{Oscars] Technical Achievement Awards in 2024

14 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
TO BE HONORED WITH ACADEMY AWARDS®

Academy Award of Merit to be Presented for Captioning

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that 14 scientific and technical achievements, represented by 37 individual award recipients, will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony, which has been rescheduled to Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures. In addition, an Academy Award of Merit (an Oscar® statuette) will be presented at the ceremony to collectively recognize “all the individuals who have developed and supported captioning technology, whether open or closed, for film.” The statuette will reside at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

“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. “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.”

“Each year, our international committee of industry professionals conducts thorough evaluations of the innovation and impact of technologies developed for the motion picture industry,” said Darin Grant and Raymond Yeung, co-chairs of the Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards Committee. “This year’s awards encompass a wide range of film production advancements, from fire stunt safety, stabilized hand-held camera operation, and animation to post-production innovations in dialogue capture and CG imagery rendering systems. These vital technologies have expanded the visual possibilities of cinema, creating new and compelling experiences for moviegoers.”

The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are:

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS (ACADEMY CERTIFICATES)

• To Essex Edwards, James Jacobs, Jernej Barbic, Crawford Doran and Andrew van Straten for the design and development of Ziva VFX.

Ziva VFX is a system for constructing and simulating muscles, fat, fascia, and skin for digital characters. An artist-friendly interface that emphasizes easily understood physical metaphors, coupled with a robust, physically accurate solver, has enabled a broad range of studios to bring visually rich creatures to life.

• To Javor Kalojanov and Kimball Thurston for the creation of Wētā FX’s ML Denoiser.

This denoiser prioritizes temporal filtering using innovative optical flow techniques to preserve crucial details. Novel training strategies allow its machine learning algorithms to denoise computer-generated imagery to the most exacting standards.

• To Neeme Vaino for the development of Fireskin360 Naked Burn Gel.

This widely available gel allows longer targeted burns directly on the skin, broadening the range of fire stunts performed across the industry.

• To Dustin Brooks and Colin Decker for the development of naked burn gel.

Fire for Hire’s gel first publicly demonstrated a “naked burn,” where fire appears directly on the skin, enabling a new form of safe fire stunts in motion pictures.

• To Attila T. Áfra for the creation of Intel Open Image Denoise.

To Timo Aila for his pioneering work at NVIDIA applying U-Nets to denoising.

Open Image Denoise is an open-source library that provides an elegant API and runs on diverse hardware, leading to broad industry adoption. Its core technology is provided by the widely adopted U-Net architecture that improves efficiency and preserves detail, raising the quality of CG imagery across the industry.

• To Mark Noel for adapting and enhancing the safety and reliability of transportable six-degrees-of-freedom motion base technology for motion picture use.

The NACMO series of modular motion bases enables filmmakers to dynamically control simulated actions, providing precise movements, enhancing special effects, and enriching the visual experience for audiences worldwide.

• To Su Tie for the development of the sensor analysis and stabilization software; To Bei Shimen for the electrical engineering, and to Zhao Yanchong for the mechanical design and engineering of the Ronin 2 gimbal system.

Utilizing three-axis stabilization through multiple sensors, the DJI Ronin 2 has achieved broad adoption. It is controllable from a diverse set of input devices, enabling filmmakers to create complex, dynamic camera moves.

• To Tabb Firchau for the conception and development, to John Ellison and Steve Webb for the attitude control system, to David Bloomfield for the motor design, and to Shane Colton for the motor driver system design of the Mōvi gimbals.

Freefly Systems’ introduction of handheld stabilized gimbals provides single-person or collaborative remote camera operation with various controllers, enabling previously difficult shots without dolly or crane-supported stabilized heads.