“The Lego Movie” might have got shut out of Oscar nominations but it took the top animated movie prize at the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society’s Creative Arts Awards last night (Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015) at Warner Bros. Studios.
Marvels’ “Guardians of the Galaxy” won the Lumiere trophy for best live action 3D feature.
While not a star-studded affair, the black-tie event did get a Hollywood moment when Oscar-nominated French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet took a shot at Harvey Weinstein for potentially derailing the release of Jeunet’s widely-praised 3D drama “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” in the U.S. Continuing the pointed jabs he made 48-hours earlier at a screening of the movie for members of the 3D Society, Jeunet said that as the director — and being French — he has complete final cut authority on the movie, but that Harvey, being Harvey, wants to cut the film his own way before he would release it in the U.S.
The Society recognized “Spivet” with an award for best 3D independent feature and Jeunet was honored with the Society’s Harold Lloyd Filmmaker Award from Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd Hayes — the award has previously gone to 3D pioneers such as James Cameron and Ang Lee.
The rare English language film by Jeunet (“Amelie,” “The City of Lost Children.” “Delicatessen,” and “Alien: Resurrection”) about a 10 year-old boy genius who runs away from his ranch home and hops a freight train to accept an invitation to receive an honor at the Smithsonian Institute is visually stunning. Jeunet shot the film mostly in Canada using 3D cameras (he made it clear he has no love for the practice of shooting films in 2D and converting them later to 3D, despite the limitation of camera lenses and extreme close-ups).
Speaking of conversion, Warner Bros./Gener’s “300: Rise of an Empire” won the Society’s award for Outstanding Use of 2D-to-3D Conversion.
The nominees and the audience represented a major mix of style and culture. Among the winners were “Guns N’ Roses: Appetite for Democracy,” a commercial for the videogame “World of Warcraft,” the Japanese film “Stand By Me Doraemon,” Netflix’s “House of Cards” TV series in 4K resolution, BBC 3DTV documentaries by David Attenborough “Tiny Giants” and “National History Museum Alive 3D,” as well as Shanghai’s live 3D production of “Beijing Opera: Farewell My Concubine.”
“From Hollywood blockbusters to World War II documentaries to live opera broadcasts, we have never before seen 3D used to excite audiences at this level and quality,” said Society President Jim Chabin.
“This year saw 4K production enter the marketplace with Netflix’s ‘House of Cards,’ and concert productions from Japan,” said Society Awards Chairman Buzz Hays. “With emerging high dynamic range, high frame rate technologies and 4K TV’s coming to market, content creators have incredible new platforms on which to tell their stories,” he added.
AWARD WINNERS INCLUDE:
HAROLD LLOYD AWARD
JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET – FRANCE
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE (AMÉLIE) AND FRENCH DIRECTOR (THE YOUNG AND PRODIGIOUS T.S. SPIVET)
LIVE ACTION 3D FEATURE
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – U.S.
MARVEL STUDIOS/STEREO D
ANIMATED 3D FEATURE
THE LEGO MOVIE – U.S.
WARNER BROS.
3D JURY PRIZE: LIVE ACTION SHORT
CALL HER LOTTE – GERMANY
MIRIQUIDIFILM/STEREOTEC
3D ANIMATED SHORT/NARRATIVE
FEAST – U.S.
THE WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS
3D DOCUMENTARY
ENCHANTED KINGDOM – U.K.
BBC EARTH/BBC WORLDWIDE
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE – OUTSTANDING USE OF 2D TO 3D CONVERSION
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE – U.S.
WARNER BROS. /GENER8
3D SEQUENCE/SCENE OF THE YEAR
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST – U.S.
20TH CENTURY FOX/STEREO D
STEREOGRAPHY – LIVE ACTION
SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR – U.S.
PRIME FOCUS WORLD/WEINSTEIN
STEREOGRAPHY – ANIMATION
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 – U.S.
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION STUDIOS
3D COMMERCIAL
WORLD OF WARCRAFT – FRANCE
COWPROD
3DTV HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ALIVE 3D – U.K.
COLOSSUS PRODUCTIONS
3DTV NATURE DOCUMENTARY
TINY GIANTS – U.K.
BBC EARTH/ BBC WORLDWIDE
3D DOCUMENTARY SHORT
D-DAY: NORMANDY 1944 – FRANCE
N3D LAND PRODUCTIONS
3D JURY PRIZE: ANIMATED FEATURE
STAND BY ME DORAEMON – JAPAN
SHIROGUMI, INC.
3D JURY PRIZE: LIVE BROADCAST MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
BEIJING OPERA: FAIRWELL MY CONCUBINE – CHINA
SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION OF CULTURE, RADIO, FILM & TV/SMG
3D MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE
GUNS N’ ROSES: APPETITE FOR DEMOCRACY – U.S.
ROCKET FUEL MEDIA
3D INDEPENDENT FEATURE
THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S. SPIVET – FRANCE
TAPIOCA FILMS
SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE AWARD
SKY – U.K.
ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS – U.K.
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH – U.K.
4K ENTERTAINMENT
HOUSE OF CARDS 4K-SEASON 2 – U.S.
NETFLIX
4K MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
BRAVIA 4K X L’ARC EN CIEL – JAPAN
SONY PCL
4K ADVERTISING
LIBERACIÓN – JAPAN
PANASONIC
— By Scott Hettrick