Awards Watch: 2012 Visual Effects Society Awards

The Visual Effects Society (VES) have announced their 2012 awards winners and Paramount have dominated with their animated feature, Rango, taking home four awards, followed by Hugo and Transformers: Dark of the Moon with two each. 20th Century Fox and their Oscar front-runner for the Visual Effects Award, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, also won two. Interestingly, The Adventures of Tintin, which was nominated six times across four categories, leading all nominees, failed to win a single award. Here are the complete list of winners, and I think it is hard to argue with the selections.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, Kurt Williams

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Hugo: Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, Karen Murphy

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango: Tim Alexander, Hal Hickel, Jacqui Lopez, Katie Lynch

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Caesar: Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango – Rango: Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 155 Wacker Drive: Giles Hancock, John Hanson, Tom Martinek, Scott Younkin

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango – Main Street Dirt: John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy, Russell Paul

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Hugo: Martin Chamney, Rob Legato, Adam Watkins, Fabio Zangla

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Rango – The Dirt Saloon: Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda, Nick Walker

Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture
Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Driller: Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, David Fogler, Rene Garcia

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
Captain America: The First Avenger – Skinny Steve: Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek, Cliff Welsh

What are your thoughts on these selections? Will Rango take out Best Animated Feature, and will Rise of the Planet of the Apes take out Best Visual Effects at the Oscars later in the month?