Film Production
DreamWorks Animation wins two awards from Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
MUMBAI: DreamWorks Animation has been awarded two Technical Achievement Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of two revolutionary tools used in feature filmmaking: Foliage System and OpenVDB.
Both of these tools were most recently used in the making of How to Train Your Dragon 2, an Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature and winner of this year’s Golden Globe, six Annie Awards from ASIFA-Hollywood and named Best Animated Feature by the National Board of Review. In addition to these two awards, Hewlett-Packard also received a Technical Achievement Award for its HP DreamColor LP2480zX Professional Display monitor, created in collaboration with DreamWorks Animation engineers.
“At DreamWorks Animation, engineers, technicians and artists come together to create new technology stimulated by the vision and imagination of filmmakers such as writer/director Dean DeBlois (HTTYD2). I want to congratulate our engineers and artists, as well as the DreamColor team at Hewlett-Packard, on their Technical Achievement Awards that recognize outstanding innovation in the development of tools and technology that enhance the industry’s creative storytelling ability,” said DreamWorks Animation chief technology officer Lincoln Wallen.
The Foliage System was first developed for 2001’s Shrek, where it was used to create more than 10,000 trees, the largest deployment of digital vegetation in any film at its time. Since then, DreamWorks Animation has continued to be the industry leader in innovating new tools and techniques that provide the greatest artistic flexibility in rendering foliage. DreamWorks Animation effects artists Scott Peterson, Jeff Budsberg, and Jonathan Gibbs received the award for the design and implementation of the Foliage System.
OpenVDB is an open source data structure and set of tools that help manage the storage of enormous amounts of information created by complex visual effects such as water, dust, smoke and fire, found in both animated and live action films. OpenVDB’s efficiency reduces digital storage requirements and the need for long wait times when running simulations, which have resulted in it becoming a standard in the animation and VFX industry. With adoption at studios including Weta Digital, Disney Animation, and ILM, the tools were used in the making of several of this year’s Academy Award nominated films for Best Visual Effects, including X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Guardians of the Galaxy. DreamWorks Animation engineers Ken Museth, Peter Cucka, and Mihai Alden, received the award for the creation of OpenVDB.
HP’s DreamColor monitor was jointly developed with DreamWorks Animation to provide the highest color quality level LCD monitors required for graphic intense workflows, such as those for producing feature animation and visual effects. Karl Rasche, a DreamWorks software engineer, was recognized by the Academy, along with the other award winners from Hewlett-Packard, for the joint development of the HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display.
Film Production
Disney to cut 1,000 jobs under new chief executive
The entertainment giant’s freshly installed boss inherits a restructuring already in motion, with marketing and corporate roles bearing the brunt
CALIFORNIA: Walt Disney is preparing to slash up to 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the entertainment giant’s freshly installed chief executive moves swiftly to trim fat and tighten the ship.
The cuts, less than 1 per cent of Disney’s global workforce of 231,000, will fall hardest on marketing and corporate roles. The planning, notably, began before D’Amaro formally took the top job in March, suggesting the new boss inherited a restructuring already in motion rather than one of his own making.
Driving the push is Asad Ayaz, Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, who in January assumed command of a unified, company-wide marketing operation spanning film, television and streaming. His consolidation drive has been given a suitably cinematic internal name: Project Imagine.
The move is modest by Disney’s recent standards. Between 2023 and 2025, under former chief executive Bob Iger, the company eliminated roughly 8,000 positions across several brutal rounds of cuts, saving $7.5 billion, comfortably exceeding its own targets. As recently as June 2025, several hundred more jobs were axed across Disney Entertainment, hitting film and television marketing, publicity, casting, development and corporate finance.
Disney’s structural headaches are well-documented: shrinking streaming margins, a weakened box office, and fierce competition from Amazon and YouTube gnawing at its flanks. The company is merging its Disney+ and Hulu teams into a single app, has brought in consultants from Bain & Co to guide its broader cost strategy, and is betting heavily on digital growth.
The wider entertainment industry offers little comfort. Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all taken the knife to their workforces in recent years, and further cuts loom if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner goes through.
For D’Amaro, the message is clear: there will be no honeymoon period. The magic kingdom still has some cost-cutting spells left to cast.
