VES Award Nominees Are Announced

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the nominees for its 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.”

Director Ang Lee will be honored with the VES Visionary Award and Richard Edlund 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