Denis Villeneuve’s sweeping sci-fi “Dune” (Warner Bros.) and Disney’s animated musical, “Encanto,” each led the 20th VES Awards Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton with four prizes, including photoreal feature VFX and animated feature VFX, respectively. “Last Night in Soho” took supporting visual effects and “Foundation” (“The Emperor’s Peace”) was named best photoreal episode.
“Dune” additionally won VES awards for model (Royal Ornithopter), effects simulations (Dunes of Arrakis), and compositing & lighting (Attack on Arrakeen).
“Encanto,” which bolstered its claim as the Oscar frontrunner for Best Animated Feature, also won prizes honoring its magical realism for animated character (Mirabel Madrigal), environment (Antonio’s Room), and virtual cinematography (“We Don’t Talk about Bruno”).
“Encanto”
Disney
Now “Dune” is poised to win the VFX Oscar for DNEG (overseen by two-time Oscar-winning production VFX supervisor Paul Lambert and Oscar-winning SFX supervisor Gerd Nefzer). The work is both epic and intimate, from the wind blown sand, to the raging sandstorms to the flying insect-like ornithopters (requiring a special in-camera setup and backed by photoreal exteriors) to the iconic CG sandworms, which cause the entire desert to vibrate with the help of custom-built mechanics. However, the noteworthy innovation was the Sand Screen process for background environments in the desert, prioritizing accurate lighting over ease-of-compositing.
Director Guillermo del Toro (“Nightmare Alley”) was honored with the VES Award for Creative Excellence, but was a last-minute no show because of illness. His longtime producing partner J. Miles Dale accepted on his behalf. “At best, we can make the implausible possible,” he read from a prepared statement. “I’ve possibly bankrupt some of you….We must stand together in these times.”
Lynwen Brennan, executive vice president and general manager of Lucasfilm, received the VES Lifetime Achievement Award. Brennan said she has fostered a culture “to take risks, to experiment, and to innovate.” But she also said the industry can do better to be more diverse in recruiting talent. She additionally told IndieWire that ILM will continue to innovate with the studio’s LED wall StageCraft volume tech on the upcoming “Obi-Wan Kenobi” Disney+ series, directed by Deborah Chow (“The Mandalorian”), and to contribute to the burgeoning metaverse with real time content to achieve new storytelling possibilities.
Winners of the 20th VES Awards are as follows:
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Dune”
Paul Lambert
Brice Parker
Tristan Myles
Brian Connor
Gerd Nefzer
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Last Night in Soho”
Tom Proctor
Gavin Gregory
Julian Gnass
Fabricio Baessa
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto”
Scott Kersavage
Bradford Simonsen
Thaddeus P. Miller
Ian Gooding
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
“Foundation: The Emperor’s Peace”
Chris MacLean
Addie Manis
Mike Enriquez
Chris Keller
Paul Byrne
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
“See: Rock-A-Bye”
Chris Wright
Parker Chehak
Javier Roca
Tristan Zerafa
Tony Kenny
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Call of Duty: Vanguard”
Sandy Lin-Chiang
Joseph Knox
Gareth Richards
Shane Daley
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
“Sheba: Hope Reef”
Grant Walker
Sophie Harrison
Hernan Llano
Michael Baker
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
“Jurassic World Adventure”
Eugénie von Tunzelmann
Maximilian McNair MacEwan
Stephen Goalby
Brad Silby
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Finch: Jeff”
Harinarayan Rajeev
Matthias Schoenegger
Simon Allen
Paul Nelson
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto: Mirabel Madrigal”
Kelly McClanahan
Sergi Caballer
Mary Twohig
Jose Luis “Weecho” Velasquez
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
“The Witcher”: Nivellen the Cursed Man
Marko Chulev
Rasely Ma
Mike Beaulieu
Robin Witzsche
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A COMMERCIAL
“Smart Energy”: Einstein Knows Best; Einstein
Alex Hammond
Harsh Borah
Clare Williams
Andreas Graichen
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Spider-Man: No Way Home”: The Mirror Dimension
Eric Le Dieu de Ville
Thomas Dotheij
Ryan Olliffe
Claire Le Teuff
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Encanto”: Antonio’s Room
Camille Andre
Andrew Finley
Chris Patrick O’Connell
Amol Sathe
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Sheba”: Hope Reef
Henrique Campanha
Baptiste Roy
Luca Veronese
Timothee Maron
OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
“Encanto”: We Don’t Talk about Bruno
Nathan Detroit Warner
Dorian Bustamante
Tyler Kupferer
Michael Woodside
OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
“Dune”: Royal Ornithopter
Marc Austin
Anna Yamazoe
Michael Chang
Rachael Dunk
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
“Dune”: Dunes of Arrakis
Gero Grimm
Ivan Larinin
Hideki Okano
Zuny An
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
“Raya and the Last Dragon”
Le Joyce Tong
Henrik Fält
Rattanin Sirinaruemarn
Jacob Rice
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
“Foundation”: Collapse of the Galactic Empire
Giovanni Casadei
Mikel Zuloaga
Steven Moor
Louis Manjarres
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
“Dune”: Attack on Arrakeen
Gregory Haas
Francesco Dell’Anna
Abhishek Chaturvedi
Cleve Zhu
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
“Loki”: Lamentis; Shuroo City Destruction
Paul Chapman
Tom Truscott
Biagio Figliuzzi
Attila Szalma
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Verizon: “The Reset”
David Piombino
Rajesh Kaushik
Manideep Sanisetty
Tim Crean
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
“Jungle Cruise”
JD Schwalm
Nick Rand
Robert Spurlock
Nick Byrd
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
“Green”
Camille Poiriez
Arielle Cohen
Eloise Thibaut
Louis Florean
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