The technical community gathered last weekend (Feb. 12) for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) annual Scientific and Technical Awards, a black tie gala at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. Here, high honors went to such advancements as camera crane systems and motion capture technology.
Actress Scarlett Johansson did a fine job as celebrity presenter, which included the reading of complex descriptions of honored technology. At one point, Johansson broke from the script and prompted a chuckle when she admitted, “I have no idea what this means.”
During the evening, Johansson presented Oscar statues for technical achievement to the creators of two camera crane systems, as voted on by the AMPAS Board of Governors. The statues went to Horst Burbulla for the invention and continuing development of Panavision’s Technocrane telescoping camera crane with its electronically driven leveling head, adjustable moveable weight carriage, and lightweight, extremely precise telescoping beam elements that allow camera movement during shots; and to Jean-Marie Lavalou, Alain Masseron and David Samuelson for the engineering and development of the Louma Camera Crane and remote system for motion picture production. The Louma pioneered a remotely-operated camera head combined with a lightweight and portable modular crane, and its design has proved to be the inspiration for numerous subsequent remote camera systems.
The Gordon E. Sawyer Award was bestowed on Panavision innovator Takuo Miyagishima for his lifetime of technological contributions to the industry. Miyagishima summed up that his motivation has always started with the customers–listening to them and developing what they truly need to advance their art.
As well, an Award of Commendation was presented to Arthur Widmer for his achievements in the science and technology of image compositing as exemplified by his significant contributions to the development of the Ultra Violet and the bluescreen compositing processes.
In addition to these honors, the Academy’s Board of Governors awarded two Scientific and Engineering Awards, presented in the form of plaques; and nine Technical Achievement Awards, presented as certificates, based upon recommendations from the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee.
The Scientific and Engineering Awards went to Gyula Mester and Keith Edwards for their contributions to and continuing development of the aforementioned Technocrane telescoping camera crane; and Lindsay Arnold, Guy Griffiths, David Hodson, Charlie Lawrence and David Mann for their development of Kodak’s Cineon Digital Film Workstation, a node-graph compositing system that established a new visual method for direct manipulation of the compositing process. Although Kodak exited the Cineon hardware/software business in 1997, the technology remains the foundation for many digital image processing systems and serves as the fundamental imaging science architecture in many of Kodak’s current hybrid products.
The Academy validated the use of the motion capture process by awarding Academy certificates to three mocap developments. They were presented to Dr. Julian Morris, Michael Birch, Dr. Paul Smyth and Paul Tate for the development of the Vicon motion capture technology, which offers special-purpose cameras for motion capture with software systems; Dr. John O. B. Greaves, Ned Phipps, Antonie J. van den Bogert and William Hayes for the development of the Motion Analysis motion capture technology, also special-purpose cameras for motion capture with software systems; and to Dr. Nels Madsen, Vaughn Cato, Matthew Madden and Bill Lorton for the development of the Giant Studios motion capture technology, which applied a unique biometric approach that has influenced the development of motion capture technology.
Motion Analysis president/CEO Tom Whitaker told SHOOT that he views the pivotal project in this recent surge in motion capture interest to stem from “Gamebreakers,” the Nike ad from Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore., directed by David Fincher of bicoastal Anonymous Content. This mostly computer graphics spot, featuring CG from Venice-based Digital Domain, used motion capture to grab the moves of several NFL stars.
“That commercial elevated the whole state of the art,” asserted Whitaker, noting that it raised the bar in terms of realism and the ability to capture multiple characters.
The aforementioned Madden, who sent special thanks to Giant Studios president Candice Alger (an alum of Atlanta’s Crawford Communications and the commercial post industry), said that in general, mocap has opened up new possibilities for production that involves the integration of characters into environments. He emphasized that this process assists a director of photography in framing shots.
An Academy certificate was presented to Alan Kapler for the design and development of Storm, a software toolkit that he developed at Digital Domain for artistic control of volumetric effects. “Storm” employs an efficient method for directly manipulating volumetric data to create effects such as clouds, water and avalanches with familiar operators inspired by image compositing and painting operations.
During his acceptance speech, Kapler thanked “the Academy for celebrating the technology of filmmaking and Digital Domain for the opportunity to create this software.”
Academy certificates were also awarded to Greg Cannom and Wesley Wofford for the development of their special modified silicone material for makeup applications, allowing for the creation of either partial or full-face appliances for makeup effects that move like real flesh, have translucency similar to skin and will accept standard makeup materials; to Jerry Cotts for the original concept and design and Anthony Seaman for the engineering of the Satellight-X HMI Softlight, which provides a diffuse light to simulate daylight in location interiors, where space is often limited; and to Nelson Tyler for the development of the Tyler Gyroplatform boat mount stabilizing device whose 2-axis, hydraulically-powered camera mount successfully eliminates the pitch and roll associated with camera shots taken from a boat in the water.
Finally, the Academy honored the makers of two audio products–both designed to suppress noise–with Academy Certificates: Steven E. Boze for the design and implementation of the DNF 001 multi-band digital audio noise suppressor whose real-time digital approach provided accurate filter response with minimal interaction, allowing noise attenuation with fewer artifacts; and Dr. Christopher Hicks and Dave Betts for the design and implementation of the Cedar DNS 1000 multi-band digital noise suppressor, designed to reduce background noise from recorded dialog.
“Noise suppressors make unusable footage usable,” Hicks simply summed up.