Project Description
8TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel
Century City, CA
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Filmmakers, producers and guests joined more than a thousand attendees from the visual effects industry for the sold-out gala which honored and James Cameron with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and and Dr. Ed Catmull with the Georges Méliès Award for Pioneering.
and Avatar was the evening’s big winner taking home six awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture. The animated feature film and Up was honored with three awards including Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture. The 2010 VES Awards premiered on Friday, March 5, 2010 on REELZCHANNEL.
Honorees
Lifetime Achievement Award
James Cameron
Awarded for significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of vision, artistry, invention and innovation.
Georges Méliès Award
Ed Catmull
Awarded for pioneering significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work.
Highlights
James Cameron’s Lifetime Achievement Award Speech
James Cameron receives the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 8th Annual VES Awards.
Steven Spielberg Introduces VES Student Award
Steven Spielberg thanks Autodesk and the Visual Effects Society for making the VES student award a reality, and congratulates the students for their outstanding work.
Video & Photo Galleries
View The 8th Annual VES Awards televised on HD Net
(Available to VES Members Only: Log In Required)
Winners and Nominees
Below is the complete list of Winners and Nominees for the 8th 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.
Volker Engel
Marc Weigert
Josh Jaggars
Joe Letteri
Joyce Cox
Eileen Moran
Richard Baneham
Dan Kaufman
Stefanie Boose
James Stewart
Peter Muyzers
Roger Guyett
Burt Dalton
Shari Hanson
Russell Earl
Scott Farrar
John Frazier
Scott Benza
Wayne Billheimer
Effects-driven films may not enter their “invisible” effects in this category, and animated films are not eligible.
Barrie Hemsley
Angus Bickerton
Ryan Cook
Mark Breakspear
Michael Owens
Geoff Hancock
Cyndi Ochs
Dennis Hoffman
Jonathan Fawkner
Chas Jarrett
David Vickery
Dan Barrow
Thomas Tannenberger
Olcun Tan
Mark Kolpak
Peter Cvijanovic
Mark O. Forker
Phillip Moses
Ed Mendez
Paul Graff
Lee Wilson
Lisa Sepp-Wilson
Sebastien Bergeron
Les Quinn
Evan Jacobs
Sean McPherson
Andrew Orloff
Dorothy McKim
Scott Kersavage
David Hutchins
Kee Suong
PJ Foley
Efram Potelle
James May
Dan DeEntremont
Sara Bennett
Jenna Powell
David Houghton
Jean-Claude Deguara
Michael Gibson
Gary Hutzel
Jesse Toves
Dave Morton
Sam Nicholson
Dale Fay
Mike Yip
Jared Jones
Jay Worth
Robert Habros
Andrew Orlaff
Eric Hance
Mark Savela
Shannon Gurney
Andrew Karr
Craig Vandenbiggelaar
Andrew Orloff
Karen Czukerberg
Chris Zapara
Johnathan R. Banta
Rik Shorten
Sabrina Arnold
Steve Meyer
Derek Smith
Kevin Blank
Andrew Orloff
Steve Meyer
Jonathan Spencer Levy
Craig Weiss
Ron Moore
Niel Wray
Brian Vogt
Thomas Tannenberger
Olcun Tan
Mark Kolpak
Shane Cook
Mitch Suskin
Samantha Mabie-Tuinstra
Eric Hance
Sean Scott
Volker Engel
Marc Weigert
Josh R. Jaggars
Mohen Leo
John Knoll
Jill Brooks
Frank Losasso Petterson
Tory Mercer
Joe Letteri
Joyce Cox
Eileen Moran
Thelvin Cabezas
Andrew Jackson
Camille Cellucci
Dan Breckwoldt
Angelo Sahin
Charles Gibson
Chantal Feghali
Ben Snow
Susan Greenhow
Asher Edwards
Robert Sethi
Becky Porter
Jamie O’Hara
Jay Barton
Rafael F. Colon
Ronald Herbst
Chris Fieldhouse
Jake Mengers
Stephen Newbold
Ashley Bernes
Louisa Cartwright Tucker
Murray Butler
Seth Gollub
Andy Walker
Jenn Dewey
Jake Mengers
Vicky Osborn
Suzanne Jandu
Scott Griffin
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.
Daren Ulmer
Cedar Conner
Susan Beth Smith
Derry Frost
Michael Morreale
Jinko Gotoh
Joe Ksander
Daryl Graham
Ken Duncan
Pete Nash
Chris Juen
Alan Hawkins
Mike Ford
Henry Selick
Claire Jennings
Melvin Tan
Galen Chu
Jeff Gabor
Anthony Nisi
Pete Docter
Jonas Rivera
Steve May
Gary Bruins
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Joe Letteri
Andrew R. Jones
Jeff Unay
Zoe Saldana
Steve Nichols
Jeremy Mesana
Vera Zivny
Brett Ineson
Benjamin Cinelli
Dustin Wicke
Peter Tieryas
Ryan Yee
Keith Smith
Kevin Hudson
Victor Schutz
Aaron Campbell
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Travis Knight
Trey Thomas
Simon Pegg
Peter de Seve
David Burgess
Scott Cegielski
Terran Boylan
David Weatherly
Ed Asner
Ron Zorman
Brian Tindall
Carmen Ngai
Title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Robert Sethi
Jamie O’Hara
Becky Porter
Steve Beck
David Foley
Mark Mitchell
Hidetaka Yosumi
Leo Sanchez Barbosa
Jorge Montiel Meurer
Wayne Simmons
Jordi Onate
Emanuele Pavarotti
Andy Walker
Seth Gollub
James Dick
Spencer Leuders
Multiple entries from the same game title will only be allowed if the entries are from different Game Trailers and the submitting teams are entirely different, including the overall VFX Supervisor and overall VFX Producer.
The following are not eligible for this category:
- Game Trailers that share any pre-rendered material with a video game currently
released in stores or that contain re-purposed shots from previous trailers; - Game Trailers that contain real-time material from the game itself that totals more than 25% of the total running time of the Submission Length, not including Before & Afters; and
- Animated commercials that originate as Broadcast material.
Diarmid Harrison-Murray
Sarah Hiddlestone
Marco Puig
Jamie Jackson
Robert Moggach
Ryan Meredith
Jens Zalzala
Michael Pardee
Tim Miller
Brandon Riza
Dave Wilson
- Recorded real-time Game Play; and/or
- A real-time game engine-rendered Cinematic that appears as part of the game.
Real-time is defined as predominantly 30 or greater frames per second NTSC and ATSC (US) HD video, or predominantly 25 or greater frames per second PAL and DVB (International) HD depending upon country of origination. Any imagery or action that does not meet this criterion is ineligible even if it was rendered in the game engine or in software. Any longer-than-real-time frames that are rendered in the game engine, later resized and/or reloaded, then played back in real-time from pre-rendered frames are ineligible as well.
Trailers or promos for games are not eligible in this category.
Mark Rubin
Richard Kriegler
Robert Gaines
David Johnson
Frank Vitz
Jenny Freeman
Jeff Atienza
Ben Ross
Andreas Moll
Sven Moll
Dave Flynn
Robert Dibley
Evan Wells
Christophe Balestra
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.
Rob Nederhorst
Dariush Derakhshani
Steve Cummings
Harry Michalakeas
Mathieu Lalonde
Nadine Homier
Joseph Kasparlan
Christian Morin
Steve Meyer
Colin Feist
Paul Ghezzo
Roger Kupelian
Chris Zapara
Chris Irving
David Morton
Trevor Adams
Yvonne Muinde
Brenton Cottman
Peter Baustaedter
Jean-Luc Azzis
Tania Richard
Christoph Unger
Tania Richard
David Bassalla
Emily Cobb
Brett Northcutt
Shane Roberts
Masahiko Tani
Dan Wheaton
Rob Bredow
Dan Kramer
Matt Hausman
Carl Hooper
John Allan Armstrong
Richard Kent Burton
Craig Dowsett
Amaury Aubel
Scott Cegielski
Alain De Hoe
David Allen
Jason Johnston
Alexis Angelidis
Jon Reisch
Eric Froemling
Ben Walker
David Woodland
Kim Taylor
Ben Walsh
Simon Cheung
Paul Jenness
John Stevenson-Galvin
Rainer Zoettl
Deborah Cook
Paul Mack
Martin Meunier
Matthew DeLeu
Ian Hunter
Forest Fischer
Robert Chapin
Tony Chen
Brian Gernand
Geoff Heron
Nick d’Abo
Patrick Sweeney
Haarm-Pieter Duiker
Marten Larsson
Ryo Sakaguchi
Hanzhi Tang
Dan Lemmon
Keith F. Miller
Cameron Smith
Jessica Cowley
Eric Saindon
Shadi Almassizadeh
Dan Cox
Ula Rademeyer
Thelvin Cabezas
Daniel Macarin
Miae Kang
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.
Erik Winquist
Robin Hollander
Erich Eder
Giuseppe Tagliavini
Eddie Pasquarello
Beth D’Amato
Todd Vaziri
Jay Cooper
Shervin Shogian
Hamish Schumacher
Janeen Elliott
Simon Hughes
Kate Windibank
Jan Adamczyk
Sam Osborne
Alex Cumming
This award is to honor outstanding achievement in compositing multiple elements into a final visual effect shot or group of shots in a single live action episode of a broadcast program or commercial. This category is for a body of work created for a single broadcast episode by an individual artist or team of artists. Multiple sequences may be entered from the same episode or series provided the compositing teams are 100% different and the shots being submitted are completely different.
Animated programs or main title sequences are not eligible in this category.
Derek Smith
Christina Spring
Steve Meyer
Zach Zaubi
Jake Mengers
Stephen Newbold
Kelly Bruce
Greg Howe-Davies
Murray Butler
Ben Cronin
Andy Rowan-Robinson
Miyuki Shimamoto
Tim Davies
Jeff Willette
Zach Tucker
Hannes Appell
David Goubitz
Flip Buttinger
Jeffrey De Vore
Thilo Ewers
Moritz Mayerhofer