By Heather Kenyon

On Thursday, June 2, 2011, I attended Kidscreen’s day long “everything you wanted to know about apps but were afraid to ask” workshop.  It was great!  Not only did it cover the basics, the companies attending and panelists were top-notch and the focus was on making better apps for our kids audience.  Held at the beautiful Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, the group was small and intimate and there was plenty of time to network.   The attendees were an interesting mishmash as we all convened from our different backgrounds—kids programming, gaming, educators, researchers, etc.—to learn about this new, historically expanding space.  How does it work?  Who are the best companies in the field?  What are the best games?  What are the problems facing this new fantastically fast-growing field?

In a surprise addition to an already powerful roster of speakers lined up for the VIEW Conference, October 25 to 28, overall visual effects supervisor Erik Nash from Digital Domain has chosen to give the world’s first presentation of that studio’s work at VIEW Conference. A virtual production workflow designed by Digital Domain and Nash allowed director Shawn Levy to see CG characters as if they were actually present on set - in the boxing rings where background plates were shot - just as he would shoot any other scene with human actors.“We are thrilled that Erik Nash will share these important techniques with our attendees at the VIEW conference,” says conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “It is exciting to watch computer graphics characters move from post production up the pipeline and into production.”

 

By Nancy Phelps

For me the New Year really starts when I go to ANIMA Brussels each year in the beautiful, historic Flagey.  For ten days it becomes the center of the animation world.

The This is Belgium programs are always a highlight for me since they are a chance to see the newest works from of the Walloon and Flemish regions of the country I live in.  I had been curious to see Natasha, the new film by Russian born Roman Klochkov who has lived in Gent since he was seventeen.  Roman’s multi-award winning film The Administrators is a humorous, but all too true tale of government  bureaucracy run wild.  Natasha takes us into the world of immigrants trying to assimilate in a new world.

Dedicated to bringing together experts from around the world to inspire, engage, teach, and astound, VIEW, Italy’s leading computer graphics symposium, proudly announces highlights from its upcoming 13th annual confab.

“This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting VIEW conferences ever,” says conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “We are privileged to bring two feature film directors to Torino this year, Genndy Tartakovsky and Eric Darnell. Also, the European premiere of the Pixar Animation Studios latest short, Partysaurus Rex presented by its director Mark Walsh and also the amazing Gary Rydstrom from Skywalker Sound, and director Dan Attias who shares his award-winning expertise in broadcast television. Plus, we have highly-honored speakers from the top visual effects and game development studios. And, we are offering our first Creative Bootcamp. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the program this year.”

The first official day of San Diego Comic-Con 2009 was a doozy for animation and visual effects aficionados as almost the entire programming lineup in Hall H, the 6,000 seat theater at the San Diego Convention Center, featured sneak peeks at the most anticipated 3-D films set to release in the next year. Imagi’s Astro Boy, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Tron Legacy, Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the mother of them all, James Cameron’s Avatar all debuted footage in 3-D to rapt audiences.

So what is it about I Castelli Animati that makes it one of the most loved animation festivals in the world?

The answer is simple... and evident from the first moments of arrival. It's the people.

Luca Raffaelli, the artistic director, is a warm, intelligent man who is captivated by animation. The author of two books on the subject, his delight in cartoons and animation shapes the overall feel of this festival.

Emanuela Marrocco is the operations director. Thanks to her and her hardworking team of Liz Fairs, Sabrina Perucca, Maurizio Quattrini, and Vincenzo Silvestri, the festival runs smoothly.

By Rick Kerrigan

Last night I attended the SIGGRAPH 2010 Computer Animation Festival in downtown Los Angeles. At the end of the two hour presentation my viewing partner kept muttering to me about “sensory overload” as we shuffled out the door. It’s one of the dangers of today’s world. The big Hollywood movie was well represented by clips from The Last Airbender, Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland, 2012 and Avatar. The digital work on these films is, of course, excellent but overwrought compared to the smaller films and shorts. Simple stories told using the computer took the day.

 

 

By Dan Sarto.

The closing ceremonies bring an end to another Ottawa International Animation Festival.  And while I await my connecting flight in Newark for the final leg of my journey home, I linger just a bit longer on the images in my mind of all the wonderous activities of the past week.  Though I was constantly too warm or utterly frozen and could never get comfortable wearing layers and a heavy jacket, I was able to stop griping often enough to have a thoroughly great time.  Here are some images from the closing.

 

By Tony Willis

Blipvfx Productions

Well as always Hong Kong is a great host to people from around the world and as always puts on a fabulous show. I arrived in Hong Kong and have not stopped meeting people for 4 days, which is great.

The first day saw me wandering around the digital media hall, which I have to say was bigger better prepared and a lot more digital content was around. Many more animation companies, lots of visual effects companies and of course cameras films and hardware for stereoscopic filming. In fact very hi technology was all around, but also low technology was also in abundance, (Hong Kong always has its own solutions) this bodes well as much of this was Hong Kong based, and you absolute need a multiply approach to this type of work.

I managed to meet many old friends there and touch base with many new friends, so the social aspect of Filmart is excellent, even if you find out that these new friends was only down the street from you.

The VIEW Conference is proud to announce that award winning director Genndy Tartakovsky (“Dexter’s Laboratory,” “Samurai Jack,” “Star Wars: Clone Wars”) will present and discuss his feature film debut, Sony Pictures Animation’s 3D monster comedy Hotel Transylvania, for the first time in Italy during the 2012 conference, October 16 to 19 in Turin, Italy.

Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world’s most famous monsters — Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more — to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem — but his world could come crashing down when a human stumbles on the hotel for the first time and takes a shine to Mavis.

Columbia Pictures presents a Sony Pictures Animation film, Hotel Transylvania.  The film features the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg,Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, and CeeLo Green.  Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.  Produced by Michelle Murdocca.  Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel.  Story by Todd Durham and Daniel Hageman & Kevin Hageman.  Executive producers are Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel and Allen Covert.  Music by Mark Mothersbaugh.  Music Supervision by Liza Richardson.  Imagery and Animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc.