Visual effects software pioneer Ray Feeney has been voted the Gordon E. Sawyer Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award, an Oscar statuette, will be presented at the Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner on Saturday, Feb. 10, ’07.
Feeney began his career at Robert Abel & Associates working on visual effects for commercials and feature films. In ’88 he received his first Scientific and Engineering Award from the academy for his part in the development of one of the first motion control camera systems.
A second Scientific and Engineering Award followed in ’91 for his work on the Solitaire Image Recorder and two more in ’94 honoring his contributions in developing film input scanners and the Cinefusion software implementation of the Ultimatte Blue Screen Compositing Technology. In ’01 the Academy’s Board of Governors awarded Feeney the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation.
Feeney founded RFX Inc. in ’78 to provide leading edge scientific and engineering advancements for the film industry, many of which are now in widespread use to produce visual effects for feature films, television shows and commercials. In ’95 Feeney launched another company, Silicon Grail, to facilitate software development in the motion picture industry. Silicon Grail’s RAYZ software addressed the postproduction need for a digital compositing tool that could be used to efficiently create visual effects for feature films. In ’02 Apple Computer acquired the technologies and continues to incorporate them into Apple products.
A co-chair of the academy’s Science and Technology Council, Feeney also serves on the academy’s Scientific and Engineering Awards Committee and has chaired the Digital Imaging Technology Subcommittee. In addition, Feeney is a founding member and director of the Visual Effects Society as well as a SMPTE fellow.
SHOOT: What does it mean to you to have been named as the recipient of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award?
Feeney: It’s still sinking in. I think it is an incredible honor. I’m very appreciative. The true meaning is still sinking in.
SHOOT
: You serve as co-chair of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Council. What are some of the group’s current initiatives?Feeney: I chair the advanced technology programs committee. One of the latest efforts that we have underway now is about the digital mastering process, now that movies by and large are not finished on film anymore. The DCI (studio consortium Digital Cinema Initiatives) focused on the needs for theatrical exhibition–the equivalent of the digital print. The academy cares a lot about the equivalent of the digital negative–what is the source and how is that preserved. We are trying to get some unique standards together for digital mastering and archiving. That’s a really big issue. We have a very significant effort at the academy to try to come up with a mechanism to specify this. There are two major problems. How do you get the ones and zeros back in the future? And how do you make the ones and zeros mean something when the tools are long since gone. We expect the tools we are using today to not be around in 40 years. There needs to be a uniform mechanism on top of the proprietary stuff that makes [a “digital negative”] future proof. The academy is known for its archive and cares about preserving the cultural heritage of our craft. We want to be sure movies being made and finished today are going to be around 50 years from now.
SHOOT
: What issues or trends do you see in the visual effects industry today? Do you have any prime concerns about the state of the business?Feeney: There may not be a viable business model. The way visual effects have been done in the recent past is changing. There are a lot more boutiques. There are fewer large 800-pound gorilla facilities. All the facilities are evolving and changing. It is a period of changes of the business model. In terms of the craft. people are fearless. There is absolutely nothing that the practitioners believe they are not capable of. I look at the work they are undertaking; the best work is fearless. We are seeing visual effects where the quality and quantity of work that comes up for consideration is second to none.
SHOOT
: What are the challenges that the industry faces, and what does the industry need to do to meet them successfully?Feeney: Digital technologies are rippling through all aspects of filmmaking. In the 1990s it really changed visual effects. One of the things that I’m most proud of [in Feeney’s pioneering efforts over the years] is there is not a question that it is filmmaking. As digital permeates the rest of the pieces of the movie industry, whether we are talking about the camera, or digital intermediates and finishing or theatrical exhibition, the challenge is going to be to ensure that the craft of filmmaking survives the transition. There is a difference between making a movie and other entertainment forms [i.e. television and games]. There is similar technology in use, but what consists the filmmaking craft is unique. As we transition, we need to make sure the digital tools allow for the collaborative process of filmmaking. That’s what I think is a significant challenge for the adoption of these technologies.
SHOOT
: What are your predictions relative to the direction of the compositing space?Feeney: I don’t have any. It’s really hard for companies to justify core development for the motion picture industry alone. It [R&D] is not driven by a business anymore. It’s driven by people’s passion.
SHOOT
: What are some additional aspects of the changing business that interest you? Do you see any special opportunities emerging?Feeney: My personal interest is in the realm of digital cinema…It’s the digital revolution in all aspects of filmmaking that I find extremely exciting because it changes all the rules and that’s when the more unique creative environment exists. It gives you the ability to change your movie after release and redistribute it.
With the harnessing of these next generation technologies, I see incredible opportunities, for the changes that are happening in production are as fundamental as when sound was invented. The stakes are huge. Digital has affected the record industry, the theaters, and it’s getting ready to truly affect the production tools. The tools are training wheels; they are very much in the early days. If you look at how the industry changed with [the advent of] sound, new places were formed, and places went out of business. In periods of upheaval, there’s room for talent to emerge.
–I think there is a tendency for some filmmakers to grab tools before they are ready. We see some noble experiments, but we haven’t seen this whole thing break through yet. It will be a decade before we know what they really mean.
[The advent of] sound was a very meager start. In the digital world we are in the equivalent of just past The Jazz Singer. The technologies that are at hand are so significant, but they are not baked. They are just in the beginning, fragile, a tentative step. The technologies and the craft need to be nurtured. We have to make sure moviemaking comes out of the other side.
