The Australian Effects and Animation Festival (AEAF) concluded over the weekend at the Sydney Convention Centre at Darling Harbour. The festivities wrapped up with an awards ceremony held on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. The AEAF Awards are among Australia’s top honors for animation and visual effects in TV, feature films, commercials, short films, education and training, music videos, games and web content.
This year’s winner in the animated feature film competition was Warner Bros.’ The Polar Express, featuring cutting-edge digital visuals by Sony Pictures Imageworks. Also in the running were Shrek 2 and SharkTale from Dreamworks. Meanwhile, the award for feature vfx went to Weta Digital’s work on New Line’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which beat out Imageworks’ accomplishments on Spider-Man 2 and Framestore CFC’s work on Thunderbirds and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban;
Best Short Film went to Birthday Boy by Sejong Park from Australian Film Television and Radio School. The film has reportedly been shortlisted for nomination for the Academy Awards. Best Student Film kudos were awarded to Kane Elferink from the Enmore TAFE Design Centre for The Demise of Sir Drinks-a-lot.
On the TV side, Animal Logic won the vfx award for its work on the SCI FI Channel’s miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which was produced in Australia.
Other winners:
Music Video
Joint winners:
Goldfrapp, Twist —The Mill
Powderfinger, Sunsets — Liquid Animation
Commercial VFX
Petronas Primax, "Feel The Power" — FUEL
Commercial Animation
Scion tc 3D Artist — Ambience
Education & Training
Introduction to Antennas – Navy Video
Titles Idents & Stings
Athens Olympic Titles – Seven Network
Web Animation
"Orpheus and the Underworld" ("Winged Sandals") – Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)
Presenting more than 20 international speakers over three days, the AEAF is Australia’s leading digital arts forum bringing together some of the world’s most influential visual effects artists and computer animators. The event is now included as part of an expanded Digital Media Festival, which also includes the Digital Video Festival and Digital Imaging Festival and Exhibition.
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