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When series creators David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo first crafted the moment Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) and Thomas Wade (Liam Cunningham) enter the game in “3 Body Problem,” they made it so they “would put on the headset and then there’ll be a moment of black and then they go into the game.” But when they saw the scene cut together, they felt there was “something missing.” So for inspiration, they reached to another popular sci-fi series for inspiration: “Severance.”

“We’re actually influenced by ‘Severance’ in the elevator scenes, you know where they have that kind of weird camera effect,” said writer and co-creator Benioff. “We looked up how they did that. Ours was like, ‘What if their eyes merged together and then came apart again.'”

As part of Variety‘s “Making a Scene” Cunningham, Hong, Benioff, Weiss and Woo were joined by “3 Body Problem...

Disney dominated the 18th annual Ves Awards with five nominations apiece for Jon Favreau’s frontrunner “The Lion King” and Robert Rodriguez’s surprising “Alita: Battle Angel” (acquired from Fox). Joining them for the top photo-real prize were the Disney-led “Avengers: Endgame” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” along with Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man”. The Ves Awards will be held January 29th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Competing for supporting VFX were Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”, Sam Mendes’ “1917,” (which stitched together the World War I thriller as one continuous shot and offered various enhancements), James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari,” Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” and “The Aeronauts.”

In animation, Disney also fared well, with Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” (which grabbed five nominations) and “Frozen 2.” They were joined by Golden Globe nominee “Missing Link” from Laika, surprise nominee “Klaus” (the innovative 2D feature from Netflix and Spanish director Sergio Pablos), and,...

The Visual Effects Society has unveiled nominations for its 18th annual Ves Awards, which honor VFX work in film, animation, TV, commercials and video games. Winners will be revealed at a ceremony January 29 at the Beverly Hilton.

Disney’s CG redo of the The Lion King and 20th Century Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel lead all film nominees with five apiece, joining the top animated nominee Toy Story 4. In TV, Disney+’s Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian and the final season of HBO’s epic Game of Thrones lead the field with six nominations each.

Along with naming winners in 25 categories, the group’s ceremony later this month includes honoring Martin Scorsese with the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award. The Ves Visionary Award will be given to Roland Emmerich, and the Ves Award for Creative Excellence will be presented to VFX supervisor Sheena Duggal.

Here’s the list of noms:...

Game of Thrones grabbed 10 awards at the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday night, more than any other nominated project.

The wins included an impressive, though not unexpected, seventh honor for special visual effects. It was the sixth series win for VFX supervisor Joe Bauer, while VFX producer Steve Kullback and VFX associate producer Adam Chazen — who have been with the series since season one — now have seven Emmys each for the HBO fantasy series.

Game of Thrones dominated the picture editing category, and the award ultimately went to editor Tim Porter for the episode “The Long Night,...

The horrific sight of Dany (Emilia Clarke) turning into the Mad Queen in Season 8 of “Game of Thrones” and vaporizing King’s Landing atop Drogon became the ultimate expression of destruction for the series. Indeed, the “Battle of King’s Landing” from Episode 5 (“The Bells”) dwarfed all previous annihilation, with the VFX stepping up by taking its cue from London after the Blitz and the fire bombing of Dresden toward the end of World War II.

King’s Landing finally comes crashing down during the firebombing, the Clegane brothers (Rory McCann and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) perish from their battle, and the Red Keep castle collapses on Cersei (Lena Headey) and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). “So, after seven years of building out the physical and sometimes emotional world of ‘Thrones’ through use of visual effects, in ‘The Bells,’ it was time to add an exclamation point,” said Joe Bauer, the lead VFX supervisor.

Game of Thrones' record 32 Emmy nominations, which were announced Tuesday morning, dominated the creative artists categories and could extend the wins of its artists, many of whom have worked on the series for many seasons.

HBO's fantasy series has six previous wins for special visual effects and it again scored a mention in the category on Tuesday. VFX supervisor Joe Bauer has already won five Emmys for the series, while VFX producer Steve Kullback and VFX associate producer Adam Chazen — who have been with the series since season one — have six each.

Nominated costume designer Michele Clapton ...

Kit Harington had a ball shooting that dragon-ride sequence in Game of Thrones‘ Season 8 premiere.

Oh wait. We mean, Kit Harington almost lost a ball shooting that dragon-ride sequence in Game of Thrones‘ Season 8 premiere.

In “Game Revealed,” a behind-the-scenes featurette HBO released Monday, Harington and VFX producer Steve Kullback go into detail about how Danerys and Jon’s scaly joyride came to fruition. It’s a lot of “pre-viz” this and “greenscreen” that… and then Harington abruptly gets real about what it’s like to ride the mechanical “buck,” or stand-in for the dragon’s back.

“Buck work is not easy.

It’s the home stretch to the final season of Game of Thrones, which returns April 14, and HBO is teasing the new episodes with a behind the scenes feature on the show’s special effects. In the feature, “A Story in Visual Effects,” VFX producer Steve Kullback and VFX supervisor Joe Bauer supervisor explain how things like dragons and White Walkers come to life onscreen.

“We’re pushing boundaries here all the time,” Bauer says. “All eyes on on us and we’re trying to do things that nobody’s done before.

With its epic battles and CG dragons, HBO’s Game of Thrones on Saturday night won a remarkable sixth Emmy for outstanding special visual effects at the Creative Arts Emmys.

It beat out fellow nominees Altered Carbon, Lost in Space, Stranger Things and Westworld.

On the strength of the show's “Beyond the Wall” episode, Emmys in VFX were awarded to Joe Bauer, overall VFX supervisor; Steve Kullback, VFX producer; Adam Chazen, VFX associate producer; Michelle Blok, previs lead; Sam Conway, special effects supervisor; Ted Rae, VFX plate supervisor; David Ramos, VFX supervisor; Wayne Stables,...

As television continues to provide portals into fantastic, compelling worlds outside the constraints of space, time and physics, it’s increasingly vital that those imaginative environs — speculative futures ranging from cyberpunk cityscapes to colonizing spacecraft to high-tech A.I. theme parks to an ancient and sprawling fantasy landscape and an insidious dimension encroaching the recent past — be as utterly convincing as possible. As the Emmy nominees in visual effects so effectively demonstrate, a major factor in asking an audience to suspend their disbelief is delivering inviting, sumptuously crafted alternate realities viewers can readily believe in.

Altered Carbon (pictured top)

Netflix

For the series-launching episode “Out of the Past,” senior vfx supervisor Everett Burrell says the challenge was both clear and complex: to establish a world set three centuries from now.

“I had to build stuff not only for the pilot, but for the rest of the season,” he says. “We...

“Audacious escalation” could be the mantra for “The Game of Thrones” visual effects team, which has racked up five consecutive Emmys. And they’ve upped their game for “Beyond the Wall” from the penultimate seventh season, with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) taking on an impossible mission to go after the mystical Night King (Vladimir Furdik), massively outnumbered and trapped on a frozen lake. Among the VFX highlights: a zombie polar bear, an army of zombie wights, and dragon power.

“Beyond the Wall” reached a record 2,106 VFX shots. Although director Alan Taylor wanted to shoot the battle of the frozen lake in Iceland, it wasn’t logistically possible so the VFX team added the Icelandic mountains to the Belfast rock quarry set, and supplied CG snow and dragon fire to everything else that was shot practically in camera.

The Zombie Polar Bear

First, Snow & Co. encounter the menacing zombie polar bear,...

Having been through seven increasingly audacious seasons of HBO flagship series Game of Thrones, visual effects producer Steve Kullback always looks at a new season from the same perspective: “Geez, how the hell am I going to do this?” Working with “no-holds-barred” creatives David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with VFX supervisor Joe Bauer, the collaborators always tend to come to the same conclusion about the road ahead: “Well, that’s amazing, but obviously it’s unproducible.” And yet the innovative Game of Thrones team forges ahead.

With each new season, Kullback and Bauer have seen the volume and complexity of their work double—even as the episode count per season continues to shrink. “Steve’s line is that the work doubles in relation to the size of the dragons, who also double in size from season to season, up until Season 7,” Bauer explains.

In Season 7, as it happens, Dany...

“War for the Planet of the Apes” from Weta Digital could well be on its way to the elusive VFX Oscar after winning four Ves trophies Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton (including the top feature prize). Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” won for supporting VFX, Pixar’s “Coco” earned four awards (including VFX for animation), and “Game of Thrones” took home five awards (including VFX for TV).

The “Apes” finale, directed by Matt Reeves, benefited from a Shakespearean performance from Andy Serkis as Caesar, with Weta working its wizardry in much harsher conditions for the performance-captured animation. Not surprisingly, “Apes” additionally won for Caesar, the effects simulations for the thrilling avalanche, and compositing. However, although both “Rise” and “Dawn” captured Ves prizes, neither won the Oscar, so “War” is not a certainty in its race with “Blade Runner 2049.”

Speaking of which, Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner” sequel won two...

Announcing the nominees for their 16th annual Ves Awards, the Visual Effects Society brought welcome news for Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049” and Matt Reeves’s “War for the Planet of the Apes,” each up for seven statuettes. “Despicable Me 3” is the most-nominated animated film of the year (5), while the most-honored title overall is “Game of Thrones” (11).

The 21-year-old organization consists of 3,400-plus members in 35 nations. Each year, it recognizes visual effects innovators in film, animation, television, commercials, and video games.

In 2017, Disney’s “The Jungle Book” remake claimed five Ves trophies, more than any other feature (nominations leader “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was shutout). It’s director-producer, Jon Favreau, will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award; Weta Digital director and four-time Oscar winner Joe Letteri will accept the Georges Méliès Award, named for the late French illusionist and filmmaker. Letteri is also a nominee...

Last night, the Visual Effects Society handed out their awards at their annual gathering. It was mainly a good night for The Jungle Book, which took the top prize, known as Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. It beat back Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while at the Academy Awards, it’ll be up against Deepwater Horizon, Doctor Strange, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It was an expected win, but one that was eagerly awaited to try and figure out the Oscar category of Best Visual Effects. The Jungle Book ended up with five prizes in total, easily besting the rest of the bunch. As mentioned above, this top award ties directly into the Visual Effects category at the Oscars. Nine out of the...

“The Jungle Book” is on its way to VFX Oscar gold after getting five Ves nods Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton. “Rogue One,” the “Star Wars” standalone, however, came away empty-handed after receiving seven nominations.

Innovative Disney hybrid “The Jungle Book” won for outstanding feature, King Louie’s animated performance, virtual cinematography, effects simulations, and compositing.

Laika’s Oscar-nominated “Kubo and the Two Strings” earned VFX animation props, “Deepwater Horizon” took supporting VFX and model work for Industrial Light & Magic, and “Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards” continued its TV dominance.

Disney’s “Moana” grabbed two animation awards (created environment and simulations), Pixar won for Hank’s animated performance, and Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” won for its New York City environment

The Ves Visionary Award went to Victoria Alonso, producer and Marvel Studios Evp of physical production. Five-time Oscar winner Ken Ralston (“Return of the Jedi” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?...

Aussie VFX outfit Rising Sun Pictures has been nominated for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature at the 15th Annual Ves Awards..

The Visual Effects Society Awards will be handed out on February 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles..

Alana Newell and compositors Jess Burnheim, Andy Peel and Matthew Shaw are nominated for their work on the 'Quicksilver Rescue' sequence in Fox's X-Men: Apocalypse.

In the sequence, Quicksilver (Evan Peters) uses his hyper-speed ability to rescue mutants (and a bulldog) from an exploding building..

According to Newell, the scene was built using a combination of practical stunts, motion control cinematography, slow motion, CG environments, effects simulations and re-timed footage..

.Our compositors worked with the layout and effects teams to calibrate the timing and composition of the explosions," she said..

"Debris and re-timed plates were laid out to plot how they would work with the live action footage. Passes were rendered in deep,...

Aussie VFX outfit Rising Sun Pictures has been nominated for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature at the 15th Annual Ves Awards..

The Visual Effects Society Awards will be handed out on February 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles..

Alana Newell and compositors Jess Burnheim, Andy Peel and Matthew Shaw are nominated for their work on the 'Quicksilver Rescue' sequence in Fox's X-Men: Apocalypse.

In the sequence, Quicksilver (Evan Peters) uses his hyper-speed ability to rescue mutants (and a bulldog) from an exploding building..

According to Newell, the scene was built using a combination of practical stunts, motion control cinematography, slow motion, CG environments, effects simulations and re-timed footage..

.Our compositors worked with the layout and effects teams to calibrate the timing and composition of the explosions," she said..

"Debris and re-timed plates were laid out to plot how they would work with the live action footage. Passes were rendered in deep,...

Hacksaw Ridge has picked up four Aacta Awards so far..

The first winners of this year.s Aacta Awards were unveiled yesterday at the Aacta Industry Luncheon.

Some 33 awards were presented during the event, celebrating screen craft excellence across features, television, shorts, and documentary. The remainder of the awards will be announced at the 6th Aacta Awards Ceremony on Wednesday evening.

Hacksaw Ridge picked up the most gongs: four from a possible six, including Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Mel Gibson's film is up for another seven awards, to be presented at Wednesday evening's ceremony..

Composer Antony Partos picked up his sixth AFI/Aacta award for his work on Tanna, while Simon Stone took out Best Adapted Screenplay for his debut feature The Daughter..Girl Asleep's Jonathan Oxlade won Best Costume Design.

The Aacta Award for Best Short Animation was presented to Angie Fielder,...

Out today is the Blu-ray edition of Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season from HBO Home Entertainment.

We previously reviewed the Digital HD version of the season here but there are new elements to consider with the box set.

The vast majority of Digital HD releases do not come with the bonus features, extra, and Easter Eggs we have come to know and love about the disc format. As a result, the Digital HD version is a nice add-on for on-the-go viewing, but the complete immersive experience, the special features add interviews, behind-the-scenes information, commentary, and deleted scenes to enhance your appreciation of the material. This season set, though, does come with some, but all, the extras found on the Blu-ray box set.

This season was a mixed bag with incredibly strong storytelling undercutting its strength by not surprising us. No one, except readers of the novel, expected...

You won’t be returning to Westeros for new adventures until summer 2017 but our friends at HBO are offering up a copy of the forthcoming Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season. In order to win the prize, you need to tell us which of the many lands or Houses you would most want to live in and why.

Entries must be posted no later than 11:59 p.m. November 20. The contest is open to United States and Canadian readers only. The decision of ComicMix‘s judges will be final.

Digital HD Download

Bran’s Journey – A nine-minute feature delving into the shocking and revelatory journey Bran Stark took in Season 6. The Dothraki World – Behind-the-Scenes featurette bringing viewers up to speed on the Dothraki culture, not seen since Season 1. Inside Game of Thrones: Prosthetics – Behind-the-Scenes featurette detailing what goes into the show’s prosthetics creation. The Game Revealed...

The Battle of the Bastards.

Next week Ait And Apdg are presenting a special in-conversation event with Iloura VFX artist Glenn Melenhorst, going in-depth on the episode that defined Game of Thrones season 6 - episode 9, The Battle of the Bastards.

Nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Melenhorst and his team at Iloura delivered photoreal shots for the episode, working in particular on the episode.s battle sequence, "combining 3D visual effects and hand animation to realize the production.s vision," according to a statement.

"The battle that was created by Iloura required numerous collisions between photoreal horses and riders, 3,000-strong armies and close-up shots of live-action actors and sets composited with CG humans and animals and massive crowd simulations. Hundreds of assets — CG armoury, weapons, flags, saddlery, body parts and environmental assets such as blood, mud, smoke, fire and mist — were also needed to augment the plate photography.

New York, N.Y., July 18, 2016 – Last year’s Emmy® Award winner for Outstanding Drama Series and currently nominated for 23 2016 Emmy® Awards including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing Outstanding Supporting Actress (Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams) and Outstanding Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington), Game of Thrones is bigger than ever delivering “the power and pathos fans have come to expect” (Los Angeles Times). The HBO drama has consistently been the top selling TV on DVD/Bd for the past five years and now fans can get the most recent season earlier than ever when Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season debuts from HBO Home Entertainment on Digital HD on August 1, 2016 and on Blu-ray™ with Digital HD and DVD November 15, 2016. The set features all 10 episodes, plus extensive bonus content:

Digital HD Download

Bran’s Journey – A nine-minute feature delving into the shocking and revelatory journey Bran...

HBO Home Entertainment will bring the “Battle of the Bastards” and much more to home media on August 1st with their Digital HD debut of Game of Thrones Season 6, followed by a November 15th Blu-ray (with Digital HD) and DVD release:

Press Release: Last year’s Emmy® Award winner for Outstanding Drama Series and currently nominated for 23 2016 Emmy® Awards including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Directing Outstanding Supporting Actress (Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams) and Outstanding Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington), Game of Thrones is bigger than ever delivering “the power and pathos fans have come to expect” (Los Angeles Times). The HBO drama has consistently been the top selling TV on DVD/Bd for the past five years and now fans can get the most recent season earlier than ever when Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season debuts from HBO Home Entertainment on Digital...

The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season six, Battle of the Bastards, was one of the most acclaimed in the show's history.

Centering around a large battle sequence straight out of Braveheart, the episode featured charging cavalry, giants, and a cast of thousands - or so it looked.

The VFX artists working on the battle sequence included a team from Iloura.s Melbourne office, who used a mix of VFX and hand-crafted animation techniques to realize the director's vision for the ep, led by VFX supervisor Glenn Melenhorst.

Iloura was selected to work on the episode after presenting the show.s VFX producer and supervisor, Steve Kullback and Joe Bauer, with a series of tests presenting photoreal CG horses and riders colliding with other horses, rendered from various points of view..

.Battle of the Bastards is shocking in its audacity,. said Kullback. .More shocking still that we pulled it...

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A look behind the scenes of Game Of Thrones season 6 at what went into creating its biggest, most impressive battle yet. Spoilers…

A 25-day shoot, 500 extras, 70 horses, 4 camera crews, a budget rumoured to be in excess of $10 million. That’s what it took to make Game Of Thrones’ Battle of the Bastards.

The figures though, only tell half the story. It takes more than cash and resources to create satisfying, character-driven action on that scale. You also need expertise, experience and the following...

Trust in your director

When Battle Of The Bastards director Miguel Sapochnik emailed the Game Of Thrones producers to suggest going ‘off-book’ for three days to shoot a non-scripted episode sequence, he fully expected to be told where to go. “Dan and David like their scripts executed the way they wrote them, and with good reason” he told Entertainment Weekly.

Sapochnik’s teams had...

From BAFTA to DGA, the Latest Winners this Awards Season

With the Oscars upon us, the awards season is almost over! But the last trek to the Academy Awards include many guild awards and of course, BAFTA! So here.s the latest congratulatory awards list of the winners from BAFTA to DGA, from Annie to Ace and everything in between!

Your full BAFTA winners (winners are highlighted):

Best Film

Birdman Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, James W. Skotchdopole

Boyhood Richard Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland

The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson

The Imitation Game Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky, Teddy Schwarzman

The Theory Of Everything Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten

Director

Birdman Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Boyhood Richard Linklater

The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson

The Theory Of Everything James Marsh

Whiplash Damien Chazelle

Leading Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch The Imitation Game

Eddie Redmayne The Theory of Everything...

The Visual Effects Society has announced the winners of the 13th Annual Ves Awards.

Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host to the more than 1000 guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate VFX talent in 23 awards categories.

Big Hero 6 was the big winner of the evening garnering five awards. The teams from Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (feature film), Game of Thrones (broadcast) and Sse (commercial) led the wins in their respective categories, taking home three awards each.

Zoe Saldana made a crowd-pleasing presentation to her Star Trek: Into Darkness director, award-winning writer-director-producer J.J. Abrams, recipient of the Ves Visionary Award.

Winners of the 13th Annual Ves Awards are as follows:

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...

The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominations for the 13th Annual Ves awards "the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on-the-keys artists who bring this work to life."

Ves members selected the nominees and Laika's "The Boxtrolls," Disney's "Big Hero 6," and Fox's "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" topped the nominations receiving 5 nods each.

The Visual Effects Society (Ves) is a global professional honorary society and the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, technologists, model makers, educators, studio executives, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers. Ves. almost 3,000 members in 33 countries worldwide contribute to all areas of entertainment . film, television, commercials, animation, music videos, games and new media. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Ves has member Sections in Australia, Bay Area (CA), London,...

The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominees for its 13th Annual Ves Awards, which recognize outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Among the nominees — Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, Maleficent, The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies and X-Men: Days Of Future Past – for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture. The awards will be held February 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. See the complete list below.

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 Blanchini

Guardians of the Galaxy

Stephane Ceretti

Susan Pickett

Jonathan Fawkner

Nicolas Aithadi

Paul Corbould

Interstellar

Paul Franklin

Kevin Elam

Ann Podlozny

Andrew Lockley

Scott Fisher

Maleficent

Carey Villegas...

HBO’s Game of Thrones won its third-consecutive Emmy for outstanding special and visual effects. It topped a slate of nominees that included Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, Almost Human, The 100 and Marvel’s Agents of Shield. The team that won Emmys for Game of Thrones were JoeBauer, lead VFX supervisor; Joern Grosshans, VFX supervisor; Steve Kullback, lead VFX producer; Adam Chazen ,VFX coordinator; Eric Carney, previs lead; Sabrina Gerhardt, VFX animation producer; Matthew Rouleau, CG supervisor; Thomas H. Schelesny, CG sequence supervisor; and Robert Simon, concept designer. Black Sails won the Emmy for supporting special and visual effects. For the full list of tonight's Creative Arts Emmys winners, click here.

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Game of Thrones arguably concluded season 4 with its strongest finale yet, which is what showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss promised last week. In fact, the duo are so proud of this hour, it’s the only episode this season that they are submitting for Emmy consideration in the writing category. Below, the showrunners talk about a few of the finale’s twists and turns, with more to come tomorrow.

Entertainment Weekly: Let’s talk The Hound fighting Brienne. What inspired that clash?

David Benioff: It felt right to us, these two pairings: The Hound and Arya; Brienne and Pod.

Yesterday night, the Visual Effect Society held their 12th annual awards show, and surprising no one, Alfonso Cuaron’s Oscar hopeful Gravity was the big winner. The film took home six Ves awards, making it by far the dominant feature on display. This obviously furthers the chances of it taking home the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, but we can all agree that it was already pretty much a lock to win there. The only other feature competing in that category that made any dent at the awards was The Lone Ranger, which won Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture. As for Gravity’s half dozen wins, they were in the categories of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture (their version of Best Picture, basically), Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture,...

Today was a busy day for some of the smaller guilds with the Visual Effects Society, the Cinema Audio Society, and the Makeup and Hairstylists Guilds all announcing their nominations for 2013.

First, we have the Ves, whose main category to look at is “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture,” where we find Gravity and four other nominees that are just going to have to be happy with the fact that they got nominated. This is perhaps the easiest category to call in the entirety of awards season, and I don’t mean just here, but for the Oscar as well (Last year’s winner, Life of Pi, easily took this category before going on to claim the Oscar). It’s true that films like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and Star Trek Into Darkness had outstanding effects as well, but nothing even came close to the amazing,...

A week before the 65th annual Primetime Emmy Awards rock the entertainment industry, nearly 80 awards were scheduled to be presented at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony Sunday (Sept. 15) at the Nokia Theatre. Fxx will air an edited version of the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony on Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. Et.

HBO's "Behind the Candelabra" unsurprisingly took home a number of awards, while Bob Newhart won his first career Emmy for guest-starring on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."

Here is the full list of winners:

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series - 2013: Carrie Preston, as Elsbeth Tascioni on "The Good Wife"

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series - 2013: Dan Bucatinsky, as James Novack on "Scandal"

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series - 2013: Melissa Leo, as Laurie on "Louie"

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series - 2013: Bob Newhart, as Arthur Jeffries/Professor Proton...

HBO‘s Game of Thrones is well known for its amazing production values, with unrivaled locations and a voluminous cast. Sometimes, though, the location and cast aren’t enough to convey the vast, epic sights and numbers required for the series. No worries, of course, because they have SpinVFX on board, with the most spectacular, seamless visual effects ever produced for a series.

We’re happy to share the latest gasp-inducing featurette released by the company, which showcases highlights of their Season 3 work, along with a press release giving credit where it’s due.

Featurette: Game of Thrones – Season 3 by Spin VFX

Over the Wall

Aug, 9 2013

Spin announces their work on Season 3 of HBO’s Game of Thrones

“We thank HBO and the VFX Production team for the opportunity to work on such a challenging and rewarding production as Game of Thrones. We are extremely proud of the work that...

Life of Pi has taken the top prize at the Visual Effects Society Awards, tying with Brave and Game of Thrones with four awards in total.

Among its awards, Life of Pi was honored for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture, while director Ang Lee also received the Ves Visionary Award, presented by visual effects designer Dennis Muren. Actor Harrison Ford also presented veteran visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund with the Ves Lifetime Achievement Award.

Disney-Pixar's Brave scooped the animated film categories while HBO series Game of Thrones dominated the TV categories.

However, Australian effects company Fuel VFX lost out in both categories it was nominated in: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture for its work on Prometheus (both categories won by Life of Pi).

The Winners

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven...

The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominees for their 11th Annual Ves Awards. From film to animation to television to commercials and video games, the Ves Awards honor the outstanding visual effects artistry.

"Life of Pi's" Ang Lee will be honored with the Visionary Award. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, February 5, at the Beverly Hilton.

Here's the complete list of nominees; for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, click here:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Joe Letteri

Eileen Moran

Eric Saindon

Kevin L. Sherwood

Prometheus

Paul Butterworth

Charley Henley

Allen Maris

Richard Stammers

Life of Pi

Thomas Fisher

Susan Macleod

Guillaume Rocheron

Bill Westenhofer

The Avengers

Susan Pickett

Janek Sirrs

Jeff White

Guy Williams

Battleship

Grady Cofer

Pablo Helman

Jeanie King

Glen Mcintosh

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

Rust and Bone

Béatrice Bauwens...

Fuel VFX has received two award nominations from the Visual Effects Society.

The.peer-voted accolade for the company's work on Ridley Scott.s Prometheus follows the near-collapse of the VFX house, which was saved in October 2012 when Animal Logic acquired its assets.

Fuel co-founder Paul Butterworth was nominated for .Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture. for Prometheus (alongside non-Fuel nominations Charley Henley, Allen Maris and Richard Stammers).

The Fuel team of Xavier Bourque, Sam Cole, Simone Riginell and Denis Scolan - representing the hard work of all 16 compositors who worked on the film at the company - were nominated for Prometheus (Engineers & the Orrery) in the "Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture" category.

Fuel has also provided effects on a number of Marvel films including Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Fuel continues to run from its Newtown, Sydney-based offices where Animal Logic...

Winter is coming ... and so are the "Game of Thrones" Season 2 DVD and Blu-ray sets. HBO announced their release date -- Feb. 13, 2013 -- and all the juicy bonus features they will include.

Here are the official descriptions of both sets:

Blu-ray with HBO Select -- includes all DVD features, plus the following:

War of the Five Kings: Track the claims, strategies and key players involved in the battle for the Iron Throne with this interactive guide that follows the movements of various armies detailing their victories and defeats.

Histories & Lore: 19 animated histories detailing the mythology of Westeros and Essos as told from the varying perspectives of the characters themselves and featuring, in part, illustrations from "Game of Thrones" storyboard artist Will Simpson.

In-Episode Guide: In-feature resource that provides background information about on-screen characters, locations and relevant histories.

Hidden Dragon Eggs: Find the hidden dragon eggs to uncover even more never-before-seen content.

Showtime series Homeland swept the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards netting popular awards for Damien Lewis (Best Actor), Claire Danes (Best Actress), and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Best Drama Series.

The Primetime wins helped Homeland secure its place as the Emmy's surprise hit of 2012. Lewis beat out Emmy favourites Jon Hamm and Bryan Cranston, who himself won the award twice for his role as Walter White in AMC.s Breaking Bad.

HBO.s Game Change tied with Homeland with four awards won, including Jay Roach.s Best Director for a Miniseries and Outstanding Miniseries. Combined with the Creative Arts Emmy wins, Homeland won a collective six awards this Emmy season.

Despite Showtime.s popular wins, HBO came out on top earning six awards in total for their programs nominated. ABC came soon after with five awards with its flagship show Modern Family earning an Outstanding Directing for a...

Well, this is a shocker: "American Horror Story" has tied "Mad Men" to lead the nominees for 2012 Emmys with 17 nominations each. It did so in the category of "Miniseries or Movie" rather than "Drama Series", but we'll take it. Read on to learn what other genre shows are in the running - yes, "The Walking Dead" makes an appearance!

For the full rundown of all the talented nominees, visit the official Emmys website, and be sure to watch the live broadcast of the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards on ABC on Sunday, September 23rd, at 7:00 Pm Et/4:00 Pm Pt.

Outstanding Drama Series

"Game Of Thrones" • HBO • Bighead, Littlehead, Generator Productions, Television 360, and Grok Television in association with HBO Entertainment

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan

"Dexter" • Showtime • Showtime Presents, John Goldwyn Productions, The Colleton Company, Devilina Productions

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A...

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" wowed voters at the 7th annual Visual Effects Society Awards! The Brad Pitt-starrer won 4 awards including visual effect in a visual-effects driven motion picture, and best single visual effect of the year.

"Button's" director, David Fincher was honored with the Ves Lifetime Achievement award.

What about "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-e?" Both films took home awards as well! Click Read More to see the complete list of winners.

Visual Effects Winners:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture

"Changeling"

Michael Owens, Geoffrey Hancock, Jinnie Pak, Dennis Hoffman

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture

Wall-e

Andrew Stanton, Jim Morris, Lindsey Collins, Nigel Hardwidge

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special

John Adams . Join or Die

Steve Kullback,...

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" took home four nods at the seventh annual Ves Awards, including outstanding visual effects in a visual effects-driven motion picture.

The Visual Effects Society's annual awards dinner, held Saturday night at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, doled out three awards each to "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-e."

David Fincher, "Button's" director, presented that film's producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall with the Vew Lifetime Achievement Award. Ilm's Dennis Murren presented Phil Tippett with the Georges Melies Award.

A complete list of winners can be found on the next page.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture

Changeling

Michael Owens, Geoffrey Hancock, Jinnie Pak, Dennis Hoffman

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture

Wall-e

Andrew Stanton, Jim Morris, Lindsey Collins,...

With five nominations, "Iron Man" leads the list for the seventh annual Ves Awards, which were chosen Saturday by panels comprised of members of the Visual Effects Society.

The Marvel Studios-produced superhero movie was cited in the categories of visual effects in a visual effects-driven movie, best single visual effect of the year, outstanding animated character in a live-action movie, outstanding models and miniatures in a feature, and outstanding special effects in a movie. The nominees cited for "Iron Man" are Ben Snow, Hal Hickel, Victoria Alonso and John Nelson.

Its competition for the best visual effects in a visual effects-driven movie honor are "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (Wendy Rogers, Dean Wright, Andrew Fowler, Greg Butler), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud), "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Michael J. Wassel, Lucy Killick, Adrian de Wet, Eamonn Butler) and "Cloverfield" (Kevin Blank,...