VES Loves 'The Jungle Book'

To no one's surprise, Disney's "live-action" Jungle Book remake was the toast of the Visual Effects Society's annual awards, taking the group's top prize for Effects in a Photoreal Feature in addition to four other awards.

Oscar nominees Deepwater Horizon and Kubo and the Two Strings won their respective categories for Supporting Effects and Effects in an Animated Feature. Oddly, Kubo didn't win any of the other feature animation categories, which is unusual for a group that has rarely spread the wealth like this in the past.

Rogue One, which had been nominated in six categories (more than any other project), was shut out. Ouch.

Feature film winners after the cut.

[UPDATED] Guilds Round-Up: CAS, VES, ASC, MUAHS, CDG

The BAFTA and PGA weren't the only industry groups that got a word in yesterday. Here's a summary of other artisan guilds and societies that have had their say in advance of Friday's Oscar deadline:

AMERICAN SOCIETY of CINEMATOGRAPHERS

Arrival -- Bradford Young
La La Land -- Linus Sandgren
Lion -- Greig Fraser
Moonlight -- James Laxton
Silence -- Rodrigo Prieto
That's a mighty fine-looking lineup, folks.
In fact, swap one of these out for The Light Between Oceans and you have my own personal ballot. As it stands, this could be a perfect match-up with Oscar's cinematography branch. To see Bradford Young and Greig Fraser nominated alongside eachother would certainly make happy many a cinephile who have itched to see them recognized for years. But I have a sneaky suspicion Robert Richardson could still figure in for Live By Night. He's pulled the very same trick sans guild nomination before.

CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY

Sound Mixing -- Live Action Motion Picture

Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Rogue One
Sully
I'm not sold on Doctor Strange as an Oscar nominee here (no MCU movie has been nominated in this category if you can believe it). As to what takes it over, I'm leaning towards Arrival, which is infinitely more deserving anyway, but quality of work is no guarantee with this branch. Are we all excited to see Kevin O'Connell (Hacksaw Ridge) lose his 21st Oscar to another musical on February 26th?
I know I am (*ties hangman's noose around neck*)

Visual Effects Society winners

Not a lot of love spread at the VES honours last night, as Star Wars: The Force Awakens took four prizes (two for the Millenium Falcon chase alone) and The Revenant three (two for the bear sequence alone), leaving but a single consolatory win for presumed Oscar frontrunner Mad Max: Fury Road (for its sandstorm). Granted, the prominence of stunts and in-camera effects was always going to make Mad Max a tough sell with the guild, but this doesn't help.

I've been wondering if this is the year the Academy finally bucks the trend of always opting for a Best Picture nominee in this category given the chance. There are three of them up for the VFX Oscar after all (Mad Max, The Martian and The Revenant), and split allegiances could create a perfect storm for Star Wars to speed up through middle. This seems the natural place the recognize it for its record-breaking box office. As in many craft categories, I'm waiting for BAFTA to shed some light.

On the animated side of things, the VES finally, for the first time I can remember, didn't give all four prizes to the same movie. The Good Dinosaur won three (which, quite frankly, it deserved), but they threw a bone to Inside Out for the beautifully expressive character animation of Joy. Good call.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
“The Revenant”

VES Makes Right Call on Apes, Over-praises Big Hero 6

The Visual Effects Society declared its superlatives for the 2014 year in film last night, and the big victor was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, taking home three trophies including the top prize of Best Visual Effects in an Effects-Driven Film. Can't argue with that assessment, although the Academy might. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was similarly successful with the guild on 2012, only to be pipped by the prestige veneer of Hugo. Interstellar -- which won a single VES Award for its awesome Tesseract -- seems like it's in a position to pull off a similar coup.

"Apes at VES... strong. Apes at Academy... weak."

Other feature film winners include Birdman for supporting fx (easy call), and X-Men: Days of Future Past picking up two awards for the dazzling work in that kitchen sequence.

On the animated side of things, the group continued their maddening pattern of handing all four applicable categories to the same film, the beneficiary being
Big Hero 6. Look, it had really cool simulation effects animation and certainly deserved to win something (namely, that character animation category which it should have won at the ANNIES), but the work in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Boxtrolls is equally impressive. Seriously, when was the last time the VES spread the wealth in these categories? I'm struggling to think of a year when there wasn't a sweeper.

Check out all the winners after the cut.

Godzilla Stepped On by VES Snub

I was expecting this announcement to drop tomorrow, but instead we get a third guild announcement of the day. The biggest thing to note with the Visual Effects Society's list of nominees is the absence of Godzilla... in EVERY category. WTF? Is this effects house politics at play, or a larger bias rearing its head? Remember Pacific Rim. Maybe monsters just aren't in vogue.

Barring a shocking Oscar snub, I'd say this is Interstellar's to lose, but I sure do hope the guild spreads the wealth. There was a lot of excellent effects work this year.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
Maleficent
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Wow. SIX nominees instead of the usual five, and not one of them is Godzilla. The rest of these are on the Oscar shortlist. Maleficent will probably miss, but could I be underestimating X-Men? They've never sprung for that series before. I'd guess Interstellar takes it, but it aught to be Apes.

VES winners

I completely forgot that the Visual Effects Society awards were being handed out last night, but can you blame me? This Oscar category is so locked down that it's hard to drum up much interest in it. Yes, Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity was the big winner of the night, claiming prizes in all but one of the individual categories in which it was nominated for a total of six. The one film that was able to defeat it: The Hobbit for Best Animated Character. Hard to dispute that one, and honestly, I wish there was a little more of that wealth spreading going on. Gravity may have the Academy Award sewn up but there were lots of other brilliant fx jobs this year that deserved recognition.

The sweep effect also factored into the Feature Animation races as Frozen won all four of those categories. That isn't so uncommon. For four consecutive years now it's been one toon winning all of the prizes for effects in animated films (How to Train Your Dragon, Rango, Brave, and now Frozen), which is really a shame, as it can't help but reflect a certain laziness in membership voting.

Check out the full list of motion picture winners below.

Visual Effects Society nominations

Gravity predictably dominated today's nominations by the VES, picking up a field-leading eight nods. Pacific Rim came in second with six, while The Hobbit and Iron Man are third with five. It ultimately doesn't matter, as we know who's taking Oscar in a spacewalk, but I do hope the VES sees fit to throw the odd bone to a few of those also-rans. They looked mighty good too.

Nominees and my commentaries after the cut.

Life of Pi and Brave clean up at VES Awards

The Visual Effects Society came through for Life of Pi (like we knew they would), handing it four honours including the Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture. The Avengers and The Hobbit were consoled with two wins and one win respectively.

In the animated categories, Brave swept the board, winning all four prizes for effects in animated films. It's a beautiful film with great effects and all, but I gotta say:

ParaNorman = robbed.

Just saying.

All the winners after the jump.

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"

VES winners

The Visual Effects Society Awards were held last night, where Rango cleaned up by sweeping the animation categories at the expense of Tintin's extensive and impressive effects work, which was shut out despite having six nominations. Harsh.

Oscar nominees Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo, and Transformers each won two, and Captain America can nurse its Oscar snub with a consolatory win here for its excellent compositing (go 'Skinny' Steve!). Apes is the best bet for the Oscar, but it could face real heat from Hugo.

Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture: Hugo

Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture: Rango

VES nominees

Of the potential Oscar contenders, Harry Potter and Transformers lead the field with five nominations a piece, but the actual leader is Tintin with six, which was left of the Academy's shortlist. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is close behind with four.

There's a conspicuous absence of The Tree of Life, which I thought should have won the Supporting Visual Effects category by a country mile, but alas. I guess Hugo will win that one. Like I said when the Academy released there slate of ten finalists, Pirates feels like a very real spoiler threat, despite eking only one nod from the guild.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature
Captain America: The First Avenger
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Rise of the Planet of the Apes Should win / Will win
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Anonymous Should win
Hugo Will win
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Source Code
War Horse

VES winners

As we might have expected, Inception lead the way, winning all four of its nominations. Close behind was How to Train Your Dragon which swept the three animation categories. It's too bad they couldn't spread the love around to Legend of the Guardians' astonishing effects animation, but I suppose that was a long shot.

Oscar nominees Hereafter and Harry Potter each scooped a single consolatory win.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
Inception

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Hereafter

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
How to Train Your Dragon

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I – Dobby

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
How to Train Your Dragon – Toothless

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
How to Train Your Dragon

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Inception – Paris Dreamscape

Outstanding Models & Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture
Inception – Hospital Fortress Destruction

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
Inception

Visionary Award
Christopher Nolan

VES nominees!

4 nominations for Inception, which rules the roost with the Visual Effects Society. Deservedly so.


Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
“Inception” Here's your winner
“Iron Man 2″
“TRON Legacy”
“Alice In Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”

These five are the expected Oscar nominees. Inception's Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, and company are likely to end up on stage with Oscar in hand on the big night.

I must say, I'm disheartened by the complete omission of Scott Pilgrim (not a single nomination!), but pleased to see the effects artists of Legend of the Guardians were tossed a few bones in the animated categories.

See the many other categories (and my geeky thoughts on who should win each one) after the cut.