HBO series Boardwalk Empire topped the field of 9th annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards nominations with five (for best supporting VFX in a broadcast program; two noms for outstanding created environment in a live-action broadcast program; best models & miniatures in a broadcast program or commercial; and outstanding compositing in a broadcast program or spot).
Meanwhile, Inception led the feature film nominations derby with four. In the category for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture, the nominees were Inception, TRON: Legacy, Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Inception also earned nominations for outstanding created environment in a live-action feature, best models & miniatures in a feature, and outstanding feature compositing.
Nominated for Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture are: Tangled (Walt Disney Animation Studios), How to Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks Animation), Toy Story 3 (Pixar Animation Studios), Shrek Forever After (DreamWorks Animation), and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole (Animal Logic).
Commercial categories
Up for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live-Action Commercial are: The Mill New York for BarclayCard’s “Rollercoaster”; The Mill LA for Wrigley 5 Gum’s “React” and Verizon’s “Towers”; Method Studios for Halo’s “Reach”; and The Moving Picture Company (MPC) for DirecTV’s “Ice Cream.”
Nominees for Outstanding Animated Commercial include Blizzard Entertainment’s World of Warcraft, Blur Studio for Dante’s Inferno’s “Hell Awaits,” Motion Theory for Target’s “A Better Bullseye,” Framestore for Andrex’s “It’s The Little Things,” and MPC for Cadbury’s “Spots V Stripes.”
MPC figures prominently in the VES spot nomination mix. In addition to the aforementioned Cadbury’s “Spots V Stripes” and DirecTV’s “Ice Cream,” MPC had a visual effects hand in: Drench’s “Cubehead” and Travelers’ “Watering Hole,” both nominees in the category covering excellence in compositing for a broadcast program or commercial. (The other two nominees in that category are episodes of Boardwalk Empire and The Pacific).
Three of the four commercials in the category recognizing the outstanding animated character in a broadcast program or commercial came from the spot arena: the dog Citro from the Citron C3 Picasso ad titled “The Spacebox” with Mikros Image serving as VFX house; Frieda Steer from Cadbury’s “Frieda,” with PSYOP the production/VFX company; and the robot in Logitech’s “Robot” with Ring of Fire serving as VFX studio.
Meanwhile an effects house active in commercials registered on the TV show front as Zoic Studios earned noms for V and Human Target in the respective categories Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series, and Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program.
Nolan, Harryhausen
The VES Award winners will be announced and honored during a gala evening ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 1 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Two winners already known are director Christopher Nolan (whose credits include this year’s feature nominations leader Inception) as recipient of the inaugural VES Visionary Award; and VFX pioneer Ray Harryhausen who will be presented with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award.
In its January 21 issue, SHOOT will explore Tron: Legacy which earned VES nominations in three categories: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture; Outstanding Created Environment in a Live-Action Feature Motion Picture; and Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture. The lead VFX house on Tron: Legacy was Digital Domain.
And in its Feb. 18 issue, SHOOT will take a close-up look at several of the VES Award winners.
A full rundown of nominees across 24 categories spanning features, TV, commercials, video games, special venues and other disciplines can be accessed here.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More