Project Description
10TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hills, CA
PREVIOUS VES AWARDS | PREVIOUS YEAR | NEXT YEAR
Rango dominated the 10th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards with four wins in animated feature categories — Visual Effects, Animated Character, Created Environment and Virtual Cinematography. Hugo, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and Transformers: Dark Of The Moon took a pair of awards each in the feature categories. Boardwalk Empire and Game Of Thrones won two apiece in the TV categories.
Stan Lee was honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the Georges Méliès Award. Ceremonies recognizing visual effects wizardry in 23 categories took place at the Beverly Hilton. The awards presentation aired at on ReelzChannel on Sunday, February 19, 2012.
Honorees
Lifetime Achievement Award
Stan Lee
Awarded for significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of vision, artistry, invention and innovation.
Georges Méliès Award
Douglas Trumbull
Awarded for pioneering significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work.
Highlights
The Daily Featurette of the 10th Annual VES Awards
The Daily and Mike Seymour of fxguide attended the biggest event in the VFX industry.
Below The Line Featurette of the 10th Annual VES Awards
Stan Lee talks about his gratitude for his super-hero career, and other highlights.
More Videos available on our YouTube site.
Video & Photo Galleries
View The 10th Annual VES Awards televised on Reelz Ch
(Available to VES Members Only: Log In Required)
Winners and Nominees
Below is the complete list of Winners and Nominees for the 10th 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
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within a live action motion picture where the visual effects are a visible, essential, and integral part of the story and play a principal and active role in the motion picture. A rule of thumb for defining whether a motion picture 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). On the whole, the VFX in an effects-driven film would be easily identifiable
by the viewing public and professionals working in the VFX field.
Fully animated films are not eligible in this category.
Charlie Noble
Mark Soper
Christopher Townsend
Edson Williams
Tim Burke
Emma Norton
John Richardson
David Vickery
Gary Brozenich
David Conley
Charlie Gibson
Ben Snow
Dan Lemmon
Joe Letteri
Cyndi Ochs
Kurt Williams
Scott Benza
Wayne Billheimer
Matthew Butler
Scott Farrar
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within a live action motion picture where the visual effects play a supporting, minor or background role in the telling of the story. Supporting visual effects, when taken as a whole, may help create the setting, environment, or mood of an entire film, but are generally intended to be subtle or invisible to the lay viewer. They do not consist of a significant number of CG characters, science fiction or fantasy elements, and other highly visible effects that one would expect to see in a visual effects-driven or “tent pole” film.
Effects-driven films may not enter their “invisible” effects in this category, and animated films are not eligible.
André Cantarel
Volker Engel
Rony Soussan
Marc Weigert
Ben Grossmann
Alex Henning
Rob Legato
Karen Murphy
Laya Armian
Chas Jarrett
Seth Maury
Sirio Quintavalle
Annie Godin
Louis Morin
Duncan Burbidge
Ben Morris
Mike Mulholland
Chris Zeh
For purposes of these Awards, animation is considered to be a visual effect. 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 Glossary of this Rules & Procedures. This award recognizes the process in creating animation, be it character or otherwise, to convey a sense of setting, mood, and action that set or enhance the film’s overall visual and emotive efficacy. The technical achievement of the overall animation is to be considered in evaluating the effectiveness of the work.
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Doug Ikeler
Chris Juen
Alan Short
Mandy Tankenson
Melissa Cobb
Alex Parkinson
Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Raymond Zibach
Joe M. Aguilar
Guillaume Aretos
Ken Bielenberg
Chris Miller
Tim Alexander
Hal Hickel
Jacqui Lopez
Katie Lynch
Jamie Beard
Joe Letteri
Meredith Meyer-Nichols
Eileen Moran
Simon Clarke
Hasraf Dulull
Vikas Gandhi
Francisco Lima
J. David Everhart
Kent Johnson
Jon Rhinehardt
Jon Rosenthal
Phil Dobree
Sophie Orde
Dan Upton
Kevin Deters
Dorothy McKim
John Murrah
Stevie Wermers-Skelton
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).
Rob Biagi
Curt Miller
Andrew Orloff
Sean Tompkins
Robert Habros
Andrew Orloff
Jay Worth
Chris Wright
Phil Dobree
Luke Dodd
Haz Dulull
Mark Sherwood
Kevin Blank
Colin Brady
Adica Manis
Jason Zimmerman
Igor Gotsulyak
Dmitriy Kolesnik
Egor Olesov
Dmitriy Ovcharenko
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects that play a supporting or background role within a single episode of a broadcast series, miniseries, made-for-television movie, or special wherein the visual effects are not necessarily essential to the telling of the story in the way that the effects of an effects-driven broadcast program are. Supporting visual effects, when taken as a whole, may help create the setting, environment, or mood of an entire program, and are generally intended to be invisible to the lay viewer. They do not consist of a significant number of CG characters, science fiction or fantasy elements, and other highly visible effects that one would expect to see in a visual effects driven broadcast program.
Richard Friedlander
Robert Stromberg
David Taritero
Christian Cardona
Buddy Gheen
Beau Janzen
Andy Simonson
Bruce Branit
Werner Hahnlein
Gregory Nicotero
William Powloski
Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor
Angela Barson
Ed Bruce
Adam McInnes
Tavis Larkham
Chris Martin
Sam Nicholson
Matt Robken
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within a live action commercial. Any commercial that is originated for Broadcast or specifically for advertising over the Internet may be considered, including paid commercials, PSAs and promos. Maximum length of commercials that will be considered is 120 seconds.
Infomercials, corporate IDs or marks and company logos are not eligible in this or any category.
Pascal Giroux
Julien Meesters
Stephane Pivron
Manuel Souillac
Christopher Bankoff
Sascha M. Flick
Dan Glass
Jeff Willette
Vincent Baertsoen
Camila De Biaggi
Angus Kneale
Rob Petrie
Charles Abou Aad
Andy Boyd
Nordin Rahhali
Mike Wigart
Mhamed Elmezoued
Stephane Montel
Emilie Nicodex
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within an animated commercial or video game trailer. Any commercial or video game trailer that is originated for Broadcast or specifically for advertising over the Internet may be considered, including paid commercials, PSAs and promos. Maximum length of commercials or trailers that will be considered is 120 seconds.
Infomercials, corporate IDs or marks and company logos are not eligible in this or any category.
Tom Bussell
Hugo Guerra
Rahel Makonnen
Jorge Montiel
Russell Dodgson
Simon French
Diarmid Harrison-Murray
Sarah Hiddlestone
Nicholas S. Carpenter
Jon Lanz
Chris Thunig
Taka Yasuda
Heikki Anttila
Brandon Riza
Al Shier
Dave Wilson
Melanie La Rue
David Liu
Richard Morton
The award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within an entire Special Venue project. Special Venues are defined as installations specifically set up to project large-format films (e.g. IMAX or OMNIMAX theaters), theme park theaters that may include a motion-based ride, museums, World Fairs, and similar venues.
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.
Marc Rienzo
Barry Safley
Eric Sanford
Lisa Zusmer Delprete
Mike Fortner
Troy Griffin
Jasmine Johnson
Glo Minaya
Bill George
Jeanie King
Glen McIntosh
Marianne McLean
Lori Arnold
Yanick Dusseault
Delio Tramontozzi
Jeff White
Peter Crosman
Seungyong Lee
Michael “oz” Smith
Brent Young
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.
Yasunobu Arahori
Tom Bracht
Gavin Harrison
Chris Lentz
Anders Beer
Julian Foddy
Jody Johnson
David Lowry
Daniel Barrett
Florian Fernandez
Matthew Muntean
Eric Reynolds
Lyndon Barrois
Fred Chapman
Greg Massie
Marco Menco
This award is to honor the overall achievement in a single animated character in an animated 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.
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Antonio Banderas
Ludovic Bouancheau
Laurent Caneiro
Olivier Staphylas
Frank Gravatt
Kevin Martel
Brian Paik
Steve Walton
Diana Diriwaechter
Sang Jun Lee
Sergio Pablos
Aamir Tarin
Gino Acevedo
Gustav Ahren
Jamie Beard
Simon Clutterbuck
This award is to honor the overall achievement in a single animated character in a broadcast program or commercial. 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. The character may or may not be photorealistic.
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Tom Bussell
Jorge Montiel
Laurent Creusot
Guillaume Ho
Olivier Mitonneau
Michal Nauzin
Matt Heimlich
Fred Hopp
Philip Ineno
Rob Ramsdell
Henry Badgett
Mark Brown
Rafael Morant
James Sutton
This award is to honor the overall achievement of a single created environment in a live action motion picture that best creates an illusion of setting for the story being told. Created environments are defined as either completely artificial environments, or the enhancement of an existing practical set or location through the addition of elements not present during photography. The environment may occur more than once in the project and under different conditions, but must be the same environment, created by the exact same team.
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.
André Cantarel
Robert Freitag
Greg Strasz
Rony Soussan
Keziah Bailey
Stephen Ellis
Clement Gerard
Pietro Ponti
Pierre Buffin
Audrey Ferrara
Yoel Godo
Dominique Vidal
Giles Hancock
John Hansen
Tom Martinek
Scott Younkin
This award is to honor the overall achievement of a single created environment in an animated motion picture that best creates an illusion of setting for the story being told. The environment may occur more than once in the project and under different conditions, but must be the same environment, created by the exact same team.
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 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.
Guillaume Aretos
Greg Lev
Brett Miller
Peter Zaslav
John Bell
Polly Ing
Martin Murphy
Russell Paul
Hamish Beachman
Adam King
Wayne Stables
Mark Tait
Matt Aitken
Jeff Capogreco
Jason Lazaroff
Alessandro Mozzato
Phil Barrenger
Keith F. Miller
Alessandro Saponi
Christoph Sprenger
This award is to honor the overall achievement of a single created environment in a live action broadcast program that best creates an illusion of setting for the story being told. Created environments are defined as either completely artificial environments, or the enhancement of an existing practical set location through the addition of elements not present during photography. The environment may occur more than once in the project and under different conditions, but must be the same environment, created by the exact same team.
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.
Amaan Akram
Tom Bussell
Alex Hammond
Matthew Conner
Robert Stromberg
Markus Kuha
Damien Macé
Dante Harbridge Robinson
Fani Vassiadi
William Arance
Diego Galtieri
Martin Hilke
Anthony Ocampo
vMichael Bozulich
Eric Hance
Kevin Kipper
David Morton
This award honors the art of cinematography within the digital realm of a live action feature motion picture. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in a live action feature film, such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within a primarily CG scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category). In the case of a live action movie, the film’s Director of Photography may be included among the entrants if, and ONLY if, he/she had a significant hands-on role in the final look of the CG elements.
Martin Chamney
Rob Legato
Adam Watkins
Fabio Zangla
Thelvin Cabezas
Mike Perry
R. Christopher White
Erik Winquist
Xavier Allard
Pierre Buffin
Nicolas Chevallier
Michael Balog
Richard Bluff
Shawn Kelly
Jeff White
This award honors the art of digital cinematography within an entire animated feature motion picture. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in an animated feature film, such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within an animated scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category).
Jericca Cleland
Michael Ford
David Morehead
Emi Tahira
Mahyar Abousaeedi
Sharon Calahan
Jeremy Lasky
Jonathan Pytko
Colin Benoit
Philippe Rebours
Nelson Sepulveda
Nick Walker
Matt Aitken
Matthias Menz
Keith F. Miller
Wayne Stables
This award honors the art of cinematography within the digital realm of a live action broadcast program or commercial. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in a broadcast program or commercial (live action or animated), such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within a primarily CG scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category). In the case of a live action program, the program’s Director of Photography may be included among the entrants if, and ONLY if, he/she had a significant hands-on role in the final look of the CG elements.
Niles Heckman
Richard Morton
Vernon Wilbert Jr.
David Liu
Steve Beck
Robert Sethi
Felix Urquiza
Stephen Jackson
Sallyanne Massimini
Nathan Matsuda
Kevin Struckman
This award honors the art of cinematography within the digital realm of a live action broadcast program or commercial. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in a broadcast program or commercial (live action or animated), such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within a primarily CG scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category). In the case of a live action program, the program’s Director of Photography may be included among the entrants if, and ONLY if, he/she had a significant hands-on role in the final look of the CG elements.
Steven Godfrey
Pietro Ponti
Tania Marie Richard
Andy Warren
Scott Beverly
John Goodson
Russell Paul
Kristian Pedlow
Vick Schutz
Tim Brakensiek
Kelvin Chu
David Fogler
Rene Garcia
This award honors an outstanding single model in a live-action broadcast program or commercial. The model may have been created virtually, physically, or any combination thereof, and may be of any scale. The model’s artistry and overall quality are to be considered; however, scenic lighting and compositing should be disregarded. An entry may include multiples of the same model with minor variations, such as scale and features, but they must have been created by the same team. However, character models are specifically excluded from this category, but are eligible in category 12 – Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial. Further, the same model may not be entered in both Category 15 – Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial and Category 20 – Outstanding Models in a Broadcast Program or Commercial.
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.
Carl Horner
Ian Hunter
Miyo Nakamura
Hayley O’Neill
Matthew Conner
Eran Dinur
David Reynolds
Szymon Weglarski
Jon Chesson
Steve Graves
Michael Kirylo
Renaud Talon
Michael Kirylo
Jeremy Melton
Jason O. Monroe
Chris Strauss
This award is to honor outstanding achievement in compositing multiple elements into a final visual effect shot or group of shots in a live action feature motion picture. This category is for a body of work created for a single motion picture by an individual artist or team of artists.
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.
Casey Allen
Trent Claus
Brian Hajek
Cliff Welsh
Michele Benigna
Martin Ciastko
Thomas Dyg
Andy Robinson
Jean-Luc Azzis
Quentin Hema
Simon Jung
Christoph Salzmann
Chris Balog
Ben O’Brien
Amy Shepard
Jeff Sutherland
Animated programs or main title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Jason Bergman
Rodrigo Dorsch
Steve Meyer
Peter Sidoriak
Anton Dawson
Eran Dinur
Austin Meyers
David Reynolds
Stirling Archibald
Anthony Bloor
Michael Gregory
Giacomo Mineo
Franck Lambertz
Roman Kaelin
Falko Paeper
Florian Wittmann
Susie Hong
Bokyeong Kim
Avner Geller
Stevie Lewis
Florian Greth
Julia Reck
Syrena Edmonds
Zack Heimbegner
Brian Mullen
Nathaniel Skinner
Jann Doeppert
Tonio Freitag
Hanna Maria Heidrich
Sebastian Nozon