Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 6, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Student VES Award
Roman Kälin, Falko Paeper and Florian Wittmann received a VES Award in the "Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project" category on Wednesday, February 4, for their diploma project "Wrapped". Also nominated in the same category were "Murphy" from the French university Isart Digital and "Deep Dance", also from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. We have a detailed making-of of both projects in the upcoming issue of DP, which will be published on February 13.
"Wrapped" will also provide the cinematic basis for the FMX trailer 2015 and thus follow in the footsteps of the previous year’s project "Rugbybugs" (see DP issue 07/13), which was honoured with the VES Award last year. The final trailer will not be seen until shortly before FMX (May 5 to 8 in Stuttgart); here is the second teaser trailer already:
Further Awards
The good old series acquaintance "Game of Thrones" was able to win in three categories, but the absolute winner this year is Disney’s Baymax (original title "Big Hero 6") with five category wins, including for the best 3D character, the most successful 3D model and the best 3D environment.
The jury saw the best visual effects in a photorealistic live-action film in "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (see also DP issue 06/14). The best supporting visual effects in a photorealistic film were delivered by Rodeo FX for "Birdman". In the upcoming issue of DP, which will be published on February 13, the studio will let us look behind the VFX scenes of the project’s one-shot illusion.
"Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" won in the "Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game" category.
And in the best commercial from The Mill, CG apes are once again the main actors:
SSE "Maya" from The Mill on Vimeo.
"Interstellar" won for the best environment in a photorealistic live-action film, and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" received two awards for the best virtual photography and the best effects simulation (more on the project by MPC in DP issue 05/14).
J.J. Abrams also, of course, accepted the "Visionary Award" for his achievements to date. He was presented with the prize by actress Zoë "People, where is the telepromter???" Saldaña.
Here is the complete list of winners on fxguide.
All further information about the Visual Effects Society and the VES Awards can be found here.
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