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After 40 years in Hollywood, veteran lens and optical systems designer Iain Neil received a standing ovation as he accepted the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette, Friday evening at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Awards presentation.

This capped a celebratory gathering of the close-knit entertainment technology community, where 20 innovators were honored during a ceremony in the Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. At her first SciTech Awards ceremony and the first in-person SciTech presentation since 2019, Academy president Janet Yang opened the show, noting that the Museum was “a fitting venue for our triumphant return.” She told the SciTech community, “I’m in awe of the work you do.”

Due to the stormy L.A. weather, the buffet dinner and after-party were moved from the Dolby Family Terrace to the 5th-floor tea room — and appropriately, the first honorees of the evening...

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...

Recipients to attend first in-person ceremony in four years.

The Academy announced eight scientific and technical achievements represented by 19 individual award recipients will be honoured at its first in-person annual Scientific and Technical Awards in four years on February 24.

The ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will also see Iain Neil receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (an Oscar statuette) for “his extraordinary technological contributions that have brought credit to the industry”.

The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements appear below. All synopses adapted from Academy wording:

Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificates)

To Howard Jensen and Danny Cangemi...

Eight scientific and technical achievements represented by 19 individual award recipients will be honored at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Awards presentation on Feb. 24 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Also during the SciTech Awards, which will take place in person for the first time since 2019, veteran lens designer Iain Neil will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (an Oscar statuette) for his “substantial, extensive and innovative lens designs which have had lasting impact in motion picture cinematography.” Additionally, Ryan Laney will receive an award of commendation (special plaque) for his inventive use of AI-driven facial technology to give subjects a digital “disguise” to protect the identities while preserving their facial emotion in documentary filmmaking, as seen in 2020’s Welcome to Chechnya.

Scientific and Engineering awards (Academy plaques) will be presented to Larry Barton and Ben Wilcox for the cinematography electronics CineTape distance measurement...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that it will present eight awards at the annual Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony on Feb. 24. 19 individuals will be awarded in the event’s first in-person ceremony since 2019.

Iain Neil will also receive the Gorden E. Sawyer Award at the event, honoring his technological contributions to the film industry.

“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,” said chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee Barbara Ford Grant in a statement. “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.”

Award recipients are as follows:

Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificates)

Howard Jensen and Danny Cangemi for the concept and creation of rain bars John Frazier...

Have you ever wondered why CG explosions are looking better and better? Algorithms! That's how. For a deeper exploration, watch this interesting YouTube video by University of California featuring Theodore Kim explaining one of the algorithms he developed for explosions, specifically the smoke. Kim discusses an algorithm called Wavelet Turbulence, which is a series of swirls to simulate actual smoke. After creating and releasing their algorithm open source, it ended up being used in movies like Avatar, Iron Man 3, Super 8 and Man of Steel. It's a very technical breakdown but still fascinating to hear him explain. Watch below. Description from YouTube (thanks to SlashFilm for the tip): How do filmmakers create a big explosion? Theodore Kim explains how his software creates the smoke effects seen in many Hollywood films. The video features Theodore Kim of Cornell discussing various technical aspects of explosions, including the Wavelet Turbulence - which...

Check out this fun trailer for a horror comedy film called Slay to Rest. The story follows a broke, struggling death metal band by day, who are vampire slayers by night. The movie looks like exactly what you'd expect to see with that premise. The film is being directed by Theo Kim, and I'm curious to see how the full movie turns out. Check out the trailer and let us know if you think it's something you'd like to see. 

Slay To Rest Teaser from Theo Kim on Vimeo.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that nine scientific and technical achievements represented by 25 individual award recipients will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation at The Beverly Hills Hotel on Saturday, February 9, 2013. Unlike other Academy Awards to be presented this year, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2012. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures. The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are: Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate) To J.P. Lewis, Matt Cordner and Nickson Fong for the invention and publication of the Pose Space Deformation technique. Pose Space Deformation (Psd) introduced the use of novel sparse data interpolation techniques to the task of shape interpolation. The controllability and ease of achieving artistic intent have led to Psd being a foundational technique...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that nine scientific and technical achievements represented by 25 individual award recipients will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation at The Beverly Hills Hotel on Saturday, February 9, 2013.

Unlike other Academy Awards to be presented this year, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2012. Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures. Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation will be included in the Oscar telecast on Sunday, February 24, 2013.

The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are:

Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate)

To J.P. Lewis, Matt Cordner and Nickson Fong for the invention and publication of the Pose Space Deformation technique.

Pose Space Deformation (Psd) introduced the use of novel sparse data interpolation techniques to the task of shape interpolation.