The Hollywood Post Alliance announced the 2013 recipients of the organizations Engineering Excellence Award and the HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production earlier this month, during a special on-line press event. These prestigious awards recognize the technical excellence and creative innovation that is helping to drive the post industry forward. The nominees in the craft categories were also announced.Leon Silverman, President of the Hollywood Post Alliance, noted These awards illustrate the pace of technical innovation and the importance of workflow within our industry. With a record-breaking number of entries in every category, and especially these special awards, it is clear that there is incredible technical creative vitality in our industry today. Congratulations to these companies and individuals for continuing to innovate and drive and enable an expanded creative process and palette.
The Engineering Excellence Award spotlights the companies and individuals bringing technical and creative ingenuity to the real world of post production while raising the profile of breakthrough technologies within the industry.
The winners of the 2013 HPA Engineering Excellence Award sponsored by NAB Show are:
DTS, Inc.: MDA
MDA is an open object-based audio specification currently being proposed to international standardization committees as an alternative to todays closed proprietary solutions. With overwhelming interest from the entertainment industry, MDA has already garnered support from major studios and networks looking to avoid another audio format war; while content tool providers have already begun developing new authoring solutions for the MDA format.
NVIDIA: NVIDIA GRID Visual Computing Appliance (VCA)
The NVIDIA GRID VCA is a turn-key appliance that enables users to remotely run digital content creation applications on any Windows, Linux or Mac PC with high-performance NVIDIA GPU acceleration even if their computer does not natively have that capability. Since all the processing is done remotely on the VCA, creative professionals get the best possible experience with maximum flexibility.
Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Foundry: FLIX
FLIX lets creative teams focus on telling great stories. Developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Foundry, FLIX is a web-based visual story development tool that enables directors, editors, cinematographers, 2D and 3D story artists to work together in one easy-to-use app.
Telestream: 16 bit 4:4:4:4 Transcoding Technology
Almost all Production workflows require that media be transcoded between formats as it flows from activity to activity and is resized for final viewing. Of primary importance is the quality of the resulting material. Telestream Vantage transcoders utilize an innovative 16bit YCrCbA 4:4:4:4 data paths to deliver the highest quality, and maintain the artistic intent of the submitted material.
Winners comments:
DTS is proud to receive an HPA award, for MDA as an open platform for the production and delivery of immersive object-based audio. MDA answers the industrys requirement for an open object-based audio platform to create exciting new audio innovations and products on, said John Kellogg, senior director corporate strategy and development.
NVIDIA is pleased that our GRID VCA has been honored for its technical excellence by the HPA, said Ankit Patel, Sr. Product Manager, GRID VCA. The GRID VCA is the perfect tool for post-production facilities to optimize workflows and still give their artists the power and performance they need, where ever they need it.
Rob Bredow, CTO, Sony Pictures Imageworks, stated, We are truly honored that FLIX has received an HPA Engineering Excellence Award. This ground-breaking technology, created by the talented teams at Sony Pictures Imageworks and The Foundry, is a perfect example of how we use technology to help our artists collaborate together on story.
Telestream is honored to be recognized by the post industry and to receive this HPA Engineering Excellence Award, said Dan Castles, CEO at Telestream. Our longstanding commitment to image quality and preserving the artistic integrity of the content being processed is paramount for Telestream and was the key driver for our development of the 16-bit 4:4:4:4 Transcoding Technology.
The HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production was conceived to recognize companies and individuals who have made significant achievements and pushed the envelope forward in post production, whether in creative storytelling and/or technical innovation.
The 2013 winner of the HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production is:
Park Road Post Production: Next Generation Feature Film Workflow: Enabling HFR 48FPS Stereoscopic 3D On Set to On Screen
Park Road Post Production developed the worlds first end-to-end High Frame Rate Stereoscopic 3D workflow in support of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), directed by Peter Jackson. Partnering with some of the industrys finest technology companies, Park Road delivered digital dailies, traditional and 48fps offline/online support, real-time collaborative finishing, and complex final deliverables.
Phil Oatley, Head of Technology, Park Road Post Production, commented, Thank you HPA and the industry for recognizing the extraordinary work done to bring The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to cinemas worldwide in HFR-3D. Park Road has been fortunate to collaborate with some of the most innovative technology companies in the world today.
The 2013 HPA Awards show will be held November 7, 2013 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The Engineering Excellence Award and the HPA Judges Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production will be bestowed upon their recipients
