Now that the Oscar nominations have been announced, studio lobbying can shift to warp speed. Fittingly, Disney has released a 10-minute VFX before-and-after reel from its franchise-rebooting behemoth, Star Wars: The Force Awakens—up for five nominations, including best film editing and best visual effects. The reel reveals an impressive array of both digital and practical effects—real sets, animatronics, and vehicle rigs, as well as green screens, motion capture, and fully-CGI creations—and shows how the melding of the two made for such an immersive movie-going experience.

Among the highlights: a lightsaber battle staged on a tree-filled, snow-covered set and then augmented with detailed CGI surroundings; a digital TIE Fighter matched to a practical version and simulated to sink into the very real desert sand; and actors running from actual explosions that are later embellished with flourishes of CGI pyro.