Creating those realistic-looking illusions has always been the job of the film's cast and crew. Making sure that colors look the same throughout a film, creating animated scenes that look real, and reproducing the same highlights and shadows, as those created by natural light has been only a sample of the accomplishments of the 15 scientists and engineers who will be honored during the Feb. 20 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Achievement awards hosted by actress Elizabeth Banks. Best picture nominee "Avatar" would have lost its ability to immerse movie audiences in a fantastical world on Pandora if the Na'vi's trademark blue skin color had changed shades from scene to scene.

Mark Wolforth, an electrical and biomedical engineer who specializes in imaging with FilmLight Limited, has said that computer displays had a different color space compared to film; colors that he saw on a computer he could not always reproduce on film and vice-versa.