Inception Comes Up Big At Visual Effects Society Awards

Even though it doesn't look like Inception is going to be sweeping the Oscars, Christopher Nolan got a bit of a consolation prize Monday when his film picked up four trophies at the ninth annual Visual Effects Society awards, winning for "Outstanding Visual Effects In A Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture," "Outstanding Created Environment In A Live Action Feature Motion Picture," "Outstanding Models & Miniatures In A Feature Motion Picture," and "Outstanding Compositing In A Feature Motion Picture". Phew. I got tired just typing those. Sadly, it lost in the "Outstanding BWAAAHHHHH" category to the sound I made when I saw the Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son trailer. Nolan himself also picked up the inaugural VES Visionary Award, and Ray Harryhausen took home a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.  
 
Surprise of the night? How To Train Your Dragon beating Toy Story 3 in the two categories in which those movies went head-to-head, as well as in the category for "Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture," which Pixar's film wasn't nominated in. Oscar foreshadowing? Nah, probably not, but it's good to see the fine folks at DGA getting industry recognition for a film that was visually more impressive, to me, than Toy Story 3. Read on for the full list of winners; you can find all of the nominees on the VES site (link goes to PDF).

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture  
Inception
Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Mike Chambers, Matthew Plummer

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Hereafter
Michael Owens, Joel Mendias, Bryan Grill, Danielle Plantec

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

How to Train Your Dragon
Simon Otto, Craig Ring, Bonnie Arnold

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or a Special

The Pacific
John Sullivan, David Taritero, William Mesa, Marco Requay

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series

Caprica
Michael Gibson, Gary Hutzel, Davey Morton, Jesse Mesa Toves

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

Boardwalk Empire
Robert Stromberg, Dave Taritero, Richard Friedlander, Paul Graff

Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short

Day & Night
Teddy Newton, Kevin Reher, Michael Fu, Tom Gately

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial

Halo: Reach's "Deliver Hope"
Dan Glass, Dan Seddon, Matt Dessero, Stephanie Gilgar  

Outstanding Animated Commercial

Cadbury's "Spots V Stripes"
Jake Mengers, Julie Evans, Jorge Montiel Meurer, Michael Gregory

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

King Kong 360 3D
Matt Aitken, Kevin Sherwood, Eric Reynolds, R. Christopher White

Outstanding Real-Time Visual Effects in a Video Game

Halo: Reach
Marcus Lehto, Joseph Tung, Stephen Scott, CJ Cowan

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Video Game Trailer

World of Warcraft
Marc Messenger, Phillip Hillenbrand, Jr.

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Dobby
Mathieu Vig, Ben Lambert, Laurie Brugger, Marine Poirson

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

How to Train Your Dragon – Toothless
Gabe Hordos, Cassidy Curtis, Mariette Marinus, Brent Watkins

Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

Citron C3's "The Spacebox"-–Citro
Michael Nauzin, Anne Chatelain, Gregory Mougne, Cedric Nicolas

Outstanding Animated Character in a Video Game

StarCraft II - Sarah Kerrigan
Fausto De Martini, Xin Wang, Glenn Ramos, Scott Lange

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

How to Train Your Dragon
Andy Hayes, Laurent Kermel, Jason Mayer, Brett Miller

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Inception - Paris Dreamscape
Bruno Baron, Dan Neal, Graham Page, Per Mork-Jensen

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Broadcast Program

The Pacific - The Battle of Iwo Jima
Marco Recuay, Morgan McDermott, Nick Lund-Ulrich

Outstanding Models & Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture

Inception - Hospital Fortress Destruction
Ian Hunter, Scott Beverly, Forest Fischer, Robert Spurlock

Outstanding Models & Miniatures in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

Boardwalk Empire - The Ivory Tower
J. John Corbett, Matthew Conner, Brendan Fitzgerald

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture 

Inception
Astrid Busser-Casas, Scott Pritchard, Jan Maroske, George Zwier

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

The Pacific - Peleliu landing
Jeremy Nelson, John P. Mesa, Dan Novy, Tyler Cote

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

LOOM
Regina Welker, Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck, Csaba Letay