See Full List of Winners, Watch the Top Spots and Trailers

In what could be a harbinger of Oscars to come, the Visual Effects Society gave its two top awards to Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Hugo. The Apes team of Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Cyndi Ochs, and Kurt Williams won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture, while Hugo‘s Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Rob Legato, and Karen Murphy were cited for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture. (While a movie like Hugo employs a large quantity of VFX to undergird its whimsical period settings, it was nominated and honored in a different category from films like Apes, which are more directly driven by the contributions of their VFX teams.)

The well-loved Rango actually led the awards, winning for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

The awards were announced at an event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, where Martin Scorsese himself was on hand as a surprise guest among more than 1,000 attendees. (Hugo also won an award for Virtual Cinematography.) Other guests were Lifetime Achievement Award winner Stan Lee, George Mà©lià¨s Award winner Douglas Trumbull, presenters Antonio Banderas, Lou Ferrigno, Chris Miller, Marc Webb, and Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and host Patton Oswalt.

If you missed them in person and would like to see the proceedings for yourself, tune in to an airing of the presentation on REELZCHANNEL at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on Sunday, February 19. See below for more details on the winners.

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 Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie, or Special
 Inside the Human Body: Phil Dobree, Sophie Orde, Dan Upton

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series
 Terra Nova – Occupation & Resistance: Kevin Blank, Colin Brady, Adica Manis, Jason Zimmerman

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
 Game of Thrones –  “Winter is Coming”: Lucy Ainsworth-Taylor, Angela Barson, Ed Bruce, Adam McInnes

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial
 “Dior J’adore”: Pascal Giroux, Julien Meesters, Stephane Pivron, Manuel Souillac

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Commercial or Video Game Trailer
 Diablo III: “The Black Soulstone”: Nicholas S. Carpenter, Graham Cunningham, Chris Thunig, Taka Yasuda

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
 Transformers the Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle: Lori Arnold, Yanick Dusseault, Delio Tramontozzi, Jeff White

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 Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
 Canal + “The Bear”: Laurent Creusot, Guillaume Ho, Olivier Mitonneau, Michal Nauzin

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 Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
 Game of Thrones – The Icewall: Markus Kuha, Dante Harbridge Robinson, Damien Mac, Fani Vassiadi

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 Virtual Cinematography in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
 Gears of War 3 – “Dust to Dust”: Niles Heckman, Richard Morton, Vernon Wilbert Jr.

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

Outstanding Models in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
 Boardwalk Empire – “Georgia Peaches”: Matthew Conner, Eran Dinur, David Reynolds, Szymon Weglarski

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

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
 Boardwalk Empire – Gimcrack & Bunkum: Anton Dawson. Eran Dinur, Austin Meyers, David Reynolds

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project
“a.maize”: Roman Kaelin, Falko Paeper, Florian Wittmann

For more information: www.visualeffectssociety.com.