AMPAS
to honor ARRI and Fraunhofer engineers with Academy Award of Merit (Oscar Statuette)
January 18, 2012
Source: ARRI ARRI
announces that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (©A.M.P.A.S.®)
will honor the ARRILASER film recorder with an Academy Award of Merit® in
the form of an Oscar Statuette® during a ceremony on Feb. 11 in Beverly Hills.
The Academy presents the awards to individuals behind these achievements,
which “demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the
process of making motion pictures,” the organization notes. The Oscar Statuette®
will be granted to Franz Kraus, Johannes Steurer and Wolfgang Riedel for the design
and development of the ARRILASER, which “demonstrates a high level of engineering
resulting in a compact, user-friendly, low-maintenance device, while at the same
time maintaining outstanding speed, exposure ratings and image quality.”
The initial concept of the ARRILASER was inspired
by the development of a large-scale laser printer at the Fraunhofer Institute
IPM in Freiburg. Project manager Wolfgang Riedel suggested utilizing the experience
and technology gained in this previous project for the film industry, which led
to a very successful partnership between the Fraunhofer Institute IPM in Freiburg
and Arnold & Richter Cine Technik in Munich. This partnership of innovation
and real world experience allowed Kraus, Steurer and Riedel to come up with product
specifications for a laser-based, high dynamic range, high resolution film recorder.
After just two years of development, the first prototypes were delivered to Digital
Domain and Computer Film Company for beta testing in 1998. Today, the ARRILASER
is the industry standard with over 280 units in use around the globe. “
The concept was to have technology which would satisfy
Hollywood-quality demands but would be efficient and competitive to accommodate
lower budget films,” explains Franz Kraus, ARRI’s Managing Director.
Johannes Steurer, Principal Engineer at ARRI’s R&D department adds, “The
ARRILASER made it possible to record complete feature films at a moderate price
with quick recording speed so the industry could turn from shot-based visual effects
production to digital production for the complete features. This enabled the digital
intermediate process on a big scale.“ “ While
the development of the ARRILASER posed several technological challenges, our enthusiasm
was inspirational for various scientists and engineers making significant contributions
in their respective fields,” reminisces Wolfgang Riedel of the Fraunhofer
IPM. This early foray into digital technology later paved the way for more innovation.
“We are very pleased that we receive the Oscar in particular for this product
because it is the first digital system ARRI ever built,” says Kraus.
The ARRILASER has been a success
in itself, but it was really the foundation to further digital projects:
the ARRISCAN and the ARRIFLEX D-20. Without those products there would not have
been the in-house engineering competence and the customer confidence for the successful
design and marketing of the ALEXA camera.”
This latest Sci-Tech honor
is the 17th award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for ARRI
products over the years. Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation
will be included in the televised Oscar ceremony on Feb. 26.
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