Sep 9, 2010 By Sean Kantrowitz

Pop icon Lady Gaga scored a record-breaking 13 nominations for the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, recognizing three videos from her multi-platinum EP The Fame Monster, “Telephone,” “Alejandro,” and the number one smash “Bad Romance.”

“Romance” was the most acclaimed of the three tracks, nominated in 10 of the 13 categories, including Video of the Year, Best Female Video, and Best Dance Video, as well as a number of technical nods, including Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects.

The Special Effects nomination also comes as an honor for 1998 Full Sail Digital Media graduate Culley Bunker, who created the video’s motion graphics at his Los Angeles studio, Skulley Effects, and will receive a coveted “Moon Man” statue if the video wins the category.

The project was Culley’s second collaboration with director Francis Lawrence, with whom he worked on Britney Spears’ “Circus” video, and was inspired to develop new approaches to his effects shots in order to match the striking footage captured on set.

“There’s a few people that whenever they come in, you want to do as much as you can for them,” Culley says. “I really wanted to give him more with this.”

The highlight of that work is a sequence halfway through the video, where a mass of diamonds rains down on the singer while she’s on the dance floor. It was a tricky shot to get right – with its rotating camera and atmospheric lighting – but Culley was able to come up with a creative fix to save it being cut from the final edit.

“I didn’t want to lose something that the director wanted, so we tried all of these different solutions,” he says. “We were eventually like ‘What if we froze the diamonds in the air?’ We showed it to him, and he loved it, and it all just worked out. Some people might have given up and moved on, but I wanted to give him more. And that’s one of the best parts, it just looks awesome.”

The shot is a highlight of a video filled with memorable moments, and Culley has been honored by the reception his work has received from the singer’s fans, as well as MTV.

“I had no idea it was going to be that big; it literally broke YouTube the second day it was out,” he says. “Everyone did an amazing job with that video, and I’m really proud of the work we did.”

*The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast on Sunday, September 12. For more information about Skulley Effects, visit the website at: www.skulleyfx.com