19th Visual Effects Society Awards Celebrate Young Talent with Student Award, Sponsored by Autodesk

In a typical year, producing the stunning visual effects and animation seen in this year’s VES Student Award nominees is already a challenging task. But when the pandemic forced students to quickly shift to remote learning and collaboration, it became even more impressive to witness the incredible creativity, innovation, and craftsmanship displayed by these young artists. Their ability to adapt and thrive under such circumstances truly highlights their dedication and talent.

This year's nominees showcased a wide range of projects, from fully animated shorts to live-action films featuring computer-generated creatures, environments, and effects. The nominated works included “Time’s Down” (ARTFX, France), “ARAL” (ARTFX, France), “Strands of Mind” (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany), and “Migrants” (Pôle 3D, France). Each project demonstrated the potential of emerging artists who not only delivered high-quality results but also overcame the challenges of working remotely and managing limited resources.

“Migrants” Wins 2021 VES Student Award

shot from VES student award winning film migrants

Image courtesy of the Migrants team.

Autodesk once again sponsored the VES Student Award for the 13th consecutive year, presenting this year’s prize to the student filmmaking team of Aubin Kubiak, Antoine Dupriez, Hugo Caby, Lucas Lermytte, and Zoé Devise for their heartfelt animated short “Migrants.” The film tells the story of a polar bear and its cub while addressing pressing global issues like climate change, racism, and the refugee crisis. To connect with younger audiences, the team used charming stuffed animal characters and a stop-motion aesthetic that gave the film a unique and touching visual style.

The team shared, “Our first step was to create a strong reference base for the different assets of the movie. We did most of the shape retake in 3D and used our references to create textures. We built our assets, environments, and lighting with the idea of a stop-motion scene. So, our biggest focus was on scale, from modeling to compositing, and managing the focal blur.”

They added, “The biggest challenge was finding the global look of the movie. Because we wanted to match the stop-motion aspect, we had to find solutions at every stage of production. We had to make our characters move like puppets, make our environment and characters look handmade, and work hard to perfect our visual effects.”

Throughout the production, the filmmakers worked remotely from home while maintaining effective communication and teamwork. Strong IT support from their school, Pôle 3D, helped them adapt to remote workflows and stay motivated and productive.

The team said, “With the challenges brought by the pandemic and remote work, we had to learn to be autonomous while still cooperating closely. It took some time to adjust, but we were almost as effective as if we were in school.”

Congratulations to all the talented students who made it to the VES Student Award nominations this year. Their work is a testament to the future of visual storytelling and the power of perseverance in the face of adversity. Well done!

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