VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY NOMINATIONS

Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture

Scott Benza, Wayne Billheimer, Matthew Butler and Scott Farrar (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Gary Brozenich, David Conley, Brian Gibson and Ben Snow (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides)

Tim Burke, Emma Norton, John Richardson and David Vickery (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs and Kurt Williams (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Charlie Noble, Mark G. Soper, Christopher Townsend and Edson Williams (Captain America: The First Avenger)

Best Supporting Visual Effects

Laya Armian, Chas Jarrett, Seth Maury and Sirio Quintavalle (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)

Duncan Burbidge, Ben Morris, Michael Mulholland and Christian Zeh (War Horse)

Andre Cantarel, Volker Engel, Rony Soussan and Marc Weigert (Anonymous)

Annie Godin and Louis Morin (Source Code)

Ben Grossman, Alex Henning, Robert Legato and Karen M. Murphy (Hugo)

Best Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture

Keziah Bailey, Stephen Ellis, Clement Gerard and Pietro Ponti – ‘Hogwarts’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Pierre Buffin, Audrey Ferrara, Yoel Godo and Dominique Vidal – ‘Heimdall’s Observatory’ (Thor)

Andre Cantarel, Robert Freitag, Rony Soussan and Greg Strasz – ‘London’ (Anonymous)

Giles Hancock, John Hansen, Tom Martinek and Scott Younkin – ‘155 Wacker Drive’ (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Best Compositing

Casey Allen, Trent Claus, Brian Hajek and Cliff Welsh (Captain America: The First Avenger)

Jean-Luc Azzis, Quentin Hema, Simon Jung and Christoph Salzmann (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Chris Balog, Ben O’Brien, Amy Shepard and Jeff Sutherland (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Michele Benigna, Martin Ciastko, Thomas Dyg and Andy Robinson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Best Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Motion Picture

Xavier Allard, Pierre Buffin and Nicolas Chevallier (Thor)

Michael Balog, Richard Bluff, Shawn Kelly and Jeff White (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Thelvin Cabezas, Mike Perry, R. Christopher White and Erik Winquist (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Martin Chamney, Robert Legato, Adam Watkins and Fabio Zangla (Hugo)

Best Models

Scott Beverly, Alan K. M. Faucher, Forest P. Fischer and Matthew Gratzner – 'Train Crash’ (Hugo)

Tim Brakensiek, Kelvin Chu, Dave Fogler and Rene Garcia – ‘Driller’ (Transformers: Dark of the Moon)

Steve Godfrey, Pietro Ponti, Tania Richard and Andy Warren – ‘Hogwarts School Buildings’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

John Goodson, Russell Paul, Kristian Pedlow and Victor Schutz – ‘Parking Garage’ (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol)

Best Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture

Yasanobu Arahori, Tom Brecht, Gavin Harrison and Chris Lentz – ‘Ukrainian Ironbelly’ (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean and Eric Reynolds – ‘Caesar’ (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

Lyndon Barrois, Fred Chapman, Greg Massie and Marco Menco – ‘Edvard / Adam’ (The Thing)

Anders J. L. Beer, Julian Foddy, Jody Johnson and David Lowry – ‘Paul’ (Paul)

Best Visual Effects in an Animated Motion Picture

Joe M. Aguilar, Guillaume Aretos, Ken Bielenberg and Chris Miller (Puss in Boots)

Tim Alexander, Hal T. Hickel, Jacqueline Lopez and Kathleen Lynch (Rango)

Jamie Beard, Joe Letteri, Meredith Meyer-Nichols and Eileen Moran (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

Melissa Cobb, Alex Parkinson, Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Raymond Zibach (Kung Fu Panda 2)

Doug Ikeler, Chris Juen, Alan Short and Mandy Tankenson (Arthur Christmas)

Best Created Environment in an Animated Motion Picture

Matt Aitken, Jeff Capogreco, Jason Lazaroff and Alessandro Mozzato – ‘Docks’ (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

Guillaume Aretos, Greg Lev, Brett Miller and Peter Zaslav – ‘The Cloud World’ (Puss in Boots)

Phil Barrenger, Keith Miller, Alessandro Saponi and Christoph Sprenger – ‘Pirate Battle’ (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

Hamish Beachman, Adam King, Wayne Stables and Mark Tait Lewis – ‘Bagghar’ (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

John Bell, Polly Ing, Martin Murphy and Russell Paul – ‘Main Street Dirt’ (Rango)

Best Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Motion Picture

Mahyar Abousaeedi, Sharon Calahan, Jeremy Lasky and and Jonathan Pytko (Cars 2)

Matt Aitken, Matthais Menz, Keith Miller and Wayne Stables (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

Colin Benoit, Philippe Rebours, Nelson Sepulveda and Nick Walker (Rango)

Michael Ford, David Morehead and Emi Tahira (Arthur Christmas)

Best Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture

Gino Acevedo, Gustav Ahren, Jamie Beard and Simon Clutterbuck – ‘Tintin’ (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn)

Antonio Banderas, Ludovic Bouancheau, Laurent Caneiro and Olivier Staphylas – ‘Puss’ (Puss in Boots)

Diana Diriwaechter, Aamir Karim, Lee Sang Jun and Sergio Pablos – ‘Nigel’ (Rio)

Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik and Steve Walton – ‘Rango’ (Rango)

Not much to say about these nominees - it's a little hard to argue with many of them. However, there is one thing in particular which strikes me as odd: The Tree of Life's absence. It's a big shame - that film had not only some of the most technically accomplished visual effects of the year, but also some of the most artistically creative. Also missing is X-Men: First Class - another disappointment. But these aren't bad overall.