Feb 14, 2018

"Coco, "War for the Planet of the Apes," and "Game of Thrones" dominate the Ves Awardswall

Winners were announced tonight for the 16th annual VES Awards during a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. The awards are highly craft-specific, honoring specific components of visual effects artistry rather than the overall films themselves.

Disney-Pixar's Coco won all four of the event's awards that are presented to feature animation: an overall prize for visual effects, as well as honors for animated character, created environment, and effects simulation.

The most-nominated animation film, Despicable Me 3, with five nods, was shut out completely, as was The Lego Ninjago Movie, which had four nominations. That's hardly a surprise. In the last six years, the Walt Disney Company's animated films have won 23 out of 24 possible VES animation awards; the sole exception was last year when Laika's Kubo and the Two Strings slipped away with the overall visual effects award.

On the photoreal film side, War for the Planet of the Apes dominated with four wins – visual effects, animated character, effects simulation, and compositing. The animated character award was for Andy Serkis' Caesar. Serkis may be able to convince the public that he does it all, but there's no fooling the VES voters who recognize the incredible artistry and effort required by animators and visual effects artists to make Serkis' performances believable and whole.

The strong showing for Apes tonight sets up the film as the odds-on favorite to win the visual effects Academy Award. Other photoreal winners at the VES included Blade Runner 2049, with two awards for outstanding model and created environment, and Dunkirk and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with a single award each.

Game of Thrones, which is as unstoppable in the VES broadcast categories as the Walt Disney Company is in the feature animation ones, picked up five awards, the same number as it did last year. On the advertising side, this MPC-produced Samsung commercial “Do What You Can't” picked up three honors:

Additionally, a lifetime achievement honor was presented to producer-writer-director Jon Favreau, and the VES Georges Méliès Award was presented to visual effects artist and supervisor Joe Letteri.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

War for the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri Ryan Stafford Daniel Barrett Dan Lemmon Joel Whist

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Dunkirk Andrew Jackson Mike Chambers Andrew Lockley Alison Wortman Scott Fisher

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Coco Lee Unkrich Darla K. Anderson David Ryu Michael K. O'Brien

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Game of Thrones; Beyond the Wall Joe Bauer Steve Kullback Chris Baird David Ramos Sam Conway

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Black Sails; XXIX Erik Henry Terron Pratt Yafei Wu David Wahlberg Paul Dimmer

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

Assassin's Creed Origins Raphael Lacoste Patrick Limoges Jean-Sebastien Guay Ulrich Haar

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

Samsung; Do What You Can't; Ostrich Diarmid Harrison-Murray Tomek Zietkiewicz Amir Bazazi Martino Madeddu

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Avatar: Flight of Passage Richard Baneham Amy Jupiter David Lester Thrain Shadbolt

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

War for the Planet of the Apes; Caesar Dennis Yoo Ludovic Chailloleau Douglas McHale Tim Forbes

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

Coco; Hèctor Emron Grover Jonathan Hoffman Michael Honsel Guilherme Sauerbronn Jacinto

Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; The Spoils of War; Drogon Loot Train Attack Murray Stevenson Jason Snyman Jenn Taylor Florian Friedmann

Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial

Samsung; Do What You Can't; Ostrich David Bryan Maximilian Mallmann Tim Van Hussen Brendan Fagan

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Blade Runner 2049; Los Angeles Chris McLaughlin Rhys Salcombe Seungjin Woo Francesco Dell'Anna

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Coco; City of the Dead Michael Frederickson Jamie Hecker Jonathan Pytko Dave Strick

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

Game of Thrones; Beyond the Wall; Frozen Lake Daniel Villalba Antonio Lado José Luis Barreiro Isaac de la Pompa

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2; Groot Dance/Opening Fight James Baker Steven Lo Alvise Avati Robert Stipp

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Blade Runner 2049; LAPD Headquarters Alex Funke Steven Saunders Joaquin Loyzaga Chris Menges

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

War for the Planet of the Apes David Caeiro Cebrián Johnathan Nixon Chet Leavai Gary Boyle

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Coco Kristopher Campbell Stephen Gustafson Dave Hale Keith Klohn

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

Game of Thrones; The Dragon and the Wolf; Wall Destruction Thomas Hullin Dominik Kirouac Sylvain Nouveau Nathan Arbuckle

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

War for the Planet of the Apes Christoph Salzmann Robin Hollander Ben Morgan Ben Warner

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

Game of Thrones; The Spoils of War; Loot Train Attack Dom Hellier Thijs Noij Edwin Holdsworth Giacomo Matteucci

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

Samsung; Do What You Can't; Ostrich Michael Gregory Andrew Roberts Gustavo Bellon Rashabh Ramesh Butani

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Hybrids Florian Brauch Romain Thirion Matthieu Pujol Kim Tailhades