VES Announces Nominations for 8th VES Awards

Here's the press release sent out by the Visual Effects Society, announcing their nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards.

"Avatar" earned 11 nominations (from 8 live-action feature film categories). Other multiple nominees include "2012" and "District 9" with 3 nominations each, and "Star Trek," "Terminator: Salvation" and "Sherlock Holmes" grabbing 2 nominations each.

What follows is an edited list of nominees, listing live-action feature film categories only.

-todd

VES Announces Nominees for 8th Annual VES Awards
Los Angeles, January 19, 2010 - The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 16, 2010, by numerous blue ribbon panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank and San Francisco as well as at other facilities in London, Sydney and Vancouver.

“The Visual Effects Society is proud to present these nominations as the most outstanding work in the field this year,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society. “It’s important to keep in mind that it wasn’t machines that created these images but incredibly talented artists. We congratulate them all and look forward to seeing who is chosen as the best of the best at the awards show in February.”

As previously announced, this year James Cameron will be honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Dr. Ed Catmull with the Georges Méliès Award for pioneering.

The 8th Annual VES Awards will take place on Feb. 28, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

The nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards for live-action feature film categories are the following (click here for full list):

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
2012
Volker Engel, Josh Jaggars, Marc Weigert
AVATAR
Richard Baneham, Joyce Cox, Joe Letteri, Eileen Moran
DISTRICT 9
Stefanie Boose, Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, James Stewart
STAR TREK
Burt Dalton, Russell Earl, Roger Guyett, Shari Hanson
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Scott Benza, Wayne Billheimer, Scott Farrar, John Frazier

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
ANGELS & DEMONS
Angus Bickerton, Mark Breakspear, Ryan Cook, Barrie Hemsley
THE BOX
Peter Cvijanovic, Mark Kolpak, Olcun Tan, Thomas Tannenberger
INVICTUS
Geoff Hancock, Dennis Hoffman, Cyndi Ochs, Michael Owens
THE ROAD
Mark O. Forker, Paul Graff, Ed Mendez, Phillip Moses
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Dan Barrow, Jonathan Fawkner, Chas Jarrett, David Vickery

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
2012 - Escape from L.A.
Volker Engel, Josh R. Jaggars, Mohen Leo, Marc Weigert
AVATAR - Quarich's Escape
Jill Brooks, John Knoll, Frank Losasso Petterson, Tory Mercer
AVATAR- Neytiri Drinking
Thelvin Cabezas, Joyce Cox, Joe Letteri, Eileen Moran
KNOWING - Plane Crash
Dan Breckwoldt, Camille Cellucci, Andrew Jackson, Angelo Sahin
TERMINATOR SALVATION - VLA Escape
Chantal Feghali, Charles Gibson, Susan Greenhow, Ben Snow

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR - Neytiri
Andrew R. Jones, Joe Letteri, Zoe Saldana, Jeff Unay
DISTRICT 9 - Christopher Johnson
Brett Ineson, Jeremy Mesana, Steve Nichols, Vera Zivny
G-FORCE - Bucky
Benjamin Cinelli, Peter Tieryas, Dustin Wicke, Ryan Yee
WATCHMEN - Doctor Manhattan
Aaron Campbell, Kevin Hudson, Victor Schutz, Keith Smith

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR - Pandora
Jean-Luc Azzis, Peter Baustaedter, Brenton Cottman, Yvonne Muinde
FRANKLYN - Meanwhile City Scapes
Tania Richard, Christoph Unger
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
David Bassalla, Emily Cobb, Tania Richard
STAR TREK
Brett Northcutt, Shane Roberts, Masahiko Tani, Dan Wheaton

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR - Samson/Home Tree / Floating Mountains / Ampsuit
Simon Cheung, Paul Jenness, John Stevenson-Galvin, Rainer Zoettl
CORALINE
Deborah Cook, Matthew DeLeu, Paul Mack, Martin Meunier
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN - National Air and Space Museum Escape
Robert Chapin, Tony Chen, Forest Fischer, Ian Hunter
TERMINATOR SALVATION-Practical Models and Miniatures
Nick d'Abo, Brian Gernand, Geoff Heron, Patrick Sweeney

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture
2012 - Los Angeles Destruction
Haarm-Pieter Duiker, Marten Larsson, Ryo Sakaguchi, Hanzhi Tang
AVATAR - Floating Mountains
Dan Lemmon, Keith F. Miller, Cameron Smith
AVATAR - Jungle / Biolume
Shadi Almassizadeh, Jessica Cowley, Dan Cox, Ula Rademeyer, Eric Saindon
AVATAR - Willow Glade
Thelvin Cabezas, Miae Kang, Daniel Macarin, Guy Williams

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
AVATAR
Erich Eder, Robin Hollander, Giuseppe Tagliavini, Erik Winquist
AVATAR - End Battle
Jay Cooper, Beth D'Amato, Eddie Pasquarello, Todd Vaziri
DISTRICT 9
Janeen Elliott, Simon Hughes, Hamish Schumacher, Shervin Shogian
SHERLOCK HOLMES - Wharf Explosion Sequence
Jan Adamczyk, Alex Cumming, Sam Osborne, Kate Windibank,


For more information on the VES Awards, sponsorship and tickets, please visit www.visualeffectssociety.com.