John D. Lowry (June 2, 1932 – January 21, 2012) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film restoration expert and

innovator Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

who founded Lowry Digital Images in 1988. His film restoration company, headquartered in Burbank, California, has been credited with restoring, preserving, and, in many cases, saving early Hollywood films which may have otherwise deteriorated beyond retrieval. Lowry developed his own techniques and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

, called the Lowry Process, which, as defined by the ''

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'' reduces "visual 'noise' in

motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

" which then makes it possible to undertake other forms of restoration, such as removing dirt and scratches, reducing flicker. and sharpening the quality of existing images. Lowry used his process to restore and preserve more than five hundred classic films, including '' Singin' in the Rain'', '' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'', '' Casablanca'', ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

'', '' Raiders of the Lost Ark'', '' Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'', '' Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten ...

'', ''

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'', and the James Bond film franchise. He was also the founder of TrioScopics 3D along with Ian Cavén, back in February 2007.

Life and career

Lowry was born in 1932 in

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, Canada. Though he later lived in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Lowry remained a part-time resident of Peterborough throughout his life. At age 20, Lowry toured the

television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for ...

for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

(CBC)'s station in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, which had not made its broadcast debut yet. He quickly found a job at the fledgling station as a stagehand with the weather department. Less than one year later, Lowry helped to found the Canadian Broadcasting Corp's first

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

department. He created the effects for some of effects for the CBC's earliest shows, including ''

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''. He left CBC after nine years and founded his own production company to create

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s. In January 2012, the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

announced that it would honor Lowry and several other individuals involved in the development of the Lowry System at the

Academy Scientific and Technical Award The Scientific and Technical Awards are three different Honorary Awards that are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) during the annual Academy Awards season. The Awards have been presented since the 4th Academy Awards ...

ceremony on February 11, 2012. Lowry's fellow honorees included Ian Cavén, Tim Connolly, Ian Godin, and Kimball Thurston. The Academy would bestow the Academy Plaque, a scientific award, to the group for "the development of a unique and efficient system for the reduction of noise and other artifacts, thereby providing high-quality images required by the filmmaking process." Lowry died at his home in Camarillo, California, on January 21, 2012, at the age of 79, less than two weeks after the Academy's announcement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, John D. 1932 births 2012 deaths Special effects people Special effects coordinators People from Camarillo, California People from Peterborough, Ontario Conservator-restorers Canadian expatriates in the United States