12th Annual VES Awards2020-06-30T15:55:10-07:00

Project Description

12TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS

Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Beverly Hilton Hotel
Beverly Hills, CA

PREVIOUS VES AWARDS | PREVIOUS YEAR | NEXT YEAR

Comedian Patton Oswalt 
served
 as 
host 
to 
the 
more 
than
 1000
 guests 
gathered at 
the
 Beverly 
Hilton 
to 
celebrate
 VFX 
talent 
in 
24 
awards
 categories.

The 
teams
 from
 Gravity, Frozen, Game
 of
 Thrones 
and PETA 
led
 the 
wins
 in 
their 
respective
 categories.

Academy
 Award winner
 Sandra
 Bullock made
 a
 crowd‐pleasing
 previously
 unannounced
 presentation
 to
 her
 Gravity director,
 Academy
 Award
 nominee
 Alfonso Cuarón, recipient
 of
 the
 VES
 Visionary
 Award.
 
 Academy
 Award
 winning
 visual
 effects
 pioneer
 John
 Dykstra
 was
 presented
 with
 the
 VES
 Lifetime
 Achievement
 Award
 by
 previous
 VES 
Méliès
 Award
 winner
 Doug
 Trumbull.

Honorees

alfonsoVisionary Award
Alfonso Cuarón
Awarded for uniquely and consistently employing the art and science of visual effects to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work.

jd_head_shot_1Lifetime Achievement Award
John Dykstra
Awarded for significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of vision, artistry, invention and innovation.

Highlights

fyPo9wc8ZnAAlfonso Cuarón VES Visionary Award Presentation
Alfonso Cuarón is presented with the VES Visionary Award by Sandra Bullock at the 12th Annual VES Awards.

Csk84jOAjp4John Dykstra Receives VES Lifetime Achievement Award
Visual Effects Legend, John Dykstra is presented with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award by Douglas Trumbull.

Video & Photo Galleries

Winners and Nominees

Below is the complete list of Winners and Nominees for the 12th Annual VES Awards. A sortable list for ALL years of VES Award winners / nominees can be found on the Previous VES Awards page. All archival viewing materials are cleared for viewing by logged-in VES members behind the VES website firewall. For more information, please review the VES Awards Rules & Procedures, Section 14: Ownership & Clearances here.

Please click on the category to reveal the nominees and winners

This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within a live action motion picture where the visual effects are a visible, essential, and integral part of the story and play a principal and active role in the motion picture. A rule of thumb for defining whether a motion picture would be considered effects-driven would be to ask if the story could be told without the active participation of the VFX (including Special Effects). On the whole, the VFX in an effects-driven film would be easily identifiable by the viewing public and professionals working in the VFX field.

Fully animated films are not eligible in this category.

Gravity (Winner)
Tim Webber
Nikki Penny
Neil Corbould
Richard McBride
Iron Man 3
Christopher Townsend
Mark Soper
Guy Williams
Bryan Grill
Pacific Rim
John Knoll
Susan Greenhow
Chris Raimo
Hal Hickel
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Roger Guyett
Luke O’Byrne
Ron Ames
Ben Grossman
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Joe Letteri
Eric Saindon
Kevin Sherwood
David Clayton
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within a live action motion picture where the visual effects play a supporting, minor or background role in the telling of the story. Supporting visual effects, when taken as a whole, may help create the setting, environment, or mood of an entire film, but are generally intended to be subtle or invisible to the lay viewer. They do not consist of a significant number of CG characters, science fiction or fantasy elements, and other highly visible effects that one would expect to see in a visual effects-driven or “tent pole” film.

Effects-driven films may not enter their “invisible” effects in this category, and animated films are not eligible.

Rush
Jody Johnson
Moriah Etherington-Sparks
Mark Hodgkins
Antoine Moulineau
The Great Gatsby
Chris Godfrey
Prue Fletcher
Joyce Cox
Andy Brown
The Lone Ranger (Winner)
Tim Alexander
Gary Brozenich
Shari Hanson
Kevin Martel
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Guillaume Rocheron
Kurt Williams
Monette Dubin
Ivan Moran
The Wolf of Wall Street
Robert Legato
Mark Russell
Joseph Farrell
Lisa Spence
White House Down
Marc Weigert
Volker Engel
Julia Frey
Ollie Rankin
Almost Human
Jay Worth
Robert Habros
Michael Cliett
David Beedon
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome
Gary Hutzel
Michael Gibson
Derek Ledbetter
Heather Mcauliff
Game of Thrones: Valar Dohaeris (Winner)
Steve Kullback
Joe Bauer
Jörn Großhans
Sven Martin
Inseparable: Chernobyl
Egor Olesov
Egor Borschevsky
Dmitry Ovcharenko
Mykhailo Datsyk
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Pilot
Mark Kolpack
Sabrina Arnold
David Altenau
H Haden Hammond
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects that play a supporting or background role within a single episode of a broadcast series, miniseries, made-for-television movie, or special wherein the visual effects are not necessarily essential to the telling of the story in the way that the effects of an effects-driven broadcast program are. Supporting visual effects, when taken as a whole, may help create the setting, environment, or mood of an entire program, and are generally intended to be invisible to the lay viewer. They do not consist of a significant number of CG characters, science fiction or fantasy elements, and other highly visible effects that one would expect to see in a visual effects driven broadcast program.

Banshee: Pilot (Winner)
Armen Kevorkian
Mark Skowronski
Jeremy Jozwik
Ricardo Ramirez
Da Vinci’s Demons: The Lovers
Kevin Blank
Simon Frame
Ante Dekovic
Oliver Arnold
Hawaii 5-0: Ho’onani Makuakane
Armen Kevorkian
Alexander Soltes
Jane Sharvina
Andranik Taranyan
Mob City: A Guy Walks in to A Bar
Jason Sperling
Michael Morreale
Valeri Pfahning
Mike Enriquez
Moonfleet: Episode 2
Ed Bruce
Alan Collins
John O’Connell
Joe Courtis
The Borgias: Relics
Wojciech Zielinski
Neishaw Ali
Bill Halliday
Jp Giamos
Call of Duty: Epic Night Out
Leighton Greer
Robert Sethi
Felix Urquiza
Chris Knight
Galaxy Chauffeur
Helen Hughes
Simon French
William Bartlett
Stephen Cullingford
Liberty Group Limited: Answer
James Atkinson
Rachel Margolis Mariscal
Scott Meadows
David Liu
PETA: 98% Human (Winner)
Angus Kneale
Vince Baertsoen
Colin Blaney
Kyle Cody
Sony PlayStation: Perfect Day
Charlotte Arnold
Joji Tsuruga
Gavin Wellsman
Olivier Mitonneau
The award is to honor the overall achievement of the visual effects within an entire Special Venue project. Special Venues are defined as installations specifically set up to project large-format films (e.g. IMAX or OMNIMAX theaters), theme park theaters that may include a motion-based ride, museums, World Fairs, and similar venues.

To be eligible, a Special Venue project must have been exhibited publicly:

  • In a commercial venue for a paid admission, which may include the general admission to a theme park or special venue theater;
  • For a minimum period of one week on a regular daily schedule; and
  • Premiered in the current awards year in a Special Venue theater as defined above.

The following are not eligible in this category, regardless of the material’s original capture format:

  • Special purpose events such as trade shows and conventions;
  • Video material generally referred to as “pre-show” material;
  • Repurposed films, i.e. projects initially intended for the theatrical market but which have been blown up for exhibition in large-format Special Venue theaters;
  • Projects that were created as conventional 2D theatrical presentations but have been repurposed to stereographic 3D;
  • Any 2D or stereographic 3D feature motion picture that either premiered first, or simultaneously, in any regular movie theater or in any broadcast medium;
  • Any project that runs for an equal or greater amount of time in any regular movie theater or in any broadcast medium; and
  • Movies intended for simultaneous distribution in both Special Venue and normal movie theaters. The intent of this category is to honor those projects made specifically for the Special Venue market.
Hayden Planetarium’s Dark Universe
Vivian Trakinski
Jon Parker
Carter Emmart
Andreas Wetteborn
Mysteries of the Unseen World
Sean Phillips
Andy Yamada
Fred Pienkos
Matthew Sugars
Mystic Manor
Tim Landry
John Guerra
Mark Schirmer
Ken Horii
Space Shuttle Atlantis (Winner)
Daren Ulmer
John Gross
Cedar Connor
Christian Bloch
SpongeBob SquarePants 4D: The Great Jelly Rescue!
Kate Crandall
Brent Young
Michael “Oz” Smith
Andrei Brovcenco
This award is to honor the overall achievement of the animation within an entire animated motion picture. The animation may be created by traditional cel animation, computer animation, and/or stop motion, as long as it meets the definitions of Animation and Animated Project as stated in the Appendix of this Rules & Procedures. The vocal performance of characters may be taken into consideration along with the visual qualities in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the animation.Title sequences are not eligible in this category.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
Peter Nash
Michael Ford
Chris Juen
Mandy Tankenson
Despicable Me 2
Chris Meledandri
Janet Healy
Chris Renaud
Pierre Coffin
Frozen (Winner)
Chris Buck
Jennifer Lee
Peter Del Vecho
Lino Di Salvo
Monsters University
Kori Rae
Sanjay Bakshi
Jon Reisch
Scott Clark
The Croods
Jane Hartwell
Chris Sanders
Kirk Demicco
Markus Manninen
This award is to honor the overall achievement in a single animated character in a live action motion picture. The character may have been created by any technique or combination of techniques, including animatronics, as long as it meets the definition of Animation as stated in the Glossary of these Rules & Procedures.

Title sequences are not eligible in this category.

Gravity: Ryan
Max Solomon
Mathieu Vig
Michael Brunet
David Shirk
Oz the Great and Powerful: China Girl
Troy Saliba
In-Ah Roediger
Carolyn Vale
Kevin Souls
Pacific Rim: Kaiju – Leatherback
Jakub Pistecky
Frank Gravatt
Cyrus Jam
Chris Havreberg
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Smaug (Winner)
Eric Reynolds
David Clayton
Myriam Catrin
Guillaume Francois
Call of Duty: Ghosts (Winner)
Mark Rubin
Richard Kriegler
David Johnson
Alessandro Nardini
Crysis 3
Magnus Larbrant
Tiago Sousa
Steven Bender
Cevat Yerli
Killzone Shadow Fall
Marijn Giesbertz
Jan-Bart Van Beek
Angie Smets
NBA 2K14
Heather Marshall
Joseph Clark
Jeff Thomas
Anton Dawson
Ryse: Son of Rome
Cevat Yerli
Peter Gornstein
Chris Evans
Brian Chambers
This award is to honor the overall achievement in a single animated character in an animated motion picture. The character may have been created by any technique or combination of techniques, including animatronics, as long as it meets the definition of Animation as stated in the Glossary.

Title sequences are not eligible in this category.

Epic: Bomba
Thom Roberts
Haven Cousins
Tim Bower
Daniel Lima
Epic: Mary Katherine
Jeff Gabor
Dylan C. Maxwell
Sang Jun Lee
Chris Pagoria
Frozen: Bringing the Snow Queen to Life (Winner)
Alexander Alvarado
Joy Johnson
Chad Stubblefield
Wayne Unten
The Croods: Eep
Line Andersen
Won Young Byun
Koji Morihiro
Chris De St. Jeor
This award is to honor the overall achievement in a single animated character in a broadcast program or commercial. The character may have been created by any technique or combination of techniques, including animatronics, as long as it meets the definition of Animation as stated in the Glossary. The character may or may not be photorealistic.

Title sequences are not eligible in this category.

Game of Thrones: Raising the Dragons
Philip Meyer
Ingo Schachner
Travis Nobles
Florian Friedmann
PETA: 98% Human (Winner)
Vince Baertsoen
Alex Allain
Henning Koczy
Smithwick’s: Squirrel
Tom Bussell
Jorge Montiel
Tom Raynor
Sauce Vilas
Three, The Pony
Carsten Keller
Jake Mengers
Tim Van Hussen
Toy Story of Terror
Paul Aichele
Kiki Mei Kee Poh
Andrew Coats
This award is to honor the overall achievement of a single created environment in a live action motion picture that best creates an illusion of setting for the story being told. Created environments are defined as either completely artificial environments, or the enhancement of an existing practical set or location through the addition of elements not present during photography. The environment may occur more than once in the project and under different conditions, but must be the same environment, created by the exact same team.

This category judges not only the techniques for creating the environment, but also their integration with any practical plate photography. Before & Afters must show the integration of the multiple elements used to create the environment.

Stereo extractions of environments that do not contain any other significant enhancements or fully animated productions are not eligible in this category. For practical purposes, the environment should be a single setting within the story, and not, for example, all locations within an entire city.

Elysium: Torus
Votch Levi
Joshua Ong
Barry Poon
Kent Matheson
Gravity: Exterior (Winner)
Paul Beilby
Kyle McCulloch
Stuart Penn
Ian Comley
Gravity: Interior
Harry Bardak
Nathan Walster
Jonathan Fawkner
Claire Michaud
Iron Man 3: Shipyard
John Stevenson-Galvin
Greg Notzelman
Paul Harris
Justin Stockton
Pacific Rim: Virtual Hong Kong
Johan Thorngren
Jeremy Bloch
David Meny
Polly Ing
This award is to honor the overall achievement of a single created environment in an animated motion picture that best creates an illusion of setting for the story being told. The environment may occur more than once in the project and under different conditions, but must be the same environment, created by the exact same team.

Before & Afters must show the integration of the multiple elements used to create the environment.

Stereo extractions of environments that do not contain any other significant enhancements are not eligible in this category. For practical purposes, the environment should be a single setting within the story, and not, for example, all locations within an entire city.

Epic: Pod Patch
Aaron Ross
Travis Price
Jake Panian
Antelmo Villarreal
Frozen: Elsa’s Ice Palace (Winner)
Virgilio John Aquino
Alessandro Jacomini
Lance Summers
David Womersley
Monsters University: Campus
Robert Kondo
Eric Andraos
Dale Ruffolo
Peter Sumanaseni
The Croods: The Maze
Jonathan Harman
Violette Sacre-Shaik
Benjamin Venancie
Philippe Brochu
This award is to honor the overall achievement of a single created environment in a live action broadcast program that best creates an illusion of setting for the story being told. Created environments are defined as either completely artificial environments, or the enhancement of an existing practical set location through the addition of elements not present during photography. The environment may occur more than once in the project and under different conditions, but must be the same environment, created by the exact same team.

This category judges not only the techniques for creating the environment, but also their integration with any practical plate photography. Before & Afters must show the integration of the multiple elements used to create the environment.

Stereo extractions of environments that do not contain any other significant enhancements, or fully animated productions, are not eligible in this category. For practical purposes, the environment should be a single setting within the story, and not, for example, all locations within an entire city.

Game of Thrones: The Climb (Winner)
Patrick Zentis
Mayur Patel
Nitin Singh
Tim Alexander
Hell On Wheels: Big Bad Wolf
Steve Meyer
Matt Von Brock
Mitch Gates
Antonio Chang
Inseparable: Chernobyl
Dmitry Ovcharenko
Igor Chopenko
Dmitry Eremenko
Andrey Bogdanov
Liberty Group Limited: Answer
Greg Teegarden
Kevin Bouchez
Brian Creasey
Kurt Lawson
This award honors the art of cinematography within the digital realm of a live action feature motion picture. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in a live action feature film, such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within a primarily CG scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category). In the case of a live action movie, the film’s Director of Photography may be included among the entrants if, and ONLY if, he/she had a significant hands-on role in the final look of the CG elements.

Gravity (Winner)
Tim Webber
Emmanuel Lubezki
Richard McBride
Dale Newton
Iron Man 3
Mark Smith
Aaron Gilman
Thelvin Cabezas
Gerardo Ramirez
Man of Steel
Daniel Paulsson
Edmund Kolloen
Joel Prager
David Stripinis
Pacific Rim: Hong Kong Ocean Brawl
Colin Benoit
Nick Walker
Adam Schnitzer
Victor Schutz
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Christian Rivers
Phil Barrenger
Mark Gee
Thelvin Tico Cabezas
This award honors the art of virtual cinematography within the digital realm of a live action broadcast program or commercial. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in a broadcast program or commercial, such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within a primarily CG scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category). In the case of a live action program, the program’s Director of Photography may be included among the entrants if, and only if, he/she had a significant hands-on role in the final look of the CG elements.

Mad Max: Ethos
Aladino Debert
Neil Huxley
David Liu
Michael Harbour
Murdered: Soul Suspect
Vernon Wilbert
Tim Jones
Rafael Francisco Colón
April Warren
Qualcomm Snapdragon: A Dragon is Coming
Joshua Wassung
Shannon Justison
Shayne Ryan
Seth Gollub
The Crew (Winner)
Dominique Boidin
Rémi Kozyra
Léon Bérelle
Maxime Luère
This award honors the art of cinematography within the digital realm of a live action broadcast program or commercial. Digital Cinematography is defined as the outstanding use of traditional cinematography techniques to communicate story and mood in a broadcast program or commercial (live action or animated), such as light direction, color, camera framing or movement, and depth of field within a primarily CG scene. It recognizes the combined collaborative work of pre-vis and layout artists, the lighting/CG supervisor, shot lighters, animators, and similar artists within this creative and interpretive process. Judges are to consider the use of light and camera in the scene, but are NOT judging the details of the models or environments that are being lit (these should compete in the Created Environment category). In the case of a live action program, the program’s Director of Photography may be included among the entrants if, and ONLY if, he/she had a significant hands-on role in the final look of the CG elements.

Gravity: ISS Exterior (Winner)
Ben Lambert
Paul Beilby
Chris Lawrence
Andy Nicholson
Pacific Rim
David Fogler
Alex Jaeger
Aaron Wilson
David Behrens
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Bruce Holcomb
Ron Woodall
John Goodson
Thomas Fejes
The Lone Ranger: Colby Locomotive
Rene Garcia
Steve Walton
Brian Paik
Gerald Gutschmidt
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
Andrew Hofman
Alex Moaveni
Epic: Boggan Crowds
Thierry Dervieux-Lecocq
David Gatenby
Mark Adams
Matthew D. Simmons
Frozen: Elsa’s Blizzard (Winner)
Eric W. Araujo
Marc Bryant
Dong Joo Byun
Tim Molinder
The Croods
Jeff Budsberg
Andre Le Blanc
Jason Mayer
Michael Losure
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
James Baxter
Stuart Little 2 (Winner)
Tony Bancroft
David Schaub
Eric Armstrong
Sean Mullen
PETA: 98% Human (Winner)
Vince Baertsoen
Jimmy Gass
Dave Barosin
Sony PlayStation: Perfect Day
Joji Tsuruga
Gavin Wellsman
Nick Couret
Hassan Taimur
Toy Story of Terror
Jane Yen
Rogan Griffin
Amit Baadkar
Keith Daniel Klohn
Toyota Avalon: Formula
Ed Laag
Eugene Gauran
Josh Hatton
This award is to honor outstanding achievement in compositing multiple elements into a final visual effect shot or group of shots in a live action feature motion picture. This category is for a body of work created for a single motion picture by an individual artist or team of artists.

Multiple entries from the same project are eligible provided the compositing teams are 100% different and the shots being submitted are completelydifferent. Title sequences are eligible as long as:

  • They are submitted in textless form in order not to conflict with any other awards rule; and
  • They are part of the storytelling and are not a specially designed separate animated title sequence in a live action project.

Animated films are not eligible in this category.

Elysium
Jean Lapointe
Jordan Benwick
Robin Hackl
Janeen Elliott
Gravity (Winner)
Mark Bakowski
Anthony Smith
Theodor Groeneboom
Adrian Metzelaar
Iron Man 3: Barrel of Monkeys
Michael Maloney
Francis Puthanangadi
Justin Van Der Lek
Howard Cabalfin
Iron Man 3: House Attack
Darren Poe
Stefano Trivelli
Josiah Howison
Zach Zaubi
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Charles Tait
Robin Hollander
Giuseppe Tagliavini
Sean Heuston
Banshee: Pilot
Gevork Babityan
Andranik Taranyan
Matt Kelly
Matthieu Perin
Game of Thrones: The Climb (Winner)
Kirk Brillon
Steve Gordon
Geoff Sayer
Winston Lee
Game of Thrones: The Conquering of Yunkai
Sean Faden
Greg Szafranski
Florian Franke
Travis Nobles
Vikings: Dispossessed
Ovidiu Cinazan
Gary Couto
Marco Lee
Maria Gordon
Call of Duty: Epic Night Out (Winner)
Chris Knight
Daniel Thuresson
Nick Tayler
Dag Ivarsoy
Jean-Paul Gaultier: The Sailor
Jerome Billet
Arnaud Leviez
Mercedes Sensations
Laurent Creusot
Pierre Emmanuel Genin
David Roubah
Damien Canameras
Sony PlayStation : Greatness Awaits
Iwan Zwarts
Kyle Cody
Dan Difelice
Sony PlayStation: Perfect Day
Gavin Wellsman
John Mangia
Leonardo Costa
Kristin Johnson
Initium
Alexandre Dechel
Adrien Lambert
Larochette Emeric
James Ross-Greetham
Morphium
Linus Stetter
Rugbybugs (Winner)
Matthias Baeuerle
Carl Schroeter
Martin Lapp
Emanuel Fuchs
Runaway
Ludovic Fregé
Quentin Medda
Romain Chauliac
Yoann Gouraud
Where the Dream Begins
Dun Ma
Dan Wen Lei
Xuan Xia