Nineteen individuals connected to eight scientific and technical advancements in the film industry will be honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Friday.
The honors will be presented during the Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony, which will return to an in-person event for the first time since 2019. The ceremony will be at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, hosted by actor Simu Liu (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”).
“Since 1931, the Academy has recognized the most important innovations in filmmaking; inventors and engineers have been advancing the art and science of motion pictures ever since,” Barbara Ford Grant, chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, said in a statement. “Their efforts have not only served to enrich the art form but inspire a global industry to engineer, create, change, and push the boundaries of our craft.
“This year we honor achievements spanning accomplishments from pioneering methods in practical rain effects to career-long contributions in optical design for cinematography to humanistic-driven AI techniques. This outstanding work has enabled new and exciting ways of creating and further expanding how we experience motion pictures.”
Scientific and Technical Awards are presented for their impact on the industry, and they are not necessarily presented in the same year that the innovation was developed.
This year’s Technical Achievement honorees, receiving Academy Certificates, are:
— Howard Jensen and Danny Cangemi for the concept and creation, and John Frazier for the development of, the 60- and 100-foot Rain Bars, a portable system for creation of realistic rain in motion pictures;
— Mark Hills and Jim Vanns for the design and engineering of the “FQ render farm management system”;
— Matt Chambers for his contributions to “modern render farm management system design”;
— Sébastien Deguy and Christophe Soum for the concept and original implementation of Substance Engine, and to Sylvain Paris and Nicolas Wirrmann for the design and engineering of Substance Designer, which have advanced motion picture visual effects and animation; and
— David Eberle, Theodore Kim, Fernando de Goes and Audrey Wong for the design and development of the Fizt2 elastic simulation system.
Scientific and Engineering Awards in the form of Academy Plaques will be awarded to:
— Larry Barton for the pioneering design, development and engineering, and to Ben Wilcox for the electronic engineering and software development, of the Cinematography Electronics CineTape; and
— Howard Preston for the concept, design and engineering, and to Bernie Butler-Smith for the design and implementation of electronic circuitry and software, of the Preston Cinema Systems Light Ranger 2.
An Award of Commendation in the form of a special plaque will be presented Ryan Laney for his “adaptation and deployment of AI-driven facial veiling technology used to protect the identities while preserving the visual relatability of subjects in documentary filmmaking as exemplified in `Welcome to Chechnya.”’
Meanwhile, the Academy will present a Gordon E. Sawyer Award, in the form of an Oscar statuette, to Iain Neil for his “substantial, extensive and innovative lens designs which have had lasting impact in motion picture cinematography.”