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Visual Effects Society Announces Nominees for 14th Annual VES Awards

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ leads feature film nominations; ‘The Peanuts Movie’ is top animated film contender; ‘Game of Thrones’ leads the broadcast field and scores most nominations overall.

LOS ANGELES -- Today, the Visual Effects Society, the industry’s professional global honorary society, announced the nominees for the 14th Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on artists who bring this work to life. Nominees were selected by VES members via events hosted by its nine sections -- Australia, Bay Area, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, New Zealand, Toronto and Vancouver. The VES Awards will be held on February 2nd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

As previously announced, the Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to award-winning director-producer Sir Ridley Scott. The Visionary Award will be presented to acclaimed visual futurist and conceptual artist Syd Mead.

“The artistry, ingenuity and passion of visual effects practitioners around the world have come together to create truly remarkable imagery in a variety of media,” said Mike Chambers, VES Chair. “We are seeing best in field work that elevates the art of storytelling and engages the audience in new and innovative ways. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our nominees!”

The nominees for the 14th Annual VES Awards in 23 categories are as follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

  • Furious 7
    Mike Wassel, Karen Murphy, Martin Hill, Kevin McIlwain, Dan Sudick
  • San Andreas
    Colin Strause, Randall Starr, Bryan Grill, Nordin Rahhali, Brian Cox
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens
    Roger Guyett, Luke O'Byrne, Patrick Tubach, Paul Kavanagh, Chris Corbould
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
    Andrew Jackson, Holly Radcliffe, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams
  • The Martian
    Richard Stammers, Barrie Hemsley, Matt Sloan, Chris Lawrence, Steven Warner

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

  • In The Heart of The Sea
    Jody Johnson, Leslie Lerman, Sean Stranks, Bryan Hirota, Mark Holt
  • Bridge of Spies
    Sven Martin, Jennifer Meislohn, Charlie Noble, Sean Stranks, Gerd Nefzer
  • The Walk
    Kevin Baillie, Camille Cellucci, Viktor Muller, Sebastien Moreau
  • Everest
    Dadi Einarsson, Roma O-Connor, Matthias Bjarnasson, Glen Pratt, Richard Van Den Bergh
  • The Revenant
    Rich McBride, Ivy Agregan, Jason Smith, Nicolas Chevallier, Cameron Waldbauer

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

  • The Peanuts Movie
    Steve Martino, Michael J. Travers, Nick Bruno, Scott Carroll
  • Inside Out
    Michael Fong, Jonas Rivera, Victor Navone, Paul Mendoza
  • Anomalisa
    Derek Smith, Rosa Tran, Joe Passarelli, John Joyce
  • Hotel Transylvania 2
    Karl Herbst, Skye Lyons, Alan Hawkins, Genndy Tartakovsky
  • The Good Dinosaur
    Sanjay Bakshi, Denise Ream, Michael Venturini, Jon Reisch

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

  • The Order: 1886
    Nathan Phail-Liff, Dana Jan, Anthony Vitale, Scot Andreason
  • Halo 5: Guardians
    Nicolas Bouvier, Jon Wood, Brien Goodrich, Matt Aldridge
  • The Hobbit: A Thief in the Shadows
    Alasdair Coull, Daniel Smith, Nick Donaldson, Tim Elek
  • Destiny: The Taken King
    Michael Zak, Mark Noseworthy, Stephen Scott, Dave Matthews
  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate
    Thierry Dansereau, Francois Pelland, Marc-Andre Clermont, Mathieu Chouinard

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

  • Nezlamna; Sea Dogfight
    Dmitriy Ovcharenko, Igor Klimovsky, Egor Borschevsky, Vladimir Mikheyenko
  • Childhood's End; Night Three
    Kevin Blank, Adica Manis, Niklas Jacobson, Glenn Melenhorst
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Arabella
    Jean-Claude Deguara, Natalie Reid, Nicolas Hernandez, Sara Bennett
  • The Strain; Identity
    Dennis Berardi, Luke Groves, Matt Glover, Trey Harrell, Warren Appleby
  • Game of Thrones; The Dance of Dragons
    Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Eric Carney, Derek Spears, Stuart Brisdon

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

  • Ikea; T-shirts
    Diarmid Harrison Murray, Julie Evans, Tom Harding, Tim van Hussen
  • Halo 5; The Hunt Begins
    Benjamin Walsh, Pip Malone, Brian Burke, Ian Holland
  • Audi; Birth
    Andrew Proctor, Gemma Humphries, Mike Chapman, Gianluca Di Marco
  • SSE; Pier
    Neil Davies, Tim Lyall, Hitesh Patel, Jorge Montiel
  • Game of War; Rooftop Alliance
    David Lawson, Erin Hicke, Becky Porter, Krystal Sae Eua

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

  • Goosebumps VR Adventure
    Jason Schugardt, Mike Wigart, Alex Harding, Daniel Marsh
  • Nike; The Neymar Jr. Effect
    Janelle Croshaw, Ian Markiewicz, Lou Pecora, Aruna Inversin
  • Kaka's Great Adventure
    Neelesh Gore, Rajiv Kessop, Amogh Vaidya, Shaffi Mahammad
  • Fast and Furious: Supercharged
    Chris Shaw, Alysia Cotter, Ben White, Diego Guerrero
  • SpongeBob SubPants
    Brent Young, John Kokum, Michael Smith, Timothy Williams

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

  • The Walk; World Trade Center
    Jim Gibbs, Brian Flora, Laurent Taillefer, Pavel Kolar
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase/Graveyard
    Yanick Dusseault, Mike Wood, Justin van der Lek, Quentin Marmier
  • Ant-Man; The Microverse
    Florian Witzel, Taylor Shaw, Alexis Hall, Heath Kraynak
  • Jurassic World; Jungle Chase
    Martyn Culpitt, Joao Sita, Yuta Shimizu, Michael Billette
  • Tomorrowland; Tomorrowland Center
    Barry Williams, Greg Kegel, Quentin Marmier, Thang Le

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

  • Vikings; To the Gates
    Dominic Remane, Bill Halliday, Paul Wishart, Ovidiu Cinazan, Paul Byrne
  • Black Sails; XVIII
    Erik Henry, Annemarie Griggs, Kevin Rafferty, Aladino Debert, Paul Stephenson
  • Penny Dreadful; And They Were Enemies
    James Cooper, Bill Halliday, Sarah McMurdo, Mai-Ling Lee
  • Daredevil; Speak of the Devil
    Bryan Godwin, David Van Dyke, Karl Coyner, Julie Long, Johan Kunz
  • Agent Carter; Now Is Not the End
    Sheena Duggal, Addie Manis, Richard Bluff, Jayesh Dalal, Kenneth C. Clark

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Maz
    Joel Bodin, Arslan Elver, Ian Comley, Stephen Cullingford
  • The Revenant; The Bear
    Matt Shumway, Gaelle Morand, Karin Cooper, Leandro Estebecorena
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulk
    Jakub Pistecky, Lana Lan, John Walker, Sean Comer
  • Chappie; Chappie
    Earl Fast, Chris Harvey, Mark Wendell, Robert Bourgeault

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

  • The Peanuts Movie; Snoopy
    Jeff Gabor, Joseph Antonuccio, Ignacio Barrios, Sabine Heller
  • The Peanuts Movie; Charlie Brown
    Matthew Doble, Steve Vanseth, Stephen Gressak, Nikki Tomaino
  • Inside Out; Joy
    Shawn Krause, Tanja Krampfert, Jacob Merrell, Alexis Angelidis
  • The Good Dinosaur; Spot
    Ana Gabriela Lacaze, Jacob Brooks, Lou Hamou-Lhadj, Mark C. Harris

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

  • The Good Dinosaur; The Farm
    David Munier, Matthew Webb, Matt Kuruc, Tom Miller
  • Inside Out; Imagination Land
    Amy L. Allen, Steve Karski, Eric Andraos, Jose L. Ramos Serrano
  • The Peanuts Movie; Charlie Brown's Neighborhood
    Jon Townley, Angel Camacho-Torres, Cleveland Hibbert, Ken Lee
  • Shaun the Sheep Movie; Under the Arches
    Matt Perry, Charles Copping, Alfred Llupia Perez, Andy Brown

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

  • Game of Thrones; Mother's Mercy; Wounded Drogon
    Florian Friedmann, Jonathan Symmonds, Sven Skoczylas, Sebastian Lauer
  • Game of Thrones; Dance of Dragons; Drogon Arena Rescue
    James Kinnings, Michael Holzl, Joseph Hoback, Matt Derksen
  • SSE; Pier; Orangutan
    Jorge Montiel, Sauce Vilas, Philippe Moine, Sam Driscoll
  • Sainsbury's; Mog
    Sebastian Nino, Chris Hurtt, Joseph Henson, Gez Wright

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

  • Game of Thrones; City of Volantis
    Dominic Piche, Christine Leclerc, Patrice Poissant, Thomas Montminy-Brodeur
  • Vikings; Paris
    Paul Wishart, Karol Wlodarczyk, Tom Morrison, Matt Ralph
  • Game of Thrones; Drogon Arena
    Rajeev B R., Loganathan Perumal, Ramesh Shankers, Anders Ericson
  • Black Sails; Charles Town Harbor
    Aladino Debert, Matt Dougan, Greg Teegarden, Ken Jones

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

  • Ant-Man; Macro Action
    James Baker, Alex Kahn, Thomas Luff, Rebecca Baehler
  • Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation; Underwater Torus Chamber
    Vincent Aupetit, Margaux Durand-Rival, Christopher Anciaume, Robert Elswit
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard
    Paul Kavanagh, Colin Benoit, Susumu Yukuhiro, Greg Salter
  • The Walk; Towers Walk
    Shawn Hull, Suzanne Cipolletti, Laurent Taillefer, Dariusz Wolski

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

  • SSE; Pier
    Peter Agg, Sam Driscoll, Matthew Fuller
  • Halo 5: The Hunt Begins
    Vladislav Tushevskiy, Tomas Zaveckas, Sho Hasegawa, Sergey Kosareff
  • Lipton; The Revolution in Tea
    Jonathan -Wes- Westley, Tom Raynor, Christos Parliaros
  • Game of Thrones; Hardhome
    David Ramos, Antonio Lado, Piotr Weiss, Félix Bergés

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

  • San Andreas; Los Angeles Destruction
    Sandro Blattner, Hamish Schumacher, Nicholas Kim, Mario Rokicki
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens
    Jay Cooper, Marian Mavrovic, Jean Lapointe, Alex Prichard
  • Tomorrowland
    Francois Lambert, Jean Lapointe, Peter Demarest, Conny Fauser
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
    Lindsay Adams, Matthew Wynne, Chris Davies, Phil Outen
  • The Revenant; Bear Attack
    Donny Rausch, Alan Travis, Charles Lai, TC Harrison

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens; BB-8
    Joshua Lee, Matthew Denton, Landis Fields, Cyrus Jam
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulkbuster
    Howie Weed, Robert Marinic, Daniel Gonzalez, Myriam Catrin
  • Everest; Mt. Everest
    Matthias Bjarnasson, Olafur Haraldsson, Kjartan Hardarson, Petur Arnorsson
  • Jurassic World; Indominus Rex
    Steve Jubinville, Martin Murphy, Aaron Grey, Kevin Reuter

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

  • Mad Max: Fury Road; Toxic Storm
    Dan Bethell, Clinton Downs, Chris Young
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron; Hulk vs Hulkbuster
    Michael Balog, Jim Van Allen, Florent Andorra, Georg Kaltenbrunner
  • San Andreas; Hoover Dam / San Francisco Tsunami
    Joe Scarr, Lukas Lepicovsky, Yves D-Incau, Marcel Kern
  • San Andreas; Los Angeles Destruction
    Remy Torre, Marc Horsfield, Niall Flinn, Victor Grant
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Starkiller Base
    Rick Hankins, Dan Bornstein, John Doublestein, Gary Wu

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

  • Vikings; To the Gates
    Ovidiu Cinazan, Olivia Yapp, Greg Lamar, Meng Angel Li
  • Game of Thrones; Hardhome
    Eduardo Díaz, Guillermo Orbe, Oscar Perea, Inmaculada Nadela
  • Game of Thrones; Drogon Arena
    Michael Crane, Travis Nelson, Joe Salazar, Beverly Bernacki
  • Game of Thrones; Drogon Lair
    Travis Nobles, Mark Spindler, Max Riess, Nadja Ding

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

  • Inside Out
    Amit Baadkar, Dave Hale, Vincent Serritella, Paul Mendoza
  • The Peanuts Movie
    Alen Lai, Ilan Gabai, Chris Chapman, Douglas Seiden
  • The Good Dinosaur
    Stephen Marshall, Magnus Wrenninge, Michael Hall, Hemagiri Arumugam
  • Home
    Greg Gladstone, Michael Losure, Chris De St Jeor, Alex Timchenko

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

  • SSE; Pier
    Gary Driver, Greg Spencer, Grant Connor
  • Game of War; Rooftop Alliance
    Becky Porter, Jeannie Huynh, Patrick Heinen, Don Kim
  • Halo 5; The Hunt Begins
    Ian Holland, Brian Delmonico, Brandon Nelson, Nicholas Kim
  • Under Armour; Rule Yourself
    Gavin Wellsman, Nathan Kane, Michael Smith, Ilia Mokhtareizadeh

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

  • Skål
    Marco Hakenjos, Christian Zehetmeier, Timm Wagener, Manuel Seifert
  • Jagon
    Julian Weiss, Vincent Ullmann, Fabian Fricke, Yafes Sahin
  • Citipati
    Andreas Feix, Francesco Faranna
  • Korser
    Guillaume Menard, Vincent Desgrippes, Jessie Hereng, Tangi Vaillant

The Visual Effects Society is a professional global honorary society dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. It is the entertainment industry's only official organization representing the extended global community of visual effects practitioners, including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives. VES’ more than 3,000 members in 30+ countries worldwide contribute to all areas of entertainment – film, television, commercials, animation, music videos, games and new media.

Source: Visual Effects Society

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

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.