Changeling won both of its nominated categories for work so subtle and perfect even the nomination judges were surprised at the extent of the work involved. In the nomination selection stage of the VES Awards process, the list of submissions are reviewed in both video format in viewing theaters, and a written background description when available. Most, if not all of the judges were completely surprised at the amount of work involved, work that was so seamless it was undetectable. VES Supervisor Michael Owens, who was unable to attend the event, was both surprised and thrilled.

“Being nominated to a VES award is a very special honor,” he said, “mostly because it is our peers who are judging our work. At times I can get so close to a project that it becomes difficult to know whether the audience will enjoy [the effort, or if the film will] be enhanced by all of the Visual Effects. The VES members make for a very keen movie audience and therefore it is a relief to hear they liked the work on Changeling. Winning is an added bonus which puts a big thankful smile on my face and makes me even more proud of the team of people that accomplished this body of work.”

L to R: Jeremy Nicolaides, David Franks, Steve Schklair, Peter Anderson. Photo: Jessica Sterling.

Sassoon Film Design's VFX/Stereoscopic Supervisor Jeremy Nicolaides who won for U2 3D was rewarded not just by an award, but by a joyful kiss from his girlfriend Erica Medrano. His work on the stereoscopic 3D for the main and end titles, and all the flying graphics for the song "The Fly", along with other invisible VFX earned him a golden trophy. “This project for me, was one of those projects where I really got to do what I love. For months I got to fly things around in 3D space and to get an award for that is awesome. It also helps to have a great crew. And to get an award with Peter Anderson, who is the 3D master, is also very cool.”

Peter Anderson and Layne Marie show off the VES Award. Photo: Renee Dunlop.

Sandy Widyanata and Courtney Wise accept their prize for 'Plastic'. Photo: Renee Dunlop.

Anderson was honored for his part in the U2 3D film, partially overseeing the 3D visual effects as well as acting as 3D Director of Photography. For him, the film was a four year project. “U2 3D was my 42nd or 43rd 3D film. [Winning] it was a great moment, and I was very honored. The show U2 3D was a legacy show of the band at its height, so we gave the audience an experience both visually and with sound that they would never get even if they had been in the stadium with us. We took them on a personal experience that is totally immersive in every sense of the form. It was an incredible honor to be a part of the project.”

Australia’s own won the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project with a great piece called Plastic. Sandy Widyanata and Courtney Wise flew in from the continent facing fiery tragedy to accept their trophies, safe and sound. The audience was very glad to see them enjoy the recognition and the welcome break from all that was going on at home.

Two of the greatest awards have yet to be addressed, but deserve the highest recognition. The incredibly talented director David Fincher was there not only to support his Benjamin Button VFX crew, but to present the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall for their work on many of the biggest films in cinematic history. And Dennis Muren, who is becoming a staple of the event, was there to give the Georges Méliès Award to the talented and personable Phil Tippett, who loves a low profile but still seemed pretty tickled at the recognition.

Phil Tippett calms the crowd, assisted by Dennis Muren. Photo: Jessica Sterling

Phil Tippett accepting the Georges Méliès Award. Photo: Jessica Sterling

L-R: Romain Bayle. Debora Dunphy, Allan Lee and Abel Milanes accept the award for VFX in 'The Changling'. Photo: Renee Dunlop.

Owens wasn’t the only one surprised to win. Geoffrey Hancock, VFX Supervisor, CIS Vancouver, who won for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects said, “It is very gratifying to have the VES recognize CIS's work on this film. These types of invisible effects often goes unnoticed. I'm very proud of the work our entire team labored over.” And CIS Compositor Abel Milanes, winner for Outstanding Matte Paintings in ‘Changeling’ added, “It is a great honor to know that our work gained such high recognition in the visual effects community. Nothing could be more rewarding than winning a VES Award for work that is not supposed to be noticed as a visual effect. That is the beauty of invisible visual effects.”

Sassoon Film Design's VFX/Stereoscopic Supervisor Jeremy Nicolaides wins for U2 3D. Photo: Renee Dunlop.

U2 3D's VFX Supervisor, Dave Franks who oversaw most of the project agreed. “It was an honor for me to win and quite humbling to be up there in the company of the industries most talented people. There was a lot of great work out there this year and to simply be nominated by the VES was an incredible acknowledgement in itself, but then to win was just so thrilling and truly the icing on the cake to an already extraordinary project.”

Peter Anderson, who is utterly revered in the S3D community, won his first VES Award for the very category he introduced a few years back. He has won many awards for theme park work and projects that aren’t main stream, and realized it was a category that should be added to the VES Awards. “I’m one of the founding members of the society and ironically I wrote the category and submitted it as a consideration to the awards committee. Special venues, large format, and S3D had been looked over in the first few awards. It’s been out there for a couple of years and has been doing very well as a category because there is a lot of what I call hybrids- museums, theme park, exposition, IMAX, and 3D films that were falling through the cracks, though stereoscopic is more viable now because we are back in theaters again. It’s an art format to itself. The VES tries to be all encompassing, so we’ve added games and commercials, television, and features. So this was the hybrid specialty category.”

David Fincher joins Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in a post party drink. Photo: Renee Dunlop.

Eric Roth, VES President, presented the VES Lifetime Achievement Award to producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Andy Serkis on right. Photo: Jessica Sterling.

"It was a great honor to receive the George Melies Award from the Visual Effects Society," said Tippett. "Particularly to have my dear friend and co-conspirator Dennis Muren present it. 'It was swell being there with Kathy and Frank for their award and reconnecting with Dave Fincher. One sometimes forgets what it's like to be in the presence of real film makers."

Digital Domains’ Matthias Wittmann, Animation Lead for Benjamin Button was still in shock, giddy, and grateful two days later. “It was absolutely a great honor to win this. I was a little bit afraid that we might not have gotten this recognition, even from our VFX pals just because they might have had the idea everything was motion capture and not so much hand animation was involved. I’m really happy. I thought…,” and you could almost hear him cross his fingers, “…we have to win, it was really great stuff. Usually I’m not so sure, but I was convinced we did really great stuff. But, you just never know.”

Well, we do now. Yes, it was really great stuff, it was a year of really great stuff.