Game of Thrones Season 6 Dominates the Visual Effects Society Awards
By Ani Bundel
Game of Thrones swept last night’s 15th Annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards, which “recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games.” The show earned no less than five awards for “Battle of the Bastards,” season 6’s landmark penultimate episode. That may not be surprising, given how amazing that episode looked.
All in all, Game of Thrones was nominated for 11 awards, more than any other TV show or movie this year. In several cases, it was competing against itself. Here’s how the categories played out:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode
- Black Mirror, “Playtest”
- Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards” (WINNER)
- Joe Bauer, Steve Kullback, Glenn Melenhorst, Matthew Rouleau, Sam Conway
- Stranger Things, “Demogorgon”
- The Expanse, “Salvage”
- Westworld, “The Bicameral Mind”
Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
- Black Sails, “XXVIII,” Maroon Island
- Dishonored 2, Clockwork Mansion
- Game of Thrones, Battle of the Bastards”—Meereen City (WINNER)
- Deak Ferrand, Dominic Daigle, François Croteau, Alexandru Banuta
- Game of Thrones, “The Winds of Winter”—Citadel
- Edmond Engelbrecht, Tomoka Matsumura, Edwin Holdsworth, Cheri Fojtik
- The Man in the High Castle, “Volkshalle”
Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project
- Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards”
- Kevin Blom, Sasmit Ranadive, Wanghua Huang, Ben Andersen
- Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards”—Meereen City (WINNER)
- Thomas Hullin, Dominik Kirouac, James Dong, Xavier Fourmond
- John Lewis, “Buster the Boxer”
- Sky, “Q”
Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode or Real-Time Project
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare—Omar
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards”—Drogon (WINNER)
- James Kinnings, Michael Holzl, Matt Derksen, Joseph Hoback
- Game of Thrones, “Home”—Emaciated Dragon
- Sebastian Lauer, Jonathan Symmonds, Thomas Kutschera, Anthony Sieben
Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode
- Black Sails, “XX”—Sailing Ships
- Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards”—Meereen City
- Thomas Montminy-Brodeur, Patrick David, Michael Crane, Joe Salazar
- “Game of Thrones” — “Battle of the Bastards” — Retaking Winterfell (WINNER)
- Dominic Hellier, Morgan Jones, Thijs Noij, Caleb Thompson
- Game of Thrones, “The Door”—Land of Always Winter
- Eduardo Díaz, Aníbal Del Busto, Angel Rico, Sonsoles López-Aranguren
Game of Thrones did lose in one of the six categories in which it was nominated, but only the one.
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project
- Doctor Strange—New York Mirror Dimension
- Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards”
- Patrick Tiberius Gehlen, Michelle Blok, Christopher Baird, Drew Wood-Davies
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story—Space Battle
- The Jungle Book (WINNER)
Ironically, ALthough most people think of the Battle for Winterfell as being the most important portion of the episode, it was actually the surprise scenes in Meereen, ahead of the titular fight, that garnered the most trophies. One award, the one for compositing, went to the final moments of the Battle of the Bastards. But mostly, the Visual Effects Society award the Battle of Meeren and Drogon himself.
Congrats to everyone on the visual effects team for this honor. We can’t wait to see how they blow us all away in season 7.