In nuce: On 8 March, the Visual Effects Society (VES for short) announced the winners of the 20th edition of the VES. The awards were presented in a total of 25 categories, ranging from “Outstanding Visual Effects in Photoreal Feature” to “Outstanding Animated Character in Animated Feature”. The award ceremony took place at the Beverly Hilton. Among the presenters were prominent faces such as director Denis Villeneuve, actor Alfred Molina and many others – as well as Eric Bourque, Senior Director of Engineering, Media & Entertainment at Autodesk, who presented the Autodesk Student Awards.
Who are the winners? One of the main winners was definitely the remake of the sci-fi classic Dune, which picked up four award trophies. The Disney film Encanto was honoured as best animated feature film and also picked up a total of four award trophies.
Awards for industry veterans: Jim Morris, President of Pixar Animation and Chairman of the VES, honoured Lynwen Brennan, Executive Vice President and General Manager at Lucasfilm, with a VES Lifetime Achievement Award. Oscar-winning VFX veteran Phil Tippett presented the VES Award for Creative Excellence to legendary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.
The full list of winners: The list below contains all the winners of this year’s VES. For the official announcement, click over to visualeffectssociety.com . There you will also find the names of the award-winning minds behind each winning film.
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Dune
- OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Last Night in Soho
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: Encanto
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE: Foundation; Episode: The Emperor’s Peace
- OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE: See; Episode: Rock-A-Bye
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT: Call of Duty: Vanguard
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL: Sheba; Hope Reef
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT: Jurassic World Adventure
- OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Finch; Jeff
- OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: Encanto; Mirabel Madrigal
- OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: The Witcher; Nivellen the Cursed Man
- OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A COMMERCIAL: Smart Energy; Einstein Knows Best; Einstein
- OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Spider-Man: No Way Home; The Mirror Dimension
- OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: Encanto; Antonio’s Room
- OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: Sheba; Hope Reef
- OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT: Encanto; We Don’t Talk about Bruno
- OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT: Dune; Royal Ornithopter
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE: Dune; Dunes of Arrakis
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE: Raya and the Last Dragon
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT: Foundation; Collapse of the Galactic Empire
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE: Dune; Attack on Arrakeen
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE: Loki; Lamentis; Shuroo City Destruction
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL: Verizon; The Reset
- OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT: Jungle Cruise
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT: Green
