The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has today named the eight scientific and technical achievements, on the part of 19 individuals, to be honored at its Scientific and Technical Awards presentation for 2023, which is taking place in-person for the first time since 2019 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on February 24.
Technical Achievement Award recipients, set to be honored with Academy Certificates, include Howard Jensen, Danny Cangemi, John Frazier, Mark Hills, Jim Vanns, Matt Chambers, Sébastien Deguy, Christophe Soum, Sylvain Paris, Nicolas Wirrmann, David Eberle, Theodore Kim, Fernando de Goes and Audrey Wong.
Jensen, Cangemi and Frazier will be recognized for their contributions to Rain-Bar technology for the generating of practical rain on set; Hills and Vanns, for their design and engineering of the FQ render farm management system; Chambers, for his contributions to modern render farm management system design; Deguy, Soum, Paris and Wirmann, for their work on Adobe Substance 3D Designer; and Eberle, Kim, De Goes and Wong, for their design and development of the Fizt2 elastic simulation system.
Scientific and Engineering Award recipients, taking home Academy plaques, include Larry Barton and Ben Wilcox, who were behind the Cinematography Electronics CineTape distance measurement system for focus-pullers, as well as Howard Preston and Bernie Butler-Smith, who worked on the focus assist system known as Preston Cinema Systems Light Ranger 2.
Ryan Laney will receive an Award of Commendation, in the form of a special plaque, recognizing his work on the AI-driven facial veiling technology for 2020’s Welcome to Chechnya. And then, there’s Gordon E. Sawyer Award recipient Ian Neil, whose Oscar statuette comes in recognition of his lens design work’s lasting impact on motion picture cinematography.
Barbara Ford Grant, who serves as Chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, noted that “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. 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,” continued Grant. “This outstanding work has enabled new and exciting ways of creating and further expanding how we experience motion pictures.”
