Edmund DiGiulio (June 13, 1927 – June 4, 2004) was an American technical innovator who founded Cinema Products Corporation that developed the Steadicam, CP-16, and won multiple Academy Scientific and Technical Awards as well as the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for his contributions to motion picture technology in 2001.[1]
DiGiulio received his B.S. from Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1950.[2] After graduation, he spent 10 years working for IBM.[1] He later landed a job at Mitchell Camera, where he helped smooth out the motors for zoom lenses. He then started his own company, Cinema Products Corporation, and developed a through-the-lens viewing system for 35-mm studio cameras, for which he won an Engineering and Scientific Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1969.[3]
As head of Cinema Products Corporation, he oversaw the development of Steadicam, invented by Garrett Brown, who licensed the company to develop and manufacture the product.[1] Brown and the staff won another Scientific and Engineering Award in 1978.[4] He was credited for developing the CP-16 that were widely used by television journalists and was the technique behind The Blair Witch Project in 1999.[4]
He worked with director Stanley Kubrick to develop the special cinematic effects for Barry Lyndon, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange.[3][1] He also developed a camera system used in the film adaption of the musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off.[4]
In 1992, he won the Scientific and Engineering Award a second time for the camera system design of the CP-65 showcase camera system for 65mm motion picture photography.[5] He received a Technical Achievement Award in 1998 for the design of the KeyKode Sync Reader.[5] He won the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation in 1999 for "outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."[5]
DiGiulio was a five-time chairman of The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[1] At the Oscar ceremonies in 2001, he received the Gordon E. Sawyer Lifetime Achievement Award for technological advances.[4]
He was a fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and a fellow of the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society.[6]
DiGiulio died on June 4, 2004, at 76. He is survived by his wife, Louise; a daughter, Amanda Richmond; and one granddaughter.[1][3] In 2004, he was named one of "The 250 Greatest Columbia Alumni" by the Columbia Daily Spectator.[7]