Warner Bros.’ “The Hobbit,” Paramount’s “The Avengers” and Fox’s “Life of Pi” lead feature nominations.
Los Angeles – The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the nominees for the 11th Annual VES Awards, which recognize outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were selected Saturday, January 5, by VES members at SPY/ a FotoKem Company in the Bay Area and at FotoKem in Burbank in California; and at Blue Sky Studios in New York, Weta Digital in New Zealand, Fuel VFX in Sydney, Molinare in the UK and Image Engine in Vancouver.
Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society, comments, "Visual effects have helped define the experience of going to the cinema. Every year, visual effects artists put their technical skill, ingenuity and passion to work in the creation of images that astound and move us. We congratulate all of our nominees on their amazing accomplishments in – and contributions to – the worlds of film, animation, television, special venue and games."
As previously announced, acclaimed director Ang Lee will be honored with the VES Visionary Award. Richard Edlund ASC, VES will be presented the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 11th Annual VES Awards will take place on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The nominees for the 11th Annual VES Awards are as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Joe Letteri Eileen Moran Eric Saindon Kevin L. Sherwood
Prometheus Paul Butterworth Charley Henley Allen Maris Richard Stammers
Life of Pi Thomas Fisher Susan Macleod Guillaume Rocheron Bill Westenhofer
The Avengers Susan Pickett Janek Sirrs Jeff White Guy Williams
Battleship Grady Cofer Pablo Helman Jeanie King Glen Mcintosh
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Rust and Bones Béatrice Bauwens Cédric Fayolle Nicolas Rey Stéphane Thibert
The Impossible Felix Bergés Sandra Hermida Pau Costa Moeller
Argo Matt Dessero Leslie Hough Gregory Mcmurry Tom Smith
Flight Kevin Baillie Michael Lantieri Chris Stoski Ryan Tudhope
Zero Dark Thirty Geoff Anderson Chris Harvey Jeremy Hattingh
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones: Volar Morghulis Rainer Gombos Steve Kullback Sven Martin Juri Stanossek
Once Upon A Time: The Stranger Dale Fay Laura Jones Nathan Matsuda Andrew Orloff
Falling Skies: Worlds Apart James Hattin Suzanne Maclennan Curt Miller Andrew Orloff
Curiosity Nathan Larouche Lon Molnar Geoff Scott Bojan Zoric
Munsters: Mockingbird Lane Leslie Ekker Jonah Hall Livia Hanich Jason Zimmerman
Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game
Call of Duty: Black Ops II Jason Blundell Barry Whitney Colin Whitney
Halo 4 Mike Cronin Brien Goodrich Kiki Wolfkill Jon Wood
Dirt Showdown Peter Asberg Peter Clark Nathan Fisher Julie Mcgurren
Forza Horizon Michel Bastien Terrance Newell Gareth Richards Andrew Sage
Dishonored Viktor Antonov Sebastien Mitton Jean-Luc Monnet Julien Roby
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave Mark Andrews Steve May Katherine Sarafian Bill Wise
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
Hotel Transylvania Lydia Bottegoni James Crossley Mike Ford Daniel Kramer
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
Hemingway & Gellhorn Nathan Abbot Kip Larsen Chris Morley Christopher Paizis
Boardwalk Empire: Episode 308 John Bair Parker Chehak Paul Graff Lesley Robson-Foster
Men Who Built America: Episode 2 Glenn Allen Matthew Conner Eran Dinur David Reynolds
Hell On Wheels: Blood Moon Matt Von Brock Jason Fotter Tim Jacobsen Bill Kent
Hawaii Five-O: La O Na Makuahine Gevork Babityan Jon Howard Armen Kevorkian Ricardo Ramirez
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Pepsi: Crowd Surfing Martin Aufinger Russell Dodgson Abby Orchard Chris Redding
Nike: Biomorph Rafael Colon Aladino Debert David Liu Nicola Wiseman
Lady Gaga: Fame Kait Boehm Juan Gomez Kurt Lawson Greg Teegarden
Norfolk Southern: City of Possibilities Chris Bernier Kyle Cody Jeff Lopez Boo Wong
Call of Duty: Surprise Steve Beck Chris Knight Robert Sethi Christina Thompson
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: Goblin King Jung Min Chan James Jacobs David Clayton Guillaume Francois
The Hobbit: Gollum Gino Acevedo Alessandro Bonora Jeff Capogreco Kevin Estey
The Avengers: The Hulk Marc Chu John Doublestein Cyrus Jam Jason Smith
Life of Pi: Richard Parker Erik De Boer Sean Comer Betsy Asher Hall Kai-Hua Lan
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave: Argument Travis Hathaway Olivier Soares Peter Sumanaseni Brian Tindall
Hotel Transylvania: Dracula Bill Haller Tim Pixton Jorge Vigara
Wreck-It Ralph: Vanellope John Kahwaty Suzan Kim Michelle Robinson Tony Smeed
The Pirates: Band of Misfits Will Becher Jay Grace Loyd Price
Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Ted: Jimmy Kimmel Live! James W. Brown Brad Fox Ross Nakamura Jeff Woo
Sinbad: Episode 1 Andy Guest James Moxon James Reid Greg Spencer
Hallmark: Motherbird Vince Baertsoen Kevin Ives Laurent Makowski Joshua Merck
Game of Thrones: Training the Dragons Irfan Celik Florian Friedmann Ingo Schachner Chris Stenner
Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: Goblin Caverns Ryan Arcus Simon Jung Alastair Maher Anthony M. Patti
Prometheus: LV-233 Julien Bolbach Marco Genovesi Martin Riedel Marco Rolandi
The Avengers: Midtown Manhattan Richard Bluff Giles Hancock David Meny Andy Proctor
Life of Pi: Open Ocean Jason Bayever Sho Hasegawa Jimmy Jewell Walt Jones
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave: The Forest Tim Best Steve Pilcher Inigo Quilez Andy Whittock
ParaNorman: Graveyard Phil Brotherton Robert Desue Oliver Jones Nick Mariana
ParaNorman: Main Street Alice Bird Matt Delue Caitlin Pashalek
Rise of the Guardians: The North Pole Eric Bouffard Sonja Burchard Andy Harbeck Peter Maynez
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Matt Aitken Victor Huang Christian Rivers R. Christopher White
The Avengers: Downtown Manhattan Colin Benoit Jeremy Goldman Tory Mercer Anthony Rispoli
Total Recall: Hover Car Chase Daniel Baldwin Mattias Forsstrom Sam Schwier Joshua Wassung
The Amazing Spider-Man Rob Engle David Schaub Cosku Turhan Max Tyrie
Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture
The Avengers: Helicarrier Rene Garcia Bruce Holcomb Polly Ing Aaron Wilson
The Impossible: Orchid Hotel Markus Donhauser Patrick Lehn Angel Martinez Juergen Pirman
Men in Black 3: Cape Canaveral/ Apollo Launch Craig Feifarek Hee-Chel Nam Erik Neill Taehyun Park
The Dark Knight Rises: Airplane Heist Scott Beverly Alan Faucher Ian Hunter Steve Newburn
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave Chris Chapman Dave Hale Michael K. O'Brien Bill Watral
ParaNorman: Practical Volumetrics Aidan Fraser Joe Gorski Eric Kuehne Andrew Nawrot
ParaNorman: Angry Aggie Ink-Blot Electricity Michael Cordova Grant Laker Susanna Luck Peter Vickery
Rise of the Guardians: Last Stand Andy Hayes Carl Hooper Andrew Wheeler Stephen Wood
Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Sinbad James Moxon Lyndall Spagnoletti Greg Spencer Simon Wicker
Pyke Rene Borst Thilo Ewers Adam Figielski Jonas Stuckenbrock
Call of Duty: Eclipse - Surprise Chris Bayol Steve Beck Chris Knight Robert Sethi
5 Gum RPM: Choose Your Energy Kaan Atilla Kevin Gillen Isaac Irvin Brandon Lester
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Toyota: Real Deal Adam Berg Niles Heckman Ronald Herbst Vernon Wilbert
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Steven Chen Phil Dakin Paul Stodolny
Call of Duty: Eclipse - Surprise Chris Bayol Steve Beck Chris Knight Robert Sethi
ZombiU Dominique Boidin Léon Bérelle Rémi Kozyra Maxime Luère
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Areito Echevarria Chet Leavai Garry Runke Francois Sugny
Life of Pi: Storm of God Harry Mukhopadhyay David Stopford Mark Williams Derek Wolfe
Battleship Florent Andorra Willi Geiger Rick Hankins Florian Witzel
Life of Pi: Ocean Jason Bayever David Horsley Scott Townsend Miles Vignol
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Nike: Biomorph Aladino Debert Eric Ebling Ken Mitchel Jones Jason Mortimer
Last Resort: Captain Matt Von Brock Bruce Coy Junaid Farooq Aldo Ruggiero
Guinness: Cloud Tom Bussell Neil Davies
Nissan Altima: Wouldn't it be Cool Tim Borgmann David Forcada Aron Hjartarson Shayne Ryan
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Jean-Luc Azzis Steven Mcgillen Christoph Salzmann Charles Tait
Life of Pi: Storm of God Ryan Clarke Jose Fernandez Sean Oharas Hamish Schumacher
The Avengers: Hulk Punch Chris Balog Peter Demarest Nelson Sepulveda Alan Travis
Prometheus: Engineers & the Orrery Xavier Bourque Sam Cole Simone Riginelli Denis Scolan
Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program
Hemingway & Gellhorn Nathan Abbot Shelley Campbell Chris Morley Christopher Paizis
Last Resort: Captain Matt Von Brock Jason Fotter Aldo Ruggiero Brian Williams
White Walker Army Falk Boje Esther Engel Alexey Kuchinsky Klaus Wuchta
Hell On Wheels: Blood Moon Antonio Chang Jason Fotter Eric Hayden Josh Miyaji
Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial
Chevy 2012 Silverado Dominik Bauch Nicholas Kim Benjamin Walsh
Norfolk Southern: City of Possibilities Tom Bardwell Chris Bernier Kyle Cody Jeff Lopez
Call of Duty: Eclipse - Surprise Chris Bayol Steve Beck Chris Knight Robert Sethi
Nike: Game On, World Daniel Marsh Paul O'Shea
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem Heather Drummons Joel Friesch Troy Griffin Chris Hummel
SeaWorld: Turtle Trek 3D/ 360 Timur "Taron" Baysal Jae Choel Hong Cecil Magpuri Michael Roderick
Earthquake: Evidence of a Restless Planet Matthew Blackwell Tom Kennedy Jeroen Lapré Mike Schmitt
The Ball Unleashed Gianni Aliotti Lisa Zusmer Delprete Marc Dominic Rienzo Eric Sanford
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
Voile Noir Michael Balthazart Raphaël Gaudin Clément Granjon De Lepinay Quentin Sauvinet Globosome Sascha Geddert Johannes Peter Patrick Schuler Philipp Wolf
Rollin' Safari Kyra Buschor Anna Habermehl Constantin Päplow
Natalis Daniel Brkovic David Kirchner Jan-Marcel Kuehn
Source: Visual Effects Society
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
