'Tree of Life,' 'Boardwalk Empire' awarded by American Society of Cinematographers

Emmanuel Lubezki, Jonathan Freeman, Michael Weaver and Martin Ruhe claimed top honors in the four competitive categories at the 26th annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards celebration Sunday at the Hollywood & Highland Grand Ballroom.

Emmanuel Lubezki was honored.

Lubezki won the ASC Award feature film award for "The Tree of Life." For the second straight year, Freeman earned top accolades in the one-hour television episodic category for HBO’s "Boardwalk Empire." Weaver was the inaugural recipient of the half-hour television episodic category for Showtime’s "Californication," and Ruhe won the TV movie/miniseries award for PBS’ "Page Eight."

The ASC Award for best feature was presented by award-winning actor Antonio Banderas who noted, “As I have found in my career on both sides of the camera, filmmaking at its core is about telling stories with images.”

Lubezki previously won the ASC Award in 2007 for "Children of Men," and was also nominated in 2000 for "Sleepy Hollow."

The other nominees in the feature film category were Guillaume Schiffman, AFC ("The Artist"), Jeff Cronenweth, ASC ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"), Robert Richardson, ASC ("Hugo") and Hoyte van Hoytema, FSF, NSC ("Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy").

Currently onscreen in "The Artist," James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller presented Freeman the Outstanding Achievement Award for "Boardwalk Empire" (“21″). This is the third ASC Award for Freeman, who has won for "Boardwalk Empire" (2011), and for the telefilm "Homeland Security" (2005). His accolades include additional ASC nominations for "Boardwalk Empire" (2011), "Prince Street" (1998), "Strange Justice" (2000) and "Taken" (2003).

'Rango' scores at Visual Effects Society Awards

Gore Verbinski's animated film "Rango" was the top winner at the 10th annual Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards held Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

"Rango" won four awards Tuesday.

The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry in 23 categories of film, animation, television, commercials, special venues and video games.

"Rango" took home four awards, sweeping the animated film categories with wins for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture.

In the live action arena, "Hugo," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" all took home two awards in the feature motion picture categories, while "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones" each garnered a pair of awards in the television categories.

"Apes" won Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture while "Hugo" won Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture.

More than a thousand attendees--filmmakers, producers, directors and members of the visual effects community--gathered to recognize the year’s best work and the artists who created it.

Stan Lee received the Lifetime Achievement Award and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the Georges Méliès Award at the show, which was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Antonio Banderas, Lou Ferrigno, directors Chris Miller, Marc Webb and Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and a host of luminaries were on hand to present awards. A surprise appearance by Martin Scorsese, whose film Hugo received two awards, was one of the evening’s highlights.

'Harry Potter,' 'Hugo,' 'Dragon Tattoo' win at Art Director Guild awards

The Art Directors Guild (ADG) presented its awards Saturday night helping to set two clear front runners for the Art Direction Academy Award.

"Harry Potter" was among the winners.

The guild splits its feature awards into three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary.

"Hugo" took home the award for period films, while "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" was awarded in the fantasy category and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in the contemporary category.

"Hugo" and "Harry Potter" are among the five nominees for Best Art Direction at the Academy Awards along with "The Artist" as well as "War Horse" and "Midnight in Paris," neither of which were nominated by the guild.

In addition to Saturday night's win in the fantasy category, this year’s Art Directors Guild Cinematic Imagery Award was presented to the principal team behind the Harry Potter films as a whole, including producers David Heyman and David Barron; director David Yates; creator and author J.K. Rowling; screenwriter Steve Kloves; production designer Stuart Craig; art director Neil Lamont; and set decorator Stephenie McMillan.

In the realm of television, HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" was awarded for One-Hour Single Camera Television Series and ABC's "Modern Family" for Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series. HBO's "Mildred Pierce" took home the prize for Television Movie or Mini-Series.

The black-tie ceremony announcing winners took place at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills with Paula Poundstone serving as host for the third consecutive year.

A Lifetime Achievement Award went to Emmy Award winning production designer Tony Walton. In addition, the ADG inducted the following legendary production designers from the past into its Hall of Fame: Robert Boyle, William Darling and Alfred Junge.

See below for a full list of nominees and winners.