Nominees:
Dune (Greig Fraser)
Nightmare Alley (Dan Laustsen)
The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)
West Side Story (Janusz Kamiński)
Dune (Greig Fraser)
Visualizing the sandy hills of Arrakis and the planet’s logic-defying worms is a daunting task for any filmmaker; just ask David Lynch or Alejandro Jodorowsky, both of whom couldn’t execute on their grand visions. But here, director Denis Villaneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser delivered an epic experience. They conjured a world that some fans said perfectly matched what they imagined when they first read Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi classic. Though Dune is set in the distant future, and though some clothing and sets are reminiscent of the past, it’s striking how the film is shot to feel like its world really exists.
“There was this feeling of Greig immersing himself into a culture and trying to capture moments that felt relevant,” Villaneuve told Vanity Fair of his DP. “It reminds me of the spirit of documentaries. To do that kind of approach on a science fiction movie, it blew my mind.”
The frontrunner in the category, Fraser is a two-time nominee in Cinematography, previously recognized for 2016’s Lion. And although he hasn’t claimed an Oscar yet, he did win a Primetime Emmy in 2020 for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
Nightmare Alley (Dan Laustsen)
The best word to describe Nightmare Alley is “sinister.” For this film set in the early 1940s, cinematographer Dan Laustsen worked with director Guillermo del Toro to maximize creepy, haunting carnival vibes, fully immersing the viewer in this disturbing underworld. Laustsen said he and del Toro played with lighting and shadows to visualize the trajectory of Stan, a con man played by Bradley Cooper.
“His character is very dark and we play around with that in the lighting,” Laustsen said in an interview with The Wrap. “Deep black shadows. One side of his face is in the light and he’s always going towards the darkness.”
Laustsen frequently collaborates with del Toro; his first Oscar nomination was for The Shape of Water, a Best Picture winner in 2017.
The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner)
This year’s Academy Awards will be the 94th annual. Twenty-three of the 24 categories have been claimed by a woman at some point. The only one that hasn’t? Best Cinematography.
Ari Wegner is looking to rewrite history this year. She’s the first woman to even garner a nomination since Rachel Morrison for Mudbound in 2017, and Morrison was the first woman ever nominated in this category. Wegner is also the youngest nominee in this year’s field, and the only one to be nominated for the first time.
But while the historical odds are stacked against her, this Australian cinematographer belongs in this group, and she’ll likely be a fixture for years to come. To tell director Jane Campion’s story of masculinity and vulnerability on a ranch in ’20s Montana, Wegner got the most out of stunning natural landscapes and dark, foreboding interiors. She told The Hollywood Reporter that she tried to immerse the audience in a “familiar” atmosphere with her shots. “When we tap into our own memories and emotions, something really unlocks,” Wegner said. “I love when lighting can evoke a familiar sense of time and place.”
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel)
Until 1966, the Academy handed out two cinematography awards—one for black-and-white films, and one for color. But monochrome is making something of a comeback: Two of the past three winners for cinematography (including last year’s Mank) have been black-and-white. Bruno Delbonnel is hoping to turn back the clock yet again and score the third victory for black-and-white cinematography since 2019.
Macbeth was shot entirely on sound stages with hand-painted backdrops rather than making use of more modern technologies like CGI. “We thought that the theatricality of a painted sky was more interesting than trying to create a sky later in post,” Delbonnel told IndieWire, “so we embraced old-fashioned technology.”
The French cinematographer is a longtime collaborator of the Coen brothers, and he’s been nominated for the Oscar in this category six times (most recently for 2017’s Darkest Hour). He’s one of the most decorated cinematographers still searching for a win in the category.
West Side Story (Janusz Kamiński)
It takes guts to try to breathe new life into a beloved old story, particularly one that comes from musical theater’s undisputed champion. And a previous film adaptation won 10 Oscars to boot! Well, director Stephen Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński have guts. Here, the two heavyweights delivered a critically-lauded masterpiece (though it drew a disappointing box office), garnering nominations in most of the major Oscar categories.
West Side Story captures the lives of two lovers caught between competing street gangs in 1950s New York. This film is boldly and proudly colorful: “It’s a love story, so why be too delicate and subtle?” Kamiński said in an interview with Indiewire. But the story isn’t all bright and poppy; during the final fight scene, Kamiński built an elaborate lighting rig to add shadows and create dramatic tension.
The only multi-time winner of 2022’s nominees, Kamiński has the most accolades of the group. The Pole is Spielberg’s preferred cinematographer, and he has previously won the Oscar in this category for two of their tag-teamed efforts (Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan).
Best Visual Effects
2021 Winner: Tenet (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher)
2022 Nominees:
Dune
Free Guy
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Dune
Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer
What made the 2021 adaptation of the celebrated but notably complex book? Its visual effects. Audiences raved about the special touches that brought the ornithopters, the characters’ shields, the logic-defying worms to life. The favorite in its category thanks in large part to its sheer scope, it’ll take a major comeback from any other nominee to steal this category from Dune.
Signature Shot: Any shot on the desert planet Arrakis. One of the innovative ways that the Dune VFX team helped to depict Arrakis was by using a sand-colored screen (in place of the traditional green screen) to ground the characters in their world. But the sand wasn’t all digital—about 18 tons of sand and dust were used in production.
Key Players: DNEG, a London-based studio, was responsible for the VFX on Dune. VFX supervisor Paul Lambert and special effects supervisor Gerd Nefzer have both previously won the Oscar in this category for Villaneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.
Free Guy
Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis, and Dan Sudick
Ryan Reynolds is Guy, a background character in a Grand Theft Auto-style video game who becomes sentient and takes control of his destiny. It superimposes visual effects onto the real world at nearly every turn, making heavy use of VFX to achieve some of that gratuitous video game action.
Signature Shot: Guy’s fight scene with his archnemesis and alter ego, the beefed-up Dude. To shoot it, the VFX team used face replacement technology, superimposing Reynolds’ face onto bodybuilder Aaron Reed. And because Reynolds had a part in both sides of this fight, it took multiple takes to film, with Reynolds alternating roles each time.
Key Players: Swen Gillberg, the film’s VFX supervisor, has been nominated for the second time in this category, though it’s his first as a supervisor. A number of VFX houses shared the responsibilities on this film, including Digital Domain, Industrial Light & Magic, Scanline, and Lola.
No Time to Die
Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner, and Chris Corbould
Daniel Crag’s final Bond movie finds the legendary spy working with the CIA to locate a kidnapped scientist. And although the Bond franchise has a storied history of eye-popping action, No Time to Die became the first Bond film to be nominated in this category since 1979’s Moonraker.
Signature Shot: The movie’s opening scene, shot on the shore of a frozen Norwegian lake. In an interview with Art of VFX, supervisor Charlie Noble lauded fellow artist Chris Corbould for assembling “as many smoke machines as I’ve seen” to help set the scene’s mood. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga wanted for the lake to be covered with a thick, crystal-clear ice sheet, and while many of the shots for the scene were entirely practical, closer shots of the ice made use of a CGI build.
Key Players: The nominated artists for No Time to Die represent a mix of multi-time nominees and newcomers. Noble and Joel Green are being honored for the first time, while Jonathan Fawkner has three nominations to his name. This is Corbould’s sixth nomination, and the 13th for the Corbould family (his brothers, Neil and Paul, are also accomplished VFX supervisors).
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker, and Dan Oliver
In Marvel’s first film with an Asian lead (also featuring an Asian director and predominantly Asian cast), Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi is drawn into a mythical quest by his father, the leader of the Ten Rings organization.
Signature Shot: The fight scene involving the two larger-than-life mythical dragons, the Dweller-in-Darkness and the Great Protector. Supervisor Sean Noel Walker told Deadline that because the audience knows the flying creatures can’t possibly exist in the real world, his team had to do everything in its power to make a viewer feel like they could reach out and touch the dragons.
Key Players: Townsend is frequently involved with Marvel movies—this is his third nom on one of the studio’s superhero films. Walker is a first-time nominee, while Joe Farrell and Dan Oliver each have one previous nomination in the category.
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein, and Dan Sudick
Although Spidey single-handedly saved the movie business in 2021, the Academy didn’t quite care. Visual Effects is the only one in which the record-breaking superhero flick is recognized.
Signature Shot: Juggling the conflicts and characters from three different Spider-Man franchises, not to mention folding in Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange from the MCU, made No Way Home a shoo-in for a VFX nomination.
Key Players: VFX supervisor Kelly Port told ComicBook.com that his team turned in its work within days of the movie’s December release. And not only that, the artists continued working on shots for the video release or behind-the-scenes footage well into January, almost a month after the movie dropped.
And does one of these names sound familiar? Dan Sudick, an icon in the space with 12 total nominations, earned recognition for two different movies in 2022; he was also among the honorees for Free Guy. Though he’s still searching for a win, Sudick has worked primarily on Marvel projects over the past 15 years—he’s been part of 15 of the studio’s movies and two of its Disney+ series.
Best Production Design
2021 Winner: Mank (Donald Graham Burt, production designer, & Jan Pascale, set decorator)
2022 Nominees:
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
PS: If you read our dive into Best Cinematography, you might think you’re seeing double, but you’re not—the 2021 winner and the 2022 nominees are all exactly the same. (Perhaps it’s just proof that getting great creative people together can make everybody’s work better.)
Dune
Patrice Vermette (Production Designer); Zsuzsanna Sipos (Set Decorator)
Signature Set: Arrakeen, the fortress stronghold and the seat of the power on the desert planet Arrakis. Production designer Patrice Vermette told Elle Decor that he read the movie’s source material, “but there’s nothing very specific about anything” when it comes to architecture. Using the clues that Herbert provided (devastatingly hot temperatures, extreme winds that whip sand around the landscape, and of course, the worms), Vermette pieced together what a palace on Arrakis might look like. He positioned the fortress strategically inside a valley of mountains—rather than in the middle of the open desert, because such a location wouldn’t make any sense for a settlement—and designed the bunker-like fortress with thick, sloped walls to protect its inhabitants from the elements.
Key Players: Vermette was first recognized at the Oscars in 2010 for The Young Victoria. This year marks his third nomination, and the second time he’s been nominated for a Villeneuve project—Vermette was also the production designer on Arrival. Set decorator Zsuzsanna Sipos, meanwhile, is a newcomer and first-time nominee. She was previously part of the production design team for Villeneuve on Blade Runner 2049.
Nightmare Alley
Tamara Deverell (Production Designer); Shane Vieau (Set Decorator)
Signature Set: With the exception of some fake snow and CGI bullets, every aspect of director Guillermo del Toro’s film noir was created practically, including the entire carnival. Each piece of carnival equipment is a sight to behold, but the “House of Damnation” takes the cake as the most compelling of the production team’s creations. This fun house is designed to be anything but fun—its dark passageways echo, its machinery creaks, and its characters are downright devilish.
Key Players: Production designer Tarmara Deverell is a first-time nominee in the category, as most of her work has been in TV. She most recently worked on two different series from the Star Trek franchise. Meanwhile, set decorator Shane Vieau is looking for his second win as a sec decorator. He won for del Toro’s The Shape of Water, sharing the award with fellow set decorator Jeff Melvin.
The Power of the Dog
Grant Major (Production Designer); Amber Richards (Set Decorator)
Signature Set: The house of brothers Phil and George Burbank has the power to intimidate all who set foot in it. Designed to look like its finest days were decades earlier, the abode at the center of the Burbanks’ ranching operation now stands in dark, dreary disrepair. It’s an essential part of so many scenes, most notably when Phil taunts Rose as she practices piano.
Key Players: Production designer Grant Major is a five-time nominee with one win under his belt. From 2001 to 2003, he was honored with nominations in three consecutive years, culminating in his victory for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. This is his first nomination since King Kong in 2006. Meanwhile, set decorator Amber Richards is receiving her first nomination. She was previously the set director on Mulan in 2020.
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Stefan Dechant (Production Designer); Nancy Haigh (Set Decorator)
Signature Set: The central castle, where Macbeth and his wife take residence after betraying the king. From the beginning, Joel Coen (directing without his brother Ethan for the first time) wanted his film to look disconnected from reality, shooting the entire movie on a sound stage in black-and-white. Most of the film’s scenes are noticeably devoid of natural elements.The castle feels cold, empty, unlike any place you’ve ever seen in real life. It serves as the perfect backdrop for the paranoid Macbeth’s descent into madness.
Key Players: Stefan Dechant, a first-time nominee in the category, has spent almost three decades in the film industry, including as an illustrator and storyboarder. He first collaborated with the Coen brothers on True Grit in 2010. Nancy Haigh, meanwhile, is one of the most decorated set directors of the past 30 years. She’s been nominated nine times for this award, including twice in one year in 1991. Her two victories came as part of the crews of Bugsy in 1992, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2020.
West Side Story
Adam Stockhausen (Production Designer); Rena DeAngelo (Set Decorator)
Signature Set: The Gimbels department store, featured prominently during the character Maria’s song “I Feel Pretty.” For Stephen Spielberg’s adaptation of one of show biz’s most beloved tales, production designer Adam Stockhausen (whose mother used to work for Gimbels) created a replica retail display inside an old bank building in Newark. Set decorator Rena DeAngelo added some finishing touches authentic to the time period. In all, the department store set was complete with three unique departments: ready-to-wear, bridal, and cosmetics.
Key Players: This is the fourth nomination for Stockhausen, who previously won for The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014. Like Major, Stockhausen also has a streak of three consecutive noms, from 2013 to 2015. DeAngelo has two Oscar nominations to her name, including one previously shared with Stockhausen (Bridge of Spies in 2015).
Best Animated Feature
2021 Winner: Soul (Pete Docter and Dana Murray)
2022 Nominees:
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Encanto
Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino & Clark Spencer
You may be tired of talking about Bruno, but that doesn’t make Disney’s Encanto any less of a classic. This computer-animated musical about a magical family from Colombia has its own series of Peloton classes, and its most popular song will apparently open up the Oscars telecast.
According to Encanto’s heads of animation, the film was among the most difficult Disney ever created, due in part to the number of main characters. And because of the importance of music and dance to Colombian culture (not to mention, well, a musical), the crew behind Encanto took the rare step of involving choreographers at the beginning of the development process.
Encanto is the first Oscar nomination for director Jared Bush, while co-director Byron Howard has three noms in the category. Howard won the Oscar in 2017 for Zootopia (on which Bush was a co-director, but not part of the group named in the nomination).
Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen & Charlotte De La Gournerie
This Danish indie, directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and executive produced by actor Riz Ahmed, is a documentary, following the story of a real person who fled Afghanistan. The subdued animation style of Flee serves a dual purpose: it protects the identity of the pseudonymous protagonist, but, as Carlos Aguilar writes in IndieWire, it “provides a narrative language with distinct aesthetic dialects that allows for the factual past, his sensorial memory, and the present to converge.”
Flee, now available to stream on Hulu, is notable for the trio of Oscar categories for which it was nominated—Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature, and Best Documentary Feature. It’s the first to earn noms in those three categories simultaneously. Earlier this month, It was honored as the best independent animated movie at the Annie Awards, which recognize excellence in animation in movies and TV.
Luca
Enrico Casarosa & Andrea Warren
Since this category’s creation in 2001, Pixar has had it in a headlock, winning 11 of 17 total years (including the past two). It’ll look to three-peat with Luca, a story of a young sea monster in the Italian riviera who assumes the form of a human boy on land. The computer-animated film, released directly to Disney+ in the summer of 2021, was the most-viewed streaming movie of the year.
Director Enrico Casarosa is a first-time nominee who has worked for Pixar since 2002, mostly contributing as a story artist or as part of the senior creative team. Luca, a story partly inspired by his childhood in Genoa, marks his directorial debut for a feature. He previously directed a Pixar short called La Luna, which played in theaters before the feature film Brave and was nominated for Best Animated Short in 2012.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller & Kurt Albrecht
Road-trip comedy meets saving-the-world sci-fi action in The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Katie Mitchell, an aspiring filmmaker, gets a bit more than she bargains for as her family travels to drop her off at college.
This film, produced by Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix, is already something of a frontrunner on the awards circuit; it won Best Animated Feature at the Annies (and won seven other categories, too).
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is the feature directorial debut for Mike Rianda, who also co-wrote the story and voiced one of the lead characters. The flick is seeking to become the second Sony production to win in this category, after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer & Peter Del Vecho
The fantasy world of Kumandra was once protected by peaceful dragons, many of whom sacrificed themselves to save humanity from sinister monsters. When the threat re-emerges in the modern day, a warrior princess sets out in search of the last living dragon to save the day once more.
Raya and the Last Dragon led all movies at the Annies with 10 total nominations, though it didn’t win any. The computer-animated flick is director Don Hall’s second Oscar nomination, having previously won for Big Hero 6 in 2015. His next project is directing Strange World, another Disney animated film, slated for release this year. Estrada, Hall’s fellow director, is being honored for the first time. The two also worked together as part of the creative leadership team for Encanto.
