J.J. Abrams receives Visionary Award; "Game of Thrones" wins 3 awards as does SSE spot
By Robert Goldrich
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. --Dawn of the Planet of the Apes won three Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards last night, including the marquee honor of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature. Dawn also won for protagonist ape Caesar in the Outstanding Performance of An Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature, and for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature.
Scoring the most wins was Big Hero 6 which won all five categories in which it was nominated: Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture; Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature (for Into the Portal); Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature; Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature (for the character Baymax); and for Outstanding Models in Any Motion Media Project (for City of San Fransokyo).
X-Men: Days of Future Past won two VES Awards for its fixin’s in the kitchen: Outstanding Virtual Cinematography for the kitchen scene; and Best Effects Simulations in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature for the Quicksilver Pentagon Kitchen.
Birdman took the top honor in the Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature. And on the basis of its Tesseract setting, Interstellar won for Best Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature.
Visionary Award
For his body of work–which will be added to with the next much anticipated Star Wars film–director/writer/producer J.J. Abrams received the VES Visionary Award. Presenting him with the honor was actress Zoe Saldana who was in Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Abrams said that ever since he’s been “conscious,” he’s been a VFX aficionado. Abrams affirmed that VES members are “among my greatest cinematic heroes.” Relative to Star Wars, while George Lucas was the driving creative force behind that franchise, Abrams said it was the VFX artists who “let us see what George had in his mind.”
Abrams recalled that at the age of 11, already smitten with movies and VFX, his father brought him a hand-written note from pioneering effects artisan Douglas Trumbull who at the time was working on the first Star Trek movie. The inspiring note read in part, “movies are fun and life can be fun making movies.” Abrams related, “When Dad brought it home, it blew my mind…It was a note from God.”
Thirty-five years later, Abrams told Trumbull how much that note meant to him as a kid and that it remains to this day a treasured keepsake. Trumbull’s response was “Huh.” Abrams then smiled, “It was a disappointing reaction but it didn’t matter.” The message is what continues to be important–”life can be fun making movies.”
Among those Abrams acknowledged when accepting the VES Award were his parents “who let me blow up shit and film it,” the assorted VFX artisans he has collaborated with over the years, and producer Kathleen Kennedy for asking, “Do you want to direct Star Wars?”–and for “being in a position to let me direct Star Wars.”
TV, spot honors
Topping the field of TV winners was Game of Thrones with three honors: Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program; Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program (for “The Watchers on the Wall”); and Created Environment in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game (for the Braavos Establisher setting).
The big TV commercial winner was energy supplier SSE’s “Maya” in which a photo-real CG orangutan–created by The Mill–visits a city and experiences different manifestations and wonders of energy spanning light, heat and sound. Frederic Planchon of Academy directed for adam&eveDDB, London. SSE garnered three VES Awards for: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial; Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character on a Commercial, Broadcast Program or Video Game (for Maya the orangutan); and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Commercial
Here’s a category-by-category rundown of winners at the 13th Annual VES Awards:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Joe Letteri
Ryan Stafford
Matt Kutcher
Dan Lemmon
Hannah Bianchini
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Birdman
Ara Khanikian
Ivy Agregan
Jake Braver
Isabelle Langlois
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6
Don Hall
Chris Williams
Roy Conli
Zach Parrish
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones; "The Children"
Joe Bauer
Steve Kullback
Stuart Brisdon
Thomas Schelesny
Sven Martin
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
American Horror Story: Freak Show; "Edward Mordrake, Part 2"
Jason Piccioni
Jason Spratt
Mike Kirylo
Justin Ball
Eric Roberts
Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Yi-chao Sandy Lin-Chiang
Joseph Salud
Demetrius Leal
Dave Blizard
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
SSE; "Maya"
Neil Davies
Alex Hammond
Jorge Montiel
Beth Vander
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy
Tony Apodaca
Marianne McLean
Gilles Martin
Edwin Chang
Mark Mine
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Caesar
Paul Story
Eteuati Tema
Andrea Merlo
Emiliano Padovani
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6; Baymax
Colin Eckart
John Kahwaty
Zach Parrish
Zack Petroc
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game
SSE; "Maya"
Jorge Montiel
Alex Hammond
Daniel Kmet
Philippe Moine
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Interstellar; Tesseract
Tom Bracht
Graham Page
Thomas Døhlen
Kirsty Clark
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6; Into the Portal
Ralf Habel
David Hutchins
Michael Kaschalk
Olun Riley
Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game
Game of Thrones; Braavos Establisher
Rene Borst
Christian Zilliken
Jan Burda
Steffen Metzner
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal/Live Action Motion Media Project
X-Men: Days of Future Past; Kitchen Scene
Austin Bonang
Casey Schatz
Dennis Jones
Newton Thomas Sigel
Outstanding Models in any Motion Media Project
Big Hero 6; City of San Fransokyo
Brett Achorn
Minh Duong
Scott Watanabe
Larry Wu
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
X-Men: Days of Future Past; Quicksilver Pentagon Kitchen
Adam Paschke
Premamurti Paetsch
Sam Hancock
Timmy Lundin
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Big Hero 6
Henrik Falt
David Hutchins
Michael Kaschalk
John Kosnik
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Dominique Vidal
Isabelle Perin-Leduc
Sandrine Lurde
Alexandre Lerouge
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Christoph Salzmann
Florian Schroeder
Quentin Hema
Simone Riginelli
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones; The Watchers on the Wall
Dan Breckwoldt
Martin Furman
Sophie Marfleet
Eric Andrusyszyn
Outstanding Compositing in a in a Photoreal/Live Action Commercial
SSE
Neil Davies
Leonardo Costa
Gianluca DiMarco
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
Wrapped
Roman Kaelin
Falko Paeper
Florian Wittmann
Paolo Tamburrino
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More