Happy Holidays

The New Year is just around the corner ...and so is FMX! Each year thousands of visitors descend on FMX for the same reason - a passion for animation, effects, games and transmedia; combined with the opportunity to listen to the most exciting speakers in the industry! The program for 2012 is coming together nicely, now we can let you know some of what's in store next May...

Notice anything new about the FMX homepage? We have re-launched the FMX site for 2012 featuring our fabulous new trailer motifs and heaps of information how you can get involved.

New 2012 Trailer: Globosome

The new trailer for FMX 2012 has been released - we think it's stunning! In the vastness of space, there's a small speck of rock inhabited by the most peculiar life forms: Dark little dots that start to replicate fast and begin to show signs of intelligence. Globosome tells the story of the rise and fall of these little creatures. The trailer was created by the Institute of Animation's Diploma-year student, Sascha Geddert:

"The film is inspired by the special time we're living through on our own planet. I wondered what makes humans actually different from bacteria in a petri dish. Surely we have culture, science and art but what does remain of these achievements if you look at our world from a global perspective."

The trailer is completely realised in 3ds Max in Stereoscopic 3D. A vast collection of plugins was used for rendering, atmospherics, plants and the control of thousands of jumping dots. Controlling the crowds was one of the most challenging aspects of the film all together with the sheer amount of work caused by the depiction of a world in constant transformation.

If you haven't already been mesmerized already by Globosome, go and watch it immediately...

 

I’ve known Bill Kroyer since I started AWN back in 1995.  He was one of the first industry people I was introduced to way back then.  I’ve always considered him one of the nicest, most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met in the business.  He cut his teeth years ago at Disney as one of the main animators on Tron.  He’s directed numerous commercials, feature films such as Ferngully: The Last Rainforest as well as supervised the CG on films such as Garfield, Scooby Doo, Cats & Dogs and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. He was nominated for an Oscar for his 1988 short film Technological Threat.  He’s also on the board of governors of the Motion Picture Academy and a director at the Dodge School of Film and Media at Chapman University.  In his spare time, he likes growing Orchids and taking long walks on the beach.  All kidding aside, he’s one of the true talents in our industry and one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. 

He was a guest at FMX 2011, doing a presentation on the making of the original Tron.  It’s fascinating listening to him talk in-depth about how they made the film, how they literally made things up as they went along, how they generated imagery from keypunching page after page of binary code. The list of nutty things they did to make this picture goes on and on. Bill sat for an interview and shared his thoughts on the original Tron, where it broke new ground and what impact it had on the computer animation field.  He also talks about the new digital animation program at Chapman as well as some of the political issues animation faces within the Motion Picture Academy. 

 

 

Preparations for this year‘s FMX are in full swing. The new subtitle "Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia" sums up the essence of the 17th edition of Europe’s largest conference on the creation, production and distribution of Digital Entertainment. In 2012, FMX focuses on new Animated Features, Visual Effects and Games as well as specific topics such as Virtual Production, Previs, Digital Worldbuilding, Lighting und Rendering, Cloud Computing, Industrial CG and Transmedia. While a majority of this year’s program is still being planned, FMX is delighted to announce that Transmedia pioneer Henry Jenkins has already confirmed. What’s more, FMX will offer four exciting days filled with world-class keynotes, presentations and workshops as well as excellent networking possibilities at the FMX Marketplace, School Campus and Recruiting Hub.

FMX 2012
17th Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia

May 8-11, Stuttgart, Germany

 

 

Clay Kaytis, a 16 year veteran of Walt Disney Animation, was one of 3 animation supervisors on Tangled.  His FMX 2011 presentation centered around how after several years of development, the animation team went back to basics, simplified their approach, learned valuable lessons on a daily basis from Glen Keane, and in a ridiculously short 8 months, completed work on the film.  As he explained, Tangled allowed Disney’s visual development artists, modelers, riggers, animators, and engineers to advance the art form and raise the bar for portraying subtlety and expression in CG human characters.  Clay walked the capacity crowd through the creative steps of bringing the characters to life, the iterative process that relied heavily on Glen’s original drawings and feedback, feedback that constantly challenged the CG artists to bring realistic motion, acting and feeling to the film.

During his interview for AWNtv, Clay gave great insight into the atmosphere of collaboration and team effort that has made work at Disney so rewarding and fulfilling.  This approach to animated filmmaking, he said, has raised the level of achievement considerably. 

FMX 2012 - 17th Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia

May 8-11, Stuttgart, Germany

Newsletter #3 - January 2012

While winter continues to freeze our feet, the FMX program is already beginning to blossom. New speakers confirm their attendance, and further exciting presentations and screenings fill desks and desktops at our FMX house. Just to give you an impression of the fantastic specialist crowd we are currently gathering at FMX: The internationally renowned media scholar and Transmedia pioneer Prof. Henry Jenkins has already confirmed his coming! What's more, we're happy to announce that Autodesk is now the first official Main Partner of this year's exciting FMX.