The visual effects race for Oscar just got more crowded and motion-capture is out of the animation categories.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released updated rules for the 83rd annual Oscars, expanding the number of nominees in the visual effects category from three to five.
The group also revised the rules for the best animated feature category to exclude motion capture as animation.
The revised rule now reads: ‘An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture with a running time of greater than 40 minutes, in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique. Motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time.’
The Academy also revised the rules for animated features, adjusting the running time required to be considered in the feature category from 70 minutes down to 40 minutes. The change corrects a gap in the rules that left films between 40 and 70 minutes ineligible as either shorts or features.
The 83rd annual Academy Awards will be presented Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood in a ceremony to be broadcast on ABC.
