“Blade Runner 2049,” pictured, won three prizes at the Advanced Imaging Society’s annual Lumiere Awards on Monday evening. The Warner Bros. pic took home trophies for Best Live Action 3D Motion Picture, Best Live Action Motion Picture Stereography and Best 2D to 3D Conversion (with Stereo D).
Disney-Pixar’s “Coco” received a pair of honors: Best 3D Animated Motion Picture and Best Animated Motion Picture Stereography.
Presented by the Advanced Imaging Society (AIS), the awards were held at a gala evening in the Steven J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
The Lumiere Awards go out to creators – companies as well as individual artists – who are leading innovations in advanced technical areas of content creation, including 3D, virtual reality, augmented reality, high dynamic range (HDR), and other technologies that are expanding possibilities in visual entertainment.
Chosen by a committee of industry professionals, the Lumiere Awards this year helped kick off AIS’s 10-year anniversary.
“It was a brilliant night, celebrating amazing work that showcases the creativity and innovation that marks this community,” said AIS president and CEO Jim Chabin. “Each year, the work gets more spectacular and the number of creators and productions up for awards grows larger.”
In other awards, Disney’s “Be Our Guest” segment from “Beauty and the Beast” was recognized for Best 3D Sequence or Scene of the Year. The 3D conversion for that scene was created by Prime Focus.
In the HDR categories, Focus Features’ “Atomic Blonde” took the prize for Best Use of HDR in a Live Action Motion Picture, while Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Batman Movie” was awarded Best Use of HDR in an Animated Motion Picture, and Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” was recognized for Best Use of HDR in a Television Program.
Netflix and Macinnes Scott were given the award for Best Augmented Reality Experience for the new streaming series “Altered Carbon.” Awards were also presented for Best VR Documentary, Best 3D Documentary Motion Picture, Best VR Game, Best Live Action VR, and more.
In the honorary awards categories, Darla K. Anderson, producer of Disney-Pixar’s “Coco,” “Toy Story 3” and other animated hits, received the Harold Lloyd Award, an accolade for excellence in filmmaking.
Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, said of Anderson, “Like my grandfather, who moved global audiences with heart and humor, Darla has also shown a steadfast commitment to powerful storytelling, as ‘Coco’ so clearly demonstrates.” Past recipients include James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Jean-Pierre Juenet, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Victoria Alonso.
Sony Corporation was chosen for the Sir Charles Wheatstone Award, awarded each year to an organization or individual that made vital contributions to cutting-edge use of technology. Sony was selected for its continuing company-wide commitment to such innovations as 3D cameras, HDR monitors, 4K theater projectors, 4K flat-screen TVs – and for shipping more than 2 million PlayStation VR headsets.
Sony is a two-time winner of the Wheatstone Award, which has previously gone to HTC VIVE, Pixar, Sky TV, the BBC and Sir David Attenborough. It is named for the 19th century inventor-scientist who is credited with creating the forerunner to 3D technology.
In addition to the Wheatstone Award, Sony Pictures Entertainment won the Best Branded VR Experience: Motion Picture Award for Spider-Man: Homecoming VR. This is the third year in a row that Sony Pictures Entertainment has received top honors for its VR film content.
An additional honorary award, the Special Jury Prize, was presented to “The Last Goodbye,” the VR Holocaust Memorial, presented to the USC Shoah Foundation MPC and HTC VIVE.
The Advanced Imaging Society is a non-profit trade association whose members include Hollywood studios and technology companies. Here’s a full list of winners:
BEST 3D SCENE OF THE YEAR
“Beauty and The Beast’s “Be Our Guest”
Walt Disney Pictures
Conversion by Prime Focus
BEST MOTION PICTURE LIVE ACTION
“Blade Runner 2049”
Warner Bros.
BEST 3D MOTION PICTURE LIVE ACTION – BEST STEREOGRAPHY
“Blade Runner 2049”
Warner Bros.
BEST STEREOGRAPHY ANIMATED FEATURE
“Coco”
PIXAR
Darla K. Anderson
Lee Unkrich
BEST 2D TO 3D CONVERSION
“Blade Runner 2049”
Warner Bros.
Conversion by Stereo D
BEST STEREOGRAPHY ANIMATED FEATURE
“Coco”
PIXAR
Bob Whitehill
J-V. Jones
BEST USE OF HDR IN AN ANIMATED MOTION PICTURE
“The LEGO Batman Movie”
Warner Bros.
BEST USE OF HDR IN A TELEVISION PROGRAM
“Chef’s Table”
Netflix
BEST USE OF HDR IN A LIVE ACTION MOTION PICTURE
“Atomic Blonde”
Universal Pictures & Focus Features
BEST VR LOCATION BASED ANIMATED SHORT
“Tree”
New Reality Company
BEST VR DOCUMENTARY
“Sensations of Sound”
The New York Times & Lytro
VR – DOCUMENTARY JURY PRIZE
“The Last Goodbye”
Moving Picture Company
BEST VR BRAND EXPERIENCE: MOTION PICTURE
“Spiderman: Homecoming VR Experience”
Sony Pictures Entertainment
BEST BRANDED EXPERIENCE: SPORTS
“F1 Experiences”
Grabit Interactive
BEST VR BRAND EXPERIENCE
“Born in Baja”
Ford
BEST VR GAME
“Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality”
Adult Swim & Owlchemy Labs
BEST SPORTS VR EXPERIENCE
“Take Every Wave: Laird in VR”
RYOT
BEST MUSIC VR EXPERIENCE
Alex Aiono feat. T Pain “One At A Time”
Interscope & Two Bit Circus
BEST LOCATION BASED VR: ANIMATED
“Raising A Rukus”
The Virtual Reality Company
BEST LIVE ACTION VR
“Rose Colored”
Invar Studios & Adam Cosco
BEST AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE
“Altered Carbon”
Netflix
BEST VR ANNIMATED
“Asteroids!”
Baobab Studios
BEST VR SCIENCE EXPERIENCE
A Journey Through the Milky Way
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
BEST 3D DOCUMENTARY
“Amazon Adventure”
SK Films
BEST 3D SHORT ANIMATION
“Chrysalis”
ADM
HONORARY AWARDS:
HAROLD LLOYD AWARD
Darla K. Anderson
SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE AWARD
Sony Corporation
