Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Wins Top Feature-Film Award; SSE's Orangutan

The Visual Effects Society gave its top awards to Big Hero 6, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Game of Thrones, and SSE's "Maya" commercial at a Beverly Hilton ceremony last night hosted by comedian Patton Oswalt.

Walt Disney Animation's Big Hero 6 won five awards, including Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture for Baymax, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture for "Into the Portal," Outstanding Models in any Motion Media Project for the City of San Fransokyo, and Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature Motion Picture.

Weta Digital's work on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes won three awards: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture for the ape Caesar, and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture.

Two episodes of Game of Thrones were cited for awards in the categories of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program ("The Children") and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program ("The Watchers on the Wall"), as was Mackevision's work on an establishing shot for the city of Braavos that appeared in "The Children." (Check it out starting at 2:12 in the video above.)

And The Mill's CG orangutan star of "Maya" (above) earned awards for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial, Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Commercial, Broadcast Program, or Video Game, and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal/Live Action Commercial.

Other winners last night included Birdman, Interstellar, X-Men: Days of Future Past, American Horror Story: Freak Show, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, the video game Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, special-venue project Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy, and the student project "Wrapped."

For a complete list of winners, including the specific artists cited, see the official VES press release.