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.
DGA Feature Nominees: Audiard, Baker, Berger, Corbet and Mangold
The field of feature nominees for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards spanning two categories is set. Nominated for the DGA honor for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 are: Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez, Sean Baker for Anora, Edward Berger for Conclave, Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, and James Mangold for A Complete Unknown.
The DGA also revealed the nominees for the Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film. The first-time narrative feature directors are: Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light, Megan Park for My Old Ass, RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys, Halfdan Ullman Tondel for Armand, and Sean Wang for Diddy.
“2024 has been a truly extraordinary year for storytelling--and today’s nominees have created audacious and unique films that expand the possibilities of cinematic excellence,” said DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter. “I am thrilled to congratulate all our nominated directors for their brilliant work, which is visionary, inspirational and speaks to the depth of the human experience. To be chosen by one’s peers is the true marker of outstanding directorial achievement and what makes these nominations so very special.”
The winners will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8.
Here’s a fuller rundown of the nominees in both DGA Award categories:
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 (in alphabetical order):
JACQUES AUDIARD
Emilia Pérez
(Netflix)
SEAN... Read More