VES Awards 2017: Watch VFX breakdowns for the winners including The Jungle Book and Game of Thrones

By Miriam Harris | on February 09, 2017

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The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the winners of the 15^th annual VES awards Tuesday evening in Beverly Hills.

Despite Rogue One: A Star Wars Story lined up with the most feature film nominations, it was The Jungle Book and Game of Thrones which came out as sweeping winners with five awards each.

The Jungle Book earned six nominations, and is also Oscar nominated for the best VFX film of 2016 - check out our VFX Oscar nominated films feature. Kubo and the Two Strings had six nominations under its belt, and it's no surprise Game of Thrones won many awards after its impressive 11 nominations.

The award-winning VFX teams that worked on The Jungle Book and Game of Thrones include MPC, Weta Digital, IIloura and Rodeo FX.

Kubo and the Two Strings took away the animated feature award, and the John Lewis Christmas ad featuring MPC’s Buster the Boxer earned three awards.

It’s also worth noting the award for supporting VFX in a photoreal feature went to Deepwater Horizon, supporting VFX in a photoreal episode went to Black Sails, and Moana won Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature.

The awards choose nominees in 24 categories, recognising visual effects in film, animation, television, commercial and video games and the people who bring these to life.

VFX breakdowns of the 2017 VES award winners

The Jungle Book

Trailer:

Awarded for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature (King Louie)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature (Nature Effects)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

Nominated for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Outstanding Performance in a Photoreal Feature (King Louie)

Outstanding Performance in a Photoreal Feature (Shere Khan)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature (Nature Effects)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature (The Jungle Book)

VFX by: MPC and Weta Digital.

VFX Breakdown:

Game of Thrones – Battle of the Bastards

Trailer:

Awarded for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project (Drogon)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project (Meereen City)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project (Meereen City)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode (Retaking Winterfell)

Nominated for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode (Battle of the Bastards)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project (Battle of the Bastards, Drogon)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project (Home, Emaciated Dragon)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project (Battle of the Bastards, Meereen City)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project (The Winds of Winter, Citadel)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project (Battle of the Bastards)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode (Battle of the Bastards, Meereen City)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode (Battle of the Bastards, Retaking Winterfell)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode (The Door, Land of Always Winter)

VFX by: IIloura, Rodeo FX, The Third Floor.

See our feature on Rodeo FX's work on Season 6, and how the massive battle scenes were made.

IIoura VFX breakdown

Rodeo FX breakdown

Kubo and the Two Strings

Trailer:

Awarded for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Nominated for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature (Kubo)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature (Hanzo’s Fortress)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature (Water)

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature (Waves)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature (Monkey)

VFX by: Computer-generated stop motion by Laika.

VXF Breakdown:

John Lewis – Buster the Boxer

Awarded for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Commercial

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

Nominated for:

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

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Commercial

Oustanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

VFX by: MPC

VFX breakdowns of the 2017 VES award nominees

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Nominated for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature (Grand Moff Tarkin)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature (Scarif Complex)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project (Star Destroyer)

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project (Princess Leia)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature (Jedha Destrution)

VFX by: ILM, Hybride Technologies, Jellyfish Pictures, Ghost VFX, Whiskytree, Atomic Fction, ScanlineVFX, Raynault VFX and Virtuos.

VFX breakdown reel: ILM model supervisor Russell Paul explains the rebuilding of classic ships and vehicles - taking the original ship models and enhancing them in digital form - in this video.

VFX breakdown reel: In this video ILM explain how they created droid K-2SO.

Doctor Strange

Nominated for:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature (London)

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature (New York)

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project (NY Mirror Dimension)

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature (Hong Kong Reverse Destruction)

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature (New York City)

VFX by: Crafty Apes, Exceptional Minds, Framestore, ILM, Lola VFX, Luma Pictures, Method Studios, Perception and RISE VFX.

Moana

Awarded for:

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Nominated for:

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature (Motonui Island)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature (The Mighty Maui)

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature.

VFX by: Walt Disney Animation Studios

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Nominated for:

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature (Niffler)

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-time Project

VFX by: Framestore, Image Engine Design, Method Studios, MPC and Rodeo FX.

Read our breakdown of how Framestore, MPC & Rodeo FX created the fantastic beasts of JK Rowling’s new film.

Framestore VFX breakdown:

Here's a list of the nominees for outstanding visual effects and supporting visual effects in a photoreal feature, animated feature and photoreal episode. The winners are in bold.