Girish Balakrishnan

The Progress Medal is the most prestigious SMPTE award, and it recognizes outstanding technical contributions to the progress of engineering phases of the motion picture, television, or motion-imaging industries.

“Girish Balakrishnan is awarded the Progress Medal in recognition of his long-term commitment and unwavering pursuit of the democratization of virtual production methodologies, which has resulted in significant global advancement in the field and influenced how feature films and… Show more

The Progress Medal is the most prestigious SMPTE award, and it recognizes outstanding technical contributions to the progress of engineering phases of the motion picture, television, or motion-imaging industries.

“Girish Balakrishnan is awarded the Progress Medal in recognition of his long-term commitment and unwavering pursuit of the democratization of virtual production methodologies, which has resulted in significant global advancement in the field and influenced how feature films and television shows are produced today. Balakrishnan is a technological pioneer who is ushering in a new era of film production.” Show less

This award is to honor the outstanding use of the totality of cinematographic techniques of camera and lighting in mostly or fully CG shots within a Photoreal (i.e., live action) Project voted by the Visual Effects Society. The award recognizes the collaboration among traditional cinematographers and visual effects artists, including previs, lighting, and layout artists.

MPC and Magnopus's Virtual Production team was honored with this award in collaboration with cinematographer Caleb… Show more

This award is to honor the outstanding use of the totality of cinematographic techniques of camera and lighting in mostly or fully CG shots within a Photoreal (i.e., live action) Project voted by the Visual Effects Society. The award recognizes the collaboration among traditional cinematographers and visual effects artists, including previs, lighting, and layout artists.

MPC and Magnopus's Virtual Production team was honored with this award in collaboration with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and visual effects supervisor Rob Legato for their ground breaking work utilizing advanced real-time visualization and virtual reality for virtual cinematography. Show less

This award is to honor the outstanding use of the totality of cinematographic techniques of camera and lighting in mostly or fully CG shots within a Photoreal (i.e., live action) Project voted by the Visual Effects Society. The award recognizes the collaboration among traditional cinematographers and visual effects artists, including previs, lighting, and layout artists.

Digital Domain's Virtual Production team was honored with this award in collaboration with director Steven Spielberg… Show more

This award is to honor the outstanding use of the totality of cinematographic techniques of camera and lighting in mostly or fully CG shots within a Photoreal (i.e., live action) Project voted by the Visual Effects Society. The award recognizes the collaboration among traditional cinematographers and visual effects artists, including previs, lighting, and layout artists.

Digital Domain's Virtual Production team was honored with this award in collaboration with director Steven Spielberg and visual effects supervisors Roger Guyett, Matthew Butler, and Grady Cofer for their ground breaking work utilizing advanced real-time visualization for virtual cinematography. Show less

This award is to honor the outstanding use of the totality of cinematographic techniques of camera and lighting in mostly or fully CG shots within a Photoreal (i.e., live action) Project voted by the Visual Effects Society. The award recognizes the collaboration among traditional cinematographers and visual effects artists, including previs, lighting, and layout artists.

Digital Domain's Virtual Production team was honored with this award in collaboration with cinematographer Bill Pope… Show more

This award is to honor the outstanding use of the totality of cinematographic techniques of camera and lighting in mostly or fully CG shots within a Photoreal (i.e., live action) Project voted by the Visual Effects Society. The award recognizes the collaboration among traditional cinematographers and visual effects artists, including previs, lighting, and layout artists.

Digital Domain's Virtual Production team was honored with this award in collaboration with cinematographer Bill Pope and visual effects supervisor Rob Legato for their ground breaking work utilizing advanced real-time visualization for virtual cinematography. Show less

Humbly was selected to receive the "40 Under 40" award from alma mater Drexel University for 2016.

http://drexelmagazine.org/2016/03/2016-forty-under-forty/

The "SmartVCS" project was awarded as an international winner of the Unity Awards "Best Student Project" Category at Unite 2013 which took place in Vancouver, Canada. Each year, Unity Technologies, creators of the popular Unity game engine, hold awards for their global developer community in several different categories in order to recognize the most impressive games and other projects being made using Unity. This award is for projects worked on by students currently being completed as part of… Show more

The "SmartVCS" project was awarded as an international winner of the Unity Awards "Best Student Project" Category at Unite 2013 which took place in Vancouver, Canada. Each year, Unity Technologies, creators of the popular Unity game engine, hold awards for their global developer community in several different categories in order to recognize the most impressive games and other projects being made using Unity. This award is for projects worked on by students currently being completed as part of the curriculum of an educational institution. Projects were judged based on creativity, technical merit, and overall artistic cohesion among graphics, sound, and presentation.

https://unity3d.com/awards/2013/winners Show less

Received the opportunity to present my research on intelligent virtual cinematography as both a Talk and Booth Exhibition at the Studio Venue at SIGGRAPH 2013 in Anaheim, California. My talk, titled "SmartVCS: Shooting Avatar on your iPad?", outlines a vision of building a platform for virtual production that is available to the masses, opening the doors for independent filmmakers and small-studio game developers. As part of my presentation, I demo my working prototype of the SmartVCS (Smart… Show more

Received the opportunity to present my research on intelligent virtual cinematography as both a Talk and Booth Exhibition at the Studio Venue at SIGGRAPH 2013 in Anaheim, California. My talk, titled "SmartVCS: Shooting Avatar on your iPad?", outlines a vision of building a platform for virtual production that is available to the masses, opening the doors for independent filmmakers and small-studio game developers. As part of my presentation, I demo my working prototype of the SmartVCS (Smart Virtual Cinematography System) on the Studio Venue floor, giving hands-on time to conference attendees through two interactive experiences.

s2013.siggraph.org/attendees/studio–talkss/events/smartvcs-shooting-avatar-your-ipad Show less

The research on "Virtual Cinematography: Beyond Big Studio Production" was award the highest honor at the 2013 award ceremony which evaluates the research contributions of Masters Degree students university-wide.The Office of Graduate Studies through its Graduate Student Excellence Committee selects graduate students, who have exhibited outstanding research/scholarship/creativity in the past year, that are handed out at a ceremony on Drexel University Graduate Student Day… Show more

The research on "Virtual Cinematography: Beyond Big Studio Production" was award the highest honor at the 2013 award ceremony which evaluates the research contributions of Masters Degree students university-wide.The Office of Graduate Studies through its Graduate Student Excellence Committee selects graduate students, who have exhibited outstanding research/scholarship/creativity in the past year, that are handed out at a ceremony on Drexel University Graduate Student Day.

http://www.drexel.edu/graduatestudies/news/graduatestudentdayawards.html Show less

"The AIAS Foundation scholarships are at the core of our mission to support the development of new talent in the games industry."
This competitive nationwide scholarship is awarded to an individual that has shown a contribution to the field of interactive entertainment and to further support and fund his/her research.

http://www.interactive.org/images/press_release/2012-AIAS-Foundation-Scholarship-Winners-FINAL.pdf

Beyond Ink's interactive iPad storytelling application "Spirit of the Virginia: Prologue" was awarded the Semifinalist honor for both the 'Mobile Design' and 'Animation' categories in the ADAA, one of the most reputable creative art awards. This project was chosen from thousands of entries from around the world.