LOS ANGELES — The Visual Effects Society (VES) held its 13th Annual VES Awards last night, recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues. Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host of the event, which took place at the Beverly Hilton.
The Awards celebrate VFX talent in 23 categories. Big Hero 6 was the big winner, garnering five awards. The teams from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (feature film), Game of Thrones (broadcast) and SSE (commercial) led the wins in their respective categories, taking home three awards each.
Zoe Saldana made a crowd-pleasing presentation to her Star Trek: Into Darkness director, award-winning writer-director-producer J.J. Abrams, recipient of the VES Visionary Award. Awards presenters also included Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou, Clark Gregg, How to Train Your Dragon 2 director Dean DeBlois, Alyssa Sutherland, Jamie Chung, Karine Vanasse and Scott Adsit.
Winners of the 13th Annual VES Awards are as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri Ryan Stafford Matt Kutcher Dan Lemmon Hannah Bianchini
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Birdman
Ara Khanikian Ivy Agregan
Jake Braver Isabelle Langlois
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6
Don Hall
Chris Williams
Roy Conli
Zach Parrish
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones; The Children
Joe Bauer
Steve Kullback
Stuart Brisdon
Thomas Schelesny
Sven Martin
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
American Horror Story; Freak Show; Edward Mordrake, Part 2
Jason Piccioni
Jason Spratt
Mike Kirylo
Justin Ball
Eric Roberts
Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Yi-chao Sandy Lin-Chiang
Joseph Salud
Demetrius Leal
Dave Blizard
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
SSE; Maya
Neil Davies
Alex Hammond
Jorge Montiel
Beth Vander
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy
Tony Apodaca
Marianne McLean
Gilles Martin
Edwin Chang
Mark Mine
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Caesar
Paul Story
Eteuati Tema
Andrea Merlo
Emiliano Padovani
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6; Baymax
Colin Eckart
John Kahwaty
Zach Parrish
Zack Petroc
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game
SSE; Maya
Jorge Montiel
Alex Hammond
Daniel Kmet
Philippe Moine
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Interstellar; Tesseract
Tom Bracht
Graham Page
Thomas Døhlen
Kirsty Clark
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6; Into the Portal
Ralf Habel
David Hutchins
Michael Kaschalk
Olun Riley
Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game
Game of Thrones; Braavos Establisher
Rene Borst
Christian Zilliken
Jan Burda
Steffen Metzner
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal/Live Action Motion Media Project
X-Men: Days of Future Past; Kitchen Scene
Austin Bonang
Casey Schatz
Dennis Jones
Newton Thomas Sigel
Outstanding Models in any Motion Media Project
Big Hero 6; City of San Fransokyo
Brett Achorn
Minh Duong
Scott Watanabe
Larry Wu
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
X-Men: Days of Future Past; Quicksilver Pentagon Kitchen
Adam Paschke
Premamurti Paetsch
Sam Hancock
Timmy Lundin
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6
Henrik Falt
David Hutchins
Michael Kaschalk
John Kosnik
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Dominique Vidal
Isabelle Perin-Leduc
Sandrine Lurde
Alexandre Lerouge
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Christoph Salzmann
Florian Schroeder
Quentin Hema
Simone Riginelli
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones; The Watchers on the Wall
Dan Breckwoldt
Martin Furman
Sophie Marfleet
Eric Andrusyszyn
Outstanding Compositing in a in a Photoreal/Live Action Commercial
SSE Neil Davies
Leonardo Costa
Gianluca DiMarco
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
Wrapped
Roman Kaelin
Falko Paeper
Florian Wittmann
Paolo Tamburrino