Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546054
M OT I O N P I CTU R E S O U N D E D I TO R S 117 BY CHARLES MAYNES MPSE Time Alignment is a bit like Rocket Science 2019 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AWARD (Scientific and Engineering Award) To JEFF BLOOM, GUY McNALLY, and NICK ROSE for the original concept and engineering of the WordFit system for automatic ADR synchronisation, and to JOHN ELLWOOD and JONATHAN NEWLAND for the engineering and development of VocAlign and Revoice Pro. WordFit revolutionized the process of post sync ADR by eliminating the need for manual editing to perfect lip sync. VocAlign and Revoice Pro are software tools that together, give sound editors unprecedented control over the final performance in replaced dialogue. In use for many years, these technologies continue their predominance in the creation and seamless integration of replacement dialogue tracks in motion pictures. 2025 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AWARD (Technical Achievement Award) To JOHN ELLWOOD for the innovative rules and heuristics underlying the metadata and timecode matching, and to JEFF BLOOM for the groundbreaking waveform matching, in the Titan auto-assembly software for digital audio. Titan pioneered the auto assembly of digital audio, eliminating the need for sound editors to manually align their sessions, and stood as the benchmark for many subsequent systems. 2019 The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) UK audio technology company Synchro Arts last night (Sunday 7 April) was given a coveted Emmy Award for Excellence in Engineering Creativity by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in Las Vegas. The award was given in recognition of Synchro Arts unique software which has been used in TV and film for over two decades, saving time and synchronising dialogue perfectly to moving images. Synchro Arts software has been a mainstay of sound editors in Hollywood and around the world, used in TV shows such as Game of Thrones, Dora the Explorer, Star Trek and Silent Witness and in films, including Roma, Django Unchained, and X-Men. YES, BUT FIRST, an introduction... SO, with that said, let's hear from Jeff! Wavelength usually concentrates its editorial attention to presenting MPSE members who have done noted work in the film, television/ streaming, and game audio field—we are doing something a little different in this bit of work, which is to speak with one of the clever people who have created tools which have been, or become essential, to our workflows in creating audio for our appreciative audiences. Jeff Bloom is a two-time winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Award. These awards were in recognition of the work Jeff and his associates did with the software VocAlign, and its predecessor WordFit (which we will spend a bit of time looking at), and his related software application Titan, which became an essential tool for dialogue editors in linear media (fancy pants term for film and TV). The AMPAS Award citations are as follows: