American Cinematographer - May 1992 - 16

What's New

compiled by Stephen Pizzello
Academy's Documentary
Nominees Feted
The International Documentary

DESIGNefx entries as finalists in the 7th
Annual International Computer Animation

Competition. DESIGNefx is the animation
special effects division of Crawford

Association (IDA) recently held its 10th
Annual Oscar Reception to honor this year's

and

Academy Award nominees in documentary
categories. The event was held on Thurs¬
day, March 26 at The Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills,

MCI Network Dimension was
selected as a finalist in the Corporate Pre¬

Communications, Inc.

awakening from his grave in the desert
clutching a bottle of tequila. He's then
shown stumbling drunkenly about until he
has a magical en¬
counter

of

with

a

roses

at

CA.

crown

Award-winning documentary
producer Jack Haley, Jr. served as master

sunset. The

DE¬
SIGNefx team of Ed

of ceremonies for the event, which was

Kramer, Barry Demp¬

sponsored by a contribution from Home Box
Office, Inc. The festivities began with a film
program in the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre,
followed by a reception in the Academy
lobby. The annual program was started in
1982 to focus public attention on the
Academy's nominees for non-fiction filmmaking, as well as to bring about a greater
appreciation and demand for documentary
production.
This year's feature-length docu¬
mentary nominees included Death on the
Job, a film about the dangers of the
American workplace (produced by Vince
DiPersio and William Guttentag); Doing
Time: Life Inside the Big House, a tour of the
Lewisberg maximum security federal
penitentiary (produced by Alan Raymond
and Susan Raymond); In the Shadow of the
Stars, which goes backstage at the San
Francisco Opera to reveal the aspirations of
singers seeking stardom (produced by Allie
Light and Irving Saraf); The Restless Con¬

sey, Greg Killmaster
and Henry LaBounta

science, an examination of the activities of
the anti-Nazi resistance within Germany
from 1933 to 1945 (produced by Hava Kohav

combined their

ex¬

pertise in modeling,
lighting and design
with the motion

analysis engineers
of Biomechanics,
Inc. in Atlanta to

sentations category. MCI
literal approach to explain

wanted a non¬
how their tele¬
phone network system operated. Executive
producers Michael Sunderman and Randy
Ort from MCI developed the concept, and
DESIGNefx's Tom Baker designed the hightech computer-animated journey through a
complex three-dimensional conceptual
network. In the piece, the viewer follows a
data bit of communication from sender to
receiver and back. Henry LaBounta, senior
animator on the project, used Wavefront

technology combined with several custom
programs; the data bits were seeded and
generated randomly so that they took on a
life of their own. The 3 1/2-minute piece
created within
and was developed

was

a

six-week time frame

exclusively for the MCI
corporate headquarters' revolving theater.
Another DESIGNefx entry, Bose

A trickster skeleton
romps

develop the piece.

through

The collaborative

DESIGNefx's

project also fea¬

computer-animated

tured the mime and
dance talents of

short Rose from the
Dead.

Gateway Produc¬
According to Biomechanics, "This
type of technology has potential uses that
range from Olympic athletic training to fu¬
tions.

turistic film entertainment."

Cable-mounted Camera Rig
Cablecam Systems Ltd. of Rich¬

mond, British Columbia recently introduced
a

cable-mounted

camera

2,000 feet of tracking
zontal-

-

rig that offers
vertical or hori¬

any terrain.
The Cablecam system

over

Graphics Category. The piece was created
emerging technology
where actual human performance can be
computer scanned, then played back

consists
portable towers, a ropeway and a dolly,
and is capable of traveling at speeds up to
50 m.p.h. The unit runs via a gyro-controlled
actuator; the gyro senses the attitudes of
the hanging post and camera platform, and
an on-board computer sends signals to the
actuator to keep the post stable and upright.
The computer also features a software

Association (NCGA) has selected two

through computer-generated characters
inside a computer-generated universe.

backup system for safety purposes; if the
computer senses a problem, the cable

American

May 1992

Beller); and Wild By Law, the story of three
men who struggle against the current of
American thought to pass a law to protect
the nation's last remnants of wild land
forever (produced by Lawrence Hott and
Diane Garey).

from the Dead, was selected as a finalist in
the Technology and Research Computer
to showcase an

Animation

Competition

Finalists
The National

14

DESIGNefx Art Director Kerry
Kenemer created a piece based loosely on
the Mexican Day of the Dead mythology.
The animation depicts a trickster skeleton

Computer Graphics

Cinematographer

of
American Cinematographer - May 1992

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - May 1992
