A real-time animated short film created in the cloud took the #1 slot in SHOOT's Top Five VFX/Animation Chart of 2022.

Also in the Chart mix is a Travel Oregon spot meshing live action, stop motion, animation, CG and practical effects, as well as an ambitious promo spot designed to launch the BBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics.

So take a look at the best storytelling that visual effects and animation have to offer in 2022.

1:  Top Spot of the Week: Preymaker Gets “Blue” With Animated Short Crafted In The Cloud Using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine

Production A Preymaker film Robert Petrie, director; Angus Kneale, Melanie Wickham, Verity Grantham, exec producers; Ruben Vandebroek, Tim Argall, Jabulani Simelane, Bradley Stilwell, Katie Schiffer, Rune Månsson, Pieter Uitenweerde, Imraan Zaindeen, Kwabena Sarfo, André de Villiers, Brandon Phillis, Depesh Cara, Hassan Taimur, Zolna Minik, Thomas du Plessis, Felipe Hansen, Greg Murray, Casey Herrick, Bridgette Doran, Brett Lambright, Fabio Piparo, Christian Reyes, Alan McSeveney, Jinell Webb, Ben Weaver, Eider Astigarraga, Paul Liaw, Syd Fini, Jongmoon Woo, Gabriela Brandes, the makers. Special Thanks To: Epic Games, Alistair Thompson, Rob Di Figlia; Consulate, Chinwe Chong, edit/conceptual edit; Amber Music, Alan Hankers, composer, Daniel Nolan, sound designer, Michelle Curran, exec producer; Mike Perri, sr. producer; Heard City, audio post; Hotspring, Zeki Kartal, rigger; Kim Edwards, advisor.

2:  Top Spot of the Week: W+K, Director Gerson Aguerri Show That “Oregon Rocks”

Client Travel Oregon Agency Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore. John “JP” Petty III, Ana Balarin, Hermeti Balarin, executive creative directors; Nick Stokes, Ansel Wallenfang, Derek Szynal, creative directors; Elora Clement, art director; Rebecca Russell, Kamey Murphy, copywriters; Stefan Smith, VFX creative director/supervisor; Orlee Tatarka, head of production; Felicia Glover, Jennifer Fiske, sr. producers; Amy Streger, Victoria Tengblad-Kreft, design producers; Cathy Ormerod, Vicki Liu, designers; Anthony Holton, strategic planning. Production Company Canada  Gerson Aguerri, director; Marta Argullos, exec producer; Oscar Romagosa, CEO & exec producer; Lisa Margulis, managing director & exec producer; Malcolm Hadley, DP; Anna Colomer, production designer; Anthony Farquhar-Smith, head animator; Zlatin Radev, stop motion supervisor; Marta Loza, art director; Lili Dancheva, local art director; Ahida Agirre, stylist. Production Services Solent Films Live-Action Background Footage Katie Falkenberg, Patrick Stanton, Pond 5. Editorial Joint Eric Hill, editor; Charlie Harrington, Ian DeVore, assistant editors; Jenny Greenfield, producer; Kathleen Russell, exec producer. VFX & Finish Joint, Portland, Ore. Leif Peterson, Flame lead; MB Emigh, David Stern, Flame artists; Noah Poole, Amanda Elliott, Flame assist; Gavin Wright, CG artist; Nirad “Bugs” Russell, exec producer; Sarah Zerina Usmen, VFX post producer; Zai Outlaw, VFX post coordinator. Recruited artists include: Simone De Salvatore, matte painter; Brett Stenson, PDX artist & designer (Toolbox: stop motion animation, Flame) Color Joint Jasmine Vazquez, colorist. Original Music Marmoset Sound Design Joint Natalie Huizenga, sound designer. End Graphic Design  Brett Stenson Audio Post Joint Natalie Huizenga, audio engineer; Candace Mortier, associate audio engineer; Louise Woodward, audio producer; Kathleen Russell, exec producer.

 

3:  Top Spot of the Week: Blinkink Director Balázs Simon, BBC Creative Get “Extreme by Nature” For Winter Olympics

Client British Broadcasting Corporation/BBC Winter Olympics James Cross, Tim Jones, Reuben Dangoor, creative directors; Stuart Gittings, creative; Liz Dolan, producer. Production Blinkink, London  Balázs Simon, director; Bart Yates, exec producer; Alex Halley, producer; Rebecca Little, producer; Theo Cassels, production manager; Max Halstead, DP; Andy Biddle, stop motion animator; Andrew Spradbery, stop motion animator & rigger; Jennifer Kidd, art director; Beattie Hartley, art department assistant. (Toolbox: Volo motion control crane, Dragonframe, Maya, Houdini, Flame, Nuke) Studio Clapham Road Studios Daisy Garside, studio manager. Blinkink 3D Printing Jennifer Kidd, art direction, set dressing. Props Scale Model Studios Elliot Spencer Colley, clear prints. White Prints 3M BIC Janine Downs, Anastasis Constanti, Stephen Knowles; Georgina Kipling, 3D printing technician. VFX/Post GYAR Mate Barbalics, Andras Piroska, VFX producers; Aron Hargitay, VFX supervisor; Sandor Garaczi, head of CGI; Adam Marihazi, CGI lead artist; Zoltan Marko, Istvan Bori, CGI generalists; Bernadett Dian, 3D modeling; Robert Toth, rigging; Bea Ujj, Zoltan Zahorszki, Gyorgi Fabos, Zsolt Merey Kadar, 3D animation; Gabor Abbas, FX artist; Shahab Hosseini, lead compositor; Aron Nemeti, sr. compositor; Andras Pflum, compositor; Balazs Lublovari, Victor Miltenyi, Ivan Voros, clean up. Rendering Fox Renderfarm Postproduction Company Feature Films for Families Peter Barbalics, exec producer. Color Glassworks Jonny Thorpe, colorist. Sound Company GAS

 

4:  Top Spot of the Week: Droga5 NY, Directing Duo Illimité World Introduce Us To Team Amani In Short Film For Meta

Client Meta Agency Droga5 NY David Droga, creative chairman; Scott Bell, chief creative officer; Thom Glover, executive creative director; Ted Meyer, Jason Gold, creative directors; Ben Brown, Benjamin Hinamanu, sr. copywriters; Ben Muckensturm, sr. art director; Nate Scott, executive design director; Mark Yoon, group design director; Kenisha Rullan, designer; Mike Hasinoff, executive producer, film; Scotty Schuckies, sr. producer, film; Mel Calabro, producer, film; Matt Mintz, associate producer, film; Mike Ladman, sr. music supervisor; Brandy Ricker, music supervisor; Mara Techam, jr. music supervisor; Harry Roman-Torres, Diana Gonzalez, group brand strategy directors; Anthony Perez, brand strategy director; Ellie Frame, sr. brand strategist; Mariel Calara, associate brand strategist; Andy Littlewood, chief knowledge officer; Sean La’Brooy, sr. data strategist. Production Company Love Song  Illimité World (French for “Limitless World,” consisting of Aus Taylor and Marleaux Desiré); Daniel Wolfe, partner/exec producer; Diego Garcia, Shawn Peters, DPs. Kelly Bayett, managing partner/exec producer; Deannie O’Neil, exec producer; Paige Kauffman, head of production; Leah Donnenberg, producer; Alejandro Ramia, Kristina Ilyina, 1st assistant directors; Bee Diamondhead, stylist; Andrew Clark, production designer. Production Services Company (Kenya) Blue Sky Films Hemal Shah, exec producer. Production Services Company (South Africa) Monkey Films Clare van Zyl, owner/exec producer; Phillip Killingbeck, head of production. Editorial Marsheen Dominic Leung, Amber Saunders, editors; Matthew Blacklock, assistant editor; Harriet Cawley, exec producer. Color Company 3 Simon Bourne, colorist; Chris Anthony, sr. color producer. VFX The Mill Dan Williams, executive creative director; Carl Norton, creative director & 2D lead; Edward Shires, Dan Moore, Nuno Pereira, Adam Droy, 3D lead; Matt McDougal, Gustavo Ribeiro, Rafael Vormittag, Zoe  Cosh, 2D artists; Artur Drozdowicz, Arnab Bhattacharya, Aman Jain, Ben  Beckett, Callum Austin, Charles Vidaud, Giacomo Cavalletti, Hannah Bahyan, Joao Pires, Katie Bates, Kieran Russell, Kapil Rana, Luke Frampton, Sandeep Grover, Vaclav Cizkovsky, Thomas Craig, Shravan Srikanth, Dinesh B, Jyoti Prakash Panda, Thirumoorthi Sivakumar, Swathi M S, Roman Vrbovsky, Praveen Sharma, Pol Escale Cabre, Petroc Menuhin, Paul Autric, Paul Tempelman, 3D artists; Kwok Lam, Adam Roche, Barry Chapman, Can Y Sanalan, Freya Barnsley, Henrik Holmberg, Daphne Westelynck, design; Caitlin Donaldson, Rory Leighton, color assist; Clare Melia, exec producer; Nicola Simmons, producer; Tarun Misra, line producer; David Wishart, Gavin Marler, finish artists. Title Designs & Typography Fraser Muggeridge studio. Music Supervision Curation Music Sunny Kapoor, music supervisor. Recording Studio (Kenya) Hiventy Sound Design Barking Owl Gus Koven, sound designer; Kelly Bayett, creative director; Ashley Benton, exec producer. Music “Ffe basajja ba Kabaka” Bobcat Goldwav, remix Additional Sound Design & Mix King Lear Music & Sound Ed Downham, sound designer & mixer.

5:  The Best Work You May Never See: Director Oscar Hudson, Uncommon “Flip” A House For B&Q

Client B&Q Agency Uncommon Creative Studio, London Production Company Pulse Films Oscar Hudson, director; James Sorton, managing director/exec producer; Lucy Kelly, exec producer; Neil Andrews, producer; Kishan Patel, production manager; Jess Hall, DP; Dan Betteridge, production designer; Emma Lipop, stylist; Julian Richards, 1st AD; Charlie Mayhew, movement director. Production Services Icon Films, Bulgaria Emil Rangelov, Beba Yordanova, service producers; Vladdy Karanikolov, service production manager; Eva Vento, local production designer; Nikolay Fartunkov, Orlin Budinov & Vassil Vassilev, local SFX. Editorial TenThree Ellie Johnson, editor; Ed Hoadley, edit producer. VFX/Postproduction Electric Theatre Collective, London Holly Treacy, producer; Patrick Krafft, CG lead; Alex Snookes, 2D lead; Luke Morrison, colorist (Toolbox: Flame, Nuke, Maya, Houdini, Arnold in Houdini, Baselight) Music Supervision Native Dan Neale, music supervisor. Audio Post/Sound Design Factory London Anthony Moore, sound design & mix; Frankie Beirne, sound design & foley; Lou Allen, Ciara Wakely, audio producer.