Fire and Ash’ Takes Top Honors at VFX Society Awards

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” has received the top Visual Effects Society Award for excellent VFX in a photoreal feature at the twenty fourth Visual Effects Society Awards.

The movie which dominated with 10 nominations, took residence seven awards in complete including excellent character in a photoreal feature for Varang (performed by Oona Chaplin, excellent CG cinematography, and the Emerging Technology Award, given to the Kora Fire Toolset.

In complete, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” wanted over 3,000 visible effects photographs. And since this was the third movie in the franchise, the team upped their game. Aside from bettering character animation, visible effects supervisor Eric Saindon at Weta FX says, technology-wise, hearth was one among the hardest issues to do correctly in visible effects. Not only do people know what hearth seems to be like, but it surely never seems to be the same. “Every time you look at a fire, it could dance a little differently depending on the environment it’s in or burn a different color.” That meant that any scene with hearth required them to make sure they had been pushing the correct quantity of gas and oxygen to get the hearth proper. “The scale of the embers gives the idea of size,” he told Variety.

“KPop Demon Hunters” received three awards, including the top prize of excellent animation in an animated feature, and excellent character in an animated feature for Rumi.

“Zootopia 2” received excellent setting in an animated feature for Marsh Market. In constructing that biome, co-director Jared Bush told Variety, “Marsh Market is for semi-aquatic animals. It’s for marine mammals.” He added that it will be a really snug place for beavers, who’re adept in water and on land.

“Sinners” received the award for excellent supporting visible effects in a photoreal feature.

“The VES is honored to recognize brilliant artistry and technological innovation across a wide range of disciplines,” said VES Board Chair, Kim Davidson. “The craft of visual effects is constantly evolving to push the limits of our imaginations, and tonight’s inspiring winners and nominees represent best-in-class work from around the world. Congratulations to all!”

In TV, “Andor” took residence two awards including excellent particular (sensible) effects in a photoreal project. “Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age” also nabbed two awards taking residence the prize for excellent visible effects in a photoreal episode.

Comedy duo Randy and Jason Sklar (the Sklar Brothers) hosted the twenty fourth Annual VES Awards for the second consecutive 12 months.

This 12 months’s particular honorees included movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer receiving the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, and Wētā Workshop co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Sir Richard Taylor receiving the VES Visionary Award.

In his speech, Bruckheimer said, “You create the magic. You create the things that people go to theaters for. You’re the people that we dream about when we go to the movies, when we go into that dark space in the theater, and the work that you do is truly phenomenal.”

The VES Awards had been held on Feb. 25 at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

Below is the full record of winners for the twenty fourth Annual VES Awards:

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
Richard Baneham
Peter Litvack
Eric Saindon
Nicky Muir
Steve Ingram

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

“Sinners”
Michael Ralla
James Alexander
Nick Marshall
Espen Nordahl
Donnie Dean

OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

“KPop Demon Hunters”
Joshua Beveridge
Jacky Priddle
Benjamin Hendricks
Clara Chan

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze”
Russell Dodgson
Tracey Gibbons
Francois Dumoulin
Gavin McKenzie

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Seth Hill
Tesa Kubicek
John Nelson
Gabriel Vargas

OUTSTANDING VISUAL ARTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

“Ghost of Yōtei”
Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Joanna Wang
Jasmin Patry

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Tom Raynor
Helen Tang
Jack Harris
Alex Kulikov

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere
Ben Grossmann
Tamara Watts Kent
Dr. Irfan Essa
Matt Dougan
Glenn Derry

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan
Stephen Clee
Stuart Adcock
Keven Norris
Joseph Kim

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

“KPop Demon Hunters”; Rumi
Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee
Andrea Centeno
Marc Souliere
Joshua Beveridge

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

It: Welcome to Derry; “The Thing in the Dark;” The Pickle Monster
Philip Harris-Genois
Pierric Danjou
Chloe Ostiguy
Jonathan Bourdua

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” Bridgehead Industrial City
Gianluca Pizzaia
Steve Bevins
Dziga Kaiser
Zsolt Máté

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

“Zootopia 2”; Marsh Market
Limei Z. Hshieh
Alexander Nicholas Whang
Joshua Fry
Ryan DeYoung

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Andor; “Welcome to the Rebellion;” The Senate District
John O’Connell
Falk Boje
Hasan Ilhan
Kevin George

OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
Steve Deane
AJ Briones
Zachary Brake
Andrew Moffett

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”; The Windtraders’ Gondola
Michael Smale
Sam Sharplin
Joe W. Churchill
Jacqi Dillon

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”; Simulating Pandora
Nicholas Illingworth
Sarah C. Farmer
James Robinson
Ryan Bowden

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

“KPop Demon Hunters”
Filippo Maccari
Nikolaos Finizio
Daniel La Chapelle
Srdjan Milosevic

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

“Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age”; The Big Freeze
Edward Ferrysienanda
Kevin Christensen
Guy Schuleman
Kevin Tarpinian

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

“F1: The Movie”; Modern Race and POV Footage
Hugo Gauvreau
Chris Davies
Raushan Raj
Amaury Rospars

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh
Tobias Wiesner
Mark Julien
Owen Longstaff
Brendan Naylor

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Alex Kulikov
Jack Harris
Adam Chabane
Nicola Borsari

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Andor; “Who Are You?”
Luke Murphy
Dean Ford
Jody Eltham
Darrell Guyon

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”; Kora Fire Toolset
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
John Edholm
Murali Ramachari
Aleksandr Isakov

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT

“Azimuth”
Thomas Teisseire
Cassandre Cinier
Martin Bluy
Mathis Giraudeau