Game of Thrones up for a whole bunch of Visual Effects Society Awards

Awards season marches on, and Game of Thrones Season 5 is still popping up on many shortlists as film professionals honor the best of 2015. The show hasn’t made a lot of waves, awards-wise, since dominating the Emmys several months back, but it may be poised for another sweep at the Visual Effects Society Awards (VES Awards), where it’s nominated more than any other TV show or movie.

The voters for the VES Awards are all visual effects specialists, which makes them a little more knowledgable about the nominees than, say, the more generalist voters at the Golden Globes. Game of Thrones was nominated a total of nine times, sometimes with multiple nods in the same category. Behold:

• Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
  • “Childhood’s End” — “Night Three”
  • “Game of Thrones” — “The Dance of Dragons”
  • “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” — “Arabella”
  • “Nezlamna” — “Sea Dogfight”
  • “The Strain” — “Identity”

• Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project
  • “Game of Thrones” — “The Dance of Dragons” — Drogon Arena Rescue
  • “Game of Thrones” — “Mother’s Mercy” — Wounded Drogon
  • SSE — “Pier” — Orangutan
  • Sainsbury’s — Mog

• Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project
  • “Black Sails” — Charles Town Harbor
  • “Game of Thrones” — City of Volantis
  • “Game of Thrones” — Drogon Arena
  • “Vikings” — Paris

• Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project
  • “Game of Thrones” — “Hardhome”
  • “Halo 5” — “The Hunt Begins”
  • Lipton — “The Revolution in Tea”
  • SSE — “Pier”

• Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode
  • “Game of Thrones” — Drogon Arena
  • “Game of Thrones” — Drogon Lair
  • “Game of Thrones” — “Hardhome”
  • “Vikings” — “To the Gates”

I’ll admit to not understanding all if the terminology here. What exactly is an “effects simulation?” Oh, well—good on “Hardhome” for scoring the nomination.

As you can see, the voters were really impressed by Drogon’s descent on Daznak’s Pit (although they apparently didn’t bother to look up the name—”Drogon Arena” indeed). That scene from “The Dance of Dragons” figured into four of the show’s nominations, and Drogon got another nod for his memorable performance as “Wounded Dragon” in “Mother’s Mercy.” I have the sudden image of Drogon sitting in the back of a crowded ballroom, waiting eagerly to see if he wins any of these awards.

“Oh, I can’t bear to watch.”

It’d also be pretty embarrassing if Game of Thrones lost to Vikings in the “Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode” category, considering that the show snagged three of the four nominations. We’ll find out when the VES Awards are presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 2.

h/t Variety