BEHIND THE SCREEN- EMMY NOMINATIONS – SARA BENNETT@ MILK

SHERLOCK (BBC AMERICA)
Sara Bennett, 2D Supervisor
Outstanding Special Visual Effects in Supporting Role

Sara Bennett already has a huge accolade from earlier this year: an Oscar, for the visual effects on Ex Machina — making her only the second woman to win an Academy Award in the VFX category (the first was Suzanne M. Benson for 1986’s Aliens). She also was part of the BAFTA Craft Award-winning team for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, led by U.K.-based VFX house Milk, which she co-founded. In June, she was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in July she earned her Emmy nomination.

“I never really thought about [being a woman in VFX] because I have worked with women throughout my career,” says Bennett. Milk’s work included a sequence in which Sherlock dissects a scene where the Abominable Bride is shooting into a street from a balcony and he examines it from 360 degrees. Milk made the rotating camera viewpoint, blending two plates to create the rotating, 180-degree camera move, which had been shot on a camera track around an actor who remained static during the take, then revealing an outdoor version of the lounge area of Sherlock’s Baker Street house.