Pioneering motion picture technologist Gary Demos, a well-known figure in the production and post community, received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This Award, an Oscar statuette, recognizes technical contributions and was presented at the Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner on Feb. 18 at The Beverly Hilton.
Actress Rachel McAdams, this year’s awards presenter, explained that Demos has brought “the value of inserting technical concepts into public discussion–and he is working so far ahead that no crystal ball is clear enough.”
Demos has been pursuing the investigation of scientific issues in the motion picture industry for more than 30 years. In 1984, Demos received his first Scientific and Engineering Award (with John Whitney, Jr.) for the practical simulation of motion picture photography by means of CG images. A decade later, Demos was awarded his second Scientific and Engineering Award (with Dan Cameron, David DiFrancesco, Gary Starkweather and Scott Squires) for his work in the field of film input scanning. In ’95, the Academy honored him with a Technical Achievement Award (with David Ruhoff, Dan Cameron and Michelle Feraud) for his efforts in the creation of the Digital Productions Digital Film Compositing System.
Demos is currently working on the development of new wavelet-based and optimal-filter-based moving image compression technology for high bit-depth and high dynamic range.
Also during the evening’s awards ceremony, Don Hall, a longtime sound editor who has worked on more than 90 features, was presented the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation by the AMPAS Board of Governors.
Hall–who has worked on such films as The Bridge on the River Kwai and The French Connection–has been an active member of the Academy since ’64. He was elected to the Board of Governors in ’81 and has served four three-year terms since then. Hall has served for many years as a member of both the Sound Branch and the Scientific and Technical Awards Committees. He has been the chair of the Sound Editing Awards Rules Committee, and is the current chair of the Student Academy Awards Executive Committee. He is a senior lecturer at the University of Southern California School of Cinema and Television.
Named in honor of the late director of special projects at Warner Hollywood Studios, the John A. Bonner Medal is awarded for “outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.”
“Unfortunately history has a way of fading memories,” said Hall during his acceptance speech, while asking attendees to remember Bonner and the aforementioned Sawyer. “Bring up their names– so their memories will live in the future.”
Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy plaques) were presented to David Grober for the concept and mechanical design and Scott Lewallen for the electronic and software design of the Perfect Horizon camera stabilization head, which neutralizes the extraneous motion encountered in boats, camera cars, snowmobiles or other vehicles, leaving the pan/tilt head and camera stable and level with the horizon; to Anatoliy Kokush, Yuriy Popovsky and Oleksiy Zolotarov for the concept and development of the Russian Arm gyro-stabilized camera crane and the Flight Head, which can move smoothly in a 360-degree circle around the car, even while it is being driven at high speeds by actors; to Anatoliy Kokush for the concept and development of the Cascade series of motion picture cranes, which enable filmmakers to achieve heights of up to 70 feet; to Laurie Frost, Peter Hannan and Richard Loncraine for the development of the remote camera head known as the Hot-Head, in use for over a quarter of a century, which brought the possibility of safe, remotely-operated shots to every filmmaker; to David Baraff, Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin for their pioneering work in physically based CG techniques used to simulate realistic cloth; and to Garrett Brown for the original concept of the Skycam flying camera system, the first use of 3D volumetric cable technology for motion picture cinematography.
The presentation for Brown followed the award for the aforementioned cloth simulation. Brown, upon accepting, joked, “that was so impressive that I’m wearing digital cloth.”
Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificates) went to Harold Rattray, Terry Claborn, Steve Garlick, Bill Hogue and Tim Reynolds for the design, engineering and implementation of the Technicolor Real Time Answer Print System, which provides a method by which filmmakers can preview real-time color corrections using actual film prints, reducing both the turn-around time and the number of reprints required. During the presentation, each of the honorees made a short speech, with thanks going out to Technicolor and parent company Thomson, as well as company individuals, close collaborators and family. Afterwards, Claborn commented that cinematographers’ experimentation has resulting in progress, and he “hopes future cinematographers learn to experiment with digital and photochemical processes.”
Technical Achievement Award winners also included Gary Thieltges for the design and development of the remotely operated, lightweight camera head known as the Sparrow Head, a remote system that enables filmmakers to remotely pan and tilt their camera from virtually any moving vehicle, giving the opportunity for unprecedented dynamic camera angles; to Frank Fletcher and Dave Sherwin for the introduction and continuing development of the Power Pod modular camera head system, enabling filmmakers to configure a remote controlled head to meet their own unique requirements; to Alvah Miller, Michael Sorensen and J. Walt Adamczyk for the design and development of the Aerohead motion control camera head and the J-Viz Pre-Visualization system, which serves the needs of the live-action filmmaker but also provides the functionality of a motion-controlled head, allowing for sophisticated tiling and pre-visualization techniques.
Technical Achievement Awards were bestowed on Scott Leva for the design and development of the Precision Stunt Airbag, designed to envelop the stunt jumper, even on off-center hits; to Lev Yevstratov, George Peters and Vasiliy Orlov for the development of the Ultimate Arm Camera Crane System for specialized vehicle photography, which offers a highly stable platform for high-speed, rough terrain action shots; to James Rodnunsky, Alex MacDonald and Mark Chapman for the development of the Cablecam 3-D volumetric suspended cable camera technologies, making it possible to move a camera safely and accurately anywhere through a three-dimensional space; to Tim Drnec, Ben Britten Smith and Matt Davis for the development of the Spydercam 3-D volumetric suspended cable camera technologies, which makes it possible to move a camera safely and accurately anywhere through a three-dimensional space; and to John Platt and Demetri Terzopoulos for their pioneering work in physically based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth.
Rounding out the Technical Achievement Award recipients were Ed Catmull, for the original concept, and Tony DeRose and Jos Stam for their scientific and practical implementation of subdivision surfaces as a modeling technique; and to Udo Schauss and Hildegard Ebbesmeier for the optical design and Nicole Wemken and Michael Anderer for the mechanical design of the Cinelux Premiere Cinema Projection lenses, designed to reduce the traditional problems of softness in the corners, hot-spotting and varying brightness between film formats.
Demonstrating the vast technical innovation occurring around the world, Richard Edlund, chairman of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, pointed out that this year’s honorees represented international participation from Germany, Ukraine and the UK.
Edlund also announced that after nine years as SciTech chair, he would be stepping down due to consecutive term limits. He offered good wishes to his successor.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More