Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture

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

CLOVERFIELD
Kevin Blank, Chantal Feghali, Michael Ellis, Eric Leven

IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Hal Hickel, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture

CHANGELING
Michael Owens, Geoffrey Hancock, Jinnie Pak, Dennis Hoffman

EAGLE EYE
Jim Rygiel, Jim Berney, Crys Forsyth-Smith, David Smith

VALKYRIE
Richard R. Hoover, Maricel Pagulayan, Peter Nofz, Daniel Eaton

NIM’S ISLAND
Camille Cellucci, Scott Gordon, Fred Pienkos, James Straus

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
Mark Russell, Richard Friedlander, Eric Robertson, Brett Miller

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture

BOLT - The Chase
Chris Williams, Byron Howard, John Murrah, Doug Bennett

KUNG FU PANDA - Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting - The Animation of Kung Fu Panda
Markus Manninen, Dan Wagner, Alex Parkinson, Raymond Zibach

A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH - Piella’s Mansion
Nick Park, Steve Pegram, Dave Alex Riddett, David McCormick

WALL-E
Andrew Stanton, Jim Morris, Lindsey Collins, Nigel Hardwidge

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year

CLOVERFIELD - Statue of Liberty Crash and Woolworth Tower Collapse
Michael Ellis, Chantal Feghali, David Vickery, Ben Taylor

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin’s Secret
Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Steve Preeg, Jonathan Litt

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL - Newborn Klaatu
Jeffrey A. Okun, R. Christopher White, Thomas M. Boland, Ben Thompson

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL - Valley Destruction
Stephanie Hornish, Pablo Helman, Jeff White, Craig Hammack

IRON MAN
Ben Snow, Wayne Billheimer, Victoria Alonso, John Nelson

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin Button
Steve Preeg, Matthias Wittmann, Tom St. Amand, David McLean

HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY - Elemental Sequence
Colin McEvoy, Christoph Ammann

IRON MAN
Hal Hickel, Bruce Holcomb, James Tooley, John Walker

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES - Hogsqueal
Todd Labonte, Michael Brunet, Nathan Fredenburg, Aharon Bourland

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture

BOLT - Various Sequences - Bolt
Becky Bresee, Bob Davies, Renato Dos Anjos, Wayne Unten Jr.

BOLT - Various Sequences - Rhino
Adam Dykstra, Dave Gottlieb, Clay Kaytis, Hyrum Osmond

KUNG FU PANDA - This Kung Fu Stuff is Hard Work - The Animation of Po
Jack Black, Dan Wagner, Nico Marlet, Peter Farson

WALL-E - WALL-E and Eve Truck Sequence
Ben Burtt, Victor Navone, Austin Lee, Jay Shuster

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

BOLT - Various Sequences
John Murrah, Michael Kaschalk, Dale Mayeda, Adolph Lusinsky

KUNG FU PANDA - The Secret Ingredient - Visual Effects of Kung Fu Panda
Markus Manninen, Alex Parkinson, Amaury Aubel, Lawrence Lee

MADAGASCAR ESCAPE 2 AFRICA - Effects in Africa
Scott Peterson, Laurent Kermel, Andrew Wheeler, Greg Gladstone

WALL-E - Effects in WALL-E
Jason Johnston, Keith Daniel Klohn, Enrique Vila, Bill Watral

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture

CHANGELING - 1928 Downtown L.A.
Romain Bayle, Abel Milanes, Allan Lee, Debor Dunphy

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Richard Bluff, Barry Williams, Yanick Dusseault, Yusei Uesugi

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK - Matte Paintings
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

SPEED RACER - Overall Matte Painting Presentation
Lubo Hristov, Dennis Martin, Ron Crabb

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture

THE DARK KNIGHT - Garbage Truck Crash Models and Miniatures
Ian Hunter, Forest Fischer, Branden Seifert, Adam Gelbart

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
David Fogler, Craig Hammack, Brian Gernand, Geoff Heron

IRON MAN - Suit Up Machine
Aaron McBride, Russell Paul, Gerald Gutschmidt, Keiji Yamaguchi

MY DARLING OF THE MOUNTAINS - Hot Springs
Taro Kiba, Kenji Nagatani, Yuki Minagawa, Hideo Udo

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture

CLOVERFIELD - Brooklyn Bridge Sequence
David Vickery, Phil Johnson, Victor Wade, Sean Stranks

THE DARK KNIGHT - IMAX Gotham City Scapes
Peter Bebb, David Vickery, Philippe Leprince, Andrew Lockley

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL - Temple Heart
Michael Halsted, David Fogler, Steve Walton, David Weitzberg

THE MUMMY - TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR - Avalanche Sequence
Mike Meaker, Rich Mahon, Jason Iverson, Sho Hasegawa

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK - Created Environment
Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton, Matthew Conner

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, PRINCE CASPIAN
Stuart Lashley, Arundi Asregadoo, Mark Curtis, Richard Baker

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin Comes Together
Janelle Croshaw, Paul Lambert, Sonja Burchard, Sarahjane Javelo

IRON MAN - Head Under Display - HUD Compositing
Jonathan Rothbart, Dav Rauch, Kyle McCulloch, Kent Seki

QUANTUM OF SOLACE - Sienna Chase and Fight Sequence
Anthony Smith, Christian Kaestner, Adrian Metzelaar, Jon Thum

Outstanding Special Effects in a Motion Picture

THE DARK KNIGHT
Chris Corbould, Peter Notley, Ian Lowe

THE DARK KNIGHT - Garbage Truck Crash Mechanical Effects
Scott Beverly, Robert Spurlock, Jon Warren, Brian Kelly Hahn

DEFIANCE - Special Effects
Neil Corbould, Steve Warner, Anne Maria Walters, Alan Young

That doesn't bode well for The Dark Knight, really.

Cloverfield did very well and would have been a deserving Oscar-mnominee,. Too bad it didn't make it to the final five.

Looks to me like Iron Man and Benjamin Button are assured. The 3rd spot is between Hellboy II and TDK with the former having a slight edge.

Looks like the VES wasn't on crack (cough VFX branch of the Academy) when they did their noms. I like these a lot.

CLOVERFIELD!!!!

It really should win the Oscar; far more effective use of FX than any other movie I saw this year.

I agree, but I like that they did nominate the Indiana Jones valley sequence, which was one of the most impressive single shots of the year in my view.

Hmm, the nuclear mushroom cloud looked best, IMO.

That too.

In the end I would go

Cloverfield
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
and
Indiana Jones

for best effects of the year.

Not saying that those will be nominated for Oscar.

There's some cool stuntwork in The Dark Knight and some okay practical effects, but there doesn't seem to be anything that really stands out (and the CG in the film is not very good IMO... the helocopter... urgh).

I think the magic of Iron Man and Hellboy is in costumes and art direction (the later).

The monkeys/Shai scene killed my perception of the film's otherwise good effects.


Maybe not the best, but definitely the best-utilized and most impressive are the effects in Cloverfield.

I agree... but the problem was that most people at this point were in the whole "aliens...why'd it have to be aliens?" stage, so they didn't appreciate it.

Overall, Indy had good FX, but not among the year's best.

winners

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:
Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Movie
Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
Best Animated Character in a Live Action Movie
Best Compositing

The Dark Knight:
Best Models & Miniatures
Best Created Environment
Best Special Effects

Wall-E
Best Character Animation
Best Effects Animation
Outstanding animation

Changeling
Best Supporting Visual Effects