Firefly

Joss Whedon & His Emmy Award

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences 55th Annual Emmy Awards

The Creative Arts Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on Saturday, September 13, 2003

*Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series*

Winner

Firefly • Serenity • FOX • Mutant Enemy, Inc. in association with 20th Century Fox Television Loni Peristere, Visual Effects Supervisor Kristen Leigh Branan, Visual Effects Coordinator Emile Smith, Digital Effects Supervisor Rocco Passionino, Digital Effects Suipervisor Lee Stringer, CG Supervisor Kyle Toucher, Animator Jarrod Davis, Animator Terry Naas, Animator Chris Jones, Compositing Supervisor

Also nominated in the same category were:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer • Chosen • UPN • Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, Sandollar in association with 20th Century Fox Television Loni Peristere, Visual Effects Supervisor Patricia Gannon, Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald Thornton, Visual Effects Supervisor Chris Zapara, Lead CG Artist Rick Baumgartner, Visual Effects Coordinator Christopher Jones, Lead Compositor Michael D. Leone, CG Supervisor David Funston, Digital Artist Kevin Quatro, Digital Artist

Enterprise • Dead Stop • UPN • Paramount Pictures Mitch Suskin, Visual Effects Supervisor Art Codron, Visual Effects Coordinator Steve Fong, Visual Effects Compositor Greg Rainoff, Visual Effects Animator Robert Bonchune, CGI Supervisor Pierre Drolet, Lead Modeler Sean Scott, CGI Artist John Teska, CGI Artist Koji Kuramura, CGI Artist

Enterprise • The Crossing • UPN • Paramount Pictures Dan Curry, Visual Effects Producer Ronald B. Moore, Visual Effects Supervisor Armen Kevorkian, Visual Effects Coordinator Paul Hill, Visual Effects Artist David Morton, Digital Effects Supervisor John M. Teska, Visual Effects Animator Sean Scott, Visual Effects Animator Pierre M. Drolet, Lead Modeler

Enterprise • The Expanse • UPN • Paramount Pictures Dan Curry, Visual Effects Producer Ronald B. Moore, Visual Effects Supervisor Elizabeth Castro, Visual Effects Coordinator Paul Hill, Visual Effects Compositor Fred Pienkos, CG Animation Supervisor Greg Rainoff, Visual Effects Animator Sean Scott, CG Animator Eric Hance, CG Animator Bruce Branit, CG Animation Supervisor

Primetime Creative Arts: Something For Everyone

NBC edged out HBO, taking 11 Emmy Awards to the cable network’s 10 at the Primtetime Creative Arts show on Saturday. The rivalry continues on Sunday, September 21, with the national Primtetime Telecast. The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles is host to both ceremonies of the 55th Emmy Awards.

The cast of MadTV set the irrevent tone for what’s become known as "the fun Emmys," which mostly honor the behind-the-scenes artists who work largely in anonymity to make on-camera talent look and sound their best. "We’re Screwed Without You" was the repeated chorus of their opening production number.

The top onscreen awards, for series guest appearances, went to Christina Applegate as Amy in NBC’s Friends and to Fred Willard as Hank in Everybody Loves Raymond on CBS in the comedy categories. The drama winners were Charles S. Dutton, who played Chet Collins on CBS’ Without a Trace and Alfre Woodard for her role as Denise Freeman in The Practice on ABC.

Stanley Nelson, with his first nomination, won his first Emmy in the nonfiction directing category, for "The Murder of Emmitt Till" on PBS’ The American Experience. Nonfiction cinematographer John Armstrong, who joined a team of mountaineers to scale Artarctica’s highest peak, also won an Emmy on his first nomination for "Mountain of Ice" on PBS’ Nova series.

The team from Fox’s Firefly took home the awards for special visual effects for a series. And Fox’s fast-paced 24 was judged best in single-camera picture editing for the work of Chris Willingham, ACE on the episode titled "5:00 A.M.-6 A.M."

A PBS promo titled "Fish" was named outstanding commercial.

Other top awards included Through a Child’s Eyes: September 11, 2001, HBO’s outstanding children’s program; and a new award — outstanding writing for nonfiction programming, which went to Michelle Ferrari for Seabiscuit on PBS.

"For an animal that’s been dead for nearly half a year, Seabiscuit is making quite a comeback," she said.

PBS’ American Masters was the outstanding nonfiction series in the "traditional" category, and Benjamin Franklin won the nonfiction special (traditional) Emmy.

An initiative called "Our Lifetime Commitment: Stop the Violence Against Women" initiative was named winner of the prestigious Governors Award. The multifaceted program, in its second year, "represents the first comprehensive campain by a television network to stop violence against women," said Academy Governor Maura Dunbar. Academy Chairman Bryce Zabel made it clear to the Shrine audience that the Governors Award had nothing to do with the California governor’s recall election. "If you win, we’re going to let you keep the award," he said.

Panavision received the Philo T. Farnsworth award for technical achievements in cameras, lenses, lighting and an entire toolkit of other innovations used by TV makers. Pam Fransworth, 95-year-old widow of the man knows as "the father of television," came onstage in a wheelchair to present the special honor. Ray Dolby, founder and chairman of Dolby Laboratories Inc., won the Charles H. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Engineering Award for sound innovations since 1965. Both awards, along with others in the engineering and interactive media awards, had been previously announced.