The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society, starting in 2003. It is awarded to visual effects artists for their work in compositing. It has gone through several title changes over the years; from 2003 to 2012, the category included commercials in the category, before refocusing in 2013, specifically nominating television programs.
Winners and nominees 2000s Year Program/Commercial Episode(s) Nominees Network 2002Best Compositing in a Televised Program, Music Video, or Commercial Dinotopia Christian Manz, Pedro Sabrosa, Nicolas Cotta, Tor-Bjorn Olsson ABC Firefly "SerenityMarooned/Making Good" Loni Peristere, Emile Edwin Smith, Kristen Branan, Chris John Jones Fox Adidas: Mechanical Legs Eric Barba, Bernd Angerer, Jeff Julian, Feli di Giorgio 2003 Smallville "Accelerate" Eli Jarra, Ivan DeWolf, Brian Harding The WB Angels in America Stefano Trivelli HBO Battlestar Galactica Patti Gannon, Chris Jones, Sean Apple, Jarrod Davis Sci Fi 2004 Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets George Roper, Christian Manz, Sirio Quintavalle, Pedro Sabrosa Discovery Channel The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (Himalayan Pass Sequence) Greg Groenekamp, Joel Merritt, Mamie McCall TNT Smallville "Crisis" (Clark Kent Stops a Bullet Sequence) John Han, Eli Jarra, Noriaki Matsumoto, Terry Shigemitsu The WB 2005 Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program, Commercial, or Music Video Empire Stefano Trivelli, Michele Moen, Kelly Bumbarger, Sean Wilson ABC Into the West "Wheel to the Stars" Jared Jones, Jason Korber, Geeta Basantani, Ryan Dutour TNT Mezzo Djarum Robert Nederhorst, Marc Rienzo, Feliciano di Giorgio, Maciek Sokalski 2006 Travelers: Snowball Laure Lacroix, Lyse Beck, Steve McGillen, Matt Holland Battlestar Galactica "Resurrection Ship, Part 2" Lane Jolly, Don Kim, Matt Smith, Chris Zapara Sci Fi Coke: The Greatest Gift Murray Butler, MaryAnne Lauric, Nathan Hughes, Pedro Sabrosa ESPN: Sports Heaven Geoff McAuliffe, Yafei Wu, Robert Sethi, Jimi Simmons 2007 Nike: Leave Nothing James Allen, Rob TrentLevi's: Change Tim Davies, Jason Schugardt, Yuichiro Yamashito Smallville "Bizarro" (Flood) David Alexander, Kaz Yoshida, Geeta Basantani, Tony White The CW "Justice" Rob Reinhart, Jake Matsumoto, Takashi Takeoka, Christina Spring Tin Man "Into the Storm" Todd Thibault, Philippe Thibault, Lionel Lim, Annabelle Kent Sci Fi 2008Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial John Adams "Join or Die" (Boston Harbor) Paul Graff, Joshua LaCross, Matt Collorafice HBO Coke: It's Mine (Balloons) Angus Kneale, Dan Williams, Andrew Proctor FedEx: PIGEON (Pigeon) Andy Walker, Spencer Lueders, Maryane Butler, Murray Butler Toshiba: Time Sculpture Richard de Carterert, Paul Downes, Oliver Dadswell, John Price 2009 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation "Family Affair" (Opening Shot) Derek Smith, Christina Spring, Steve Meyer, Zach Zaubi CBS Kerry Lowlow: Mouse (Overall) Jake Mengers, Stephen Newbold, Kelly Bruce, Greg Howe-Davies Pepsi: The Flight of the Penguin Murray Butler, Ben Cronin, Andy Rowan-Robinson, Miyuki Shimamoto Porsche: Family Tree Tim Davies, Jeff Willette, Zach Tucker
2010s Year Program/Commercial Episode(s) Nominees Network 2010 The Pacific "Peleliu Landing" Jeremy Nelson, John P. Mesa, Dan Novy, Tyler Cote HBO Boardwalk Empire "Boardwalk Empire" Paul Graff, Brian Sales, Jesse Siglow, Merysa Nichols HBO Drench: Cubehead Matthew Unwin, Lisa Ryan, Michael Gregory Travelers: Watering Hole Franck Lamberts, Ryan Kowles 2011 Boardwalk Empire "Gimcrack & Bunkum" Anton Dawson, Eran Dinur, Austin Meyers, David Reynolds HBO Any World: Jeep: Call of Duty: MW3 Jason Bergman, Rodrigo Dorsch, Steve Meyer, Peter Sidoriak Channel 4: Street Summer Stirling Archibald, Anthony Bloor, Michael Gregory, Giacomo Mineo DirecTV: Hot House Franck Lambertz 2012 Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program Game of Thrones "Valar Morghulis" (White Walker Army) Falk Boje, Esther Engel, Alexey Kuchinsky, Klaus Wuchta HBO Hell on Wheels "Blood Moon" Antonio Chang, Jason Fotter, Eric Hayden, Josh Miyaji AMC Hemingway & Gellhorn Nathan Abbot, Shelley Campbell, Chris Morley, Christopher Paizis HBO Last Resort "Captain" Matt Von Brock, Jason Fotter, Aldo Ruggiero, Brian Williams ABC 2013 Game of Thrones "The Climb" Kirk Brillon, Steve Gordon, Geoff Sayer, Winston Lee HBO Banshee "Pilot" Gevork Babityan, Andranik Taranyan, Matt Kelly, Matthieu Perin Cinemax Game of Thrones "The Rains of Castamere" (The Conquering of Yunkai) Sean Faden, Greg Szafranski, Florian Friedmann, Travis Nobles HBO Vikings "Dispossessed" Ovidiu Cinazan, Gary Couto, Marco Lee, Maria Gordon History 2014 Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program Game of Thrones "The Watchers on the Wall" Dan Breckwoldt, Martin Furman, Sophie Marfleet, Eric Andrusyszyn HBO American Horror Story: Freak Show "Edward Mordrake, Part 2" Tommy Tran, JV Pike, Rob Lutz, Matt Lefferts FX Game of Thrones (Wight Attack) Keegan Douglas, Okan Ataman, Brian Fortune, David Lopez HBO The Knick (Abigail's Nose) Vance Miller, Aaron Raff, John Bair, Rebecca Dunn Cinemax Vikings "Invasion" Ovidiu Cinazan, Gary Couto, Doug Cook, Angel Li History 2015 Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode Game of Thrones "Hardhome" Eduardo Diaz, Guillermo Orbe, Oscar Perea, Inmaculada Nadela HBO Game of Thrones "The Dance of Dragons" (Drogon Arena) Dmitry Ovcharenko, Igor Klimovsky, Egor Borschevsky, Vladimir Mikheyenko HBO "The House of Black and White" (Drogon Lair) Travis Nobles, Mark Spindler, Max Riess, Nadja Ding Vikings "To the Gates" Ovidiu Cinazan, Olivia Yapp, Greg Lamar, Meng Angel Li History 2016 Game of Thrones "Battle of the Bastards" (Retaking Winterfell) Dominic Hellier, Morgan Jones, Thijs Noij, Caleb Thompson HBO Black Sails "XX." (Sailing Ships) Michael Melchiorre, Kevin Bouchez, Heather Hoyland, John Brennick Starz Game of Thrones "Battle of the Bastards" (Meereen City) Thomas Montminy-Brodeur, Patrick David, Michael Crane, Joe Salazar HBO "The Door" (Beyond the Wall) Eduardo Diaz, Anibal Del Busto, Angel Rico, Sonsoles Lopez-Aranguren 2017 Game of Thrones "The Spoils of War" (Loot Train Attack) Dom Hellier, Thijs Noij, Edwin Holdsworth, Giacomo Matteucci HBO Game of Thrones "Beyond the Wall" (Frozen Lake) Mark Kolpack, Sabrina Arnold, David Rey, Kevin Yuille, Gary D'Amico HBO "Eastwatch" Oscar Perea, Santiago Martos, David Esteve, Michael Crane Star Trek: Discovery Phil Prates, Rex Alerta, John Dinh, Karen Cheng CBS All Access 2018 Lost in Space "Diamonds in the Sky" (Crash Site Rescue) David Wahlberg, Douglas Roshamn, Sofie Ljunggren, Fredrik Lönn Netflix Altered Carbon Jean-François Leroux, Reece Sanders, Stephen Bennett, Laraib Atta Netflix The Handmaid's Tale "June" Winston Lee, Gwen Zhang, Xi Luo, Kevin Quatman Hulu Silicon Valley "Artificial Emotional Intelligence" (Fiona) Tim Carras, Michael Eng, Shiying Li, Bill Parker HBO 2019 Game of Thrones "The Long Night" (Dragon Ground Battle) Mark Richardson, Darren Christie, Nathan Abbott, Owen Longstaff HBO Game of Thrones "The Bells" Sean Heuston, Scott Joseph, James Elster, Corinne Teo HBO Stranger Things "Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt" (Starcourt Mall Battle) Simon Lehembre, Andrew Kowbell, Karim El-Masry, Miklos Mesterhazy Netflix Watchmen "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice" (Looking Glass) Nathaniel Larouche, Iyi Tubi, Perunika Yorgova, Mitchell Beaton HBO
2020s Year Program Episode(s) Nominees Network 2020 Lovecraft Country"Strange Case" (Chrysalis) Viktor Andersson, Linus Lindblom, Mattias Sandelius, Crawford Reilly HBOThe Mandalorian "Chapter 9: The Marshal" Nicolas Caillier, Simon Rafin, Siang Kee Poh, Simon Marinof Disney+ "Chapter 10: The Passenger" TC Harrison, Tami Carter, Jaume Creus Costabella, Shane Davidson "Chapter 15: The Believer" Peter Demarest, Christopher Balog, Shawn Mason, David Wahlberg 2021 Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in an Episode Loki "Lamentis" ("Shuroo City Destruction")Paul Chapman, Tom Truscott, Biagio Figliuzzi, Attila Szalma Disney+ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier "New World Order" Nathan Abbot, Beck Veitch, Markus Reithoffer, James Aldous Disney+WandaVision "Previously On" ("The Hex") Charles Labbé, Xavier Fourmond, Reuben Barkataki, Vanessa Delarosbil "The Series Finale" (Goodbye, Vision) David Zaretti, Bimpe Alliu, Michael Duong, Mark Pascoe 2022Love, Death and Robots "Night of the Mini Dead"Tim Emeis, José Maximiano, Renaud Tissandié, Nacere Guerouaf Netflix House of the Dragon "The Black Queen" ("Dance of Dragons") Kevin Friederichs, Sean Raffel, Florian Franke, Andreas Steinlein HBO The Book of Boba Fett "From the Desert Comes a Stranger" Peter Demarest, Tami Carter, Brandon McNaughton, Sirak Ghebremusse Disney+ The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power "Udûn" (Tirharad Cavalry Charge) Sornalingam P, Ian Copeland, Nessa Mingfang Zhang, Yuvaraj S Amazon Prime Video
Programs with multiple awards 7 awards Game of Thrones (HBO)
Programs with multiple nominations
16 nominations Game of Thrones (HBO)
4 nominations Smallville (The WB/CW)
3 nominations The Mandalorian (Disney+) Vikings (History)
2 nominations Battlestar Galactica (ABC) Boardwalk Empire (HBO) WandaVision (Disney+)
References