Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s global professional honorary society, held the 15th Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues. Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host to the more than 1000 guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate VFX talent in 24 awards categories and herald the VES’ 20th anniversary. The Jungle Book was named photoreal feature film winner, earning five awards. Kubo and The Two Strings was named top animated film. Game of Thrones was named best photoreal episode and garnered five awards. And John Lewis: Boxer the Buster won top honors in the commercial field.

Director Taika Waititi presented the VES Visionary Award to acclaimed producer and Marvel Studios Executive Vice President of Physical Production Victoria Alonso. Jim Morris, President, Pixar Animation Studios, presented the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to multiple Academy Award®-winning visual effects pioneer Ken Ralston. Awards presenters included directors Gareth Edwards and Albert Hughes, Yara Shahidi, Auli’I Cravalho, Jessica Parker Kennedy and Brenton Thwaites.

Winners of the 15th Annual VES Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

The Jungle Book

Robert Legato

Joyce Cox

Andrew R. Jones

Adam Valdez

JD Schwalm

 

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Deepwater Horizon

Craig Hammack

Petra Holtorf-Stratton

Jason Snell

John Galloway

Burt Dalton

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Kubo and the Two Strings

Travis Knight

Arianne Sutner

Steve Emerson

Brad Schiff

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards

Joe Bauer

Steve Kullback

Glenn Melenhorst

Matthew Rouleau

Sam Conway

 

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Black Sails; XX

Erik Henry

Terron Pratt

Aladino Debert

Yafei Wu

Paul Stephenson

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

Uncharted 4

Bruce Straley

Eben Cook

Iki Ikram

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

John Lewis; Buster the Boxer

Diarmid Harrison-Murray

Hannah Ruddleston

Fabian Frank

William Laban

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Pirates of the Caribbean; Battle for the Sunken Treasure

Bill George

Amy Jupiter

Hayden Landis

David Lester

 

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

The Jungle Book; King Louie

Paul Story

Dennis Yoo

Jack Tema

Andrei Coval

 

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Finding Dory; Hank

Jonathan Hoffman

Steven Clay Hunter

Mark Piretti

Audrey Wong

 

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Drogon

James Kinnings

Michael Holzl

Matt Derksen

Joseph Hoback

 

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Commercial

John Lewis; Buster the Boxer

Tim van Hussen

David Bryan

Chloe Dawe

Maximilian Mallmann

 

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Doctor Strange; New York City

Adam Watkins

Martijn van Herk

Tim Belsher

Jon Mitchell

 

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Moana; Motunui Island

Rob Dressel

Andy Harkness

Brien Hindman

Larry Wu

 

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Meereen City

Deak Ferrand

Dominic Daigle

François Croteau 

Alexandru Banuta

 

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

The Jungle Book

Bill Pope

Robert Legato

Gary Roberts

John Brennan

 

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Deepwater Horizon; Deepwater Horizon Rig

Kelvin Lau

Jean Bolte

Kevin Sprout

Kim Vongbunyong

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

The Jungle Book; Nature Effects

Oliver Winwood

Fabian Nowak

David Schneider

Ludovic Ramisandraina

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Moana

Marc Henry Bryant

David Hutchins

Ben Frost

Dale Mayeda

 

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Meereen City

Thomas Hullin

Dominik Kirouac

James Dong

Xavier Fourmond

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

The Jungle Book

Christoph Salzmann

Masaki Mitchell

Matthew Adams

Max Stummer

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Retaking Winterfell

Dominic Hellier

Morgan Jones

Thijs Noij

Caleb Thompson

 

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

John Lewis; Buster the Boxer

Tom Harding

Alex Snookes

David Filipe

Andreas Feix

 

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Breaking Point

Johannes Franz

Nicole Rothermel

Thomas Sali

Alexander Richter

 

About the Visual Effects Society
The Visual Effects Society is a professional global honorary society dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. It is the entertainment industry's only official organization representing the extended global community of visual effects practitioners, including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives. VES’ more than 3,400 members in 35 countries worldwide contribute to all areas of entertainment – film, television, commercials, animation, music videos, games and new media. To learn more about the VES, visit www.visualeffectssociety.com and follow us on Twitter @VFX Society.