The Visual Effects Society on Tuesday announced the nominees for the 13th annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on-the-keys artists who bring this work to life.
Nominees were selected by VES members via events hosted by its nine sections — Australia, Bay Area, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, New Zealand, Toronto and Vancouver. The awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
As previously announced, the Visionary Award will be presented to J.J. Abrams, award-winning director-producer-writer.
“Visual effects in and by themselves are nothing unless they serve the story,’” said Jeffrey Okun, VES chair. “This year, more than ever, we are seeing amazing work that not only serves the story but tells the story in a manner never before seen. The VES Awards is proud that we are the only organization that showcases and honors these amazing artists in depth and across a wide range of fields.”
Nominees include:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project — Yas Takata and others for “Hubei in the Air” and “Star Journey.” Also nominated: “Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy,” “The Hogwarts Express,” “The Lost Temple.”
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture — Masaya Suzuki and others for Koba in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” Also nominated: Caesar in “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” Rocket in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Thistlewit in “Maleficent.”
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture — Susumu Yukuhiro and others for Antediluvian Earth in “Noah.” Also nominated: Triskelion Headquarters in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Tesseract in “Interstellar,” Times Square in “Lucy.”
Outstanding Models in Any Motion Media Project — Scott Watanabe, Larry Wu, Minh Duong and Brett Achorn for City of San Fransokyo in “Big Hero 6.” Also nominated: Mecha-Drill in “The Boxtrolls,” Laketown in “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” Knightship in “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture — Atsushi Ikarashi and others for destruction and sand in “Edge of Tomorrow.” Also nominated: helicarrier broadside and crash in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” quicksilver Pentagon kitchen in “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game — Kyle Yoneda and others for invasion storm sequence in “Vikings.” Also nominated: “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,” “DirecTV: Landing,” “SSE: Maya.”
For a complete list of winners, visit www.visualeffectssociety.com.