The HPA Awards turned the spotlight on the exemplary contributions of the postproduction industry last night (11/28), honoring work in color grading, sound, editing, restoration, and visual effects for theatrical features, commercials, and episodics. Held at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre, additional honors included the HPA Judges’ Award for Creativity and Innovation presented to Sphere, the Las Vegas venue being heralded as the future of entertainment. In addition, the previously announced winners of the coveted Engineering Excellence awards were honored.
Scoring a pair of HPA Awards was “Oppenheimer”–for Outstanding Color Grading in a Live Action Theatrical Feature (colorists Kostas Theodosiou and Kristen Zimmerman of Fotokem); and Outstanding Editing of a Theatrical Feature (Jennifer Lame, ACE).
Other feature winners included “John Wick: Chapter 4” for sound; “Avatar: The Way of Water” for visual effects; and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” for color grading in an animated film.
Among the TV winners were episodes of "Barry" and "The White Lotus" for editing, "The Last of Us" for sound, and "House of the Dragon" for visual effects. And taking the top color grading honor for commercials was Expedia’s “Wisdom & Obi.”
To acknowledge the heart, spirit and difficulties of the past year, the awards proceedings included an HPA-produced short film, “Tribute to Post;” a heartfelt salute to the resilient members of the postproduction community. Directed by Clyde Bessey of Origin Point, the short features commentary from industry luminaries including Wendy Aylsworth; Jill Bogdanowicz; Mike Brodersen; Larry Chernoff; Michael Cioni; Seth Hallen; Nikki Jee; Rob Legato, ASC; Loren Nielsen; Sabrina Plisco, ACE; Leon Silverman; and Mandy Walker, ASC, ACS.
Here’s a rundown of the winners across the 2023 HPA Awards Creative Categories:
OUTSTANDING COLOR GRADING – LIVE ACTION THEATRICAL FEATURE
“Oppenheimer” // Kostas Theodosiou, Kristen Zimmerman // FotoKem
OUTSTANDING COLOR GRADING – ANIMATED THEATRICAL FEATURE
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” // Natasha Leonnet // Picture Shop
OUTSTANDING COLOR GRADING – LIVE ACTION EPISODE OR NON-THEATRICAL FEATURE
“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty – One Ring Don’t Make a Dynasty” // Walter Volpatto // Company 3
OUTSTANDING COLOR GRADING – DOCUMENTARY
“Chimp Empire – Paradise” // Blair Wallace // Evolutions Post Production
OUTSTANDING COLOR GRADING – COMMERCIAL
Expedia – “Wisdom & Obi” // Mark Gethin // Trafik
OUTSTANDING EDITING – THEATRICAL FEATURE
“Oppenheimer” // Jennifer Lame, ACE
OUTSTANDING EDITING – EPISODE OR NON-THEATRICAL FEATURE (30 MINUTES AND UNDER)
“Barry – a nice meal” // Ali Greer, ACE
OUTSTANDING EDITING – EPISODE OR NON-THEATRICAL FEATURE (OVER 30 MINUTES)
“The White Lotus – Arrivederci” // John M. Valerio, ACE
OUTSTANDING EDITING – DOCUMENTARY
“Moonage Daydream” // Brett Morgen
OUTSTANDING SOUND – THEATRICAL FEATURE
“John Wick: Chapter 4” // Mark Stoeckinger, Andy Koyama, Casey Genton, Alan Rankin, Manfred Banach // Formosa Group
OUTSTANDING SOUND – EPISODE OR NON-THEATRICAL FEATURE
“The Last of Us – Infected” // Michael Benavente, Marc Fishman, Kevin Roache, Chris Terhune, Chris Battaglia // Formosa Group
OUTSTANDING SOUND – DOCUMENTARY
“If These Walls Could Sing” // George Foulgham, Philip Moroz, Alex Gibson, Tom Verstappen, Miles Sullivan // George Foulgham Soundscapes Ltd.
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS – LIVE ACTION FEATURE
“Avatar: The Way of Water” // Christopher Egden, Nick Epstein, Wayne Stables, Pavani Rao Boddapati, Sergei Nevshupov // Weta FX
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS – LIVE ACTION EPISODE OR SERIES SEASON
“House of the Dragon – The Heirs of the Dragon” // Angus Bickerton, Nikeah Forde, Mike Bell: MPC // Sven Martin, Mark Spindler: Pixomondo
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS – EPISODE OR SERIES SEASON
“Citadel – Secrets in Night Need Early Rains” // Aladino Debert, Greg Teegarden, James Reid, Mathew Rotman, Viv Jim // Digital Domain
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN RESTORATION
“The Godfather” (1972) // Paramount Pictures
As previously announced, winners of the coveted Engineering Excellence Award include Adobe for Adobe Premiere Pro Text-Based Editing, Flanders Scientific for XMP550, and Kino Flo for Mimik 120, with StypeLandXR receiving an Honorable Mention.
SAG-AFTRA Calls For A Strike Against “League of Legends”
"League of Legends" is caught in the middle of a dispute between Hollywood's actors union and an audio company that provides voiceover services for the blockbuster online multiplayer game.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists called a strike against "League of Legends" on Tuesday, arguing that Formosa Interactive attempted to get around the ongoing video game strike by hiring non-union actors to work on an unrelated title.
Formosa tried to "cancel" the unnamed video game, which was covered by the strike, shortly after the start of the work stoppage, SAG-AFTRA said. The union said when Formosa learned it could not cancel the game, the company "secretly transferred the game to a shell company and sent out casting notices for 'non-union' talent only." In response, the union's interactive negotiating committee voted unanimously to file an unfair labor practice charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board and to call a strike against "League of Legends" as part of that charge.
"League of Legends" is one of Formosa's most well-known projects. The company provides voiceover services for the game, according to SAG-AFTRA.
SAG-AFTRA has accused Formosa of interfering with protections that allow performers to form or join a union and prevent those performers from being discriminated against — a move the union called "egregious violations of core tenets of labor law."
Formosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "League of Legends" developer Riot Games said that the company "has nothing to do" with the union's complaint.
"We want to be clear: Since becoming a union project five years ago, 'League of Legends' has only asked Formosa to engage with union... Read More