OSCARS HAVE A TECHNICAL SIDE, TOO.Byline: - Evan Henerson They get their award recognition a couple of weeks before Oscar night -- and a mention during the telecast -- for developing the types of film equipment and software that non-science and -computer types can be at great pains to understand, much less explain. These achievements include smaller cameras, machines that measure soundtrack density, software that enhances the clarity of special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. sequences and devices that aid in digital film restoration. Per the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, these achievements merit academy certificates, plaques and, in one case, an Oscar statuette itself. Saturday was the Oscar Scientific and Technical Committee's night in the spotlight, as 15 Sci-Tech awards were handed out at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. "An award like this is a rare and beautiful thing," said Colin Davidson, whose ILM Image-based Modeling System helps the cinematic process of three-dimensional scanning. "An award like this to a geek A technically oriented person. It has typically implied a "nerdy" or "weird" personality, someone with limited social skills who likes to tinker with scientific or high-tech projects. The origin of the term dates back to the late 1800s. is the square of that." An actress typically hosts the annual ceremony. For the 2006 awards, it was Maggie Gyllenhaal Maggie Ruth Gyllenhaal (born November 16, 1977) is an American actress. She is the older sister of Jake Gyllenhaal and the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner. ("SherryBaby," "Secretary"), who frequently left the safety of the teleprompter to make jokes about the complexity of the equipment being recognized or her own lack of sci-tech sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. . "I think this is a joke you sci-tech guys play on some unsuspecting actress every year," Gyllenhaal said toward the end of the evening. Special-effects engineer Richard Edlund was awarded the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, while visual effects software pioneer Ray Feeney took home the Gordon E. Sawyer Award The Gordon E. Sawyer Award is an accolade given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry. . The 2006 Sci-Techs also included a special award of commendation to the developers of an environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] method of converting analog soundtracks from silver based to cayan dye. Spokesman Ioan Allen estimated that the process saves 40 million gallons per year Million gallons per year is a measure of large-scale liquid production, consumption, or throughput. It is variously abbreviated as mgy, MGY, mmgy, MMgy, or MMGY. . For a complete list of winners, visit www.dailynews.com or www.oscars.org. |
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