For those who don’t know the Event: The Visual Effects Society is the industry’s professional body for VFX artists and supervisors. Its annual VES Awards recognise work across film, episodic, animation, realtime and emerging technology.

The 24th Annual VES Awards took place on 25 February 2026, honouring visual effects work across 24 competitive categories, alongside two special awards. The ceremony recognises artists, supervisors and teams working in film, episodic television, commercials, games, real-time projects and special venue productions. The Society currently represents more than 5,500 members in over 50 countries and now spans 18 regional Sections worldwide . The Awards are presented by the Visual Effects Society, founded in 1997.

This year’s VES Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, “the most successful film and television producer of all time” and a career spanning more than 50 years, with credits including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Top Gun, National Treasure and Bad Boys franchises . His recent productions cited in the programme include F1, Top Gun: Maverick and Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

The VES Visionary Award was presented to Sir Richard Taylor, co-founder of Wētā Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand. TWētā Workshop has provided design and physical effects for more than 160 films, numerous television shows and multiple location-based experiences . Taylor is credited with five Academy Awards across special effects makeup, visual effects and costume design.

Full winners list

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Richard Baneham, Peter Litvack, Eric Saindon, Nicky Muir, Steve Ingram.

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature: Sinners; Michael Ralla, James Alexander, Nick Marshall, Espen Nordahl, Donnie Dean.

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters; Joshua Beveridge, Jacky Priddle, Benjamin Hendricks, Clara Chan.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze”; Russell Dodgson, Tracey Gibbons, François Dumoulin, Gavin McKenzie.

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode: The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher”; Seth Hill, Tesa Kubicek, John Nelson, Gabriel Vargas.

Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project: Ghost of Yōtei; Jason Connell, Matt Vainio, Joanna Wang, Jasmin Patry.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial: BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”; Tom Raynor, Helen Tang, Jack Harris, Alex Kulikov.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project: The Wizard of Oz at Sphere; Ben Grossmann, Tamara Watts Kent, Dr. Irfan Essa, Matt Dougan, Glenn Derry.

Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan; Stephen Clee, Stuart Adcock, Keven Norris, Joseph Kim.

Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi; Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee, Andrea Matamoros, Marc Souliere, Joshua Beveridge.

Outstanding Character in an Episodic, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-Time Project: IT: Welcome to Derry; “The Thing in the Dark;” The Pickle Monster; Philip Harris-Genois, Pierric Danjou, Chloé Ostiguy, Jonathan Bourdua.

Outstanding Environment in a Photoreal Feature: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City; Gianluca Pizzaia, Steve Bevins, Dziga Kaiser, Zsolt Máté.

Outstanding Environment in an Animated Feature: Zootopia 2; Marsh Market; Limei Z. Hshieh, Alexander Nicholas Whang, Joshua Fry, Ryan DeYoung.

Outstanding Environment in an Episodic, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-Time Project: Andor; “Welcome to the Rebellion;” The Senate District; John O’Connell, Falk Boje, Hasan Ilhan, Kevin George.

Outstanding CG Cinematography: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Steve Deane, A.J. Briones, Zachary Brake, Andrew Moffett.

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project: Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola; Michael Smale, Sam Sharplin, Joe W. Churchill, Jacqi Dillon.

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora; Nicholas James Illingworth, Sarah C. Farmer, James Robinson, Ryan Bowden.

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters; Filippo Maccari, Nikolaos Finizio, Daniel La Chapelle, Srdjan Milosevic.

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-Time Project: Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; The Big Freeze; Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Kevin Tarpinian.

Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Feature: F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage; Hugo Gauvreau, Chris Davies, Raushan Raj, Amaury Rospars.

Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in an Episode: The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh; Tobias Wiesner, Mark Julien, Owen Longstaff, Brendan Naylor.

Outstanding Compositing and Lighting in a Commercial: BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”; Alex Kulikov, Jack Harris, Adam Chabane, Nicola Borsari.

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project: Andor; “Who Are You?”; Luke Murphy, Dean Ford, Jody Eltham, Darrell Guyon.

Emerging Technology Award: Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset; Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, John Edholm, Murali Ramachari, Aleksandr Isakov.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project: Azimuth; Thomas Teisseire, Cassandre Cinier, Martin Bluy, Mathis Giraudeau.

The post VES Awards 2026 names winners and honours first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced that its flagship reference, the VES Handbook of Visual Effects, reaches its Fourth Edition on December 18, 2025. The book now brings together 95 visual effects experts, including 30 new contributors, from across film, television, games, virtual production, and emerging media.

The new edition expands its scope to modern practices. Among the additions are chapters covering the use of real time game engines for virtual production, previs, motion capture and animation. The handbook addresses current topics such as AI applications in VFX, plus methods for NeRFs (Neural Radiance Fields) and 3D Gaussian splatting, aiming to reflect recent workflow evolutions.

Existing core areas have also been updated. These include previs (pre visualisation), AR and VR filmmaking, colour management with attention to ACES workflows, digital intermediate processing, camera workflow, matte painting, compositing, and more.

Early peek event: live from the makers

Shortly before the book’s release, VES will host a global webinar on December 16, 2025. During that event, editors Jeffrey Okun, Susan Zwerman and Susan Thurmond O’Neal will discuss the new edition in conversation with industry experts, including virtual production TD from Industrial Light & Magic Nathan Camp, creative technology veteran Phil Galler, Chief Innovation Officer at 180 Studios, and VFX supervisor Lucien Harriot, President of Mechanism Digital. Attendees will get a preview of key workflows and techniques covered in the handbook and have the opportunity to ask questions to the contributors.

The editors: who’s behind the Fourth Edition

Jeffrey A. Okun is an award winning Visual Effects Supervisor, a Fellow of the Visual Effects Society, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Society of Cinematographers, and the Television Academy. He has served as chair of VES, and previously as first vice chair and chair of the Los Angeles section.

Susan Zwerman is a long time VES producer with over 25 years of experience in visual effects production. She is also a respected seminar leader and author. Zwerman is a member of the Academy, the Producers Guild of America, and the Directors Guild of America, and holds the status of VES Fellow.

Susan Thurmond O’Neal joined VES in 1997 and has held multiple leadership roles over the years. She has served on the global Board of Directors, including as Treasurer in 2016, 2nd Vice Chair in 2022–2023 and 1st Vice Chair in 2024–2025. She has chaired the global Education Committee, currently leads the Membership Committee, and in 2019 received the VES Founders Award for service to the society.

Why this matters for VFX, CG and post production pros

As pipelines increasingly adopt real time engines, AI assisted tools, and immersive production formats such as virtual production, AR, VR and domes, this new edition of the VES Handbook provides a broad and current reference. The inclusion of NeRFs and 3D Gaussian splatting signals that VES acknowledges emerging volumetric and point cloud based workflows as significant enough to warrant formal documentation.

For those working in compositing, colour grading, camera and layout workflow, the updated coverage of core disciplines, re verified and aligned with contemporary practices, provides a stable reference against a rapidly shifting technological backdrop.

The breadth of the handbook, from budgeting and shot breakdowns to high end compositing and immersive media workflows, suggests it aims to be relevant across departments: production, CG, compositing, virtual production teams, colour, and more.

Get a sneak Peak into the Summary here on Google Books:

Finally, the new standard twist

With the Fourth Edition, the VES Handbook doubles down on being the industry standard reference. By combining decades long experience with up to date coverage of real time engines, virtual production, AI, volumetric rendering and immersive media, this edition positions itself as the reference manual to return to when technologies or pipelines evolve. It may not promise radical revelations everywhere, but it maps out the best practices terrain for the current generation of visual effects work. For any VFX professional aiming to stay grounded and informed, this looks like the old new “go-to” compendium.

The post VES Handbook of Visual Effects, Fourth Edition, coming soon first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Update: The Event came, was great, and if you want to know who said what, here is the Recording:

Beyond VFX returns on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, as part of the ICE.ART conference series, in partnership with the Visual Effects Society’s Megabrain Masterclasses. This time, the focus turns to AI ethics in visual effects, a topic increasingly relevant as generative and assistive AI tools actually enter production pipelines (Hell, it’s difficult to avoid it when updating any part of your pipeline). Registration is free of charge via linktr.ee/VESxICE.

The panel

A heavyweight panel will unpack how AI reshapes artistic authorship, production safety, and creative control in VFX.

• Dr Jana Sedlakova, philosopher and ethicist from the University of Zurich and soon Oxford, examines how human-AI interaction affects responsibility and legitimacy in digital systems.
• Ben Lock, BAFTA-winning producer and Director of Production Strategy at Moonvalley, brings decades of production experience from ILM, Framestore and Aardman and insights into building artist-centric AI workflows.
• Victor Perez, award-winning VFX supervisor and director, adds his well-known compositing precision and long-running interest in the intersection of science, technology and art.
• Frank Govaere, filmmaker and creative technologist, contributes his perspective on storytelling in an era of machine-assisted imagination.

Familiar faces at the helm

Moderation comes from Agon Ushaku, Chair of VES Germany, curator of VES Megabrain Masterclasses and a long-time friend of Digital Production together with Matthias Buehler, founder of vrbn group AG and Head of ICE. Both are known for connecting the VFX community through ICE.ART and FMX partner events.

Free, open, and worth your calendar

The Beyond VFX series has built a reputation for clear-eyed discussions and genuinely open exchange between artists, researchers, and studios. This upcoming session promises the same mix of practical production insight and critical reflection as Ice.Art.

Attendance is free, but registration is required at linktr.ee/VESxICE. The organisers encourage professionals, students, and studios alike to join the debate on how AI tools can serve, rather than steer, creative work.

The post Beyond VFX dives into AI Ethics first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

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Lights, Camera, Nominations!

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has rolled out the red carpet for the 23rd Annual VES Awards, revealing the contenders vying for top honors in visual effects. The winners will be crowned on February 11, 2025, at The Beverly Hilton hotel. Let’s dive into the categories and nominees, shall we?

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Better Man
Luke Millar, Andy Taylor, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs

Dune: Part Two
Paul Lambert, Brice Parker, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Erik Winquist, Julia Neighly, Paul Story, Danielle Immerman, Rodney Burke

Mufasa: The Lion King
Adam Valdez, Barry St. John, Audrey Ferrara, Daniel Fotheringham

Twisters
Ben Snow, Mark Soper, Florian Witzel, Susan Greenhow, Scott Fisher

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Blitz
Andrew Whitehurst, Sona Pak, Theo Demiris, Vincent Poitras, Hayley Williams

Civil War
David Simpson, Michelle Rose, Freddy Salazar, Chris Zeh, J.D. Schwalm

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
Jason Neese, Armen Fetulagian, Jamie Neese, J.P. Jaramillo

Nosferatu
Angela Barson ,Lisa Renney, David Scott, Dave Cook, Pavel Ságner

Young Woman and the Sea
Richard Briscoe ,Carrie Rishel ,Jeremy Robert ,Stéphane Dittoo ,Ivo Jivkov

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Inside Out 2
Kelsey Mann ,Mark Nielsen ,Sudeep Rangaswamy ,Bill Watral ,

Moana 2
Carlos Cabral ,Tucker Gilmore ,Ian Gooding, Gabriela Hernandez

The Wild Robot
Chris Sanders, Jeff Hermann, Jeff Budsberg,Jacob Hjort Jensen

Transformers One
Frazer Churchill, Fiona Chilton, Josh Cooley, Stephen King

Ultraman: Rising
Hayden Jones ,Sean M. Murphy, Shannon Tindle ,Mathieu Vig

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Fallout; The Head
Jay Worth, Andrea Knoll, Grant Everett, Joao Sita ,Devin Maggio

House of the Dragon; Season 2; The Red Dragon and the Gold
Daði Einarsson, Tom Horton ,Sven Martin ,Wayne Stables, Mike Dawson

Shōgun; Anjin
Michael Cliett , Melody Mead, Philip Engström, Ed Bruce, Cameron Waldbauer

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Episode 5
John Knoll, Pablo Molles ,Jhon Alvarado ,Jeff Capogreco

The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Eldest
Jason Smith, Tim Keene, Ann Podlozny, Ara Khanikian, Ryan Conder

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Expats: Home
Robert Bock, Glorivette Somoza, Charles Labbé, Tim Emeis

Lady in the Lake; It Has to Do With the Search for the Marvelous
Jay Worth, Eddie Bonin, Joe Wehmeyer, Eric Levin-Hatz, Mike Myers

Masters of the Air; Part Three; The Regensburg-Schweinfurt Mission
Stephen Rosenbaum, Bruce Franklin, Xavier Matia Bernasconi, David Andrews, Neil Corbould

The Penguin; Bliss
Johnny Han, Michelle Rose, Goran Pavles ,Ed Bruce, Devin Maggio

The Tattooist of Auschwitz; Pilot
Simon Giles ,Alan Church, David Schneider ,James Hattsmith

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

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Fabio Silva, Matthew Sherman, Caleb Essex , Bob Kopinsky

Destiny 2: The Final Shape
Dave Samuel, Ben Fabric ,Eric Greenlief ,Glenn Gamble

Star Wars Outlaws
Stephen Hawes, Lionel Le Dain, Benedikt Podlesnigg, Bogdan Draghici

What If…? – An Immersive Story
Patrick N.P. Conran , Shereif Fattouh, Zain Homer, Jax Lee

Until Dawn
Nicholas Chambers, Jack Hidde Glavimans, Alex Gabor

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

YouTube TV NFL Sunday Ticket: The Magic of Sunday
Chris Bayol, Jeremy Brooks, Lane Jolly ,Jacob Bergman

Disney; Holidays 2024
Adam Droy, Helen Tang ,Christian Baker-Steele ,David Fleet

Virgin Media; Walrus Whizzer
Sebastian Caldwell, Ian Berry, Ben Cronin, Alex Grey

Coca-Cola; The Heroes
Greg McKneally ,Antonia Vlasto ,Ryan Knowles ,Fabrice Fiteni

Six Kings Slam; Call of the Kings
Ryan Knowles, Joe Billington, Dean Robinson ,George Savvas

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

D23; Real-Time Rocket
Evan Goldberg, Alyssa Finley ,Jason Breneman ,Alice Taylor

The Goldau Landslide Experience
Roman Kaelin ,Gianluca Ravioli ,Florian Baumann

MTV Video Music Awards; Slim Shady Live
Jo Plaete ,Sara Mustafa ,Cameron Jackson ,Andries Courteaux

Tokyo DisneySea; Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure
Michael Sean Foley, Kirk Bodyfelt, Darin Hollings, Bert Klein, Maya Vyas

Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony; Run
Benjamin Le Ster, Gilles De Lusigman, Gerome Viavant, Romain Tinturier

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Better Man; Robbie Williams
Milton Ramirez, Andrea Merlo, Seoungseok Charlie Kim, Eteuati Tema

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Noa
Rachael Dunk, Andrei Coval ,John Sore ,Niels Peter Kaagaard

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Raka
Seoungseok Charlie Kim ,Giorgio Lafratta, Tim Teramoto ,Aidan Martin

Mufasa: The Lion King; Taka
Klaus Skovbo, ,Valentina Rosselli, Eli De Koninck, Amelie Talarmain

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Inside Out 2; Anxiety
Alexander Alvarado, Brianne Francisco , Amanda Wagner, Brenda Lin Zhang

The Wild Robot; Roz
Fabio Lignini ,Yukinori Inagaki, Owen Demers ,Hyun Huh

Thelma The Unicorn; Vic Diamond
Guillaume Arantes ,Adrien Montero ,Anne-Claire Leroux ,Gaspard Roche

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; Gromit
Jo Fenton, Alison Evans ,Andy Symanowski ,Emanuel Nevado

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Secret Level; Armored Core: Asset Management; Mech Pilot
Zsolt Vida, Péter Krucsai, Ágnes Vona ,Enric Nebleza Pañella

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred; Neyrelle
Chris Bostjanick ,James Ma ,Yeon-Ho Lee ,Atsushi Ikarashi

Disney; Holidays 2024; Octopus
Alex Doyle, Philippe Moine ,Lewis Pickston, Andrea Lacedelli

Ronja the Robber’s Daughter; Vildvittran the Queen Harpy
Nicklas Andersson, David Allan, Gustav Åhren ,Niklas Wallén

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Civil War; Washington, D.C.
Matthew Chandler ,James Harmer, Robert Moore ,Adrien Zeppieri

Dune: Part Two; The Arrakeen Basin
Daniel Rhein, Daniel Anton Fernandez ,Marc James Austin, Christopher Anciaume

Gladiator II; Rome
Oliver Kane ,Stefano Farci ,John Seru ,Frederick Vallee

Wicked; The Emerald City
Alan Lam ,Steve Bevins ,Deepali Negi ,Miguel Sanchez López-Ruíz

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Kung Fu Panda 4; Juniper City
Benjamin Lippert, Ryan Prestridge, Sarah Vawter, Peter Maynez

The Wild Robot; The Forest
John Wake ,He Jung Park, Woojin Choi ,Shane Glading

Transformers One; Iacon City
Alex Popescu, Geoffrey Lebreton, Ryan Kirby, Hussein Nabeel

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; Aqueduct
Matt Perry ,Dave Alex Riddett ,Matt Sanders ,Howard Jones

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Dune: Prophecy; Pilot; The Imperial Palace
Scott Coates ,Sam Besseau ,Vincent l’Heureux ,Lourenco Abreu

Dune: Prophecy; Two Wolves; Zimia Spaceport
Nils Weisbrod, David Anastacio, Rene Borst ,Ruben Valente

Shōgun; Osaka
Manuel Martinez ,Phil Hannigan, Keith Malone, Francesco Corvino

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Doomed to Die; Eregion
Yordan Petrov, Bertrand Cabrol, Lea Desrozier , Karan Dhandha

OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY

Better Man
Blair Burke, Shweta Bhatnagar ,Tim Walker, Craig Young

Dune: Part Two; Arrakis
Greig Fraser, Xin Steve Guo ,Sandra Murta ,Ben Wiggs

House of the Dragon; Season 2; The Red Dragon and the Gold; Battle at Rook’s Rest
Matt Perrin, James Thompson ,Jacob Doehner, P.J. Dillon

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ; Egg Climb
Dennis Yoo, Angelo Perrotta, Samantha Erickstad ,Miae Kang

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Alien: Romulus; Renaissance Space Station
Waldemar Bartkowiak, Trevor Wide, Matt Middleton ,Ben Shearman

Deadpool & Wolverine; Ant-Man Arena
Carlos Flores Gomez ,Corinne Dy ,Chris Byrnes, Gerald Blaise

Dune: Part Two; The Harkonnen Harvester
Andrew Hodgson, Timothy Russell ,Erik Lehmann, Louie Cho

Gladiator II; The Colosseum
Oliver Kane, Marnie Pitts, Charlotte Fargier ,Laurie Priest

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Dune: Part Two; Atomic Explosions and Wormriding
Nicholas Papworth, Sandy la Tourelle ,Lisa Nolan, Christopher Phillips

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Burning Village, Rapids and Floods
Alex Nowotny, Claude Schitter, Frédéric Valleur ,Kevin Kelm

Twisters
Matthew Hanger ,Joakim Arnesson ,Laurent Kermel, Zheng Yong Oh

Venom: The Last Dance; Water, Fire & Symbiote Effects
Xavi Martin Ramirez ,Oscar Dahlen ,Hedi Namar, Yuri Yang

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Kung Fu Panda 4
Jinguang Huang, Zhao Wang, Hamid Shahsavari ,Joshua LaBrot ,

Moana 2
Zoran Stojanoski, Jesse Erickson, Shamintha Kalamba Arachchi ,Erin V. Ramos

The Wild Robot
Derek Cheung ,Michael Losure ,David Chow ,Nyoung Kim

Ultraman: Rising
Goncalo Cabaca ,Zheng Yong Oh ,Nicholas Yoon Joo Kuang, Praveen Boppana

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Avatar: The Last Airbender; Legends; Koizilla
Ioan Boieriu ,David Stopford ,Per Balay ,Saysana Rintharamy

Shōgun; Broken to the Fist; Landslide
Dominic Tiedeken ,Heinrich Löwe ,Charles Guerton, Timmy Lundin

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Pilot; Spaceship Hillside Takeoff
Travis Harkleroad, Xiaolong Peng ,Marcella Brown ,Mickael Riciotti

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Season 2; Shadow and Flame; Balrog Fire and Collapsing Cliff
Koenraad Hofmeester ,Miguel Perez Senent ,Miguel Santana Da Silva ,Billy Copley

Three Body Problem; Judgement Day
Yves D’Incau ,Gavin Templer ,Martin Chabannes ,Eloi Andaluz Fullà

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

Better Man
Mark McNicholl, Gordon Spencer de Haseth ,Eva Snyder ,Markus Reithoffer

Dune: Part Two; Wormriding, Geidi Prime, and the Final Battle
Christopher Rickard, Francesco Dell’Anna, Paul Chapman, Ryan Wing

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Joerg Bruemmer, Zachary Brake ,Tim Walker, Kaustubh A. Patil

The Wild Robot
Sondra L. Verlander, Baptiste Van Opstal, Eszter Offertaler, Austin Casale

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

Shōgun; Broken to the Fist; Landslide
Benjamin Bernon, Douglas Roshamn ,Victor Kirsch, Charlie Raud

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew; Episode 6; Jaws
Rich Grande ,Tomas Lefebvre ,Ian Dodman
Rey Reynolds,

The Boys; Season 4; Life Among the Septics
Tristan Zerafa ,Mike Stadnyckyj, Toshi Kosaka, Rajeev BR

The Penguin; After Hours
Jonas Stuckenbrock, Karen Chang ,Eugene Bondar ,Miky Girón

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Virgin Media; Walrus Whizzer
Sebastian Caldwell, Alex Grey ,Kanishk Chouhan, Shubham Mehta

Coca-Cola; The Heroes
Ryan Knowles, Alex Gabucci ,Jack Powell ,Dan Yarcigi

Corcept; Marionette
Yongchan Kim, Arman Matin ,Yoon Bae, Rajesh Kaushik

Disney; Holidays 2024
Christian Baker-Steele ,Luke Warpus, Pritesh Kotian ,Jack Harris

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Blitz
Hayley Williams ,David Eves, Alex Freeman, David Watson

Constellation
Martin Goeres, Johara Raukamp ,Lion David Bogus, Leon Mark

The Penguin; Safe Guns
Devin Maggio, Johnny Han, Cory Candrilli, Alexandre Prod’homme

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Dune: Part Two; Nuke CopyCat
Ben Kent, Guillaume Gales, Mairead Grogan, Johanna Barbier

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga; Artist-driven Machine Learning Character
John Bastian, Ben Ward, Thomas Rowntree, Robert Beveridge

Here; Neural Performance Toolset
Jo Plaete, Oriel Frigo, Tomas Koutsky, Matteo Oliviero Dancy

Mufasa: The Lion King; Real-Time Interactive Filmmaking, From Stage To Post
Callum James, James Hood, Lloyd Bishop, Bruno Pedrinha

The Penguin; Phase Synced Flash-Gun System
Johnny Han, Jefferson Han, Joseph Menafra, Michael Pynn

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT

Dawn (entry from ESMA – École Supérieure Des Métiers Artistiques)
Noah Mercier, Apolline Royer, Lorys Stora, Marie Pradeilles

Student Accomplice (entry from Brigham Young University)
Spencer Blanchard, Lisa Bird, Anson Savage, Kiara Spencer

Pittura (entry from ARTFX – Schools of Digital Arts)
Lauriol Adam, Lassère Titouan, Vivenza Rémi, Marre Helloïs

Courage (entry from Supinfocom – Rubika)
Salomé Cognon, Margot Jacquet, Nathan Baudry, Lise Delcroix

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The post VES Awards 2025: Nominees Unveiled—Prepare Your Applause (and Renders)! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In nuce: The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced its Board of Directors Officers for 2023. This is according to a press release published on vesglobal.org on 18 January this year. The members of the Board of Directors thus include Lisa Cooke as Chair, Susan O’Neal as First Vice Chair, David H. Tanaka as Second Vice Chair, Rita Cahill as VES Secretary and Jeffrey A. Okun as VES Treasurer. The previous Chair, Lisa Cooke, was therefore re-elected. The members were elected at the Board meeting in the current month of January, thus forming the so-called VES Board Executive Committee.

Chair Lisa Cooke: As a VFX producer at Tippett Studio ( e.g. The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and executive producer at Tippett Productions, Cooke has worked as an animation/VFX producer, story consultant, screenwriter and actress. Prior to joining Tippett, she founded Green Ray Media, where she produced animation and VFX and created scientific, medical and environmental media for a wide audience. In the past, Cooke has worked with Lucasfilm, Fox, Universal, Nickelodeon Films and Pixar.

Click to continue: To the press release on vesglobal.org- where background information on the careers of the respective board members is also available. Just last Wednesday, on 18 January 2023, Digital Production reported on the Visual Effects Society – at the time, filmmaker James Cameron broke his own record with a total of 14 nominations for his Avatar sequel; the creative minds behind film and series productions such as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Jurassic World: Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick were also delighted to receive nominations.

Sources: awn.com ( news from Whitney Whitener), vesglobal.org ( press release)

The post Elected: Board members 2023 of the Visual Effects Society! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.