American Society of Cinematographers Motion Imaging Technology Council Progress Report 2020

David Reisner received a 2014 Academy Technical Achievement Award, a 2014 Hollywood Post Alliance Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation, and was recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with a prestigious Prime Time EMMY Engineering Award as a co-designer of the ASC CDL—now used in the workflow of nearly every motion picture, scripted TV, and visual effects turnover. He was the lead designer and co-producer of the ASC-DCI StEM Standard Evaluation Material used to determine the quality required to convert the world’s movie system from film to digital, and vice-chaired the SMPTE Working Groups responsible for digital cinema imaging—showing on nearly all cinema screens worldwide—and security standards—protecting $35 billion of IP each year. He also had leading roles in activities including design and production of the American Society of Cinematographers-Producers Guild of America (ASC-PGA) CAS, the ICAS, and elements of the Academy Color Encoding System. He has been a founder, a partner, and a chief technology officer in computer and in entertainment companies. He helped originate digital audio and his “firsts” include the programmable portable computer, the handheld digital video jukebox, the portable source-level debugger, 57,000-bit very long integer arithmetic, and Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) computer architecture—one of the enablers of modern multiprocessor computing. He provided editorial assistance on the first textbook on neural network artificial intelligence and machine learning, originated pervasive computing—a parent of the Internet of Things (IoT), proposed emergent networking for smart dust, and helped develop the first popular byte-code virtual machine. He has shot celebrity and fashion for books and magazines including Vogue Italia, produced concerts internationally, and trained killer whales. He is well published in books and technical articles, has spoken widely including NAB, SMPTE, International Federation of Cinematographers (IMAGO), and a 29,000-viewer webcast, and on manned space exploration to a standing-room-only crowd at the 2014 International Space Development Conference. He is a member of SMPTE, the founding Secretary of the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council, an ASC Associate, a Member of the Visual Effects Society, and a coauthor of the “VES Handbook of Visual Effects.” His committees have recommended some of the highest profile Academy Scientific and Technical Awards.

Bill Bennett, Asc is a cinematographer, primarily shooting television commercials for major clients including Ford, Lexus, Coca Cola, Apple Computer, and Budweiser. He worked as first or second unit camera operator for feature films including Superman III, The Black Stallion Returns, To Live and Die in LA, Silverado, The Right Stuff (aerials), Bugsy (miniatures), and Waiting to Exhale (title sequence), and as first or second unit DoP on TV series such as 24 The Fosters and Heart Breaker. He co-invented the Terra-Flite vehicle-mounted camera stabilization system. He co-designed the Preston Cinema Systems Micro-Force Zoom Control, now seen on every set in the world. He has long advised ARRI on the design of cameras from the 435 film to the Alexa Mini digital. He has shot multiple demonstration films for ARRI and Zeiss. He currently an ASC vice president and a member of the Board of Governors.

David Stump, Asc, is a working DP, visual effects DP, visual effects supervisor, and stereographer, earning an Emmy Award, an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement, and an International Cinematographers Guild Award. He is currently the chairman of the Camera Subcommittee of the ASC Technology Committee and a member of the AMPAS Science and Technology Council, where he chairs the Next-Generation Cinema Technology Work Group and participates in the AMPAS ACES project. Under his guidance, the combined efforts of the PGA and the ASC produced both the ASC-PGA CAS and the ASC-PGA ICAS, which are side-by-side comparisons of virtually all of the high-end digital cinema cameras against film. He has lectured and taught classes in cinematography and visual effects and has spoken at many conferences and trade shows, including the National Association of Broadcasters and the International Broadcast Convention.

Greg Ciaccio creative technologist, has served in executive operations management positions for Creative Service divisions at Sim, Ascent, Technicolor, and Deluxe, and has led product development teams creating leading-edge products including Technicolor’s DP Lights and Deluxe’s Mobilabs near-set dailies solutions. In 2014, he, with other core members of the ASC Technology Committee’s DI Subcommittee, won an HPA Judges Award for the creation of the ASC CDL, now a commonly used format for the exchange of basic primary color grading information. He serves as the chair of the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council’s Workflow Committee, which includes the ACES and Advanced Data Management Subcommittees. He is a SMPTE Hollywood Section Manager, a member of HPA, and an Associate Member of the ASC.

Jesse Korosi is the director of Workflow at Sim, the 2016 HPA Emerging Leader Award winner, Studio Daily Top 50 Award winner, the former chair of the HPA’s Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP) committee, current chair of the ASC MITC Workflow Advanced Data Management subcommittee, and HPA’s “Through The Frame” podcast host. He currently oversees a global workflow and development team and provides technical-level direction and management. In the last 18 months, he and his team have overseen the dailies/post-production workflow on over 100 projects spanning the globe, collectively managing over 10 Petabytes of media. Aside from working on notable television shows and feature films, he counts creating Sim’s new client-facing metadata aggregation/automated transcoding service, Metabanq, as his greatest achievement.

David Morin is the head of the Epic Games Los Angeles Lab and the executive director of the Academy Software Foundation. At Epic Games, he works to develop the use of the Unreal Engine in the Film and Television industries. At the Academy Software Foundation, he works for the premier members to develop the use of open source software in the motion picture industry. Previously, he was the president of David Morin, LLC, a diversified consultancy specializing in immersive production with clients such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, ARRI Inc., Autodesk, Epic Games, Shotgun Software, and others. He is also the chairman of the Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Production and a past co-chair of the Joint Technology Subcommittee on Previsualization. He earned a BScA degree in computer science from Laval University, Quebec City, Canada, and has participated in the development of motion capture and 3D softwaresince Jurassic Park at companies such as Softimage, Microsoft, Avid Technology, Autodesk, and now Epic Games.

Michael Goi, Asc, Isc, is a three-time past president of the American Society of Cinematographers and is the editor of the tenth edition of the American Cinematographer Manual. He is the co-chair of the ASC MITC Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Production. He is a member of the National Executive Board of the International Cinematographers Guild, a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He directed the feature film Mary starring Gary Oldman, to be released this fall.

Mike Sanders is the senior visual director for Activision overseeing innovation in art, animation, and production across Activision’s game franchises, most notably Call of Duty. He is focusing on bringing film VFX quality to game development and interactive entertainment. He was previously the director of virtual production for Industrial Light and Magic, collaborating with Disney’s Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel, and Imagineering, and built the creative technology of ILMxLAB. He has created cutting-edge imagery for more than 90 major motion pictures and AAA games and worked with top directors and major studios on projects including Titanic, Star Wars, Avatar, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Joachim Zell is a consultant on production and post-production workflows, ACES, and Imaging Science. For 12 years he served as VP of Technology at EFILM/Deluxe, where he designed and monitored production workflows from on-set production to movie release. Previously, he was VP of Advanced Technology at Technicolor Thomson in Burbank and before that Marketing Manager Americas at Grass Valley Thomson. During his time in London, Zell worked as Product Manager digital film systems for Pandora Int. He supports SMPTE as Hollywood Section Manager, was on the ASC Technology Committee team that designed the ASC CDL, and holds the position of ACES Project Vice-Chair at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In February 2020 Joachim became a board member of the HPA. Joachim holds a master’s degree in Film and Television Engineering and has co-authored four image processing patents.

Tim Kang is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer, working in the film and TV industries primarily as the director of photography on narrative, commercial, music video, and documentary projects. In addition to multiple features, pilots, and shorts, his list of commercial clients includes Cover Girl, Delta, LA Kings, Disney Interactive, Dreamworks TV, NBC Universal, and YouTube. He has taught cinematography classes and seminars at AFI, Chapman University, Orange, CA, and Woodbury University, Burbank, CA. He received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in cinematography from the renowned American Film Institute Conservatory and proudly received mentorship from Stephen Lighthill, ASC; Robert Primes, ASC; David Stump, ASC; Greg McMurry, ASC; and Ron Garcia, ASC.

Emily Stadulis was a lighting designer and a technical educator for both live events and on camera for 15 years across the U.S. Following her design career, she transitioned to systems designs and sales, specializing in upgrading spaces to light-emitting diode (LED). Currently, she is the regional manager for Rosco Laboratories, covering the western region of the U.S. and Canada.

Adrienne Klotz Floyd is a film, TV, and media production professional with more than 20 years of experience. She is an IATSE Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild member, digital imaging technician, specialty photographer, and co-producer and host of FilmCraft.Biz.

Jay Holben is an independent producer and the director in Los Angeles, CA. A former cinematographer, he is the author of two commercially published books on cinematography, a previous technical editor for DV Magazine, a current editor and contributor for over two decades for American Cinematographer Magazine, faculty instructor for Global Cinematography Institute, and international lecturer. He is an Associate Member of the ASC and the chair of the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council’s Lens Committee.

Pete Ludé is a prominent engineering consultant in advanced imaging and sound. He serves as the chief technology officer of Mission Rock Digital, a San Francisco-based engineering firm specializing in next-generation media including cinema display technology, immersive sound, and interchange pipelines for plenoptic (light field) imaging. He is the past-president of SMPTE, and a SMPTE Fellow. He currently serves as the co-chair of the ASC Plenoptic and Computational Imaging Committee, the chairman of IDEA—the Immersive Digital Experiences Alliance, the chair of the SMPTE Working Group on Immersive Audio for Cinema, and is a frequent speaker on the future of cinema, volumetric imaging systems, and advanced display technology.

Lou Levinson is a long-time Associate Member of the ASC and the Vice-Chair of the MITC Digital Intermediate Committee. A member of the ASC Technology Committee since its inception, he has been a frontline colorist from the “on the fly” analog era to today’s advanced ACES and beyond digital pipelines, having worked with/for everyone from Woody Allen to Rob Zombie. He is currently works at Apple, San Francisco Bay Area, CA.

Joshua Pines is the chief troublemaker and luddite at Technicolor Digital Intermediates, which provides the motion picture industry with digital color correction processes for theatrically released films. He is currently in charge of imaging and color science projects. He joined Technicolor after more than ten years at Industrial Light and Magic, where he supervised their film scanning/recording department from its inception, and worked extensively with both traditional and digital cinema technologies. He has received two Technical Achievement Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Herbert Kalmus Award from SMPTE, and had his gender identity confirmed when SMPTE named him a Fellow.

Eric Rodli has been involved in the management and development of entertainment technology since the late 1980s when he became the president of Iwerks Entertainment. He is a pioneer in large-format films, motion simulation theaters, and other immersive technologies. He subsequently has had senior roles in a variety of entertainment and media organizations, including being a partner in the entertainment consulting practice of PwC as well as president of Kodak’s Motion Picture Division. He is currently an independent consultant and investor. He is an Associate Member of the ASC.

Michael Zink is the vice-president of technology at Warner Bros. (WB), Burbank, CA, where he is responsible for exploring emerging technologies to enhance WB’s capabilities for production, post-production, and distribution. He also participates in a number of standards associations—the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), and SMPTE, among others—and also serves as the chairman for the Ultra High Definition Alliance (UHDA). Prior to joining WB, in 2014, he worked at Technicolor, London, U.K. and Los Angeles, CA, for more than ten years, most recently as the vice-president of technology strategy.

James Fancher developed next-generation technology in digital asset management for Deluxe Digital Media, Burbank, CA. Previously, he was the chief science officer at the Thomson Corporate Research facility in Burbank, where he worked on cluster computing architectures for image processing, 3D color correction systems, and digital asset management technology. As the chief technology officer for Technicolor Creative Services, the post-production arm of Technicolor, he was involved in the development of color management systems, image processing, and media asset management. Prior to his engagement at Technicolor, he was the chief science officer for Pacific Ocean Post, where he started POP Sound, POP Film, which won two Academy Awards for visual effects.

Gary Mandle is a senior research scientist at Baylor University FDM, Waco, TX. He has been working on new display development for more than 35 years as both a design engineer and a product strategist. He has been published in several journals and has been a contributing author on several technology textbooks with regard to cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma, liquid crystal display (LCD), and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) as well as serving as the vice-chair for the ASC MITC Professional Monitor Committee. Memberships include Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE), IEEE, Society for Information Displays (SID), The Optical Society (OSA), an Associate Member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and he is a SMPTE Fellow. He also serves on the SMPTE Board of Governors.

W. Thomas Wall is a retired computer systems designer and professional photographer. He is chief technology officer of LightView.

Gary Demos , received a BS degree in 1971 and a DAA degree from Caltech in 2018. He has been a pioneer in the development of computer-generated images and digital image processing for use in motion pictures. He was a founder of Digital Productions (1982–1986), and was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Scientific and Engineering Award in 1984 along with John Whitney Jr. “For the Practical Simulation of Motion Picture Photograph By Means of Computer-Generated Images.” He also founded DemoGraFX (1988–2003), and Image Essence LLC, Perris, CA (2005 to present). He is a recipient of the AMPAS 2005 Gordon Sawyer Oscar for lifetime technical achievement. He is actively involved in the ASC Technology Committee and has worked on the AMPAS ACES project. He has presented numerous papers at SMPTE, given a SMPTE webinar, is a SMPTE Fellow, and received the 2012 SMPTE Digital Processing Medal. He is the inventor of approximately 100 patents.