Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting from 2004. The award was originally titled "Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture", and changed in 2007 to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture". It was again changed in 2009, this time to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture", and again in 2011 to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture". Before its final change in 2015, to its current title, it was re-titled in 2014 to "Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture".

Winners and nominees[]

2000s[]

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2004 ^[1]	Spider-Man 2	NYC Street - Night	Dan Abrams, David Emery, Andrew Nawrot and John Hart
	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason		Rick Leary, Jody Johnson and Pieter Warmington
	I, Robot		Rachael Haupt, Mark Tait Lewis, Nick McKenzie and Geoff Tobin
	The Phantom of the Opera	Opening Shot	Claas Henke, Laurent Ben-Mimoun and Anupam Das
2005 ^[2]^[3]	King Kong	New York Dawn Attack	Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Matt Aiken and Charles Tait
	Batman Begins	Gotham City Monorail Chase	Alex Wuttke, Pete Bebb, Dayne Cowan and Imery Watson
	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Black Lake	Andy Kind, Ivan Moran, Rob Allman and Justin Martin
	Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith		Jonathan Harb, Hilmar Koch, Yannick Dusseault and Brett Northcutt
2006 ^[4]^[5]	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest		Chris Stoski, Susumu Yukuhiro, Jack Mongovan and Greg Salter
	Mission: Impossible III		Russell Earl, Richard Bluff, Giles Hancock and Dennis Martin
	Poseidon		Mohen Leo, Daniel Pearson, Willi Geiger and Matt Brumit

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2007 ^[6]^[7]	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	The Maelstrom	Frank Losasso Petterson, Paul Sharpe, Joakim Arnesson and David Meny
	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	The Hall of Prophecy	David Vickery, Philippe LePrince, Trina Roy and Jolene McCaffrey
	I Am Legend	Times Square Hunt	Daniel Eaton, Blaine Kennison, Ron Glass and Daveed Schwartz
	Rush Hour 3		Barry Williams, Robert Weaver, Jay Cooper and Masahiko Tani
	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	The Old Bailey	Raf Morant, Julian Glass, Nakia McGlynn and Christine Wong
	Zodiac	Washington and Cherry	Wei Zheng, Greg Szafranski, Janelle Croshaw and Karl Denham

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2008 ^[8]^[9]	The Dark Knight	IMAX Gotham City Scapes	Peter Bebb, David Vickery, Philippe Leprince and Andrew Lockley
	Cloverfield	Brooklyn Bridge Sequence	David Vickery, Phil Johnson, Victor Wade and Sean Stranks
	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	Temple Heart	Michael Halsted, David Fogler, Steve Walton and David Weitzberg
	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	Avalanche Sequence	Mike Meaker, Rich Mahon, Jason Iverson and Sho Hasegawa
	Synecdoche, New York	Created Environment	Brett Miller, Garrett Eaton and Matthew Conner
2009 ^[10]^[11]	Avatar	Jungle/Biolume	Eric Saindon, Shadi Almassizadeh, Dan Cox and Ula Rademeyer
	Avatar	Floating Mountains	Dan Lemmon, Keith F. Miller, Cameron Smith and Jessica Cowley
	Avatar	Willow Glade	Guy Williams, Thelvin Cabezas, Daniel Macarin and Miae Kang
	2012	Los Angeles Destruction	Haarm-Pieter Duiker, Marten Larsson, Ryo Sakaguchi and Hanzhi Tang

2010s[]

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2010 ^[12]^[13]	Inception	Paris Dreamscape	Bruno Baron, Dan Neal, Graham Page and Per Mork-Jensen
	Iron Man 2	Stark Expo	Giles Hancock, Richard Bluff, Todd Vaziri and Aaron McBride
	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Sand Room	Jonathan Litt, Juan S. Gomez, Kevin Sears and Sonja Burchard
	Tron: Legacy	Disc Game	Jonathan Litt, Juan S. Gomez, Kevin Sears and Sonja Burchard

Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2011 ^[14]^[15]	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	155 Wacker Drive	Giles Hancock, John Hansen, Tom Martinek and Scott Younkin
	Anonymous	London	André Cantarel, Robert Freitag, Greg Strasz and Rony Soussan
	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	Hogwarts	Keziah Bailey, Stephen Ellis, Clement Gerard and Pietro Ponti
	Thor	Bifröst	Pierre Buffin, Audrey Ferrara, Yoel Godo and Dominique Vidal
2012 ^[16]^[17]	The Avengers	Midtown Manhattan	Richard Bluff, Barry Williams, David Meny and Andy Proctor
	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Goblin Caverns	Ryan Arcus, Simon Jung, Alastair Maher and Anthony M. Patti
	Life of Pi	Open Ocean	Jason Bayever, Sho Hasegawa, Jimmy Jewell and Walt Jones
	Prometheus	LV-233	Julien Bolbach, Marco Genovesi, Martin Riedel and Marco Rolandi
2013 ^[18]^[19]	Gravity	Exterior	Paul Beilby, Kyle Mcculloch, Stuart Penn and Ian Comley
	Elysium	Torus	Votch Levi, Joshua Ong and Barry Poon
	Gravity	Interior	Harry Bardak, Nathan Walster, Jonathan Fawkner and Claire Michaud
	Iron Man 3	Shipyard	John Stevenson-Galvin, Greg Notzelman, Paul Harris and Justin Stockton
	Pacific Rim	Hong Kong Ocean Brawl	Colin Benoit, Nick Walker, Adam Schnitzer and Victor Schutz

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2014 ^[20]^[21]	Interstellar	Teseract	Tom Bracht, Graham Page, Thomas Døhlem and Kristy Clark
	Captain America: The Winter Soldier	Triskelion	Johan Thorngren, Greg Kegel, Quentin Marmier and Luis Calero
	Lucy	Times Square	Richard Bluff, Steve Bevins, Steve DeLuca and Tiffany Young
	Noah	Antediluvian Earth	Grady Cofer, Dan Wheaton, Susumu Yukuhiro and Ben O'Brien

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2015 ^[22]^[23]	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	Falcon Chase/Graveyard	Yannick Dusseault, Mike Wood, Justin van der Lek and Quentin Marmier
	Ant-Man	The Microverse	Florian Witzel, Taylor Shaw, Alexis Hall and Heath Kraynak
	Jurassic World	Jungle Chase	Martyn Culpitt, Jao Sita, Yuta Shimizu and Michael Billette
	Tomorrowland	Tomorrowland Center	Barry Williams, Greg Kegel, Quentin Marmier and Thang Lee
	The Walk	World Trade Center	Jim Gibbs, Brian Flora, Laurent Tallefer and Pavel Kolar
2016 ^[24]^[25]	Doctor Strange	New York City	Adam Watkins, Martinjn van Herk, Tim Belsher and Jon Mitchell
	Deadpool	Freeway Assault	Seth Hill, Jedediah Smith, Laurent Taillefer and Marc-Antoine Paquin
	Doctor Strange	London	Brendan Seals, Raphael A. Pimentel, Andrew Zink and Gregory Ng
	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story	Scarif Complex	Enrico Damm, Kevin George, Olivier Vernay-Kim and Yannick Dusseault
2017 ^[26]^[27]	Blade Runner 2049	Los Angeles	Chris McLaughlin, Ryan Salcombe, Seungjin Woo and Francesco Dell'Anna
	Blade Runner 2049	Trash Meca	Didier Muanza, Thomas Gillet, Guillaume Mainville and Sylvain Lorgeau
	Blade Runner 2049	Vegas	Eric Noel, Arnaud Saibron, Adam Goldstein and Pascal Clement
	War for the Planet of the Apes	Hidden Fortress	Greg Notzelman, James Shaw, Jay Renner and Gak Gyu Choi
	War for the Planet of the Apes	Prison Camp	Phillip Leonhardt, Paul Harris, Jeremy Fort and Thomas Lo
2018 ^[28]^[29]	Ready Player One	Overlook Hotel	Mert Yamak, Stanley Wong, Joana Garrido, Daniel Gagiu
	Ant-Man and the Wasp	Journey to the Quantum Realm	Florian Witzel, Harsh Mistri, Yuri Serizawa, Can Yuksel
	Aquaman	Atlantis	Quentin Marmier, Aaron Barr, Jeffrey De Guzman, Ziad Shureih
	Solo: A Star Wars Story	Vandor Planet	Julian Foddy, Christoph Ammann, Clement Gerard, Pontus Albrecht
2019 ^[30]^[31]	The Lion King	The Pridelands	Marco Rolandi, Luca Bonatti, Jules Bodenstein, Filippo Preto
	Aladdin	Agrabah	Daniel Schmid, Falk Boje, Stanislaw Marek, Kevin George
	Alita: Battle Angel	Iron City	John Stevenson-Galvin, Ryan Arcus, Mathias Larserud, Mark Tait
	Motherless Brooklyn	Penn Station	John Bair, Vance Miller, Sebastian Romero, Steve Sullivan
	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	Pasaana	Daniele Bigi, Steve Hardy, John Seru, Steven Denyer

2020s[]

Year	Film	Environment	Nominee(s)
2020 ^[32]	Mulan	'Imperial City	Jeremy Fort, Matt Fitzgerald, Ben Walker, Adrian Vercoe
	Bloodshot	Neuralspace	Arbanud Brisebois, Patrick Bacon, Dawid Borkiewicz, Gérôme Viavant
	The Eight Hundred	1937 Shanghai Downtown	Sefano Cieri, Aaron Auty, Simon Carlile, Patrick Zentis
	The Eight Hundred	Shanghai Warehouse District	Jamie Macdougall, Mark Honer, David Pekarek

Films with Multiple Nominations[]

3 Nominations

Avatar
Blade Runner 2049

2 Nominations

External links[]

Visual Effects Society

References[]

^ Variety Staff (February 17, 2005). "'Aviator,' Spidey win effects hardware". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 16, 2006). "'War,' 'Kong' top visual effects kudos". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ "Animator, Gorilla and War Top VES Awards" (PDF). Visual Effects Society. VES. February 15, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Gregg Kilday (January 9, 2007). "VES works up effects noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 11, 2007). "'Pirates' plunders visual f/x awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (January 6, 2008). "VES sailing with 'Pirates'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 10, 2008). "'Transformers,' ILM light up VES". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ ComingSoon (January 20, 2009). "Iron Man Leads VES Awards Nominees". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 21, 2009). "'Button' tops Visual Effects Awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Susan King (January 19, 2010). "'Avatar' grabs 11 VES Awards nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 28, 2010). "VES honors 'Avatar'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Peter Knegt (January 10, 2011). ""Inception" Leads Visual Effects Society Award Nominations". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Nikki Finke (February 1, 2011). "Visual Effects Awards: 'Inception' Wins 4, 'How To Train Your Dragon' 3". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Susan King (January 9, 2012). "'Tintin' and HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' lead Visual Effects nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2012). "'Apes,' 'Hugo,' 'Transformers 3' Win Two Categories Each at VES Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Rahim Zahed (January 7, 2013). "VES Award Nominees Are Announced". Animation Magazine. Jean Thoren. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2013). "VES Awards 2013: 'Life of Pi' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ The Deadline Team (January 14, 2014). "'Gravity' Leads With 8 VES Awards Nominations; 'Pacific Rim' Nabs 6". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Bill Desowitz (February 13, 2014). "'Gravity,' 'Frozen' Big VES Awards Winners". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ The Deadline Team (January 13, 2015). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Bill Desowitz (February 4, 2015). "Big Hero 6 is the Big Hero with 5 Awards; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Tops the Feature Film Category; Game of Thrones and SSE Lead in Broadcast and Commercial Wins". StudioDaily. Access Intelligence. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Margaret Lenker (January 12, 2016). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 3, 2016). "VES Awards Winners: 'Star Wars' Takes Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ RT Staff (January 10, 2017). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2017). "'The Jungle Book' Takes Top Visual Effects Society Honors". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Erik Pedersen (January 16, 2018). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Blade Runner 2049' & Latest 'Apes' Lead Film; 'Thrones' Rules All With 11 Noms". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Erik Pedersen, Diane Haithman (February 13, 2018). "VES Awards: 'Apes', 'Coco' & 'Thrones' Dominate VFX Nods – Full Winners List". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^ Carolyn Giardina (January 15, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: 'Infinity War' Leads Feature Noms; 'Black Panther,' 'Mary Poppins Returns' Snubbed". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Patrick Hipes (January 7, 2020). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (January 29, 2020). "'The Lion King' Wins Top Honor at Visual Effects Society Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Pederson, Erik (March 2, 2021). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Tenet', 'Midnight Sky', 'Extraction', 'Soul' & 'Mandalorian' Among Titles In Visual Effects Hunt". Deadline. Retrieved March 2, 2021.

[1] Variety Staff (February 17, 2005). "'Aviator,' Spidey win effects hardware". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[2] Variety Staff (February 16, 2006). "'War,' 'Kong' top visual effects kudos". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[3] "Animator, Gorilla and War Top VES Awards" (PDF). Visual Effects Society. VES. February 15, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[4] Gregg Kilday (January 9, 2007). "VES works up effects noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[5] Variety Staff (February 11, 2007). "'Pirates' plunders visual f/x awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[6] Variety Staff (January 6, 2008). "VES sailing with 'Pirates'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[7] Variety Staff (February 10, 2008). "'Transformers,' ILM light up VES". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[8] ComingSoon (January 20, 2009). "Iron Man Leads VES Awards Nominees". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[9] Variety Staff (February 21, 2009). "'Button' tops Visual Effects Awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[10] Susan King (January 19, 2010). "'Avatar' grabs 11 VES Awards nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[11] Variety Staff (February 28, 2010). "VES honors 'Avatar'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[12] Peter Knegt (January 10, 2011). ""Inception" Leads Visual Effects Society Award Nominations". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[13] Nikki Finke (February 1, 2011). "Visual Effects Awards: 'Inception' Wins 4, 'How To Train Your Dragon' 3". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[14] Susan King (January 9, 2012). "'Tintin' and HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' lead Visual Effects nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[15] Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2012). "'Apes,' 'Hugo,' 'Transformers 3' Win Two Categories Each at VES Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[16] Rahim Zahed (January 7, 2013). "VES Award Nominees Are Announced". Animation Magazine. Jean Thoren. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[17] Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2013). "VES Awards 2013: 'Life of Pi' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[18] The Deadline Team (January 14, 2014). "'Gravity' Leads With 8 VES Awards Nominations; 'Pacific Rim' Nabs 6". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[19] Bill Desowitz (February 13, 2014). "'Gravity,' 'Frozen' Big VES Awards Winners". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[20] The Deadline Team (January 13, 2015). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[21] Bill Desowitz (February 4, 2015). "Big Hero 6 is the Big Hero with 5 Awards; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Tops the Feature Film Category; Game of Thrones and SSE Lead in Broadcast and Commercial Wins". StudioDaily. Access Intelligence. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[22] Margaret Lenker (January 12, 2016). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[23] Carolyn Giardina (February 3, 2016). "VES Awards Winners: 'Star Wars' Takes Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[24] RT Staff (January 10, 2017). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[25] Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2017). "'The Jungle Book' Takes Top Visual Effects Society Honors". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[26] Erik Pedersen (January 16, 2018). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Blade Runner 2049' & Latest 'Apes' Lead Film; 'Thrones' Rules All With 11 Noms". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[27] Erik Pedersen, Diane Haithman (February 13, 2018). "VES Awards: 'Apes', 'Coco' & 'Thrones' Dominate VFX Nods – Full Winners List". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[28] Carolyn Giardina (January 15, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: 'Infinity War' Leads Feature Noms; 'Black Panther,' 'Mary Poppins Returns' Snubbed". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[29] Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[30] Patrick Hipes (January 7, 2020). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[31] Carolyn Giardina (January 29, 2020). "'The Lion King' Wins Top Honor at Visual Effects Society Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[32] Pederson, Erik (March 2, 2021). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Tenet', 'Midnight Sky', 'Extraction', 'Soul' & 'Mandalorian' Among Titles In Visual Effects Hunt". Deadline. Retrieved March 2, 2021.

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