Game of Thrones earned two honors at the 14th annual Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards this evening (11/21) in Los Angeles. The HBO series’ “Winterfell” episode earned Joe Finley of Sim, L.A., distinction for Outstanding Color Grading–Episodic or Non-theatrical Feature. Meanwhile Game of Thrones’ “The Bells” episode won in the Outstanding Visual Effects–Episodic (under 13 episodes) or Non-theatrical Feature category, the recipients including artisans from Scanline and Image Engine.
Among the commercial category winners was Stephen Nakamura of Company 3 for Outstanding Color Grading for Hennessy X.O.’s “The Seven Worlds,” directed by Ridley Scott of RSA.
Topping the Outstanding Color Grading-Theatrical Feature category was Natasha Leonnet of EFILM for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Awards were given to individuals and teams working in 12 creative craft categories, recognizing outstanding contributions to color grading, sound, editing and visual effects for commercials, television and feature film.
Among the special honors bestowed, legendary VFX supervisor Robert Legato received the HPA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Legato has multiple Oscar®, British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA), Visual Effects Society (VES) nominations and awards to his credit. He is a multi-hyphenate on many of his projects, serving as visual effects supervisor, VFX director of photography, and 2nd unit director. From his work with studios, directors, and in his roles at Sony Imageworks and Digital Domain, he is a groundbreaking thinker in the development of nimble digital workflows. Legato’s extensive film credits include some of the most creatively honored and important visual effects driven projects of the past 20 years. He has enjoyed long collaborations with leading directors including James Cameron, Jon Favreau, Martin Scorsese, and Robert Zemeckis.
The winners of the 2019 HPA Awards Creative Categories are:
Outstanding Color Grading – Theatrical Feature
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Natasha Leonnet // EFILM
Outstanding Color Grading – Episodic or Non-theatrical Feature
“Game of Thrones – Winterfell”
Joe Finley // Sim, Los Angeles
Outstanding Color Grading – Commercial
Hennessy X.O. – “The Seven Worlds”
Stephen Nakamura // Company 3
Outstanding Editing – Theatrical Feature
“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”
Fred Raskin, ACE
Outstanding Editing – Episodic or Non-theatrical Feature (30 Minutes and Under)
“VEEP – Pledge”
Roger Nygard, ACE
Outstanding Editing – Episodic or Non-theatrical Feature (Over 30 Minutes)
“Stranger Things – Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt”
Dean Zimmerman, ACE, Katheryn Naranjo
Outstanding Sound – Theatrical Feature
“Godzilla: King of Monsters”
Tim LeBlanc, Tom Ozanich, MPSE // Warner Bros.
Erik Aadahl, MPSE, Nancy Nugent, MPSE, Jason W. Jennings // E Squared
Outstanding Sound – Episodic or Non-theatrical Feature
“The Haunting of Hill House – Two Storms”
Trevor Gates, MPSE, Jason Dotts, Jonathan Wales, Paul Knox, Walter Spencer // Formosa Group
Outstanding Sound – Commercial
John Lewis & Partners – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Mark Hills, Anthony Moore // Factory
Outstanding Visual Effects – Theatrical Feature
“The Lion King”
Robert Legato
Andrew R. Jones
Adam Valdez, Elliot Newman, Audrey Ferrara // MPC Film
Tom Peitzman // T&C Productions
Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Under 13 Episodes) or Non-theatrical Feature
“Game of Thrones – The Bells”
Steve Kullback, Joe Bauer, Ted Rae
Mohsen Mousavi // Scanline
Thomas Schelesny // Image Engine
Outstanding Visual Effects – Episodic (Over 13 Episodes)
“The Orville – Identity: Part II”
Tommy Tran, Kevin Lingenfelser, Joseph Vincent Pike // FuseFX
Brandon Fayette, Brooke Noska // Twentieth Century FOX TV
As previously announced, special awards presented at the gala included the HPA Engineering Excellence Award to Adobe, Epic Games, Pixelworks, and Portrait Displays, Inc. and LG Electronics; the HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation to They Shall Not Grow Old; the HPA Legacy Award to Peter Caranicas; and the aforementioned Lifetime Achievement honor for Legato.
