Screen Genius Award Winners Announced

The Studio Group’s first-ever Screen Genius Awards honors individual creative achievement in production and post across the small and large screen. These winners were selected from a multitude of submissions and judged by StudioDaily editors. We congratulate them on their hard work, artistry and commitment to excellence.

The winning entrants were recognized in the following categories:

Best Visual Effects Artist: Rob Engle

Rob Engle, 3-D Visual Effects Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles, is a leading authority in 3D technique and artistry, having served as stereoscopic effects supervisor on The Polar Express, Beowulf, Jonas Brothers: the 3-D Experience, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Oscar-nominated Monster House. In 2008, Engle won an HPA Judge’s Award for Creativity and Innovation in Post Production for his work on Beowulf 3-D and the same year was named a co-inventor on a US Patent for the process of digitally generating feathers for the film Stuart Little 2.

We recognize him for his contribution in bringing anamorphic guinea pigs to life in G-Force 3-D, specifically for his skill in synthesizing 3D in post and streamlining production as a result. The film marked the first time a live-action film had been converted from 2D-to-3D for simultaneous release in 2D and 3D. Engle’s challenge was finding a way to let the director keep tight on the action within each character’s range of perspectives-from a housefly, to 9-inch tall guinea pigs, to an 80-foot robot. Since existing 3D rigs were deemed by the director too bulky to achieve the kind of action he wanted, Engle proposed a process that let the team synthesize the 3D from the 2D plate photography and integrate true 3D renders of the CG assets into those plates. All of the 1,800 shots in the film became visual effects that needed to be converted to 3D.

Ultimately, the technique that Engle and his team pioneered in G-Force 3-D gave the live-action production units the flexibility to shoot the film in any way-with any gear-they wanted. His attention to detail on G-Force 3-D remained acute from production through delivery. To prevent improper projection from masking out intended effects, Engle worked closely with the film’s distributor to create a framing chart delivered to every theater with the digital print.

Watch a video tutorial on how he and the Sony Pictures Imageworks team did it here.

Best Colorist

Both of our winners in this category elegantly color corrected underwater footage, which can be notoriously challenging to work with. We were impressed with the distinction between the original footage and the clearly exceptional results. Both winners saved original footage deemed useless with their creative and nuanced grades.

Best Colorist: Will Cox

Winner Will Cox has worked on popular and award-winning films, including 2009’s The Cove, which won an Oscar for best documentary. Also an online editor and colorist in television, Cox moves easily from one director’s style to another. According to those who’ve worked with him, he never lets a deadline get in the way of   “amazing work” that just “seamlessly flows” from one scene to the next. Whether it is grading a late entry in time for the Sundance Film Festival or matching footage, through grading and compositing, on films shot with multiple cameras, formats and stocks, Cox gets the job done, seemingly effortlessly. Says Alan Oxman, the founder of Final Frame Post, where Cox works, “he’s just an exceptional colorist and collaborator.” Cox has worked on a variety of films but may have found his medium in documentaries. His light but unifying touch can also be seen in Racing Dreams-Josh and Anabeth and Soul Power.

Best Colorist, Honorable Mention: Geoffrey Orthwein

Geoffrey Orthwein’s challenge for “Ocean Odyssey,” a project for the Museum of Natural History in New York, was to grade underwater footage to be shown across the eight massive 270-degree screens in the museum’s Hall of the Oceans and later on broadcast television. The way that he manipulated light through grading, in particular, saved shots and entire segments the director/producers assumed they wouldn’t be able to use. Said Laura Vagnone, his client at Feodor Pitcairn Productions, which produced the project, “The challenge with ‘Ocean Odyssey’ was to create a sense of continuity and seamlessness as we went from environment to environment, while still remaining true to the actual appearance of those environments. The entire team was astounded with the results of Geoffrey’s color correction.” Orthwein did both the primary and secondary color correction, as well as handling visual effects shots and the online conform.

Best Editor: Tony Felgueiras

Tony Felgueiras does it all. He started as an intern at Black Angus Media, publishers of TORO Magazine, a Canadian men’s magazine, and now runs the video unit at the magazine’s now Web-only site, where he produces, shoots, edits, directs, edits and posts all of the site’s video. His scrappy, enthusiastic style first impressed TORO Magazine‘s Deputy Editor Christina Butterfield, who met him in a Starbucks in downtown Toronto before the newly relaunched site even had offices. When she suggested a viral video campaign to position the former print magazine for the digital age, he came in the next day armed with storyboards that mapped out the full campaign. He was soon promoted to a full-time position. His video, she says, has increased site traffic, helped to expand the publisher’s Garage Band franchise that brings up-and-coming musical acts to record in TORO’s studios, and established TOROmagazine.com as a top presence at the Virgin Music Festival tour. Most of all, says Butterfield, “he’s a valuable leader on a small team and a genuinely great individual.” As an editor, he manages to capture the energy of his subjects, whether young musicians or bikini-clad models, with his playful, fast-paced cuts. We recognize him for his enterprising approach to his craft, especially the way he manages to wear many hats while editing with the site’s mission and, ultimately, his audience in mind.

Best DVD Producer: James Ford Nussbaum

The preservation of bats-a worthy if not universally understood subject-is also filmmaker James Nussbaum’s passion. An avid spelunker, he wanted to raise awareness of caving but also of the strange fungus, dubbed White Nose Syndrome, that is decimating migratory bats by up to 90% in some regions. He chose expert cavers Wayen Russell and Julie Roselius to tell the story in a reality-TV-like format, which he hopes will educate others about the plight of the bats in caves across the Northeast. Bats: The Last Flight draws from some 40 hours of footage and also tells the story of how Russell and Roselius are using grass root efforts to raise money for the cause through a yearly music festival. We recognize Nussbaum for pushing this project through to disc so that is available as a take-away during the yearly festival and beyond.

Best Solo Shooter:  James Forni

Our Best Solo Shooter award goes to James Forni, for The ‘O’ Mission, a series of webisodes to raise awareness about sexually transmitted diseases. Forni’s client, getSTDtested.com, wanted an “edu-taining” Web series that would show how social networking has changed the dating world forever. In a world where meeting someone and hooking up is as easy as one click, the webisodes explore how young adults can navigate the nuances of a new relationship and minimize dating risks by normalizing the discussion about STDs. From the double-entendre in the title-meant to draw in the hormonally soaked 20- to-30-year-old young adults with its implied sexual content-to the hip soundtrack and YouTube-style confessionals, The ‘O’ Mission showcases Forni’s diverse talents in a targeted and timely package. Forni’s camera style, writing (with Michael Fry), editing and direction give a very tough topic dramatic urgency.