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VES Awards 2019 Winners: ‘Spider-Verse’ Sweeps Animation Categories

By Amid Amidi | 02/06/2019 1:58 am | Be the First to Comment!

The winners were announced tonight for the 17th annual VES Awards, recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, and video games.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swept the feature animation categories, winning all four of the VES honors dedicated to long-form animation. As it proved last weekend at the Annie Awards, the film is not just a critical and fan favorite, but one that has earned the respect of its industry peers for Sony Pictures Imageworks’ innovative creative and technical approaches to feature animation.

Its four wins represents a remarkable feat for an animated film at the Disney-friendly VES. Over the last six years, 23 out of 24 VES Awards for feature animation had been won by a Walt Disney or Pixar film. The sole non-Walt Disney Company film to win an award at the VES in the last six years had been Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings, which picked up the top animation award for visual effects in 2017.

Illumination’s The Grinch came up empty-handed for its four nominations, however studio founder and CEO Chris Meledandri earned this year’s VES Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor was presented by Steve Carell, who came onstage in a Gru mask.

On the photoreal feature side, Disney-Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War dominated with four wins, including the top prize for outstanding visual effects. The film was a massive vfx production with 2,680 vfx shots handled by 13 different studios including Cinesite, Digital Domain, Double Negative, Framestore, Industrial Light & Magic, Method Studios, and Weta Digital, among others.

Additionally, Ready Player One picked up two honors, while Mortal Engines and First Man earned one prize apiece.

Netflix’s Lost in Space scored big for series with four honors. The broadcast categories have been dominated in recent years by Game of Thrones, which had won 14 awards over the last three editions, but due to its staggered production schedule, the series did not have any new episodes to submit this year. The show was still recognized however as GoT’s executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were presented with the VES Award for Creative Excellence.

The winners in the 24 categories were selected by members of the Visual Effects Society. Patton Oswalt hosted the VES Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

The complete list of winners is below:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War
Daniel DeLeeuw
Jen Underdahl
Kelly Port
Matt Aitken
Daniel Sudick

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

First Man
Paul Lambert
Kevin Elam
Tristan Myles
Ian Hunter
JD Schwalm

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Joshua Beveridge
Christian Hejnal
Danny Dimian
Bret St. Clair

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Lost in Space; “Danger, Will Robinson”
Jabbar Raisani
Terron Pratt
Niklas Jacobson
Joao Sita

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan; “Pilot”
Erik Henry
Matt Robken
Bobo Skipper
Deak Ferrand
Pau Costa

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

Age of Sail
John Kahrs
Kevin Dart
Cassidy Curtis
Theresa Latzko

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

John Lewis; “The Boy and the Piano”
Kamen Markov
Philip Whalley
Anthony Bloor
Andy Steele

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Childish Gambino’s Pharos
Keith Miller
Alejandro Crawford
Thelvin Cabezas
Jeremy Thompson

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War; Thanos
Jan Philip Cramer
Darren Hendler
Paul Story
Sidney Kombo-Kintombo

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; Miles Morales
Marcos Kang
Chad Belteau
Humberto Rosa
Julie Bernier Gosselin

Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project

Lost in Space; Humanoid
Chad Shattuck
Paul Zeke
Julia Flanagan
Andrew McCartney

Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial

Volkswagen; Born Confident; Bam
David Bryan
Chris Welsby
Fabian Frank
Chloe Dawe

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Ready Player One; The Shining, Overlook Hotel
Mert Yamak
Stanley Wong
Joana Garrido
Daniel Gagiu

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Spider-Man; Into the Spider-Verse; Graphic New York City
Terry Park
Bret St. Clair
Kimberly Liptrap
Dave Morehead

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Lost in Space; “Pilot”; Impact Area
Philip Engström
Kenny Vähäkari
Jason Martin
Martin Bergquist

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Ready Player One; New York Race
Daniele Bigi
Edmund Kolloen
Mathieu Vig
Jean-Baptiste Noyau

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Mortal Engines; London
Matthew Sandoval
James Ogle
Nick Keller
Sam Tack

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War; Titan
Gerardo Aguilera
Ashraf Ghoniem
Vasilis Pazionis
Hartwell Durfor

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Ian Farnsworth
Pav Grochola
Simon Corbaux
Brian D. Casper

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Altered Carbon
Philipp Kratzer
Daniel Fernandez
Xavier Lestourneaud
Andrea Rosa

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War; Titan
Sabine Laimer
Tim Walker
Tobias Wiesner
Massimo Pasquetti

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

Lost in Space; “Impact”; Crash Site Rescue
David Wahlberg
Douglas Roshamn
Sofie Ljunggren
Fredrik Lönn

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

Apple; “Welcome Home”
Michael Ralla
Steve Drew
Alejandro Villabon
Peter Timberlake