Sci-Tech Moments

Finishing a cigarette before entering the 2002 Scientific &Technical Awards at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on March 2,Richard Edlund, chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts andSciences Sci-Tech Committee, paused to answer the big question of thenight: who was hosting this year's event?

"Charlize Theron. Beautiful actresses--that's how we keep everyoneawake during this event," he chuckled.

Edlund's joke wasn't completely true, although the evening's biggestsurprise came when one of the Sci-Tech honorees, inexplicably, declineda kiss from Theron. (The other surprise: Sci-Tech Committee ViceChairman Donald Rogers letting ventriloquist Ronn Lucas to put a maskon his face and turn him into a "dummy.")

Still, at least as far as the participants were concerned, theso-called "nerd" banquet that annually precedes the Academy Awards wasfar more than a litany of technical achievements relating tomotion-control rigs, compositing software, and camera housings. It was,for one evening, a celebration of how the science portion of theAcademy's name melds with the arts portion.

The night featured wonderful anecdotes from the so-called "olddays." Among them: Celco's Paul J. Constantine's memories about howthat company's digital film recorder products were born to serve theembryonic digital needs of Tron in the 1970s, and the fondrecollections of underwater camera housing pioneer Jordan Klein,looking back at his work as an underwater engineer for DP Ted Moore onThunderball. A more recent camera housing wizard, Pete Romano,was also honored for his invention of the Remote AquaCam, and Romanopaid tribute to Klein's pioneering work during his acceptance speech.(Panavision's Andy Romanoff, a Sci-Tech committee member, remarkedduring the dinner that the Academy would have happily paid tribute toKlein's work long ago, "but he never applied, and you have to make anapplication to be considered.")

Edmund Di Giulio's fondly recalled the early days of Steadicam. DiGiulio, founder of Cinema Products, received the Gordon E. Sawyerhonorary Oscar for his career achievements. "Technology in the pursuitof creativity," said Di Giulio, summing up his company's motto, and thepurpose of the Sci-Tech Awards. "But this doesn't mean I'm retiring,"he added, in response to the "lifetime achievement" label.

But the best indication of the evolution of the science offilmmaking was the honor bestowed on software legend Ray Feeney,founder of RFX and Silicon Grail. Feeney received the John A. BonnerMedal for his career service--most of which has been in thedigital realm. Indeed, Feeney is the first winner of theBonner award whose expertise is primarily in the world of digitalfilmmaking.

Feeney told the assembled throng that his honor, along with Sci-Techawards given to several digital advances (among them, awards to ILMengineers for character animation software breakthroughs, and NUKE-2D'sinventors for its compositing achievements), was proof-positive that"digital is filmmaking."

"Our industry is at a crossroads as important as the introduction ofsound," Feeney proclaimed, referring to digital's proliferation intoalmost every corner of the filmmaking world.

The event's only down note came the next day, when approximately 250attendees, according to The Hollywood Reporter, came down with foodpoisoning. A Los Angeles Department of Health investigation found nolong-term problems related to the hotel's food preparation, and allvictims recovered.