Precursor: 10th Visual Effects Society Nominations (2011)

The Visual Effects Society changed things up a little this year by adding a category for Virtual Cinematography, removing the Effects Animation and Short Film Visual Effects categories, and splitting the Created Environment category in two for live action and animated feature. Other than that, this looks pretty close to what I would expect from the group. Harry Potter, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers are all solid performers on the live action end. And while The Adventures of Tintin leads the list, it’s an unimportant statistic from the perspective of the Oscars. Their accuracy is really good with most of their choices picking up corresponding Oscars. Look for four or five of the Best Visual Effects nominees to come from the Visual Effects in an Effects-Driven film category and maybe one from Best Supporting Visual Effects. I’d expect either Captain America or Pirates of the Caribbean to be displaced by Hugo. And considering the 10 finalists for the Visual Effects nomination, I could very much see that happening. Both Real Steel and The Tree of Life took big falls with this announcement.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we’re giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

As promised, I have posted the history of this particular guild on my website. You can find it by following this link: Visual Effects Society.

Nomination Tallies

(6) The Adventures of Tintin
(5) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 / Transformers: Dark of the Moon
(4) Rango / Rise of the Planet of the Apes
(3) Hugo / Puss in Boots

The Nominations

Best Visual Effects in an Effects-Driven Film

Captain America: The First Avenger
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Best Supporting Visual Effects

Anonymous
Hugo
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Source Code
War Horse

Best Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Animated Character in a Live Action Film

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 – Ukrainian Ironbelly
Paul – Paul
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Caesar
The Thing – Edvard/Adam

Best Animated Character in an Animation Film

The Adventures of Tintin – Tintin
Puss in Boots – Puss
Rango – Rango
Nigel – Rio

Best Created Environment in a Live Action Film

Anonymous – London
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 – Hogwarts
Thor – Heimdall’s Observatory
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 155 Wacker Drive

Best Created Environment in an Animated Feature

The Adventures of Tintin – Bagghar
The Adventures of Tintin – The Docks
The Adventures of Tintin – Pirate Battle
Puss in Boots – The Cloud World
Rango – Main Street Dirt

Best Models

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 – Hogwarts School Building
Hugo – Train Crash
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – Parking Garage
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Driller