Visual Effects Society winners (VES): ‘The Midnight Sky,’ ‘The Mandalorian’ win top awards, ‘Soul’ makes clean sweep

The winners of the 19th Visual Effects Society awards were announced on Tuesday and The Midnight Sky took the top award of the night, Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, over its Oscar competitor Tenet. The mostly virtual event was hosted by Patton Oswalt.

Project Power and The Witches had led the feature nominations with three each, the most for film in the motion picture categories, where Project Power won two. Soul made a clean sweep of all five of its animated film nominations, including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature and Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature for the character of Terry.

The One and Only Ivan, Oscar-nominated for its visual effects, won its only nomination, Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature, for its titular character. Best Picture Oscar nominee Mank also won for its sole nomination here, Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.

The Mandalorian grabbed the most nominations and dominated the broadcast field with 13 but earned several of those nominations in the same categories and ended up with three wins overall, including Outstanding Visual Effects in an Photoreal Episode and Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project. The Crown won for its supporting visual effects.

Sacha Baron Cohen presented the Creative Excellence Award to honoree Robert Legato, ASC, a three-time Oscar winner for Titanic, Hugo and The Jungle Book and a 7-time VES winner. Sir Peter Jackson (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong) was this year’s VES Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, and was paid tribute by Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Naomi Watts, Elijah Wood, Jon Landau, James Cameron and Joe Letteri. LOTR star Cate Blanchett presented Jackson with the award.

The Visionary Awards was presented to Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012). The VES Award for Creative Excellence was given to Sheena Duggal (Venom, The Hunger Games), The Founders Award went to Ray Scalice (Looper, Raised by Wolves) with new VES Fellows this year going to Warren Franklin, David Johnson, Janet Muswell Hamilton, Ken Ralston and Sebastian Sylwan.

Here is the full list of nominees and winners.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY
Brad Parker
Roma Van Den Bergh
Eric Guaglione
Carlos Monzon
Stefano Pepin

PROJECT POWER
Ivan Moran
Leslie Hough
Joao Sita
Matthew Twyford
Yves Debono

TENET
Andrew Jackson
Mike Chambers
Andrew Lockley
David Lee
Scott Fisher

THE MIDNIGHT SKY [WINNER]
Matt Kasmir
Greg Baxter
Chris Lawrence
Max Solomon
David Watkins

THE WITCHES
Kevin Baillie
Sandra Scott
Sean Konrad
Glenn Melenhorst
Mark Holt

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

DA 5 BLOODS
Randall Balsmeyer
James Cooper
Watcharachai “Sam” Panichsuk

EXTRACTION
Marko Forker
Lynzi Grant
Craig Wentworth
Olivier Sarda

MANK [WINNER]
Wei Zheng
Peter Mavromates
Simon Carr
James Pastorius

NEWS OF THE WORLD
Roni Rodrigues
Dayaliyah Lopez
Ian Fellows
Andrew Morley
Brandon K. McLaughlin

WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
Ryan Laney
Eugen Bräunig
Maxwell Anderson
Johnny Han
Piers Dennis

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

ONWARD
Dan Scanlon
Kori Rae
Sanjay Bakshi
Vincent Serritella

OVER THE MOON
Glen Keane
Gennie Rim
Céline Desrumaux
David Alexander Smith

SOUL [WINNER]
Pete Docter
Dana Murray
Michael Fong
Bill Watral

THE CROODS: A NEW AGE
Joel Crawford
Mark Swift, PGA
Betsy Nofsinger
Jakob Hjort Jensen

TROLLS WORLD TOUR
Walt Dohrn
Gina Shay, PGA
Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin
Matt Baer

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY; Jig-A-Bobo
Kevin Blank
Robin Griffin
Pietro Ponti
Francois Dumoulin

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY; Su’Kal
Jason Michael Zimmerman
Aleksandra Kochoska
Ante Dekovic
Ivan Kondrup Jensen

THE MANDALORIAN, The Marshal [WINNER]
Joe Bauer
Abbigail Keller
Hal Hickel
Richard Bluff
Roy Cancino

TIMMY FAILURE
Rich McBride
Leslie Lerman
Nicolas Chevallier
Anders Beer
Tony Lazarowich

WESTWORLD; Crisis Theory
Jay Worth
Elizabeth Castro
Bruce Branit
Joe Wehmeyer
Mark Byers

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE; Episode 1
Eric Pascarelli
Keith Kolder
Ariel Altman

MRS. AMERICA; Shirley
Janelle Croshaw
Kaylie Whitcher
Leonardo Silva
Zena Bielewicz
Michael Innanen

SURVIVE
Ariel Altman
Rae Welty
Caius Wong
Carl Fong

THE CROWN; Gold Stick [WINNER]
Ben Turner
Reece Ewing
Andrew Scrase
Jonathan Wood

VIKINGS; Best Laid Plans
Dominic Remane
Bill Halliday
Tom Morrison
Ovidiu Cinazan
Paul Byrne

WARRIOR; Learn to Endure, Or Hire a Bodyguard
Jonathan Alenskas
Leah Orsini
Nate Overstrom
David Eschrich

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA
Raphael Lacoste
Jean-Sebastien Guay
Virginie Cinq-Mars
Thierry Beaumont

CYBERPUNK 2077
Jakub Knapik
Małgorzata Mitręga
Piotr Suchodolski
Krzysztof Krzyścin

GHOST OF TSUSHIMA [WINNER]
Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Jasmin Patry
Joanna Wang

SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES; REACTOR FINALE
Gavin Goulden
Jess Reed
Bryanna Lindsey
Mike Yosh

THE LAST OF US PART II
Neil Druckmann
Eben Cook
Erick Pangilinan
John Sweeney

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

ARM & HAMMER; Once Upon a Time
Kiril Mirkov
Solomon Tiigah
Vanessa Duquesnay
Prashanth Paramasivam

BURBERRY; Singin’ In The Rain [WINNER]
Fabian Frank
Ryan Hancocks
Rob Richardson
Alex Lovejoy

HORNBACH; It Seems Impossible Until You Do It
Ben Cronin
Tomek Zietkiewicz
Amir Bazzazi
Bruno Fukumothi

PLAYSTATION; The Edge
Diarmid Harrison-Murray
Tom Igglesden
Alex Gabucci
Tom Raynor

WALMART; Famous Visitors [WINNER]
Chris “Badger” Knight
Lori Talley
Yarin Mares
Matt Fuller

XBOX; Us Dreamers
Dan Seddon
Elexis Stearn
Fabian Frank
Zhenya Vladi

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

ASTEROID HUNTERS
Antoine Durr
Jini Durr
Bert Poole
Neishaw Ali

THE BOURNE STUNTACULAR [WINNER]
Salvador Zalvidea
Tracey Gibbons
George Allan
Matthías Bjarnason
Scott Smith

MICKEY & MINNIE’S RUNAWAY RAILWAY
Ryan Donoghue
Becky Train
Blaine Kennison
Nick da Silva
Corban Prim

THE MARCH
Aruna Inversin
Peter Nelson
Kevin Williams
Sean Kealey

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

DIE KÄNGURU-CHRONIKEN; Kangaroo
Claudius Urban
Sebastian Badea
Dorian Knapp
Ruth Wiegand

JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY; Don Juan Diego
Eric Guaglione
Shuchi Singhal
Adrien Annesley
Mahmoud Ellithy

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN; Ivan [WINNER]
Valentina Rosselli
Thomas Huizer
Andrea De Martis
William Bell

THE WITCHES; Daisy
Jye Skinn
Sarah Fuller
Marco Iannaccone
Fredrik Sundqvist

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

ONWARD; Dad Pants
Kristopher Campbell
Jonas Jarvers
Rob Jensen
Jacob Kuenzel

OVER THE MOON; Chang’e
Siggi Orri Thorhannesson
Hyesook Kim
Javier Solsona
Alan Chen

SOUL; Terry [WINNER]
Jonathan Hoffman
Jonathan Page
Peter Tieryas
Ron Zorman

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN; SpongeBob
Jacques Daigle
Guillaume Dufief
Adrien Montero
Liam Hill

Outstanding Animated Character in an Episode or Real-Time Project

THE CROWN; The Balmoral test; Imperial Stag
Ahmed Gharraph
Ross Burgess
Gabriela Ruch Salmeron
Joel Best

THE MANDALORIAN; The Jedi; The Child [WINNER]
John Rosengrant
Peter Clarke
Scott Patton
Hal Hickel

THE MANDALORIAN; The Marshal; Krayt Dragon
Paul Kavanagh
Zaini Mohamed Jalani
Michal Kriukow
Nihal Friedel

TIMMY FAILURE; Mistakes Were Made; Total
Maxime Masse
Hennadii Prykhodko
Luc Girard
Sophie Burie

Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial

AFK ARENA; Toilet; Uzgahk
Chloe Dawe
Brad Noble
Tim van Hussen
Simon Legrand

ARM & HAMMER; Once Upon a Time; Tuxedo Tom [WINNER]
Shiny Rajan
Silvia Bartoli
Matias Heker
Tiago Dias Mota

FAR CRY; Legacy; Anton
Maxime Luere
Leon Berelle
Rémi Kozyra
Dominique Boidin

LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA; Breathe; Darius
Maxime Luere
Leon Berelle
Rémi Kozyra
Dominique Boidin

TK MAXX; The Lil Goat
Kiril Mirkov
Silvia Bartoli
Chris Welsby
David Bryan

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

BLOODSHOT: Neuralspace
Arnaud Brisebois
Patrick Bacon
Dawid Borkiewicz
Gérôme Viavant

MULAN; Imperial City [WINNER]
Jeremy Fort
Matt Fitzgerald
Ben Walker
Adrian Vercoe

THE EIGHT HUNDRED; 1937 Shanghai Downtown
Stefano Cieri
Aaron Auty
Simon Carlile
Patrick Zentis

THE EIGHT HUNDRED; Shanghai Warehouse District
Jamie Macdougall
Julian Hutchens
Mark Honer
David Pekarek

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

ONWARD; Swamp Gas
Eric Andraos
Laura Grieve
Nick Pitera
Michael Rutter

SOUL; You Seminar [WINNER]
Hosuk Chang
Sungyeon Joh
Peter Roe
Frank Tai

TROLLS WORLD TOUR; Techno Reef
Luke Heathcock
Zachary Glynn
Marina Ilic
Michael Trull

TROLLS WORLD TOUR; Volcano Rock City
Brian LaFrance
Sara Cembalisty
Christopher Sprunger
Ruben Perez

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

BRAVE NEW WORLD: New London
Guy Williams
Justin Gros-Désir
Markus Sterner
Ryan Clarke

CYBERPUNK 2077; Night City
Jakub Knapik
Lucjan Więcek

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY; Tulsa 1921
Patrice Poissant
Pauline Lavelle
Mohamed Abdou Elhakim
Alan Lam

THE MANDALORIAN; The Believer; Morak Jungle [WINNER]
Enrico Damm
Johanes Kurnia
Phi Tran
Tong Tran

THE MANDALORIAN; The Siege; Nevarro Canyon
Kevin George
Aaron Barr
Piotr Tatar
Abel Milanés Betancourt

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project

GHOST OF TSUSHIMA; A Storm is Coming
Aladino Debert
Matt Dougan
Eric Beaver
David Liu

SOUL [WINNER]
Matt Aspbury
Ian Megibben

THE MANDALORIAN; The Believer
Richard Bluff
Matt Jensen
Chris Williams
Landis Fields IV

THE MANDALORIAN; The Siege
Dave Crispino
Kyle Winkelman
Paul Kavanagh
Jose Burgos

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

THE MANDALORIAN; Boba Fett’s Ship
Jay Machado
Enrico Damm
Gerald Blaise
Ryan Church

THE MANDALORIAN; The Rescue; Light Cruiser
John Knoll
John Goodson
Dan Patrascu
Rene Garcia

THE MIDNIGHT SKY; Aether [WINNER]
Michael Balthazart
Jonathan Opgenhaffen
John-Peter Li
Simon Aluze

THE WITCHES; Rollercoaster
Jared Michael
Peter Dominik
Sylvain Lesaint
Emily Tilson

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

BLOODSHOT
Omar Meradi
Jeremy Poupin
Sylvain Robert
Deak Ferrand

GREYHOUND
Mike Nixon
Nicholas Papworth
Jeremy Smith
Yashdeep Sawant

MONSTER HUNTER
Vimal Mallireddy
Warren Lawtey
Tom O’Bready
Dominik Haase

MULAN
Theo Vandernoot
Sandra Balej
James Carson
Yuri Rudakov

PROJECT POWER [WINNER]
Yin Lai Jimmy Leung
Jonathan Edward Lyddon-Towl
Pierpaolo Navarini
Michelle Lee

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

ONWARD
Dave Hale
Jonah Blue Laird
Stephen Marshall
Ricardo Nadu

OVER THE MOON
Ian Farnsworth
Brian Casper
Reinhold Rittinger
Jennifer Lasrado

SOUL [WINNER]
Alexis Angelidis
Keith Daniel Klohn
Aimei Kutt
Melissa Tseng

TROLLS WORLD TOUR
Stephen Wood
Carl Hooper
Spencer Knapp
Nick Augello

THE WILLOUGHBYS
Helén Ahlberg
Kyle McQueen
Russell Smith
Raehyeon Kim

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

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY; Strange Case; Chrysalis [WINNER]
Federica Foresti
Johan Gabrielsson
Hugo Medda
Andreas Krieg

PLAYSTATION; The Edge
Tom Raynor
Andreu Lucio
Martin Aufinger
Platon Filimonov

TALES FROM THE LOOP; Loretta’s House
Dominik Kirouac
Gaël Chopin
Sylvain Nouveau
Laurent Pancaccini

THE MANDALORIAN; The Marshal; Krayt Dragon
HuaiYuan Teh
Don Wong
Mathieu Chardonnet
Prashanth Bhagavan

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature

GREYHOUND
Chris Gooch
Tiago Santos
Stu Bruzek
Sneha Amin

MULAN
Christoph Salzmann
Beck Veitch
Joerg Bruemmer
Indah Maretha

PROJECT POWER [WINNER]
Russell Horth
Matthew Patience
Julien Rousseau

UNDERWATER
Sreejith Venugopalan
Ruslan Borysov
Susil Sabat
Andreas Andersson

Outstanding Compositing in an Episode

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY; Strange Case; Chrysalis
Viktor Andersson
Linus Lindblom
Mattias Sandelius
Crawford Reilly

THE MANDALORIAN; The Believer
Peter Demarest
Christopher Balog
Shawn Mason
David Wahlberg

THE MANDALORIAN; The Marshal
Nicolas Caillier
Simon Rafin
SiangKee Poh
Simon Marinof

THE MANDALORIAN; The Passenger
TC Harrison
Tami Carter
Jaume Creus Costabella
Shane Davidson

Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial

BURBERRY; Singin’ In the Rain
Alex Lovejoy
Mithun Alex
David Filipe
Amresh Kumar

PERRIER; Heat
Stéphane Pivron
Franck Lambertz
Harry Bardak
Christophe Courgeau

PLAYSTATION; The Edge
Alex Gabucci
Rebecca Clay
Alex Grey
Alex Kulikov

WALMART; Famous Visitors
Chris “Badger” Knight
Ben Smith
Jake Albers
Franz Kol

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD; Bury Her Next to Jasper’s Leg [WINNER]
Frank Iudica
Scott Roark
Daniel J. Yates

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

TIME’S DOWN
Valentin Soulard
François Brugalières
Nils Lemonnier
Yan Weitlauff

ARAL
Cédric Moens de Hase
Benoit Paya
Charles Morhain
Mathilde Dallamaggiore

STRANDS OF MIND
Adrian Meyer
Laura Messner

MIGRANTS [WINNER]
Antoine Dupriez
Hugo Caby
Lucas Lermytte
Zoé Devise