The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that 14 scientific and technical achievements will be honoured at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony on April 29. An Academy Award of Merit 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.” Processes and products receiving Technical Achievement Awards include Ziva VFX, a system for constructing and simulating muscles, fat, fascia, and skin for digital characters; Wētā FX’s ML Denoiser, which prioritizes temporal filtering using optical flow techniques; Fireskin360 Naked Burn Gel; and Intel Open Image Denoise. Scientific and Engineering Awards will recognize Action Factory Hydrogels; Disney’s ML Denoiser; Sound Radix’s Auto Align Post 2; ARRI Trinity 2; Tiffen Steadicam Volt; and the hand-held Stabileye three-axis motorized camera.
NLogic has announced that several more agencies and broadcasters have joined Corus Entertainment and IPG in signing on to its Video Planner, joining Rogers, GroupM, OMG, Plus Company, P&G, Kingstar, Media Dimensions, and Ocean Media. Released last summer, Video Planner leverages Numeris’ cross-platform video audience dataset (VAM) to help the industry analyze and plan unduplicated reach and frequency across the video landscape, inclusive of TV, streaming and social platforms. NLogic says it’s committed to enhancing the Video Planner over the coming year, with additional features under consideration including campaign weight allocation, multi-demo planning, access via API, and the ability to integrate first and third party data to create more realistic and actionable buying plans.
Samsung is now a NASCAR Technology Partner, introducing its displays and monitors at NASCAR Productions’ newly-launched remote race control room. Housed in NASCAR’s 58,000 sq.-ft. production facility in Concord, NC, the state-of-the-art control room features Samsung’s The Wall as its centrepiece. Spanning 32 ft. wide and nine ft. high, the new control room sets the stage for NASCAR to remotely execute officiating in a precise and data-driven approach for large-scale races nationwide. During races, up to 24 officials in the room will use The Wall as their primary screen to access replays from the SBG Sports Software system, capable of aggregating up to 200 camera angles, all driver audio and voice-to-text transcription of team radio transmissions.
