CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
In 1995 Dan became aware of the DOTS technology and he has been championing it ever since. Dan has been invaluable to Group 47 for his scientific knowledge of the DOTS process. He also has been highly involved in the preparation of materials to secure financing and explain the technology to the archival community, as well as to research the needs of that community. In the role of CTO, Dan plays a critical role in furthering the DOTS technology with new innovations and methods of leveraging the technology.
Prior to Group 47, Dan was the International CTO for Prime Focus, responsible for the global technology vision for a worldwide visual entertainment services corporation.
As Head of Production Technology for Dalsa Digital Cinema, Dan was responsible for system engineering of 4K digital cinema cameras. His optimization of image algorithms took rendering of 4K images from six seconds per frame on an IBM blade processor, to real time on DELL laptop.
In 2003, Dan joined Warner Bros as Vice President of Technology. There, he developed solutions for media pre-production, production and post-production, as well as film restoration. He developed systems for and participated in the restorations of such films as “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Godfather Trilogy.” Dan was granted US patent 7710472 for his pioneering work on repairing images on the film, “Superman Returns.”
In 2000 Dan became Chief Technology Officer of Cinesite, the visual effects subsidiary of Eastman Kodak, where he was responsible for overseeing the technological evolution of 2D/3D effects creation, film scanning/recording and film restoration for the Hollywood and London offices.
Dan joined DreamWorks SKG in 1995 as Chief Engineer where he developed an automated animation production system, and pioneered innovative media applications. His team developed animation compositing & digital paint software, which was the first to be compatible with the studio’s production environment.
Prior to entering the film business, Dan worked at TRW Defense & Space Systems, spending 18 years designing and developing weapons, image processing/analysis and intelligence systems for the Department of Defense, DIA, CIA, NSA and other government agencies. During this time, he was appointed by the Chiefs of Staff to be the technical chair of a committee tasked with standardizing mapping, charting, geodesy and imagery products throughout Department of Defense and he was the only non-governmental employee designated as a test and validation expert for what is now known as the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency.
A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Dan received a BS in Applied Mathematics and a BS in Computer Science from Claremont Men’s College. Dan has consulted to the Library of Congress and the Library & Archives of Canada, as well as The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, regarding film preservation and restoration techniques, metadata standardization, and future technologies for media repurposing. He’s a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Visual Effects Society, as well as an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers. He is also a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery.