VES Awards: ‘Rango’ leads with four wins for visual effects

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The animated tale ‘Rango’ took home four trophies at the 10th annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Monday night, leading all films. The live-action movies ‘Hugo,’ ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ each won two awards.

Directed by Gore Verbinski and featuring the voice of Johnny Depp, ‘Rango’ was honored for outstanding visual effects in an animated film, outstanding animated character in an animated film, outstanding created environment in an animated film and outstanding virtual cinematography in an animated film.

In the last two weeks, ‘Rango’ also has earned an Oscar nomination for best animated picture and won four Annie Awards from the International Animated Film Society. It is the first full-length animated feature from the visual-effects house Industrial Light & Magic; the film was released by Paramount.

Other highlights from the VES Awards, which were held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, included a surprise appearance by ‘Hugo’ director Martin Scorsese, the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to comics icon Stan Lee and the presentation of the Georges Melies Award to visual-effects innovator Douglas Trumbull. The awards also recognized television programs, commercials, special venues and video games.

Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt (‘Young Adult’) hosted this year’s show, which will be broadcast on the Reelz Channel on Feb. 19 at 10 p.m. EST, 7 p.m. PST.

Following is a full list of winners.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
‘Hugo’: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
‘Rango’: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie, or Special
‘Inside the Human Body’: Phil Dobree, Sophie Orde, Dan Upton

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series
‘Terra Nova’ — ‘Occupation & Resistance’: Kevin Blank, Colin Brady, Adica Manis, Jason Zimmerman

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
‘Game of Thrones’ — ‘Winter Is Coming’: Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, Angela Barson, Ed Bruce, Adam McInnes

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial
‘Dior J’adore’: Pascal Giroux, Julien Meesters, Stephane Pivron, Manuel Souillac

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Commercial or Video Game Trailer
‘Diablo III: The Black Soulstone’: Nicholas S. Carpenter, Graham Cunningham, Chris Thunig, Taka Yasuda

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
‘Transformers the Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle’: Lori Arnold, Yanick Dusseault, Delio Tramontozzi, Jeff White

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ — Caesar: Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
‘Rango’ — Rango: Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton

Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
‘Canal + The Bear’: Laurent Creusot, Guillaume Ho, Olivier Mitonneau, Michal Nauzin

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ — 155 Wacker Drive: Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
‘Rango’ — Main Street Dirt: John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy, Russell Paul

Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
‘Game of Thrones:’ — The Icewall: Markus Kuha, Dante Harbridge Robinson, Damien Mac, Fani Vassiadi

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
‘Hugo’: Martin Chamney, Rob Legato, Adam Watkins, Fabio Zangla

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
‘Rango’ — The Dirt Saloon: Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda, Nick Walker

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
‘Gears of War 3’ — Dust to Dust: Niles Heckman, Richard Morton, Vernon Wilbert Jr.

Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ — Driller: Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia

Outstanding Models in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
‘Boardwalk Empire’ — Georgia Peaches: Matthew Conner, Eran Dinur, David Reynolds, Szymon Weglarski

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ — Skinny Steve: Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
‘Boardwalk Empire’ — Gimcrack & Bunkum: Anton Dawson. Eran Dinur, Austin Meyers, David Reynolds

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
‘A.maize’: Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann RELATED:

‘Rango’ wins the Annie Award for animated feature

Chat with ‘Rango’ director Gore Verbinski on Feb. 10

Classic Hollywood: A week of honors for Douglas Trumbull

— Oliver Gettell