ILM, located in the Presidio, has a visual effects nomination for its work on Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon.
"The ante has been upped, everybody expects more photo real, it's got to look better," visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said.
He says if they tried to do this with just one PC it would take 16,000 years. Instead a bank of computers and team of artists did extraordinary work,
Farrar won one Oscar for the 1985 film "Cocoon." This is his fifth nomination since then.
"Rango" is ILM's first animated feature film. It's up for an Oscar.
John Knoll, who won for "Pirates of the Caribbean," created Davy Jones.
"We didn't come in with any preconceived notions of what it means to do an animated feature, we came at it from our comfort zone, working on so many live action films," Knoll said.
If they win, director Gore Verbinski picks up the Oscar.
From Emeryville's Pixar, owned by ABC7's parent company Disney, comes "La Luna," nominated for best animated short film. It's about a boy on a voyage of discovery with his dad and grandfather.
Director Enrico Casarosa came to the Bay Area from Italy. He has been at Pixar for 10 years. Casarosa made a presentation to Pixar chief John Lasseter to get "La Luna" made.
"I made 30 images for 'La Luna' and I presented the story through them and try to give an idea of what the story is about," Casarosa said.
It has a look that is different from past Pixar films.
"I was also trying to do something a little poetic, a little slower," Casarosa said.
Maybe he'll add to Pixar's Oscars with this slightly autobiographical film.
His family will be up at 3 a.m. in Genoa, Italy to watch the Oscars.
You can see "La Luna" in theatres when it plays with the next Pixar feature film, "Brave." that opens June 22.
Skywalker sound is also up for "Transformers" and "War Horse."
