2010 VES Award Winners

The 9th Annual VES Awards were held last night at The Beverly Hilton recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories.  The event was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Nominees were selected January 8th by VES members in an all day screening process held in Burbank, San Francisco, London, Sydney and Vancouver. The winners were then selected by the Visual Effects Society membership after viewing clips and before and after reels through an online View and Vote system.

For the past few years the VES Awards were held at the Century Plaza Hotel. This year the venue was changed to the historic Beverly Hilton Hotel, home of the Golden Globes. In 2010 both IATSE and IBEW announced efforts to organize visual effects artists, making it somewhat fitting that the awards honoring that year were forced to move due to a labor dispute at the Century Plaza Hotel. Eric Roth, Executive Director of VES, addressed the organizing efforts in his opening remarks.

VES Visionary Award – Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan was honored with the inaugural VES Visionary Award. The VES describes this new award as “designed to honor an individual who has uniquely and consistently employed the art and science of visual effects to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work”.

Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Awards Committee, explains the choice of Nolan as the first recipient of this award: “Christopher Nolan has been at the forefront in using vfx to help tell complex and astonishing stories that change the way we think about the world around us. His body of work inspires and he continues to push the envelope both technically and in storytelling. Given the amazing work he’s already created in such a short span of time, he is absolutely the best person to receive our inaugural Visionary Award.”

In his speech Nolan joked about his downplaying of Visual Effects “I’m often quoted in the press talking about visual effects like an actress talks about her use of botox.”  He also asked for Visual Effects to “Say yes to the impossible and no to the unreasonable.”

Nolan directed Inception as well as such films as The Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Memento.

Lifetime Achievement Award – Ray Harryhausen

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to master stop motion animator Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen’s work in such early films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans was groundbreaking and inspired many to pursue careers in Visual Effects. Throughout the evening tribute videos were shown and Harryhausen appeared by videotape from England.

Harryhausen commented on this award: “I am really very honored to be presented with this Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society, an organization I have long supported and admired. To join the ranks of other recipients of this award is gratifying as I enter my 90th year. I was an artist and technician who worked usually on my own in small dark rooms in some obscure corner of a studio trying to create original and realistic creatures to inhabit my fantasy worlds and now my work is not only being recognized as unique but also it has become a beacon for other fantasy filmmakers.”

Three different Harryhausen tribute clips were presented during the evening, including a very funny one by Phil Tippett – view the Tippett video on YouTube. Harryhausen was unable to attend but sent a video thank you.

Previous winners of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award include James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, and Frank Marshall & Kathleen Kennedy.

The awards were taped for broadcast and will air exclusively in the US on REELZCHANNEL Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 10p Eastern Time with encore presentations February 20th at 11am, February 26th at 10pm and February 27th at 11am (all Eastern). REELZCHANNEL is DIRECTV channel 238, Dish Network channel 299, Verizon FiOS TV channel 233, AT&T U-verse 799/1799 HD and on cable systems nationwide. Find REELZCHANNEL in your area by entering your zip code at reelz.com/watch.

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9th Annual VES Awards Winners

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture

Inception
Paul Franklin – Visual Effects Supervisor
Chris Corbould – Special Effects Supervisor
Mike Chambers – Visual Effects Producer
Matthew Plummer – Visual Effects Producer

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Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Hereafter
Michael Owens – VFX Supervisor
Joel Mendias – Executive Producer
Bryan Grill – VFX Supervisor
Danielle Plantec – CG Supervisor

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Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

How to Train Your Dragon
Simon Otto – Head of Character Animation
Craig Ring – Visual Effects Supervisor
Bonnie Arnold – Produced By

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or a Special

The Pacific

John Sullivan – Senior Visual Effects Supervisor
David Taritero – VFX Producer
William Mesa – Visual Effects Supervisor
Marco Requay – Digital Visual Effects Supervisor

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series

Caprica
Michael Gibson – VFX Producer
Gary Hutzel – VFX Supervisor
Davey Morton – VFX Artist
Jesse Toves – CGI Artist

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Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

Boardwalk Empire
Robert Stromberg – VFX Supervisor
Dave Taritero – VFX Producer
Richard Friedlander – VFX Producer
Paul Graff – VFX Supervisor

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Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short

Day & Night
Teddy Newton – Director
Kevin Reher – Producer
Michael Fu – Supervising Technical Director
Tom Gately – Supervising Animator

“…we never have enough money to do a picture right, but we always have enough to do it twice” – Newton

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial

Halo: Reach
Dan Glass – Senior VFX Supervisor
Dan Seddon – CG Supervisor
Matt Dessero – DFX Supervisor
Stephanie Gilgar – VFX Producer

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Outstanding Animated Commercial

Cadbury’s Spots V Stripes
Jake Mengers – Creative VFX Director
Julie Evans – VFX Producer
Jorge Montiel Meurer – Lead Animator
Michael Gregory – 2D Supervisor

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

King Kong 360 3D
Matt Aitken – VFX Supervisor
Kevin Sherwood – VFX Producer
Eric Reynolds – Animation Supervisor
R. Christopher White – CG Supervisor

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Outstanding Real-Time Visual Effects in a Video Game

Halo: Reach
Marcus Lehto – Creative Director
Joseph Tung – Executive Producer
Stephen Scott – Senior FX Lead
CJ Cowan – Cinematics Director

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Video Game Trailer

World of Warcraft
Marc Messenger – VFX Supervisor
Phillip Hillenbrand, Jr. – VFX Producer

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Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – Dobby
Mathieu Vig – Animator
Ben Lambert – Modeller
Laurie Brugger – Character Supervisor
Marine Poirson – Look Development TD

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Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

How to Train Your Dragon – Toothless
Gabe Hordos – Supervising Animator
Cassidy Curtis – Supervising Animator
Mariette Marinus – Character Technical Director
Brent Watkins – Character Technical Director

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Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

Citron C3 The Spacebox – Citro
Michael Nauzin – CG Supervisor
Anne Chatelain – CG Animator
Gregory Mougne – CG Animator
Cedric Nicolas – CG Animator

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Outstanding Animated Character in a Video Game

StarCraft II – Sarah Kerrigan
Jeffrey W. Chamberlain – VFX Supervisor
Angela Blake – VFX Producer
Nick Carpenter – Executive Art Director

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Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

How to Train Your Dragon
Andy Hayes – Effects Animator
Laurent Kermel – Effects Animator
Jason Mayer – Effects Animator
Brett Miller – Effects Animator

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Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Inception – Paris Dreamscape
Bruno Baron – Lighting Supervisor
Dan Neal – CG Supervisor
Graham Page – Compositing Sequence Supervisor
Per Mork-Jensen – Compositor

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Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Broadcast Program

The Pacific – The Battle of Iwo Jima
Marco Recuay – VFX Supervisor/Lead Artist
Morgan McDermott – CG Supervisor
NIck Lund-Ulrich- Compositing Supervisor

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Outstanding Models & Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture

Inception – Hospital Fortress Destruction
Ian Hunter – VFX Supervisor
Scott Beverly – Mechanical FX Supervisor
Forest Fischer – Model Crew Chief
Robert Spurlock – Special FX Supervisor

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Outstanding Models & Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

Boardwalk Empire – The Ivory Tower
J. John Corbett – Compositing Supervisor
Matthew Conner – Digital Artist & Compositor
Brendan Fitzgerald – Senior 3D Artist

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Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

Inception
Astrid Busser-Casas – Compositing Sequence Supervisor
Scott Pritchard – Compositing Sequence Supervisor
Jan Maroske – Compositing Sequence Supervisor
George Zwier – Compositing Sequence Supervisor

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Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

The Pacific – Peleliu landing
Jeremy Nelson – Lead Compositor
John Mesa – Compositor/Supervisor
Dan Novy – Animator/Compositor
Tyler Cote – Compositor

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Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

LOOM
Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, Csaba Letay, Fabian Pross and Regina Welker

Autodesk sponsored the VES award for “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project” again this year. LOOM was created by filmmakers at Film Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany, using Softimage to create breathtaking photo-real CG.

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Here are some additional photos from the evening, click any one to launch a viewer.