The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the winners of its 10th Annual VES Awards on 7th February 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games. More than a thousand attendees — filmmakers, producers, directors and members of the visual effects community– gathered to recognize the year’s best work and the artists who created it.
Rango was the evening’s most honoured project with four awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture. Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all took home two awards in the Feature Motion Picture categories, while Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones each garnered a pair of awards in the Television categories.
Stan Lee received the Lifetime Achievement Award and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the Georges Méli?s Award at the show, which was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Antonio Banderas, Lou Ferrigno, directors Chris Miller, Marc Webb and Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and a host of luminaries were on hand to present awards. A surprise appearance by Martin Scorsese, whose film Hugo received two awards, was one of the evening’s highlights.
The complete list of winners of the 10th Annual VES Awards is as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes:Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Hugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie, or Special
Inside the Human Body: Phil Dobree, Sophie Orde, Dan Upton
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series
Terra Nova – Occupation & Resistance: Kevin Blank, Colin Brady, Adica Manis, Jason Zimmerman
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones – Winter is Coming: Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, Angela Barson, Ed Bruce, Adam McInnes
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial
Dior J’adore: Pascal Giroux, Julien Meesters, Stephane Pivron, Manuel Souillac
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Commercial or Video Game Trailer
Diablo III: The Black Soulstone: Nicholas S. Carpenter, Jon Lanz, Chris Thunig, Taka Yasuda
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
Transformers the Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle: Lori Arnold, Yanick Dusseault, Delio Tramontozzi, Jeff White
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Caesar: Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango – Rango: Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton
Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Canal + The Bear: Laurent Creusot, Guillaume Ho, Olivier Mitonneau, Michal Nauzin
Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 155 Wacker Drive: Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango – Main Street Dirt: John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy, Russell Paul
Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Game of Thrones – The Icewall: Markus Kuha, Dante Harbridge Robinson, Damien Mac, Fani Vassiadi.
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Hugo: Martin Chamney, Rob Legato, Adam Watkins, Fabio Zangla
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango – The Dirt Saloon: Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda, Nick Walker
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Gears of War 3 – Dust to Dust: Niles Heckman, Richard Morton, Vernon Wilbert Jr.
Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Driller: Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia
Outstanding Models in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Boardwalk Empire – Georgia Peaches: Matthew Conner, Eran Dinur, David Reynolds, Szymon Weglarski
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
Captain America: The First Avenger – Skinny Steve: Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh
Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
Boardwalk Empire – Gimcrack & Bunkum: Anton Dawson. Eran Dinur, Austin Meyers, David Reynolds
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
a.maize: Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann
For more information on the VES Awards and the Visual Effects Society please visit www.visualeffectssociety.com