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Star Wars, The Revenant & Game of Thrones Shine at Visual Effects Society Awards

A bear, a dragon and a scavenger from Jakku walk into a bar. This start to a bad joke also functions as a decent (okay, not really) summation of the big winners at the 14th Annual VES Awards, the annual celebration that recognizes the real people behind the surreal, photoreal, and out-of-this-world visual effects that are such a huge part of the entertainment industry. The now infamous bear attack suffered by Hugh Glass (Leonadro DiCaprio) in The Revenant won the Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature. The stunning Game of Thrones episode “The Dance of Dragons,” in which Daenerys is saved from certain death b the return of her very pissed off dragon, Drogon, was chosen for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode. And the breathtaking dogfight between the Millennium Falcon and the TIE Fighers on Jakku won Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature. 

Not surprisingly, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the big winner of the night, winning four awards, with The Revenant close behind with three wins. The folks behidn The Good Dinosaur (animated feature), Games of Thrones (photoreal episode) and SSE (commercial) notched the most awards in their respective categories, taking home three each.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Winners of the 14th Annual VES Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

                Star Wars: The Force Awakens

                                Roger Guyett

                                Luke O'Byrne

                                Patrick Tubach

                                Paul Kavanagh

                                Chris Corbould

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

                The Revenant

                                Rich McBride

                                Ivy Agregan

                                Jason Smith

                                Nicolas Chevallier

                                Cameron Waldbauer

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

                The Good Dinosaur

                                Sanjay Bakshi

                                Denise Ream

                                Michael Venturini

                                Jon Reisch

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

                Game of Thrones; The Dance of Dragons

                                Joe Bauer

                                Steve Kullback

                                Eric Carney

                                Derek Spears

                                Stuart Brisdon

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

                Vikings; To the Gates

                                Dominic Remane

                                Bill Halliday

                                Paul Wishart

                                Ovidiu Cinazan

                                Paul Byrne

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

                The Order: 1886

                                Nathan Phail-Liff

                                Dana Jan

                                Anthony Vitale

                                Scot Andreason

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

                SSE; Pier

                                Neil Davies

                                Tim Lyall

                                Sam Driscoll

                                Jorge Montiel

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

                Fast and Furious: Supercharged

                                Chris Shaw

                                Alysia Cotter

                                Ben White

                                Diego Guerrero

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

                The Revenant; The Bear

                                Matt Shumway

                                Gaelle Morand

                                Karin Cooper

                                Leandro Estebecorena

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

                Inside Out; Joy

                                Shawn Krause

                                Tanja Krampfert

                                Jacob Merrell

                                Alexis Angelidis

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

                SSE; Pier; Orangutan

                                Jorge Montiel

                                Sauce Vilas

                                Daniel Kmet

                                Sam Driscoll

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

                Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard

                                Yanick Dusseault

                                Mike Wood

                                Justin van der Lek

                                Quentin Marmier

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

                The Good Dinosaur; The Farm

                                David Munier

                                Matthew Webb

                                Matt Kuruc

                                Tom Miller

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

                Game of Thrones; City of Volantis

                                Dominic Piche

                                Christine Leclerc

                                Patrice Poissant

                                Thomas Montminy-Brodeur

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

                Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard

                                Paul Kavanagh

                                Colin Benoit

                                Susumu Yukuhiro

                                Greg Salter

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

                Star Wars: The Force Awakens; BB-8

                                Joshua Lee

                                Matthew Denton

                                Landis Fields

                                Cyrus Jam

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

                Mad Max: Fury Road; Toxic Storm

                                Dan Bethell

                                Clinton Downs

                                Chris Young

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

                The Good Dinosaur

                                Stephen Marshall

                                Magnus Wrenninge

                                Michael Hall

                                Hemagiri Arumugam

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

                Game of Thrones; Hardhome

                                David Ramos

                                Antonio Lado

                                Piotr Weiss

                                Félix Bergés

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

                The Revenant; Bear Attack

                                Donny Rausch

                                Alan Travis

                                Charles Lai

                                TC Harrison

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

                Game of Thrones; Hardhome

                                Eduardo Díaz

                                Guillermo Orbe

                                Oscar Perea

                                Inmaculada Nadela

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

                SSE; Pier

                                Gary Driver

                                Greg Spencer

                                Grant Connor

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

                Citipati

                                Andreas Feix

                                Francesco Faranna

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