Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081203
38 CINEMONTAGE / Q1 2019 was all about what it can do, how quickly can we get it done, and what's new/different about it?" As part of the Miss Universe team, Shapiro would create nearly 200 effects during both pre-production editing and the live show using different DVE equipment. Any chance Shapiro got, he would learn the new equipment/switchers and video effect boxes. He devised the "page turn" effect, which was used for many years on ET and was key to his effects training. When he started working on awards shows and specials (Miss Universe Pageant, Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, American Music Awards, etc.), he pretty quickly showed producers/directors that he had the chops to deliver the types of effects they were envisioning. OSCAR BOUND In 1990, Shapiro's technical prowess landed him an opportunity to work on the Oscars. The director was Jeff Margolis, with whom Shapiro had worked on the AMA Awards. "He saw that I could make that box perform, and when he had the opportunity to bring me on to the Oscars, he jumped at it." Tasked with trying to bring new visual effects to the Oscar broadcast, the TD remembers, "When I got to the Oscars, it was another giant leap. The director wanted to explore the next level of video effects as well as incorporate elements of the production design into the look of the video effects." Since he first began working on the Oscars in the '90s, shows have gotten bigger and more complex, costs have increased and digital technologies have changed the way he works. Shapiro observes that building the effects and doing setup for the show takes less time than Kenneth Shapiro in the Denali television production truck from which he will be technical directing the effects for this year's Oscars telecast. Opposite, top: Storyboards Kenneth Shapiro created for the 3D "slab" video effects to be used for the 65th Oscars in 1993. Opposite, bottom: Pencil drawing designs by Kenneth Shapiro for the effects to be used on the 79th Oscars in 2007.