Eight scientific and technological achievements represented by individual winners will be presented at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ The Science and Technology Awards ceremony was held in February at the Academy Film Museum.
Also during the SciTech Awards this will be from 60, veteran lens designer Iain Neil will be honored with the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (Oscar statuette). In addition, Ryan Laney will receive a recognition award (special plaque) for his creative use of AI-powered facial technology to provide digital “camouflage” for subjects to protect their identities, while preserving their facial expressions in documentary productions, as from Welcome to Chechnya .
Science and Engineering Awards (Academy Medal) will be presented to Larry Barton and Ben Wilcox for Electronic CineTape Distance Measurement System for Cinematography; Howard Preston and Bernie Butler-Smith for Preston Cinema Systems Light Ranger 2, also provides focal length information.
The Technical Achievement Award (College Certificate) will be presented to Howard Jensen, Danny Cangemi and John Frazier for their development of portable devices 60- and 100-foot Rain Bars system for actual rain in film production; Mark Hills of VFX studio Framestore’s FQ render farm management system and Jim Vanns; and Matt Chambers, for his contributions to the design of the Sony Pictures Imageworks and Weta render farm management systems. The Technical Achievement Award for Adobe Substance 3D Designer software will also go to Sébastien Deguy, Christophe Soum, Sylvain Paris, and Nicolas Wirrmann; and David Eberle, Theodore Kim, Fernando de Goes, and Audrey Wong for the Fizt2 elastic simulation system. Accomplishments range from pioneering approaches to realistic rainfall effects to career contributions in cinematic optical design to humanities-driven AI techniques. This outstanding work opens up new and exciting ways for us to create and further expand the way we experience film. “2020 2020
