ACADEMY’S TECH COUNCIL ADDS NEW MEMBER ANNIE CHANG

Annie Chang, vice president of technology for Marvel Studios, has accepted an invitation to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bringing the Council’s 2016–2017 membership roster to 25. 

During Chang’s 11 years at Disney, Marvel’s parent company, she has shaped technology standards and strategies, helped research and implement new technologies into feature post-production and mastering pipelines, and helped the studio transition from tapes to files and launch consumer distribution platforms. A fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Chang also is the co-chair of SMPTE’s 10E Essence Technology Committee and was a five-year chair of SMPTE’s Interoperable Master Format (IMF) standardization project. Chang joined the Academy as a Member-at-Large earlier this year. 

The returning Council co-chairs for 2016–2017 are two members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch: Academy governor Craig Barron, an Oscar® -winning visual effects supervisor; and Paul Debevec, a Senior Staff Engineer at Google VR, adjunct professor at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies and a lead developer of the Light Stage image capture and rendering technology, for which he received a Scientific and Engineering Award in 2009.

The Council’s 22 other returning members are Wendy Aylsworth, Academy vice president John Bailey, Rob Bredow, Lisa Zeno Churgin, Elizabeth Cohen, Douglas Greenfield, Don Hall, John Hora, Jim Houston, Rob Hummel, Randal Kleiser, Academy governor John Knoll, Beverly Pasterczyk, Cary Phillips, Joshua Pines, Douglas Roble, Milt Shefter, David Stump, Steve Sullivan, Academy governor Bill Taylor, Academy governor Michael Tronick and Beverly Wood.

Established in 2003 by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the Science and Technology Council provides a forum for the exchange of information, promotes cooperation among diverse technological interests within the industry, sponsors publications, fosters educational activities, and preserves the history of the science and technology of motion pictures.