The Visual Effects Society (VES) on Wednesday night held the 22nd Annual VES Awards, recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues with 25 awards categories and special honors. Comedian/actor Jay Pharoah hosted the 2024 awards, which were supported by premiere sponsor is AMD.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was named top animated film, winning four awards. The Creator was named the photoreal feature winner, garnering five awards. The Last of Us was named best photoreal episode, winning four awards. Coca-Cola topped the commercial field. There was a historic tie in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project category, with honors going to both Rembrandt Immersive Artwork and Postcard From Earth.
Award-winning actor-producer Seth MacFarlane presented the VES Award for Creative Excellence to legendary actor-director William Shatner. Award-winning VFX Supervisor Richard Hollander, VES presented the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to pioneering VFX producer Joyce Cox, VES. Award presenters included: The Creator director Gareth Edwards; actors Ernie Hudson, Fortune Feimster, Katee Sackhoff, Andrea Savage and Kiersey Clemons; and Leona Frank, Autodesk’s Director of Media & Entertainment Marketing, presented the VES-Autodesk Student Award.
“As we celebrate the 22nd Annual VES Awards, we’re honored to shine a light on outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation,” said VES Chair Kim Davidson. “The honorees and their work represent best-in-class visual effects — work that engages audiences and enhances the art of storytelling. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding global artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees!”
The winners are:
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
The Creator — Jay Cooper; Julian Levi; Ian Comley; Charmaine Chan; Neil Corbould, VES
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Nyad — Jake Braver, Fiona Campbell Westgate, Christopher White, Mohsen Mousavi
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Alan Hawkins, Christian Hejnal, Michael Lasker, Matt Hausman
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
The Last of Us; Season 1; “Infected” — Alex Wang, Sean Nowlan, Stephen James, Simon Jung, Joel Whist
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty; Season 2; “BEAT LA” — Raymond McIntyre Jr., Victor DiMichina, Javier Menéndez Platas, Damien Stantina
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
Alan Wake 2 — Janne Pulkkinen, Johannes Richter, Daniel Kończyk, Damian Olechowski
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; “Masterpiece” — Ryan Knowles, Antonia Vlasto, Gregory McKneally, Dan Yargici
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT- TIE (two winners)
Postcard from Earth — Aruna Inversin, Eric Wilson, Corey Turner, William George
Rembrandt Immersive Artwork — Andrew McNamara, Sebastian Read, Andrew Kinnear, Sam Matthews
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Rocket — Nathan McConnel, Andrea De Martis, Antony Magdalinidis, Rachel Williams
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Spot — Christopher Mangnall, Craig Feifarek, Humberto Rosa, Nideep Varghese
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Last of Us; “Endure and Survive”; Bloater — Gino Acevedo, Max Telfer, Dennis You, Fabio Leporelli
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
The Creator; Floating Village — John Seru, Guy Williams, Vincent Techer, Timothée Maron
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Mumbattan City — Taehyun Park, YJ Lee, Pepe Orozco, Kelly Han
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Last of Us; Post-Outbreak Boston — Melaina Mace, Adrien Lambert, Juan Carlos Barquet, Christopher Anciaume
OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — Joanna Davison, Cheyana Wilkinson, Michael Cozens, Jason Desjarlais
OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
The Creator; Nomad — Oliver Kane, Mat Monro, Florence Green, Serban Ungureanu
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
The Creator — Ludovic Ramisandraina, Raul Essig, Mathieu Chardonnet, Lewis Taylor
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari, Naoki Kato, Nicola Finizio
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
The Mandalorian; Season 3; Lake Monster Attack Water — Travis Harkleroad, Florian Witzel, Rick Hankins, Aron Bonar
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
The Creator; Bar — Phil Prates, Min Kim, Nisarg Suthar, Toshiko Miura
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
The Last of Us; “Endure and Survive”; Infected Horde Battle — Matthew Lumb, Ben Roberts, Ben Campbell, Quentin Hema
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; “Masterpiece” — Ryan Knowles, Greg Mckneally, Taran Spear, Jordan Dunstall
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Oppenheimer — Scott Fisher, James Rollins, Mario Vanillo
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
The Flash; Volumetric Capture — Stephan Trojansky, Thomas Ganshorn, Oliver Pilarski, Lukas Lepicovsky
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT (AWARD SPONSORED BY AUTODESK)
Silhouette — Alexis Lafuente, Antoni Nicolaï, Chloé Stricher, Elliot Dreuille
