2023 Annie Awards for Character Animation and Effects
The 50th annual Annie Awards took place this weekend and Wētā FX won both categories we were nominated in; Best Effects and Best Character Animation.
In the Character Animation category, we had two entries, one for Avatar: The Way of Water and one for the amazing Eagly in Peacemaker. Avatar: The Way of Water prevailed in the end.
Huge congratulations to ALL the people involved - if you want to put faces to some of the names, check out the awards booklet photos. You can find all the nominees and winners on the Annie Awards website.
And just so there's no implication the water FX in these photos is CG - check out the behind-the-scenes selection at the end of the article. These are REAL people off the REAL Wellington coastline. Cold enough to turn anyone blue...
Our amazing photographer Iva Lenard took all the final photos and Inge Rademeyer documented behind the scenes. And made the guys go in the water...
Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Winner: Avatar: The Way of Water (left-to-right) – Alex Nowotny, David Moraton, and David Caeiro Cebrian - missing from photo are Johnathan M. Nixon and Nicholas Illingworth, who were overseas at the time of the shoot..
Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Winner: Avatar: The Way of Water (left-to-right) – Douglas McHale, Todd Labonte, Daniel Barrett, Stuart Adcock and Stephen Cullingford.
Nominee: Peacemaker (left-to-right) – Mark Smith, Selene McLean, and Michael Cozens, plus on Michael's T-shirt, Richard John Moore and Kai-Hua Lan who were overseas at the time of the shoot.
