J.J. Abrams, Big Hero 6, Apes Winners At 2015 VES Awards

Returning for a second consecutive year to host the Visual Effects Awards, actor Patton Oswalt kicked off the ceremony by poking fun of last year’s big VES winner, “Gravity.” “We will have about 17 more awards to hand out, so just sit back and relax a bit.”

While joking about the show’s running time, an audience member heckled Oswalt. “What are they going to do, fire me,” responded Oswalt. “I’ll miss out on the free muffin basket.”

Oswalt wasn’t the only one to receive sweets during a show that saw a record 6,000 submissions for nomination consideration. “Big Hero 6”, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and SEE, a commercial featuring a photo real ape named “Maya” all walked away with multiple awards. After winning the award for “Affect Simulation in an Animated Feature,” David Hutchins thanked the families of all the artists involved in Maya’s creation. “We sacrifice so much, but the families sacrifice more.”

Prior to presenting the VES Visionary Award to producer/director J.J. Abrams, actress Zoe Saldana credited the director behind reinvigorating the Star Trek franchise (and upcoming Star Wars franchise) with doing something no man had done before.

“He gave Spock a girlfriend,” joked Saldana.

Abrams announced receiving such a prestigious award from VES was extremely meaningful to him, for visual effects were his first love in movie making. Abrams relayed a story pertaining to his father’s acquiring VFX master Doug Trumbell’s autograph. After seeing “Star Wars” as a youth, Abrams equated Trumbell’s autograph to “a note from God.” Thirty-five years after receiving the autograph, Abrams met Trumbell and shared his story, stating he still treasured the autograph.

“After I shared this with him, he looked at me and said ‘Huh,’” said Abrams. “That was all he said.”

A complete list of the VES Award winners is included below. To learn more about the Visual Effects Society, please visit: www.visualeffectssociety.com

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Joe Letteri Ryan Stafford Matt Kutcher Dan Lemmon Hannah Bianchini Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Birdman Ara Khanikian Ivy Agregan Jake Braver Isabelle Langlois

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6 Don Hall Chris Williams Roy Conli Zach Parrish Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program

Game of Thrones; The Children Joe Bauer Steve Kullback Stuart Brisdon Thomas Schelesny Sven Martin Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program

American Horror Story; Freak Show; Edward Mordrake, Part 2 Jason Piccioni Jason Spratt Mike Kirylo Justin Ball Eric Roberts

Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Yi-chao Sandy Lin-Chiang Joseph Salud Demetrius Leal Dave Blizard Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

SSE; Maya Neil Davies Alex Hammond Jorge Montiel Beth Vander Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy Tony Apodaca Marianne McLean Gilles Martin Edwin Chang Mark Mine

Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Caesar Paul Story Eteuati Tema Andrea Merlo Emiliano Padovani Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6; Baymax Colin Eckart John Kahwaty Zach Parrish Zack Petroc Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game

SSE; Maya Jorge Montiel Alex Hammond Daniel Kmet Philippe Moine Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Interstellar; Tesseract Tom Bracht Graham Page Thomas Døhlen Kirsty Clark Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6; Into the Portal Ralf Habel David Hutchins Michael Kaschalk Olun Riley Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game

Game of Thrones; Braavos Establisher Rene Borst Christian Zilliken Jan Burda Steffen Metzner

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal/Live Action Motion Media Project

X-Men: Days of Future Past; Kitchen Scene Austin Bonang Casey Schatz Dennis Jones Newton Thomas Sigel Outstanding Models in any Motion Media Project

Big Hero 6; City of San Fransokyo Brett Achorn Minh Duong Scott Watanabe Larry Wu Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

X-Men: Days of Future Past; Quicksilver Pentagon Kitchen Adam Paschke Premamurti Paetsch Sam Hancock Timmy Lundin Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Big Hero 6 Henrik Falt David Hutchins Michael Kaschalk John Kosnik Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey Dominique Vidal Isabelle Perin-Leduc Sandrine Lurde Alexandre Lerouge Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Christoph Salzmann Florian Schroeder Quentin Hema Simone Riginelli

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program

Game of Thrones; The Watchers on the Wall Dan Breckwoldt Martin Furman Sophie Marfleet Eric Andrusyszyn

Outstanding Compositing in a in a Photoreal/Live Action Commercial

SSE Neil Davies Leonardo Costa Gianluca DiMarco

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Wrapped Roman Kaelin Falko Paeper Florian Wittmann Paolo TamburrinoWeekend