‘Jungle Book’ wins big while ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ disappoints at the 15th VES Awards

Commemorating its 20th anniversary, the Visual Effects Society (VES) held its annual award ceremony, recognising the talent from the Visual effect industry across various spheres. The 15th edition of the Visual Effects Society Awards was held on Tuesday evening at Beverly Hilton.

While Disney’s Jungle Book was a major winner at the event as it bagged five accolades to its name, Star Wars’ stand alone film, Rogue One, did not manage to get its hands on any awards, even though it had been nominated in seven categories. Laika Entertainment and Focus Features’ Kubo and the Two Strings was awarded the highest honour of the best animated film. Disney’s Moana won multiple awards with Pixar’s Finding Dory picking one to its name.

In the TV realm, HBO’s Game of Thrones’ ‘Battle of Bastards’ episode was chosen as the winner in multiple categories while ‘Boxer the Buster’, a Christmas ad from the British department store chain, John Lewis won the accolade for the best TV commercial.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book       
Robert Legato
Joyce Cox
Andrew R. Jones
Adam Valdez
JD Schwalm

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 Visual Effects in a Commercial
John Lewis; Buster the Boxer         
Diarmid Harrison-Murray
Hannah Ruddleston
Fabian Frank
William Laban

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature
Finding Dory; Hank  
Jonathan Hoffman
Steven Clay Hunter
Mark Piretti
Audrey Wong

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Commercial
John Lewis; Buster the Boxer         
Tim van Hussen
David Bryan
Chloe Dawe
Maximillian Mallman

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 Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Drogon           
James Kinnings
Michael Holzl
Matt Derksen
Joeseph Hoback

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; Motonui Island      
Rob Dressel
Andy Harkness
Brien Hindman
Larry Wu

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
Uncharted 4               
Bruce Straley
Eben Cook
Iki Ikram

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book; Nature Effects    
Oliver Winwood
Fabian Nowak
David Schneider
Ludovic Ramisandraina

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 an Animated Feature
Moana           
Marc Henry Bryant
David Hutchins
John M. Kosnik
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 Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book; King Louie           
Paul Story
Dennis Yoo
Jack Tema
Andrei Coval

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project
The Jungle Book 
Bill Pope
Robert Legato
Gary Roberts
John Brennan

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 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 Student Project
Breaking Point          
Johannes Franz
Nicole Rothermel
Thomas Sali
Alexander Richter

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
The Jungle Book       
Christoph Salzmann
Masaki Mitchell
Matthew Adams
Max Stummer

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial
John Lewis; Buster the Boxer         
Tom Harding
Alex Snookes
David Filipe
Andreas Feix

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode
Game of Thrones; Battle of the Bastards; Retaking Winterfell  
Dominic Hellier
Morgan Jones
Thijs Noij
Caleb Thompson

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Deepwater Horizon
Craig Hammack
Petra Holtorf-Stratton
Jason Snell
John Galloway
Burt Dalton