Project Description
9TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hills, CA
PREVIOUS VES AWARDS | PREVIOUS YEAR | NEXT YEAR
Filmmakers, producers and guests joined more than a thousand attendees from the visual effects industry for the sold-out gala which honored and Christopher Nolan with the inaugural VES Visionary Award and and Ray Harryhausen with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Inception’s Tom Hardy was on hand to present the award to Nolan while Harryhausen was feted by video tributes throughout the evening. Randy Cook and and Dennis Muren presented from the stage to Harryhausen who appeared via video to thank VES for this honor. The event was hosted by Patton Oswalt.
Inception took home awards in all four nominated categories as the night’s most honored project. and How to Train Your Dragon and The Pacific both took home three awards.
Honorees
Visionary Award
Christopher Nolan
Awarded for uniquely and consistently employing the art and science of visual effects to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Ray Harryhausen
Awarded for significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of vision, artistry, invention and innovation.
Video & Photo Galleries
View The 9th Annual VES Awards televised on HD Net
(Available to VES Members Only: Log In Required)
Winners and Nominees
Below is the complete list of Winners and Nominees for the 9th Annual VES Awards. A sortable list for ALL years of VES Award winners / nominees can be found on the Previous VES Awards page. All archival viewing materials are cleared for viewing by logged-in VES members behind the VES website firewall. For more information, please review the VES Awards Rules & Procedures, Section 14: Ownership & Clearances here.
Please click on the category to reveal the nominees and winners
Fully animated films are not eligible in this category.
Ken Ralston
Tom Peitzman
David Schaub
Carey Villegas
Tim Burke
Emma Norton
John Richardson
Paul Franklin
Chris Corbould
Mike Chambers
Matthew Plummer
Ben Snow
Ged Wright
Janek Sirrs
Susan Pickett
Eric Barba
Lisa Beroud
Steve Gaub
Steve Preeg
Effects-driven films may not enter their “invisible” effects in this category, and animated films are not eligible.
Dan Schrecker
Colleen Bachman
Michael Capton
Brad Kalinoski
Peter Chiang
Charlie Noble
Michael Capton
Matthew Plummer
Michael Owens
Joel Mendias
Bryan Grill
Danielle Plantec
Richard Stammers
Allen Maris
Jessica Norman
Max Wood
Robert Grasmere
Camille Cellucci
Mark Breakspear
Ivan Moran
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within a single episode of an effects-driven miniseries, made-for-television movie or special that was broadcast and delivered via over-the-air, pay/basic cable, or satellite transmissions to homes. A rule of thumb for defining whether a program would be considered effects-driven would be to ask if the story could be told without the active participation of the VFX (including Special Effects).
Philip Dobree
Sophie Orde
Eloi Brunelle
Hasraf Dulull
Philip Dobree
Richard Costin
Sam Meisels
Arnaud Brisebois
Louis Desrocher
Alain Lachance
Marc-Antoine Rousseau
Dorothy McKim
Kyle Odermatt
Andy Harkness
Adolph Lusinsky
John Sullivan
David Taritero
William Mesa
Marco Requay
This award is to honor the achievement of the visual effects within a single episode of a series where the visual effects are a visible, essential, and integral part of the story and play a principal and active role in the show. A rule of thumb for defining whether a series would be considered effects-driven would be to ask if the story could be told without the active participation of the VFX (including Special Effects).
Michael Gibson
Gary Hutzel
Davey Morton
Jesse Mesa Toves
Andrew Orloff
Curt Miller
Paul Linden
Scott Tinter
Mark Savela
James Rorick
Craig Vanden Biggelaar
Adam de Bosch Kemper
Victor Scalise
Jason Spratt
Diego Galtieri
Mike Enriquez
Andrew Orloff
Nathan Overstrom
Karen Czukerberg
Roberto Biagi
Robert Stromberg
Dave Taritero
Richard Friedlander
Paul Graff
Andrew Orloff
Raoul Yorke Bolognini
Nathan Overstrom
Charlene Eberle
Adam Avitabile
Melinka Thompson-Godoy
Michael Capton
Michael Degtjarewsky
Sam Nicholson
Jason Sperling
Kent Johnson
Chris Martin
Jay Worth
Andrew Waisler
Ron Thornton
Andrew Kramer
Infomercials, corporate IDs or marks and company logos are not eligible in this or any category.
Angus Kneale
Ben Smith
Dan Williams
Ruben Vanderbroek
Franck Lambertz
Andrew Bell
Mike Wynd
Ross Denner
Dan Glass
Dan Seddon
Matt Dessero
Stephanie Gilgar
Robert Sethi
Arielle Davis
Chris Knight
Andre Desouza
Robert Sethi
Chris Knight
Arielle Davis
Gawain Liddiard
Kazuya Sasahara
Junya Okabe
Tomohisa Ishikawa
Yoshiyuki Okada
Teddy Newton
Kevin Reher
Michael Fu
Tom Gately
Bryan Engram
Greg Lyons
Josh Carey
Harry Michalakeas
Tomasz Baginski
Jaroslaw Sawko
Damian Nenow
Marta Staniszewska
Dorothy McKim
John Murrah
Adolph Lusinsky
Wayne Unten
To be eligible, a Special Venue project must have been exhibited publicly:
- In a commercial venue for a paid admission, which may include the general admission to a theme park or special venue theater;
- For a minimum period of one week on a regular daily schedule; and
- Premiered in the current awards year in a Special Venue theater as defined above.
The following are not eligible in this category, regardless of the material’s original capture format:
- Special purpose events such as trade shows and conventions;
- Video material generally referred to as “pre-show” material;
- Repurposed films, i.e. projects initially intended for the theatrical market but which have been blown up for exhibition in large-format Special Venue theaters;
- Projects that were created as conventional 2D theatrical presentations but have been repurposed to stereographic 3D;
- Any 2D or stereographic 3D feature motion picture that either premiered first, or simultaneously, in any regular movie theater or in any broadcast medium;
- Any project that runs for an equal or greater amount of time in any regular movie theater or in any broadcast medium; and
- Movies intended for simultaneous distribution in both Special Venue and normal movie theaters. The intent of this category is to honor those projects made specifically for the Special Venue market.
Marcin Kobylecki
Piotr Sliwowski
Michal Gryn
Damian Nenow
Brent Young
Dina Benadon
Charlotte Huggins
Michael “Oz” Smith
Adam Howard
Richard Mann
Matt Hendershot
James Strauss
Matt Aitken
Kevin Sherwood
Eric Reynolds
R. Christopher White
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the animation within an entire animated motion picture. The animation may be created by traditional cel animation, computer animation, and/or stop motion, as long as it meets the definitions of Animation and Animated Project as stated in the Appendix of this Rules & Procedures. The vocal performance of characters may be taken into consideration along with the visual qualities in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the animation.Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Simon Otto
Craig Ring
Bonnie Arnold
Zareh Naibandian
Simon Whiteley
Eric Leighton
Alex Weight
Jason Reisig
Doug Cooper
Gina Shay
Teresa Cheng
Clay Kaytis
John Kahrs
Glen Keane
Roy Conli
Lee Unkrich
Darla K. Anderson
Guido Quaroni
Michael Fong
This award is to honor the best animated commercial. At least 75% of the content of the commercial must be animated to be eligible as per the definitions of Animation and Animated Project in the Appendix. Content to be judged is limited to the body of the commercial. Any commercial that originated for Broadcast including paid commercials, PSAs and promos are eligible. Maximum length of commercials is 60 seconds.
Commercials that premiere at trade shows or over the Internet are not eligible for this category. Infomercials, corporate IDs or marks and company logos are not eligible in this or any category. Live action or non-animated corporate or brand tags will not be considered or counted towards the 25% limit.
Abby Orchard
Antoine Moulineau
Mike Mellor
Russell Dodgson
Jake Mengers
Julie Evans
Jorge Montiel Meurer
Michael Gregory
Tim Miller
Kevin Margo
Lindsey Zamplas
Kirby Miller
Chris Riehl
Javier Jimenez
Daniel Zobrist
Charles Paek
Marc Messenger
Phillip Hillenbrand, Jr.
Michael Kelleher
Brian LaFrance
This award is to honor the overall achievement in a single animated character in a live action motion picture. The character may have been created by any technique or combination of techniques, including animatronics, as long as it meets the definition of Animation as stated in the Glossary of these Rules & Procedures.
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
William Groebe
Brian Mendenhall
Aharon Bourland
Steve Reding
Gabriele Zucchelli
Catherine Mullan
Benoit Dubuc
Peta Bayley
Mathieu Vig
Ben Lambert
Laurie Brugger
Marine Poirson
Laurent Laban
Will Brand
Matthieu Goutte
Jason Baker
Marcus Lehto
Joseph Tung
Stephen Scott
CJ Cowan
Jorg Neumann
Brian Moore
John Laws
Jonny Watts
Henry LaBounta
Fiona Sperry
Johannes Soderqvist
Alex Fry
Scott Goffman
Phillip Hillenbrand, Jr.
Nick Carpenter
James McCoy
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Gabe Hordos
Cassidy Curtis
Mariette Marinus
Brent Watkins
Josh Murtack
James Cunliffe
Jessica Groom
Andrew Hunt
David Cross
Rani Naamani
Dick Walsh
Adrian Tsang
Tony Smeed
Amy Smeed
Becky Bresee
Kira Lehtomaki
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Raphael Pimentel
Thana Siripopungul
Michaël Nauzin
Anne Chatelain
Grégory Mougne
Cédric Nicolas
Tony Smeed
Chad Sellers
Patrick Osborne
John Wong
Tony Smeed
Chad Sellers
Patrick Osborne
John Wong
Multiple entries from the same game title will only be allowed if the entries are from different Game Trailers and the submitting teams are entirely different, including the overall VFX Supervisor and overall VFX Producer.
The following are not eligible for this category:
- Game Trailers that share any pre-rendered material with a video game currently
released in stores or that contain re-purposed shots from previous trailers; - Game Trailers that contain real-time material from the game itself that totals more than 25% of the total running time of the Submission Length, not including Before & Afters; and
- Animated commercials that originate as Broadcast material.
Barbara Brennan
Jay Cooper
Kimberly Lashbrook
Dorne Huebler
Dave Wilson
Corey Butler
Keith Luczywo
Seung Jae Lee
Tim Miller
Dave Wilson
Lindsey Zamplas
Brandon Riza
Marc Messenger
Phillip Hillenbrand, Jr.
This category judges not only the techniques for creating the environment, but also their integration with any practical plate photography. Before & Afters must show the integration of the multiple elements used to create the environment.
Stereo extractions of environments that do not contain any other significant enhancements or fully animated productions are not eligible in this category. For practical purposes, the environment should be a single setting within the story, and not, for example, all locations within an entire city.
Bruno Baron
Dan Neal
Graham Page
Per Mork-Jensen
Giles Hancock
Richard Bluff
Todd Vaziri
Aaron McBride
Jonathan Litt
Juan S. Gomez
Kevin Sears
Sonja Burchard
Jonathan Litt
Juan S. Gomez
Kevin Sears
Sonja Burchard
This category judges not only the techniques for creating the environment, but also their integration with any practical plate photography. Before & Afters must show the integration of the multiple elements used to create the environment.
Stereo extractions of environments that do not contain any other significant enhancements, or fully animated productions, are not eligible in this category. For practical purposes, the environment should be a single setting within the story, and not, for example, all locations within an entire city.
Robert Stromberg
Paul Graff
Brian Sales
Brian Pace
J. John Corbett
Matthew Conner
Brendan Fitzgerald
Jun Zhang
Michael Cook
Jon Rosenthal
Ragui Hanna
Ryan Wieber
Marco Recuay
Morgan McDermott
Nick Lund-Ulrich
Entries may not include material created for or repurposed from game trailers or commercials.
Lee R. Wilson
Jason Robertson
David Hunt
Joe Spataro
Joel Mongeon
Kenneth Lammers
Felix Ilsley
Andrew Matthews
Fausto De Martini
Xin Wang
Glenn Ramos
Scott Lange
Andy Hayes
Laurent Kermel
Jason Mayer
Brett Miller
Sebastien Quessy
Kevin Blom
Jerome Escobar
Jeff Budsberg
Andrew Kim
Yancy Lindquist
Can Yuksel
Jason Johnston
Eric Froemling
David Ryu
JD Northrup
Ian Hunter
Scott Beverly
Forest Fischer
Robert Spurlock
Bruce Holcomb
Ron Woodall
John Goodson
John Walker
Matthew Gratzner
Scott Schneider
Adam Gelbart
Richard A.F. Ewan
Bruce Holcomb
Ron Woodall
John Goodson
John Walker
Model supervisor and artist(s), texture artists, shader writer(s), paint artist(s), etc. are eligible in this category. Overall project supervisors and/or producers are specifically not eligible.
J. John Corbett
Matthew Conner
Brendan Fitzgerald
Andrew Karr
Alec McClymont
Daniel Osaki
Paul Hegg
Multiple entries from the same project are eligible provided the compositing teams are 100% different and the shots being submitted are completely different. Title sequences are eligible as long as:
- They are submitted in textless form in order not to conflict with any other awards rule; and
- They are part of the storytelling and are not a specially designed separate animated title sequence in a live action project.
Animated films are not eligible in this category.
Aaron Kupferman
Lisa Deaner
Orde Stevanoski
Ruben Flores
Joseph Farrell
Nick Crew
Jamie Hallett
Christine Lo
Astrid Busser-Casas
Scott Pritchard
Jan Maroske
George Zwier
Paul Lambert
Sonja Burchard
Kym Olsen
Sarahjane Javelo Chase
Animated programs or main title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Paul Graff
Brian Sales
Jesse Siglow
Merysa Nichols
Matthew Unwin
Lisa Ryan
Michael Gregory
Jeremy Nelson
John P. Mesa
Dan Novy
Tyler Cote
Franck Lambertz
Ryan Knowles
Rupert Ashton
Priyan Jayamaha
Jun Ying Xu
Kirsten Dale Pretorious
Regina Welker
Jan Bitzer
Ilija Brunck
Csaba Letay
Erick Hupin
Baptiste Ode
Philippe Puech
Pierre Nahoum
Rupert Ashton
Priyan Jayamaha
Jun Ying Xu
Kirsten Dale Pretorious