‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Tops Visual Effects Society Awards

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes topped the live action feature competition at the 13^th annual Visual Effects Awards, earned three trophies including the top award for outstanding VFX in a VFX-driven feature.

Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton, Oscar nominee Apes additionally won trophies for animated character (Caesar) and compositing. Also in the feature competitions, Oscar nominees X-Men: Days of Future Past won two awards, for effects simulation and virtual cinematography; and Interstellar won one, for created enviroment. 

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Big Hero 6 swept the animated feature categories, winning trophies for outstanding VFX, animated character, created environment, effects simulation and models.

Since the first VES Awards were handed out in 2002, the winner of the top category has gone on to win the visual effects Oscar nine of the past 12 times.

The VFX on Apes were created by Weta Digital, led by Joe Letteri, a four-time Oscar winner and Weta’s senior VFX supervisor.

Game of Thrones was the big winner in the television competition, collecting two awards including in the category for outstanding VFX in television.

During the ceremony, Zoe Saldana presented J.J. Abrams with the VES Visionary Award. Receiving a standing ovation, the director told the VFX community that working on Star Wars: The Force Awakens is “an actual childhood dream come true, and has only given me more appreciation for what you do.”

A complete list of nominees follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Joe Letteri, ?Ryan Stafford?, Matt Kutcher, ?Dan Lemmon, ?Hannah Bianchini

 

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Ara Khanikian? Ivy Agregan ?Sebastien Moreau? Isabelle Langlois

 

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6

Don Hall? Chris Williams? Roy Conli? Zach Parrish

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program

Game of Thrones; The Children ?

Joe Bauer?, Steve Kullback?, Stuart Brisdon?, Thomas Schelesny?, Sven Martin

 

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program

American Horror Story; Freak Show; Edward Mordrake, Part 2

Jason Piccioni?, Jason Spratt,? Mike Kirylo?, Justin Ball?, Eric Roberts

 

Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Yi-chao Sandy Lin-Chiang, ?Joseph Salud, ?Demetrius Leal?, Dave Blizard

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

SSE; Maya                 

Neil Davies, Alex Hammond, Jorge Montiel, Beth Vander

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Torquee de Remy

Tony Apodaca, Marianne McLean, Gilles Martin, Edwin Chang, Mark Mine

 

Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Caesar

Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Andrea Merlo, Emiliano Padovani

 

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6; Baymax

Colin Eckart, John Kahwaty, Zach Parrish, Zack Petroc

 

Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game

SSE; Maya

Jorge Montiel, Alex Hammond, Daniel Kmet, Philippe Moine

                                   

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Interstellar; Tesseract

Tom Bracht, Graham Page, Thomas Døhlen, Kirsty Clark

 

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6; Into the Portal

Ralf Habel, David Hutchins, Michael Kaschalk, Olun Riley

                 

Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game

Game of Thrones; Braavos Establisher

Rene Borst, Christian Zilliken, Jan Burda, Steffen Metzner

 

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal/Live Action Motion Media Project

X-Men: Days of Future Past; Kitchen Scene

Austin Bonang, Casey Schatz, Dennis Jones, Newton Thomas Sigel

 

Outstanding Models in any Motion Media Project

Big Hero 6; City of San Fransokyo

Brett Achorn, Minh Duong, Scott Watanabe, Larry Wu

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

 X-Men: Days of Future Past; Quicksilver Pentagon Kitchen

Adam Paschke, Premamurti Paetsch, Sam Hancock, Timmy Lundin

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

 Big Hero 6

Henrik Falt, David Hutchins, Michael Kaschalk, John Kosnik

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

Dominique Vidal, Isabelle Perin-Leduc, Sandrine Lurde, Alexandre Lerouge

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Christoph Salzmann, Florian Schroeder, Quentin Hema, Simone Riginelli

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program

 Game of Thrones; The Watchers on the Wall

Dan Breckwoldt, Martin Furman, Sophie Marfleet, Eric Andrusyszyn        

           

Outstanding Compositing in a in a Photoreal/Live Action Commercial

SSE

Neil Davies, Leonardo Costa, Gianluca DiMarco

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Wrapped

Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann, Paolo Tamburrino