Died 2011 | ||
Takuo "Tak" Miyagishima was a design engineer for Panavision who was responsible for many of the company's innovations in motion picture photography and projection. In the 77th Academy Awards he was awarded the Gordon E. Sawyer Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his technological contribution to the motion picture industry.
Contents
Career
He worked for Panavision from 1954 until his retirement in 2009, by which time he was Senior Vice-President of Engineering.
His first project was the Super Panatar projection lens in 1955. He helped develop Panavision's Primo Series of lenses, used for films including Empire of the Sun; these lenses received Academy and Emmy awards. He received the Fuji Gold Medal in 1991 for his single autofocusing anamorphic camera lens. He also worked on Panavision's Panaflex Motion Picture Camera System and Auto Panatar anamorphic photographic lens. With Albert Saiki, he developed an award-winning Eyepiece Leveler.
Miyagishima died in 2011, aged 83.
Awards
He received the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation from AMPAS in 1999, and the Academy's Gordon E. Sawyer Award presented at the Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner on February 12, 2005. In 1999 he also received the American Society of Cinematographers' President's Award, shared with Albert Mayer. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.