VES Announces Winners of the 12th Annual VES Awards

Gravity is the Big Winner with Six Awards; Frozen Dominates As Winning Animated Film

Game of Thrones and PETA Score Big in the Broadcast and Commercial Categories

Surprise Presenter Sandra Bullock Joins Pharrell Williams, Johnny Knoxville, Patton Oswalt and Overflow Crowd of VFX Artists, Innovators and Industry VIPs

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s global professional honorary society, held the 12th Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues. Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host to the more than 1000 guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate VFX talent in 24 awards categories. The teams from Gravity, Frozen, Game of Thrones and PETA led the wins in their respective categories, with Gravity taking home six awards, Frozen with four awards, and Games of Thrones and PETA each winning three.

Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock made a crowd-pleasing previously unannounced presentation to her Gravity director, Academy Award nominee Alfonso Cuarón, recipient of the VES Visionary Award. Academy Award winning visual effects pioneer John Dykstra was presented with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award by previous VES Méliès Award winner Doug Trumbull. Awards presenters included Grammy Award winner/Academy Award nominee Pharrell Williams and actors Johnny Knoxville, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Ealy, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Jamie Kennedy, Sharon Lawrence, Richard Schiff and Alyssa Sutherland.

Winners of the 12th Annual VES Awards are as follows:

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

Gravity
Tim Webber
Nikki Penny
Neil Corbould
Richard McBride


Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

The Lone Ranger
Tim Alexander
Gary Brozenich
Shari Hanson
Kevin Martel


Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Frozen
Chris Buck
Jennifer Lee
Peter Del Vecho
Lino Di Salvo


Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

Game of Thrones: Valar Dohaeris
Steve Kullback
Joe Bauer
Jörn Großhans
Sven Martin


Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

Banshee: Pilot
Armen Kevorkian
Mark Skowronski
Jeremy Jozwik
Ricardo Ramirez


Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game

Call of Duty: Ghosts
Mark Rubin
Richard Kriegler
David Johnson
Alessandro Nardini


Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

PETA: 98% Human
Angus Kneale
Vince Baertsoen
Colin Blaney
Kyle Cody


Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Space Shuttle Atlantis
Daren Ulmer
John Gross
Cedar Connor
Christian Bloch


Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Smaug
Eric Reynolds
David Clayton
Myriam Catrin
Guillaume Francois


Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Frozen: Bringing the Snow Queen to Life
Alexander Alvarado
Joy Johnson
Chad Stubblefield
Wayne Unten


Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial or Broadcast Program

PETA: 98% Human
Vince Baertsoen
Alex Allain
Henning Koczy


Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Gravity: Exterior
Paul Beilby
Kyle McCulloch
Stuart Penn
Ian Comley


Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Frozen: Elsa's Ice Palace
Virgilio John Aquino
Alessandro Jacomini
Lance Summers
David Womersley


Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial or Broadcast Program

Game of Thrones: The Climb
Patrick Zentis
Mayur Patel
Nitin Singh
Tim Alexander


Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Gravity
Tim Webber
Emmanuel Lubezki
Richard McBride
Dale Newton


Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Commercial or Broadcast Program

The Crew
Dominique Boidin
Rémi Kozyra
Léon Bérelle
Maxime Luère


Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture

Gravity: ISS Exterior
Ben Lambert
Paul Beilby
Chris Lawrence
Andy Nicholson


Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Gravity: Parachute and ISS Destruction
Alexis Wajsbrot
Sylvain Degrotte
Horacio Mendoza
Juan-Luis Sanchez


Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Frozen: Elsa's Blizzard
Eric W. Araujo
Marc Bryant
Dong Joo Byun
Tim Molinder


Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Commercial or Broadcast Program

PETA: 98% Human
Vince Baertsoen
Jimmy Gass
Dave Barosin


Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

Gravity
Mark Bakowski
Anthony Smith
Theodor Groeneboom
Adrian Metzelaar


Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program

Game of Thrones: The Climb
Kirk Brillon
Steve Gordon
Geoff Sayer
Winston Lee


Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial

Call of Duty: Epic Night Out
Chris Knight
Daniel Thuresson
Nick Tayler
Dag Ivarsory


Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Rugbybugs
Matthias Baeuerle
Carl Schroeter
Martin Lapp
Emanuel Fuchs

SOURCE: Visual Effects Society