Just moments ago, Monsters University and Toy Story of Terror! garnered four nominations (between both films) for the upcoming 12th annual Visual Effects Society (VES) awards. The VES Awards recognize outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on-the-keys artists who bring this work to life.
Like most awards for 2013, there were some surprises that left us scratching our heads, but overall, we’re happy to see Monsters University and Toy Story of Terror! honored for their beautiful works. Below is a list of all of the animation-related categories with the Pixar nominations highlighted in red.
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
- Peter Nash
- Michael Ford
- Chris Juen
- Mandy Tankenson
- Despicable Me 2
- Chris Meledandri
- Janet Healy
- Chris Renaud
- Pierre Coffin
- Frozen
- Chris Buck
- Jennifer Lee
- Peter Del Vecho
- Lino Di Salvo
- Monsters University – We were surprised not to see Dan Scanlon on this list as “Cloudy” was the only other film to not represent it’s director(s).
- Kori Rae
- Sanjay Bakshi
- Jon Reisch
- Scott Clark
- The Croods
- Jane Hartwell
- Chris Sanders
- Kirk Demicco
- Markus Manninen
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
- Epic: Pod Patch
- Aaron Ross
- Travis Price
- Jake Panian
- Antelmo Villarreal
- Frozen: Elsa’s Ice Palace
- Virgilio John Aquino
- Alessandro Jacomini
- Lance Summers
- David Womersley
- Monsters University: Campus
- Robert Kondo
- Eric Andraos
- Dale Ruffolo
- Peter Sumanaseni
- The Croods: The Maze
- Jonathan Harman
- Violette Sacre-Shaik
- Benjamin Venancie
- Philippe Brochu
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
We were surprised to not find Monsters University included in this category. We believe it may have been excluded since this was a prequel – possibly for the same reason Despicable Me 2 was excluded from this category since it was a sequel.
- Epic: Bomba
- Epic: Mary Katherine
- Frozen: Bringing the Snow Queen to Life
- The Croods: Eep
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
We were left scratching our heads here – again, the only thing that can come to mind is that the individuals that chose the films excluded Monsters University and Despicable Me 2 for similar reasons to the “Outstanding Animated Character” category.
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
- Epic: Boggan Crowds
- Frozen: Elsa’s Blizzard
- The Croods
Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Although the VES site doesn’t note which character was specifically highlighted, we can only assume it covers the gamut of characters. This is an interesting category of television shows, specials, as well as commercials, so it will be interesting to see how the 30-minute special fairs.
- Game of Thrones: Raising the Dragons
- PETA: 98% Human
- Smithwick’s: Squirrel
- Three, The Pony
- Toy Story of Terror!
- Paul Aichele
- Kiki Mei
- Kee Poh
- Andrew Coats
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
- PETA: 98% Human
- Sony PlayStation: Perfect Day
- Toyota Avalon: Formula
- Toy Story of Terror!
- Jane Yen
- Rogan Griffin
- Amit Baadkar
- Keith Daniel Klohn
At last year’s VES awards, Brave was nominated for four awards and won big, taking home all four awards. Let’s hope that Monsters University and Toy Story of Terror! also win big at this year’s awards. The 12th annual VES Awards will take place on February 12 at the Beverly Hilton (California). Tickets to the event can be purchased on the VES website for $400 per ticket, if you’re interested.
