Visual Effects Society announces 2021 awards nominees
Nominations have been announced for the Visual Effects Society's 20th annual awards for achievements in FX across a variety of visual media. Among film titles, two lead the pack with six nominations apiece: for live action fare, Dune, and for animation, Encanto. Dune appears in the VES' top category (if it really has one), Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, which has been beefed up to six nominees, including five fellow shortlisted titles from the Academy; of their ten-strong list of contenders, only Free Guy and Ghostbusters: Afterlife fail to make the cut here. You can probably rule out No Time to Die from taking that top prize as well, since that's its only nomination; bizarrely, for a Bond movie, it's getting recognition from the VES for its digital effects and not its practical effects. No date as yet for this year's awards ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so keep an eye out!
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
DUNE (Paul Lambert, Brice Parker, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer)
GODZILLA VS. KONG (John Des Jardin, Tamara Watts Kent, Bryan Hirota, Kevin Andrew Smith and Michael Meinardus)
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (Dan Glass, Nina Fallon, Tom Debenham, Huw J. Evans and J. D. Schwalm)
NO TIME TO DIE (Charlie Noble, Mara Bryan, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould)
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Christopher Townsend, Damien Carr, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver)
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Kelly Port, Julia Neighly, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Daniel Sudick)
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
CANDYMAN (Andrew Zink, James McQuaide, Josh Simmonds, Drew Dir* and Ryan Evans)
THE LAST DUEL (Gary Brozenich, Helen Judd, Jessica Norman, Yann Blondel and Stefano Pepin)
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (Thomas Proctor, Gavin Gregory, Julian Gnass and Fabricio de Vasconcellos Baessa Antonio)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Dennis Berardi, Ryan MacDuff, Mark O. Hammond, David Roby and Geoff Hill)
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (Alex Lemke, Michael Huber, Michael Ralla and Benedikt Laubenthal)
Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project
ETERNALS (Neil Corbould, Keith Corbould*, Raymond Ferguson and Boo Motjuoadi)
JUNGLE CRUISE (J. D. Schwalm, Nick Rand, Robert Spurlock and Nick Byrd*)
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (J. D. Schwalm, Brendon O'Dell, Michael Kay and Pau Costa)
THE TOMORROW WAR (J. D. Schwalm, Wayne Rowe, Jim Schwalm and Haukur Karlsson)
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
FINCH - 'Jeff' (Harinarayan Rajeev, Daniel Matthias Schoenegger, Simon Allen and Paul Nelson)
FLORA & ULYSSES - 'Ulysses' (Pierre-Loic Hamon, Sachin Tyagi, Nandini Nambiar and Loic Mireault)
JUNGLE CRUISE - 'Aguirre' (Alexander K. Lee, Claus Pedersen, Rasely Ma and Gary Wu)
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE - 'Carnage' (Richard Spriggs, Ricardo Silva, Lucas Manuel Cuenca and Federico Frassinelli)
Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature
BLACK WIDOW - 'Red Room crashing back to Earth' (Michael Melchiorre, Simon Twine, Daniel Harkness and Tim Crowson)
DUNE - 'Attack on Arrakeen' (Gregory C. Haas, Francesco Dell'Anna, Abhishek Chaturvedi and Cleve Yi Lun Zhu)
DUNE - 'Hologram & hunter seeker' (Patrick Heinen, Jake Maymudes, T. J. Burke and James Joo Young Lee)
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS - 'Macau City' (Jeremie Maheu, Mathieu Dupuis, Karthic Ramesh and Jiri Kilevnik)
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME - 'Liberty Island battle & Christmas swing finale' (Zac Campbell, Frida Nerdal, Louis Corr and Kelvin Yee)
Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature
DUNE - 'Arrakeen City' (Rhys Salcombe, Woo Seung Jin, Jeremie Touzery and Marc Austin)
JUNGLE CRUISE - 'Waterfall Canyon' (Mark McNicholl, Frederic Valleur, Hamish Beachman and Mark Wainwright)
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME - 'The Mirror Dimension' (Eric le Dieu de Ville, Thomas Dotheij, Ryan Olliffe and Claire le Teuff)
THE SUICIDE SQUAD - 'Valle del Marre' (Nick Cattell, Jason Desjarlais, Matthew Fitzgerald and Jerome Moo)
Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
DUNE - 'Dunes of Arrakis' (Gero Grimm, Ivan Larinin, Okano Hideki and Zuny An)
GODZILLA VS. KONG - 'Ocean water & battle destruction' (Jonathan Freisler, Nahuel Letizia, Eloi Fulla and Saysana Rintharamy)
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS - 'Water, bubbles & magic' (Simone Riginelli, Claude Schitter, Koi Teck Chee and Arthur Graff)
THE SUICIDE SQUAD - 'Corto Maltese City destruction' (David R. Davies, Rogier Fransen, Sandy Sutherland and Brandon James Fleet)
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project
ENCANTO - 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' (Nathan Warner, Dorian Bustamante, Tyler Kupferer and Michael Woodside)
GODZILLA VS. KONG - 'Ocean battle' (Shawn Hull, Robert Wiese, Steven Tom and Eric Petey)
LOKI; LAMENTIS - 'Race to the Ark' (Jesse Lewis-Evans, Luke Avery, Autumn Durald and Scott Inkster)
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (Rob Dressel, Adolph Lusinsky and Paul A. Felix)
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Sebastian Trujillo, Louis-Daniel Poulin, Nathan Abbot and Shannon Justison)
Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project
BLACK WIDOW - 'The Red Room' (Tristan Connors, Bo Kwon, James Stuart and Ryan Duhaime)
DUNE - 'Royal ornithopter' (Marc Austin, Anna Yamazoe, Michael Chang and Rachael Dunk)
ENCANTO - 'Casita Madrigal' (Jonathan Lin, Chris Patrick O'Connell, Christoffer Pedersen and Alberto Abril)
THE SUICIDE SQUAD - 'Jotunheim' (Simon Dean Morley, Cedric Enriquez Canlas, Layne Howe and Alberto R. S. Hernandez)
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
ENCANTO (Scott Kersavage, Brad Simonsen, Thaddeus P. Miller and Ian Gooding)
LUCA (Enrico Casarosa, Andrea Warren, David Ryu and Jon Reisch)
THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES (Alan Hawkins, Carey Smith, Mike Lasker and Nicola Lavender)
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (Kyle Odermatt, Osnat Shurer, Kelsey Hurley and Paul A. Felix)
SING 2 (Patrick Delage, Nathali Vancauwenberghe, Christophe Lourdelet and Boris Jacq)
Oustanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature
ENCANTO - 'Mirabel Madrigal' (Kelly McClanahan, Sergi Caballer, Mary Twohig and Jose Luis Velasquez)
LUCA - 'Luca' (Gwendelyn Enderoglu, Laurie Nguyen Kim, Tanja Krampfert and Maria Lee)
THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES - 'Katie Mitchell' (Lindsey Olivares, Kurt Judson, Jeong Soh I and Rohini Kumar)
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON - 'Tuk Tuk' (Brian Menz, Punn Wiantrakoon, Erik Hansen and Vicky Yu Tzu Lin)
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature
ENCANTO - 'Antonio's room' (Camille Andre, Andrew Finley, Chris Patrick O'Connell and Amol Sathe)
LUCA - 'Portorosso Piazza' (Airton Dittz Jr., Jack Hattori, Michael Rutter and Joshua West)
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON - 'Talon' (Helen Ming Jue Chen, Kim Chai Won, Virgilio John Aquino and Diana LeVangie)
SING 2 - 'Crystal Theater' (Ludovic Ramiere, Theo Rivoalen, Henri Deruer and Frederic Mainil)
VIVO - 'Mambo Cabana' (Bertrand Bry-Marfaing, Josef Dylan Swift, Geeta Basantani and Bum Jun Jeremy Kim)
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature
ENCANTO (Francisco Rodriguez, Christopher Hendryx, Brent Burley and David Hutchins)
LUCA (Amit Baadkar, Greg Gladstone, Emron Grover and Tim Speltz)
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON (Le Joyce Tong, Henrik Falt, Rattanin Sirinaruemarn and Jake Rice)
SING 2 (Richard Adenot, Guillaume Gay, Frederic Valz-Gris and Antoine Bremont)
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
GREEN (Camille Poiriez, Arielle Cohen, Eloise Thibaut and Louis Florean)
NEOSHIN EPISODE 01: COLD BLOOD (Sebastian Selg, Ramon Schauer, Chen Jia Yan and Bea Hoeller)
RELATIVITY (Hugo Astesano, Loic Ciaux, Guillaume Hulot and Loic Remy)
LE SOUFFLEUR DE REVES (Lea Desrozier, Paul Denis, Gregoire Hoarau and Lisa Ripper)
*This is who they nominated. I have no idea who these people are. The internet claims they don't exist. The VES is notorious for bungling names...