Visual Effects Society noms

The VES has revealed their nominations for the 2012 year in film, and leading the way with seven nods is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, followed closely by Life of Pi and The Avengers with six. All are presumed Oscar nominees, but guessing those final two slots gets a bit tricky.

The Dark Knight Rises has been an assumed nominee all year, but only scooped one mention from the guild; for its great miniatures. Another superhero film to reap a sole nomination is The Amazing Spider-Man, which few are anticipating will earn Academy love anyway. I'm beginning to come around to the thought of Prometheus -- which garnered three nods -- taking that fifth slot. Its effects work was pretty terrific, and three of the Alien films earned Oscar nominations for visual effects.

The four other films shortlisted by the Academy were snubbed altogether. Skyfall's shutout here might be attributed to its abundance of practical effects, but could ride a wave of momentum through the craft categories to a surprise effects nomination on Thursday. Cloud Atlas' Oscar chances are all but dead in the water after being largely written off as a confusing flop. Ditto John Carter. Snow White and the Huntsman might be a dark horse to watch.

On the animated side of things, I'm delighted to see ParaNorman do so well with five nominations. For those of you who've been asking about my own awards, I may as well mention right now that its effects are among the most impressive of the year in my opinion.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
"The Avengers"
"Battleship"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Life of Pi" The current frontrunner, and likely Oscar winner
"Prometheus"

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

"Argo"
"Flight"
"The Impossible" Though left off the Academy shortlist, this could be an appropriate consolation prize
"Rust and Bone"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
"The Avengers" - The Hulk
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Goblin King
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Gollum
"Life of Pi" - Richard Parker Can Richard Parker lose? I think not.

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
"The Avengers" - Midtown Manhattan
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Goblin Caverns
"Life of Pi" - Open Ocean
"Prometheus" - LV-233

All four of these were well done. I might give my vote to Prometheus, but it could be any of them.

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
"The Amazing Spider-Man"
"The Avengers" - Downtown Manhattan The big climax owed a lot to its exhilarating, zooming shots
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Total Recall: Hover Car Chase"

Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture
"The Avengers" - Helicarrier
"The Dark Knight Rises" - Airplane Heist Highly convincing miniatures, but I haven't seen The Impossible yet
"The Impossible" - Orchid Hotel
"Men in Black 3" - Cape Canaveral/Apollo Launch

Outstanding FX Simulation Animation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
"Battleship"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Life of Pi" - Ocean
"Life of Pi" - Storm of God All that water!

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
"The Avengers" - Hulk Punch
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" The work that went into all the forced perspective shots is noteworthy
"Life of Pi" - Storm of God
"Prometheus" - Engineers & the Orrery

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
"Brave"
"Hotel Transylvania"
"ParaNorman"
"Rise of the Guardians"
"Wreck-It Ralph"

Great animation all 'round (though I haven't seen Hotel Transylvania)

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
"Brave" - Argument
"Hotel Transylvania" - Dracula
"The Pirates: Band of Misfits!"
"Wreck-It Ralph" – Vanellope Should win hands down. So much personality in such a small package!

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
"Brave" - The Forest
"ParaNorman" - Main Street
"ParaNorman" - Graveyard"
"Rise of the Guardians" - The North Pole

This is a tricky one. How do you compare the meticulously hand-crafted environs of ParaNorman to the meticulously computer generated environs of Brave and Rise of the Guardians?

Outstanding FX Simulation Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
"Brave"
"ParaNorman" - Angry Aggie Ink-Blot Electricity
"ParaNorman" - Practical Volumetrics
"Rise of the Guardians" - Last Stand
Gotta give it to either of the ParaNorman ones. That film was a visual stunner.