When you think of the Oscars we tend to think of the actors that are the face of the movies BUT the movies that we see dont happen without some technical geniuses. What you may not know is that each year those hollywood techies are given their own shot at an Oscar.

The Academy’s Science and Technology Council was created in 2003 in response to the explosion in digital motion picture technology, which continues to transform the production, post-production and exhibition of movies.

Recognizing the crucial role of science and technology in the moviemaking process, the Academy has, almost since its inception, honored the achievements of pioneers whose work has advanced the motion picture industry. The first Scientific and Technical Awards were handed out at the 1930–31 Academy Awards ceremony, held on November 10, 1931 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

There are only 10 winners chosen each year and they do their celebration about 2 weeks before the Oscars for the actors etc…

2 winners that stood out to me this year are:

1. Dr. Mark Sagar for his early and continuing development of influential facial motion retargeting solutions. Dr. Sagar’s work led to a method for transforming facial motion capture data into an expression-based, editable character animation system that has been used in motion pictures with a high volume of digital characters.

2. Mark Noel for the design, engineering, and development, and to John Frazier for his contributions to the design and safety features, of the NAC Servo Winch System. The NAC System allows full-size cars, aircraft and other heavy props to be flown on wires with unprecedented freedom of motion and a high degree of safety, on-set and in real time.  The intuitive control system responds to the motion of the operator’s hand, permitting the recording and playback of all axes of motion simultaneously, which may be edited and refined for playback in subsequent takes.