Report from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Council

Annie Chang Co-chair, Academy Science and Technology Council. As the vice president of creative technologies at Universal Pict-ures, Annie Chang is responsible for developing strategies and designing innovative next-generation workflows across film and emerging immersive media experiences. She was previously the vice president of technology for Marvel Studios and took on a variety of roles at the Walt Disney Studios during her more than one-decade tenure. Chang is a co-chair of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council and currently chairs the Council’s ACES project. A SMPTE fellow, she has also co-chaired the organization’s Essence (10E) Technology Committee and chaired its Interoperable Master Format (IMF) working group. Chang has been honored with the SMPTE Workflow Systems Medal Award and the Advanced Imaging Society’s Distinguished Leadership Award. She made StudioDaily’s inaugural list of “Exceptional Women in Production and Post” in 2018 and was named one of “Hollywood’s Top Innovators” by The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year.

Theodore E. Gluck Chair, Technology History Subcommittee. Theodore E. Gluck is a 29-year veteran of the Walt Disney Studios and is currently the director of library restoration and preservation at the company. He received his master’s degree in film studies from Boston University and was the teaching assistant for noted film scholar and author Roger Manvel. Since 2004 Gluck has been guiding the Walt Disney Studios’ restoration program, starting with the release of Bambi on DVD. He has worked on the restoration and preservation of more than 30 animated feature films, over 100 animated shorts, and several live-action features, and coordinated the digitization and preservation of a significant portion of the studio’s nitrate negatives of animated classics. A long-standing member of SMPTE, British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS) and the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), Gluck has also lectured and written extensively on the history of cinema technologies, including widescreen processes, the development of Technicolor, and multi-channel stereo sound formats.

Leslie Iwerks Chair, Public Programs and Education Subcommittee. Leslie Iwerks is an Oscar® - and Emmy® -nominated director and producer. For over a decade, she has produced, directed, and edited award-winning feature and short documentaries, television specials, and digital content. Her body of work encompasses documentary films, including the recent critically acclaimed series for Disney+, The Imagineering Story, as well as Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table, The Pixar Story, Citizen Hearst, ILM: Creating the Impossible, Dirty Oil, The Hand Behind the Mouse, to her environmental documentaries that have all been nominated or shortlisted for Academy Awards; Recycled Life, Pipe Dreams, and Downstream, as well as her award-winning short documentary Selling Lies, chronicling the inside world of Macedonian fake news. Leslie is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Documentary Branch, the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, the International Documentary Association, and serves on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science and Technology Council as well as the USC School of Cinema Television Alumni Council.

Jeff Taylor Chair, Technology and Research Initiatives Subcommittee. Jeff Taylor began his entertainment career over thirty-eight years ago designing custom music recording consoles. In 1984, he moved into post-production at The Droid Works, a division of LucasFilm Ltd. There, Taylor wrote software for and trained editors on the EditDroid picture editing system, and served as an assistant picture editor on several television series and movies of the week. Taylor later consulted on the digital technology transformation of the animation department at Walt Disney Pictures Animation Group. He later worked at Sony Pictures as Managing Director of Research and Development. Taylor started at Universal Studios in 1995, where he currently serves as the vice president of Corporate Cinema Services. Taylor is a member of AES, SMPTE, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences where he serves on the Theater Standards Committee, the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, and the Science and Technology Council.

Andy Maltz Senior Vice President, Science and Technology Council. Andy Maltz is the founding Head of Staff of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science Technology Council. He developed and implemented the Council’s operational plan, oversees the Council’s day-to-day operations, leads several Council projects and represents the Academy on motion picture science and technology matters at industry, government and academic forums in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to joining the Academy, Andy worked in the commercial world for over 20 years developing and deploying digital cinema servers and mastering systems, professional media authoring systems, nonlinear editing systems as well as working in film, television and commercial production. Andy is the chairman of ISO TC 36 Cinematography and is a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), where he serves on the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal Board of Editors. Andy is also a member of the Academy Software Foundation governing boardThe Council acknowledges the continued dedication and contributions to its work from its staff: Joe di Gennaro, Kathleen Dimpfl, Scott Dyer, Alex Forsythe, George Joblove, Ricardo Rodriguez, Dan Sherlock, Rita Sottile, Cesario Tio, Steve Tobenkin, Norma Vega, and Angiemarie Villafañe, and interns Stephanie Carlson, Bianca Cifuentes, Sarah Heysel and Simon Yahn.