11th Annual VES Awards2019-12-05T10:57:32-08:00

Project Description

11TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS

Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hills, CA

PREVIOUS VES AWARDS | PREVIOUS YEAR | NEXT YEAR

The VES Awards recognizes outstanding visual effects in twenty-four categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games.

Filmmakers, celebrities, producers and guests joined more than a thousand attendees from the visual effects industry for the sold-out gala – which honored director Ang Lee with the VES Visionary Award, presented by Dennis Muren, and Richard Edlund with the Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Harrison Ford.

Life of Pi and Brave were the evening’s most honored feature films, with four awards each.

Honorees

ang_lee3Visionary Award
Ang Lee
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.

r_edlund_001Lifetime Achievement Award
Richard Edlund
Awarded for significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of vision, artistry, invention and innovation.

Highlights

j74Ip6BE1r411th Annual VES Awards Highlight Reel
Featuring Harrison Ford, Naomi Watts, Ang Lee, Jeffrey A. Okun, Richard Edlund and more.

jneMwhuKOmg11th Annual VES Awards Behind the Scenes
Featuring Interviews, Red carpet interviews, behind the scenes footage, and more.

Video & Photo Galleries

Winners and Nominees

Below is the complete list of Winners and Nominees for the 11th 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.

Battleship
Grady Cofer
Pablo Helman
Kevin Elam
Glen McIntosh
Life of Pi (Winner)
Donald R. Elliott
Susan MacLeod
Guillaume Rocheron
Bill Westenhofer
Prometheus
Paul Butterworth
Charley Henley
Allen Maris
Richard Stammers
The Avengers
Susan Pickett
Janek Sirrs
Jeff White
Guy Williams
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Joe Letteri
Eileen Moran
Eric Saindon
Kevin L. Sherwood

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.

Argo
Matt Dessero
Gregory McMurry
Tom Smith
Michele Vallillo
Flight
Kevin Baillie
Michael Lantieri
Chris Stoski
Ryan Tudhope
Rust and Bone
Béatrice Bauwens
Cédric Fayolle
Nicolas Rey
Stéphane Thibert
The Impossible (Winner)
Felix Bergés
Sandra Hermida
Pau Costa Moeller
Zero Dark Thirty
Geoff Anderson
Chris Harvey
Jeremy Hattingh
Richard Stutsman
Curiosity: Battlefield Cell
Nathan Larouche
Lon Molnar
Geoff Scott
Bojan Zoric
Falling Skies: Worlds Apart
James Hattin
Suzanne MacLennan
Curt Miller
Andrew Orloff
Game of Thrones: Volar Morghulis (Winner)
Rainer Gombos
Steve Kullback
Sven Martin
Juri Stanossek
Munsters: Mockingbird Lane
Leslie Ekk
Jonah Hall
Livia Hanich
Jason Zimmerman
Once Upon A Time: The Stranger
Dale Fay
Laura Jones
Nathan Matsuda
Andrew Orloff
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.

Boardwalk Empire: Episode 308 (Winner)
John Bair
Parker Chehak
Paul Graff
Lesley Robson-Foster
Hawaii Five-O: La O Na Makuahine
Gevork Babityan
Jon Howard
Armen Kevorkian
Ricardo Ramirez
Hell On Wheels: Blood Moon
Matt Von Brock
Jason Fotter
Tim Jacobsen
Bill Kent
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Nathan Abbot
Kip Larsen
Chris Morley
Christopher Paizis
Men Who Built America: Episode 2
Glenn Allen
Matthew Conner
Eran Dinur
David Reynolds
Call of Duty: Surprise
Steve Beck
Chris Knight
Robert Sethi
Christina Thompson
Lady Gaga: Fame
Kait Boehm
Juan Gomez
Kurt Lawson
Greg Teegarden
Nike: Biomorph (Winner)
Rafael Colon
Aladino Debert
David Liu
Nicola Wiseman
Norfolk Southern: City of Possibilities
Chris Bernier
Kyle Cody
Jeff Lopez
Boo Wong
Pepsi: Crowd Surfing
Martin Aufinger
Russell Dodgson
Abby Orchard
Chris Redding

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.
Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem (Winner)
Heather Drummons
Joel Friesch
Brooke Breton
Chris Bailey
Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet
Matthew Blackwell
Tom Kennedy
Jeroen Lapré
Mike Schmitt
SeaWorld: Turtle Trek 3D/ 360
Timur “Taron” Baysal
Jae Cheol Hong
Cecil Magpuri
Michael Roderick
The Ball Unleashed
Gianni Aliotti
Lisa Zusmer DelPrete
Marc Dominic Rienzo
Eric Sanford

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.

Brave (Winner)
Mark Andrews
Steve May
Katherine Sarafian
Bill Wise
Hotel Transylvania
Lydia Bottegoni
James Crossley
Mike Ford
Daniel Kramer
ParaNorman
Chris Butler
Sam Fell
Travis Knight
Brad Schiff
Rise of the Guardians
Nancy Bernstein
David Prescott
Peter Ramsey
Christina Steinberg
Wreck-It Ralph
Sean Jenkins
Scott Kersavage
Rich Moore
Clark Spencer

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.

Life of Pi: Richard Parker (Winner)
Erik De Boer
Sean Comer
Betsy Asher Hall
Kai-Hua Lan
The Avengers: The Hulk
Marc Chu
John Doublestein
Cyrus Jam
Jason Smith
The Hobbit: Goblin King
Jung Min Chang
James Jacobs
David Clayton
Guillaume Francois
The Hobbit: Gollum
Gino Acevedo
Alessandro Bonora
Jeff Capogreco
Kevin Estey
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Winner)
Jason Blundell
Barry Whitney
Colin Whitney
Dirt Showdown
Peter Asberg
Peter Clark
Nathan Fisher
Julie McGurren
Dishonored
Viktor Antonov
Sebastien Mitton
Jean-Luc Monnet
Julien Roby
Forza Horizon
Michel Bastien
Terrance Newell
Gareth Richards
Andrew Sagea
Halo 4
Mike Cronin
Brien Goodrich
Kenneth Scott
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.

Brave: Merida (Winner)
Travis Hathaway
Olivier Soares
Peter Sumanaseni
Brian Tindall
Hotel Transylvania: Dracula
Bill Haller
Tim Pixton
Jorge Vigara
The Pirates: Band of Misfits
Will Becher
Jay Grace
Loyd Price
Wreck-It Ralph: Vanellope
John Kahwaty
Suzan Kim
Michelle Robinson
Tony Smeed

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.

Game of Thrones: Training the Dragons (Winner)
Irfan Celik
Florian Friedman
Ingo Schachner
Chris Stenner
Hallmark: Motherbird
Vince Baertsoen
Kevin Ives
Laurent Makowski
Joshua Merck
Sinbad: Episode 1
Andy Guest
James Moxon
James Reid
Greg Spencer
Ted: Jimmy Kimmel Live!
James W. Brown
Brad Fox
Ross Nakamura
Jeffrey Woo
Stephen King’s ‘Rose Red’
Michael Joyce

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.

Life of Pi: Open Ocean
Jason Bayever
Sho Hasegawa
Jimmy Jewell
Walt Jones
Prometheus: LV-233
Julien Bolbach
Marco Genovesi
Martin Riedel
Marco Rolandi
The Avengers: Midtown Manhattan (Winner)
Richard Bluff
Barry Williams
David Meny
Andy Proctor
The Hobbit: Goblin Caverns
Ryan Arcus
Simon Jung
Alastair Maher
Anthony M. Patti

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.

Brave: The Forest (Winner)
Tim Best
Steve Pilcher
Inigo Quilez
Andrew Whittock
ParaNorman: Graveyard
Phil Brotherton
Robert Desue
Oliver Jones
Nick Mariana
ParaNorman: Main Street
Alice Bird
Matt DeLeu
Caitlin Pashalek
Rise of the Guardians: The North Pole
Eric Bouffard
Sonja Burchard
Andy Harbeck
Peter Maynez

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.

5 Gum RPM: Choose Your Energy
Kaan Atilla
Kevin Gillen
Isaac Irvin
Brandon Lester
Call of Duty: Eclipse – Surprise
Chris Bayol
Steve Beck
Gawain Liddiard
Robert Sethi
Game of Thrones: Pyke (Winner)
Rene Borst
Thilo Ewers
Adam Figielski
Jonas Stuckenbrock
Sinbad
James Moxon
Lyndall Spagnoletti
Greg Spencer

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.

The Amazing Spider-Man
Rob Engle
David Schaub
Cosku Turhan
Max Tyrie
The Avengers: Downtown Manhattan
Colin Benoit
Jeremy Goldman
Tory Mercer
Roger Liu
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Winner)
Matt Aitken
Victor Huang
Christian Rivers
R. Christopher White
Total Recall: Hover Car Chase
Daniel Baldwin
Mattias Forsstrom
Sam Schwier
Joshua Wassung

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.

Call of Duty: Eclipse – Surprise
Chris Bayol
Steve Beck
Chris Knight
Robert Sethi
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
Steven Chen
Phil Dakin
Paul Stodolny
Toyota: Real Deal
Adam Berg
Niles Heckman
Ronald Herbst
Vernon Wilbert
ZombiU
Dominique Boidin
Léon Bérelle
Rémi Kozyra
Maxime Luère

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.

Men in Black 3: Cape Canaveral/ Apollo Launch
Craig Feifarek
Hee-Chel Nam
Eric Neill
Taehyun Park
The Avengers: Helicarrier (Winner)
Rene Garcia
Bruce Holcomb
Polly Ing
Aaron Wilson
The Dark Knight Rises: Airplane Heist
Scott Beverly
Alan Faucher
Ian Hunter
Steve Newburn
The Impossible: Orchid Hotel
Markus Donhauser
Patrick Lehn
Angel Martinez
Juergen Pirman
Battleship
Florent Andorra
Willi Geiger
Rick Hankins
Florian Witzel
Life of Pi: Ocean
Jason Bayever
David Horsley
Scott Townsend
Miles Vignol
Life of Pi: Storm of God (Winner)
Harry Mukhopadhyay
David Stopford
Mark Williams
Derek Wolfe
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Areito Echevarria
Chet Leavai
Garry Runke
Francois Sugny
Brave (Winner)
Chris Chapman
Dave Hale
Michael K. O’Brien
Bill Watral
ParaNorman: Angry Aggie Ink-Blot Electricity
Michael Cordova
Grant Laker
Susanna Luck
Peter Vickery
ParaNorman: Practical Volumetrics
Aidan Fraser
Joe Gorski
Eric Kuehne
Andrew Nawrot
Rise of the Guardians: Last Stand
Andy Hayes
Carl Hooper
Andrew Wheeler
Stephen Wood
Guinness: Cloud (Winner)
Tom Bussell
Neil Davies
Last Resort: Captain
Matt Von Brock
Bruce Coy
Junaid Farooq
Aldo Ruggiero
Nike: Biomorph
Aladino Debert
Eric Ebling
Ken Mitchel Jones
Nissan Altima: Wouldn’t it be Cool
Tim Borgmann
Forcada
Aron Hjartarson
Shayne Ryan

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.

Life of Pi: Storm of God (Winner)
Ryan Clarke
Jose Fernandez
Sean Oharas
Hamish Schumacher
Prometheus: Engineers & the Orrery
Xavier Bourque
Sam Cole
Simone Riginelli
The Avengers: Hulk Punch
Chris Balog
Peter Demarest
Nelson Sepulveda
Alan Travis
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Jean-Luc Azzis
Steven McGillen
Christoph Salzmann
Charles Tait
Game of Thrones: White Walker Army (Winner)
Falk Boje
Esther Engel
Alexey Kuchinsky
Klaus Wuchta
Hell On Wheels: Blood Moon
Antonio Chang
Jason Fotter
Eric Hayden
Josh Miyaji
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Nathan Abbot
Shelley Campbell
Chris Morley
Christopher Paizis
Last Resort: Captain
Matt Von Brock
Jason Fotter
Aldo Ruggiero
Brian Williams
Call of Duty: Eclipse – Surprise
Chris Knight
Becky Porter
Jake Maymudes
Tayler Smith
Chevy 2012 Silverado (Winner)
Dominik Bauch
Nicholas Kim
Benjamin Walsh
Nike: Game On, World
Daniel Marsh
Paul O’Shea
Norfolk Southern: City of Possibilities
Tom Bardwell
Chris Bernier
Kyle Cody
Erin Nash
Globosome
Sascha Geddert
Johannes Peter
Patrick Schuler
Philipp Wolf
Natalis (Winner)
Daniel Brkovic
David Kirchner
Jan-Marcel Kuehn
Tom Ferstl
Rollin’ Safari
Kyra Buschor
Anna Habermehl
Constantin Päplow
Thomas Hartmann
Voile Noir
Michael Balthazart
Raphaël Gaudin
Clément Granjon De Lepiney
Quentin Sauvinet