VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY (VES) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES

FOR 7th ANNUAL VES AWARDS

Iron Man Leads with 5 Noms

Awards Ceremony Scheduled for February 21, 2009

Los Angeles, January 19, 2009 – The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects in over a dozen categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 17, 2009, by numerous panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank.

In making the announcement, Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Awards Committee said, “Because visual effects continue to grow in complexity and intensity, touching every aspect of the entertainment industry, we are proud to announce the nominees and their work, which have been deemed by the judges as the best of the best. I congratulate all the artists on their achievements.”

The nominees for the 7th Annual VES Awards are the following:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA – PRINCE CASPIAN
Wendy Rogers, Dean Wright, Andrew Fowler, Greg Butler

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud

HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY
Michael J. Wassel, Lucy Killick, Adrian de Wet, Eamonn Butler

CLOVERFIELD
Kevin Blank, Chantal Feghali, Michael Ellis, Eric Leven

IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Hal Hickel, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture

CHANGELING
Michael Owens, Geoffrey Hancock, Jinnie Pak, Dennis Hoffman

EAGLE EYE
Jim Rygiel, Jim Berney, Crys Forsyth-Smith, David Smith

VALKYRIE
Richard R. Hoover, Maricel Pagulayan, Peter Nofz, Daniel Eaton

NIM’S ISLAND
Camille Cellucci, Scott Gordon, Fred Pienkos, James Straus

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
Mark Russell, Richard Friedlander, Eric Robertson, Brett Miller

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture

BOLT – The Chase
Chris Williams, Byron Howard, John Murrah, Doug Bennett

KUNG FU PANDA – Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting – The Animation of Kung Fu Panda
Markus Manninen, Dan Wagner, Alex Parkinson, Raymond Zibach

WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Yoni Goodman, Yael Nahlieli

ROADSIDE ROMEO
Pankaj Khandpur, Sherry Bharda, Shrirang Sathaye, Suhael Merchant

WALL-E
Andrew Stanton, Jim Morris, Lindsey Collins, Nigel Hardwidge

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special

DOCTOR WHO – THE NEXT DOCTOR – Cyber King
Dave Houghton, Marie Jones, Matt McKinney, Murray Barber

GENERATION KILL – Episode 2
Adam McInnes, Anthony Bluff, Stephane Paris, David Sewell

JOHN ADAMS – Join or Die
Steve Kullback, Erik Henry, Robert Stromberg, Jeff Goldman

KNIGHT RIDER – Prometheus
Sam Nicholson, Scott Ramsey, Chris Martin, Mike Enriquez

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON FOUR – BSG Space Battle
Gary Hutzel, Michael Gibson, Doug Drexler, Kyle Toucher

SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES – Episode 108
James Lima, Raoul Bolognini, Andrew Orloff, Steve Meyer

GHOST WHISPERER – Ghost in the Machine
Armen Kevorkian, Arthur J. Codron, Matt Scharf, Stefan Brederock

HEROES – The Second Coming
Eric Grenaudier, Mark Spatny, Diego Galtieri, Michael Cook

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

FRINGE – Episode 101 – Pilot
Kevin Blank, Jay Worth, Andrew Orloff, Barbara Genicoff

JERICHO – Episode 7 – Patriots and Tyrants
Andrew Orloff, Blyth Dalton, Chris Jones, MIchael Cliett

LIFE – Frozen Solid
Max Ivins, Jenny Foster, Danny Kim, Shawn Lipowski

PUSHING DAISIES – The Legend of Merle McQuoddy
William Powloski, Elizabeth Castro, Melanie Tucker, Eric Chauvin

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year

CLOVERFIELD – Statue of Liberty Crash and Woolworth Tower Collapse
Michael Ellis, Chantal Feghali, David Vickery, Ben Taylor

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Benjamin’s Secret
Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Steve Preeg, Jonathan Litt

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL – Newborn Klaatu
Jeffrey A. Okun, R. Christopher White, Thomas M. Boland, Ben Thompson

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Valley Destruction
Stephanie Hornish, Pablo Helman, Jeff White, Craig Hammack

IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Wayne Billheimer, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

BACARDI – Sundance
Alex Thiesen, Nikos Kalaitzidis, Jay Barton, Zsolt Kalaitzidis

COKE – It’s Mine
Angus Kneale, Asher Edwards, Ben Smith, Dan Williams

FEDEX ‘PIGEON’
Satoko Iinuma, Murray Butler, David Hulin, Spencer Lueders

MONSTER ‘STORK’ – Stork
William Bartlett, Helen Stanley, Dan Seddon, David Mellor

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

GRAND CANYON ADVENTURE – RIVER AT RISK – Main Title Sequence
Mark Freund, Alan Markowitz, Lee Nelson, Josh Mossotti

U2 3D – Selected Shots
Peter Anderson, Jon Shapiro, David Franks, Jeremy Nicolaides

Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game

CRYSIS WARHEAD
Zoltan Pocza, Gabor Mogyorosi, Tamas Schlagl

DEAD SPACE
Ian Milham, Ben Wanat, Christopher Stone

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER – Xbox 360
Henry LaBounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Carl Jarrett

Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game

COMMAND AND CONQUER – RED ALERT 3 – Chrono-Lab, Empire and Allied Scenes
Richard Taylor, Benjamin Hopkins, KaTai Tang, Mical Pedriana

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER – Cinematics
Henry LaBounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Mark Raham

WORLD OF WARCRAFT- WRATH OF THE LICH KING – Intro Cinematic
Jeff Chamberlain, Phillip Hillenbrand

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Benjamin Button
Steve Preeg, Matthias Wittmann, Tom St. Amand, David McLean

HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY – Elemental Sequence
Colin McEvoy, Christoph Ammann

IRON MAN
Hal Hickel, Bruce Holcomb, James Tooley, John Walker

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES – Hogsqueal
Todd Labonte, Michael Brunet, Nathan Fredenburg, Aharon Bourland

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture

BOLT – Various Sequences – Bolt
Becky Bresee, Bob Davies, Renato Dos Anjos, Wayne Unten Jr.

BOLT – Various Sequences – Rhino
Adam Dykstra, Dave Gottlieb, Clay Kaytis, Hyrum Osmond

KUNG FU PANDA – This Kung Fu Stuff is Hard Work – The Animation of Po
Jack Black, Dan Wagner, Nico Marlet, Peter Farson

WALL-E – WALL-E and Eve Truck Sequence
Ben Burtt, Victor Navone, Austin Lee, Jay Shuster

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial

BACARDI – Sundance
James Atkinson, John Cooper, Phillip Prahl, Charles Felix Chabert

BRAINS DANCE
James Sindle, Jesus Parra, Josh Fourtwells

COKE – Stewie
Ben Smith, Andrew Proctor, Jong Jim Choi, Keith Kim

WHO’S GONNA SAVE MY SOUL
Thomas Tannenberger, Olcun Tan

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

BOLT – Various Sequences
John Murrah, Michael Kaschalk, Dale Mayeda, Adolph Lusinsky

KUNG FU PANDA – The Secret Ingredient – Visual Effects of Kung Fu Panda
Markus Manninen, Alex Parkinson, Amaury Aubel, Lawrence Lee

MADAGASCAR ESCAPE 2 AFRICA – Effects in Africa
Scott Peterson, Laurent Kermel, Andrew Wheeler, Greg Gladstone

WALL-E – Effects in WALL-E
Jason Johnston, Keith Daniel Klohn, Enrique Vila, Bill Watral

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture

CHANGELING – 1928 Downtown L.A.
Romain Bayle, Abel Milanes, Allan Lee, Debor Dunphy

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Richard Bluff, Barry Williams, Yanick Dusseault, Yusei Uesugi

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK – Matte Paintings
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

SPEED RACER – Overall Matte Painting Presentation
Lubo Hristov, Dennis Martin, Ron Crabb

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

DOCTOR WHO – SERIES 4 – Silence in the Library
Simon Wickers, Charlie Bennett, Tim Barter, Arianna Lago

GENERATION KILL – Episode 2
Christian Irles, Yannick Bourgie

MERLIN THE MARK OF NIMUEH SERIES 1 – The Mark of Nimueh
Dave Early, Simon Wickers, Bryan Bartlett, Sara Bennet

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture

THE DARK KNIGHT – Garbage Truck Crash Models and Miniatures
Ian Hunter, Forest Fischer, Scott Beverly, Adam Gelbart

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
David Fogler, Craig Hammack, Brian Gernand, Geoff Heron

IRON MAN – Suit Up Machine
Aaron McBride, Russell Paul, Gerald Gutschmidt, Keiji Yamaguchi

MY DARLING OF THE MOUNTAINS – Hot Springs
Taro Kiba, Kenji Nagatani, Yuki Minagawa, Hideo Udo

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

NEW BALANCE – Anthem
Ian Hunter, Jon Warren, Matt Burlingame, Raymond Moore

GHOST WHISPERER – Episode 404 – ‘Claridon Ship Shots’
Eric Hance

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture

CLOVERFIELD – Brooklyn Bridge Sequence
David Vickery, Phil Johnson, Victor Wade, Sean Stranks

THE DARK KNIGHT – IMAX Gotham City Scapes
Peter Bebb, David Vickery, Philippe Leprince, Andrew Lockley

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Temple Heart
Michael Halsted, David Fogler, Steve Walton, David Weitzberg

THE MUMMY – TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR – Avalanche Sequence
Mike Meaker, Rich Mahon, Jason Iverson, Sho Hasegawa

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK – Created Environment
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

AUDI – LIVING ROOM – Living Room
Jack Zaloga, Jake Montgomery, Andy Boyd, Sean Durnan

HEROES – Tokyo
Meliza Fermin, Michael Cook, Daniel Kumiega, Anthony Ocampo

JOHN ADAMS – Join or Die – Episode 1 – The Boston Harbor
Paul Graff, Robert Stromberg, Adam Watkins

WRIGLEY’S 5 – Fruit Shredder
Ludo Fealy, Dean Robinson, Adam Leary, Michael Gregory

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, PRINCE CASPIAN
Stuart Lashley, Arundi Asregadoo, Mark Curtis, Richard Baker

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Benjamin Comes Together
Janelle Croshaw, Paul Lambert, Sonja Burchard, Sarahjane Javelo

IRON MAN – Head Under Display – HUD Compositing
Jonathan Rothbart, Dav Rauch, Kyle McCulloch, Kent Seki

QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Sienna Chase and Fight Sequence
Anthony Smith, Christian Kaestner, Adrian Metzelaar, Jon Thum

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

COKE – It’s Mine – ‘Balloons’
Angus Kneale, Dan Williams, Andrew Proctor

FEDEX ‘PIGEON’ – Pigeon
Andy Walker, Spencer Lueders, Maryanne Butler, Murray Butler

JOHN ADAMS – Join or Die – Episode 1 – The Boston Harbor
Paul Graff, Joshua LaCross, Matt Collorafice

TIME SCULPTURE
Richard de Carteret, Paul Downes, Oliver Dadswell, John Price

Outstanding Special Effects in a Motion Picture

DEFIANCE – Special Effects
Neil Corbould, Steve Warner, Anne Maria Walters, Alan Young

THE DARK KNIGHT – Overall
Chris Corbould, Peter Notley, Ian Lowe

Outstanding Effects in a Student Project

HANGAR NUMBER FIVE – Robot Attack
Nathan Matsuda

LA MAIN DES MAITRES – Revolution
Adrien CaYuS Toupet, Clement Delatre, Vivien Looky Chauvet

OUR WONDERFUL NATURE
Tomer Eshed, Dennis Rettkowski, Tomer Eshed, Dennis Rettkowski

PLASTIC – Transformation Sequence
Sandy Widyanata, Courtney Wise

The 7th Annual VES Awards will take place on Feb. 21, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.

This year the VES will present producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Phil Tippett with the Georges Méliès Award.

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

About the VES

The VES is a professional, honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest uniform standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. The VES is the entertainment industry’s only official trade organization representing the extended community of visual effects practitioners including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives.

Its 1,800 global members contribute to all areas of entertainment from film, animation, television and commercials to music videos, games and new media. VES strives to enrich and educate its members and the entertainment community at large through many domestic and international events, screenings and programs. Visual effects professionals constitute a vital creative force in content creation and are literally shaping the future of entertainment.

Dustin Hoffman was named best voice actor for his vocal portrayal of Shifu, a surly martial arts guru in the winning movie.

Kung Fu Panda was directed by Mark Osborne & John Stevenson; produced by DreamWorks Animation’s studio and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Another big surprise of the evening was that Wall-E went home empty-handed despite being nominated in eight categories. The latest work from the Pixar stable had previously even been touted as a ‘Best Picture’ nominee at the 2009 Academy Awards, and so was considered a sure bet to win all the big animation awards this year.

In previous years the Annie winner has always gone on to win the Oscar, except in 2007 when the Annies opted for Cars but the Academy chose Happy Feet.

Heath Ledger has posthumously claimed a place on the nominees list in the Best Supporting Actor category for his portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight was nominated for eight awards in total, including Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.

The full list of nominations can be viewed at the official 2009 Oscars website, but here are a few of the more important categories:

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
Frost/Nixon (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
Milk (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
The Reader (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production
Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production, Christian Colson, Producer

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
Iron Man (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Bolt (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
WALL-E (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
La Maison en Petits Cubes A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
Lavatory – Lovestory A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi (Talantis Films), A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
Presto (Walt Disney), A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
This Way Up A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

“We’ve had a great, longstanding engagement with Autodesk; we rely heavily on Autodesk software and custom development for many of our projects,” said Jim Mainard, head of Research and Development, DreamWorks Animation Technology. “For Shrek The Musical, the sophistication, interactivity and believability of the Magic Mirror wouldn’t have been possible without Autodesk technology.”

Autodesk is a world leader in design innovation technology. Autodesk 3D software and services enable customers to visualize, simulate and analyze entertainment and design projects. For Shrek The Musical, Autodesk designed a system that captures the facial motion of actor John Tartaglia in real-time and uses it to animate the face in the Magic Mirror. This live-to-stage performance is the first of its kind in a Broadway musical.

The Magic Mirror was featured on NBC’s The Today Show on December 8, 2008 and tested by co-host Meredith Vieira.

Shrek The Musical is an entirely new musical based on the story and characters from the book by famed New Yorker cartoonist William Steig, as well the Academy Award-winning Dreamworks film. The show celebrated Opening Night at The Broadway Theatre in New York City on December 14, 2008.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real.
Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

About DreamWorks Animation SKG
DreamWorks Animation is principally devoted to developing and producing computer generated, or CG, animated feature films. With world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced CG filmmaking technology and techniques, DreamWorks Animation makes high quality CG animated films meant for a broad movie-going audience. The Company anticipates releasing its feature films into both conventional and IMAX(R) theatres worldwide. The Company has theatrically released a total of seventeen animated feature films, including Shrek, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Monsters vs. Aliens opens in theaters on March 27, 2009. Beginning in 2009, all of the Company’s feature films will be produced in stereoscopic 3D technology.

Autodesk, AutoCAD and MotionBuilder are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
© 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Written by CGnews