Latest news with #AcademyAwardofMerit
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Academy Sci-Tech Awards Honor 14 Achievements — Including Disney and Wētā FX Machine Learning Denoisers
The Academy Scientific and Technical Awards (April 29 at the Academy Museum, hosted by 'Andor's' Diego Luna) will honor 37 recipients in the creation of 14 achievements. These advancements encompass fire stunt safety, the synching of moving microphones, camera stabilization, improved skin and muscle simulation for digital characters, and machine learning denoisers for rendering shortcuts. Recently, the Academy's Science and Technology Council approved new rules regarding human creative authorship in the creation of Generative Artificial Intelligence and other digital tools. More from IndieWire Aspiring Horror Cinematographers: Learn How Ari Aster and Ti West Scare the Hell Out of You From Animatronics to Wiki-Diving: How 'The Legend of Ochi' Created Its Title Character 'As part of the Academy's mission to celebrate artistry and innovation in filmmaking, we are honored to recognize the exceptional contributions of this year's Scientific and Technical Awards recipients. Their work has powerfully driven advancements in our industry,' said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a prepared statement. 'Also, we are deeply honored to present the Academy Award of Merit to the individuals who created and supported the development of captioning for films. This is an essential technology that plays a vital role in making the cinematic experience accessible to all.' Winners of the Scientific and Engineering Awards (who will receive plaques) include: Jayson Dumenigo for Action Factory Hydrogels, allowing for safer and longer burns at higher temperatures with quick turnaround times for fire stunt performances. Thijs Vogels, Fabrice Rousselle, David Adler, Gerhard Röthlin, and Mark Meyer for Disney's ML (Machine Learning) Denoiser, which saves rendering time. This was first implemented on Disney's 'Ralph Breaks the Internet,' Pixar's 'Toy Story 4,' and ILM's VFX for 'Avengers: Endgame.' Nir Averbuch, Yair Chuchem, and Dan Raviv for Auto Align Post 2, which creates seamless blending of multiple moving microphones during post-production, eliminating phase distortion. Curt Schaller and Dr. Roman Foltyn for The ARRI Trinity 2 system, combining a traditional inertial camera stabilization system with electronic gimbal technology, allowing unprecedented freedom of camera movement. Steve Wagner, Garrett Brown, Jerry Holway, and Robert Orf for the revolutionary Steadicam Volt stabilization system with its advanced two-axis motorized design, creating artificial inertia and simulated friction. Dave Freeth for the hand-held Stabileye three-axis motorized camera stabilization system, facilitating subtle and dynamic camera moves closer to actors, and in tighter quarters. Winners of the Technical Achievement Awards (who will receive certificates) include: Essex Edwards, James Jacobs, Jernej Barbic, Crawford Doran and Andrew van Straten for Ziva VFX, a system for simulating muscles, fat, fascia, and skin for digital characters. Javor Kalojanov and Kimball Thurston for Wētā FX's ML (Machine Learning) Denoiser, which prioritizes temporal filtering using innovative optical flow techniques to preserve crucial details. This has been used on 'A Minecraft Movie,' 'Avatar: The Way of the Water,' and 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,' among others. Neeme Vaino for Fireskin360 Naked Burn Gel, which allows for longer targeted burns directly on the skin, broadening the range of fire stunts. Dustin Brooks and Colin Decker for the development of naked burn gel, where fire appears directly on the skin, enabling a new form of safe fire stunts. Attila T. Áfra for Intel Open Image Denoise, and to Timo Aila for NVIDIA applying U-Nets to denoising. Open Image Denoise is an open-source library, whose core tech is provided by U-Net architecture, which raises the quality of CG imagery. Mark Noel for the NACMO series of modular motion bases, which dynamically control simulated actions and provide precise movements for enhancing special effects. Su Tie, Bei Shimen, and Zhao Yanchong for the Ronin 2 gimbal system, which achieves three-axis stabilization through multiple sensors to create more complex and dynamic camera moves. Tabb Firchau, John Ellison, Steve Webb, David Bloomfield, and Shane Colton for Mōvi gimbals, providing single-person or collaborative remote camera operation for difficult shots without dolly or crane-supported stabilized heads. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SciTech Awards: Captioning Oscar Recognizes ‘Commitment to Accessibility'
Marlee Matlin accepted an Academy Award of Merit – an Oscar statuette – that was created to broadly recognize 'all the individuals who have developed and supported captioning technology, whether open or closed, for film,' Tuesday evening at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual Scientific and Technical Awards, which were presented at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Oscar-winning actress Matin has long championed captioning, and on stage she shared her hope that the Oscar statuette, which will reside at the Academy Museum, will bring further awareness of captioning technology and serve as a reminder of the Academy's 'commitment to accessibility and inclusion.' More from Variety 'In Rhythm' Named Eva Maria Daniels Prize Winner at Stockfish Film Festival - Film News in Brief Academy President Janet Yang Urges Preservation of 'Human Authorship' in the AI Era Motion Picture Academy Releases Version 2.0 of Its ACES Color Encoding System (EXCLUSIVE) Calling the Academy the 'deaf community's biggest ally' in a conversation with Variety, Matlin saluted it for being at the forefront of new technologies in film, but suggested that there's more work that can be done to advance captioning tech and have it used more broadly, including for classic films as well as new movies. 'We're still on a path towards full accessibility, and the Academy recognizes that equality is very important, that all audiences are welcome in the film going experience and all audiences should be able to watch films together.' Also during the ceremony, which was originally slated to be held on Feb 18 but was postponed amid the L.A. fires, Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificates) and Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaques) were presented to innovators behind advancements ranging from tech that addresses fire stunt safety to camera stabilization and character realism. 'You are the unsung heroes, but tonight, we sing your praises,' host Diego Luna ('Andor') told the honorees 'who make cinema the global force that it is today.' Highlighted areas of advancement included work in denoising, meaning tools for fixing imperfections in CG rendered images. Among them was Wētā FX's ML Denoiser, for which Javor Kalojanov and Kimball Thurston were presented Technical Achievement Awards. This Denoiser has been used on Weta projects including, most recently, Oscar nominated 'Better Man' and 'A Minecraft Movie.' The term ML, or machine learning, is a subset of AI. Of such applications of the technology, Thurston said it 'empowers creativity,' explaining 'it's not Gen AI; it's not transforming text to an image. It's a tool to improve the quality of an image, and in doing so, save time and enhance [an artists] creativity.' Also in this area, Thijs Vogels, Fabrice Rousselle, David Adler, Gerhard Röthlin and Mark Meyer received Scientific and Engineering Awards for the creation of Disney's ML Denoiser. Technical Achievement Awards were awarded to Attila T. Áfra for the Intel Open Image Denoise, and Timo Aila for his work at NVIDIA applying U-Nets to denoising. On-set safety developments including gels that allow fire to burn safety on the skin of stunt performers. In this area, Jayson Dumenigo received a Scientific and Engineering Award for the Action Factory Hydrogels, while Technical Achievement Awards were presented to Neeme Vaino for the development of Fireskin360 Naked Burn Gel, and Dustin Brooks and Colin Decker for Fire for Hire's naked burn gel. Scientific and Engineering Award recipients that adressed camera stabilization included Curt Schaller for the concept, design and development of the Trinity 2 camera stabilization system, and Roman Foltyn for the software and hardware design of its motorized stabilized head; Steve Wagner, Garrett Brown, Jerry Holway and Robert Orf for Tiffen's Steadicam Volt stabilization system; and Dave Freeth hand-held Stabileye three-axis motorized camera stabilization system. In sound, Scientific and Engineering Award honorees included Nir Averbuch, Yair Chuchem and Dan Raviv for Sound Radix's Auto Align Post 2, used by dialogue editors to blend multiple moving microphones during postproduction. Technical Aceivement Awards were presented to Mark Noel for contributions to the NACMO series of transportable six-degrees-of-freedom motion base technology; Su Tie, Bei Shimen and Zhao Yanchong for the Ronin 2 gimbal system; and Tabb Firchau, John Ellison, Steve Webb, David Bloomfield and Shane Colton for Freefly Systems' handheld Mōvi gimbals. Technical Achievement Awards were additionally bestowed on Essex Edwards, James Jacobs, Jernej Barbic, Crawford Doran and Andrew van Straten for the Ziva VFX system, aiding VFX practitioners in create muscles and skin for digital characters. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in May 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in May 2025
