Can't Wait Till the Oscars? Engineers and Scientists Show the Future of Movie Making is Now

February 17, 2006--Most people have already seen this year's Academy Award-winning performances -- not just the actors and actresses in Brokeback Mountain or Crash, but the work of behind-the-scenes scientists and engineers who are receiving this year's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Technical Achievement Awards.

According to AMPAS, the Technical Achievement Awards recognize contributions to the progress of the film industry. These technical innovations have been successfully used in movies and have become the gold standard by which new technologies are judged.

This year's winners cover inventions from increasing the safety of stunt performers and camera operators to technologies that help correct uneven lighting and create scenes that haven't been designed yet. The awards for Scientific and Technical Achievement will be presented on February 18, 2006. Here are a few of the winners and their contribution to moviemaking history.

SAFETY--FOR STUNT PERFORMERS

Scott Leva is the designer and developer of the Precision Stunt Air Bag. Leva is truly an expert in his field because he has worked as a stunt coordinator and performer appearing in the film X-Men and on television in Desperate Housewives. After a friend died during a fall on an air bag, Leva went back to the drawing board and took the air bag apart.

A stunt performer's goal is to hit the center of the air bag, but the Precision Stunt Air Bag is designed to envelop the performer wherever they hit the air bag. "Even if the stunt performer misses the center of the bag, the bag is made to envelop the performer and roll them toward the center of the bag where it is safest," says Leva. "The air bag is softer, more durable and enhances stunt performer's safety for falls up to 200 feet."

SAFETY--FOR CAMERA OPERATORS

Frank Fletcher, an engineer with A & C Ltd., and his partner David Sherwin invented and developed the Power Pod Modular Camera Head System. The Power Pod system is a remote control system that allows camera operators to film a scene without actually being there. "Sometimes it isn't safe," says Fletcher. "So, the camera man can be away from the action, but still see what is being shot."

Fletcher and Sherwin further developed the system to reduce the number of wires and cables coming from the camera to the remote -- until the system eventually became wireless. In the industry, the Power Pod is the common name used when referring to remote camera systems—just like the way Band-Aids have become synonymous with bandages. The Power Pod system was used in the making of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong.

VISUALIZING A SCENE BEFORE ITS SHOT

J. Walt Adamczyk, Alvah Miller, and Michael Sorensen have designed and developed the Aerohead motion control camera and the J-Viz Pre-visualization technology. The Aerohead camera captures live action, but it can also be programmed to film a shot before the scene is even created. This camera and pre-visualization technology are ideal for movies that use a green screen where even the actors have no idea of what the scene will look like, but still have to be filmed reacting to their surroundings.

"J-Viz tracks the movement of the (Aerohead) camera and, using computer graphics, is able to draw a virtual set that matches the movement of the real camera," says Adamczyk, a computer graphic and animation designer. The Aerohead camera and J-Viz technology were most recently used for the Disney channel movie Zenon.

GETTING THE COLORS JUST RIGHT

Harold Rattray, an electric engineer at Technicolor, and a team including Tim Reynolds, Terry Claborn, Steve Garlick, and Bill Hogue have designed, engineered, and implemented the Technicolor Real Time Answer Print System. "Using this system, filmmakers can preview a reel containing many scenes that were shot under various lighting conditions and then correct the colors scene-by-scene to make the lighting look uniform throughout the scene," says Rattray. "Then, they can replay the entire reel with the new corrections applied to each scene."

This system has been used in computer-generated films such as: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, and Madagascar as well as live action films including Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, and Meet the Fockers.

Precision Stunt Airbag image courtesy of Precision Safety Specialists

Contact:

Scott Leva
Precision Stunt Safety Specialists
323-314-7788 or 818-788-7088
SCOTSTUNT@aol.com

Frank Fletcher
A & C Ltd.
+44 (0)20 8427 5168
frank@powerpod.co.uk

Harold Rattray
Electronic Engineer
Technicolor
818-769-8500 x2449
Harold.rattray@thomson.net

Emilie Lorditch
American Institute of Physics
301-209-3029
elorditc@aip.org