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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Technical Oscar for Pictorvision

A team of engineers from Pictorvision will receive an Academy Award for technical achievement for developing the Eclipse aerial camera platform that eliminates vibration and motion during aerial filming. The Scientific and Engineering Academy plaque will be presented on Feb. 11 at the Scientific and Technical Awards. Picking up the plaque are Michael Lewis, Greg Marsden, Raigo Alas and Mike Vellekoop. The four are based out of the Toronto office of Pictorvision whose headquarters are in Van Nuys. The Pictorvision Eclipse attaches to the front of a helicopter for aerial filming and was used on five of the top 10 highest grossing live action films released in 2011. “It is pretty exciting,” Vellekoop said of the award. “It is an award that everyone recognizes so you feel famous.” The origins of the Eclipse date back to 1999 but it wasn’t until 2004 that the technology was improved and filmmakers began to accept the system. “We had to come up with the innovations to make it seem similar to old technology and mount the camera the way they were used to doing and make the steering the way they were used to doing,” said Lewis, a principal engineer with Pictorvision. The design and development of the camera system was done in Toronto with the machined parts made in Toronto and the U.S. Rentals of the Eclipse is handled out of Van Nuys. Because the camera platform is used for aerial filming only, there are not many Eclipse systems that have been made. “Worldwide there is a market of 10 of these systems,” Lewis said. “That gives an idea of how small the community is.” — Mark R. Madler

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