L.A. How To Break Into Videogame Industry: Conference and Resume Workshop
Los Angeles, California, USA
May 8, 2004

Melbourne Digital Media Festival has announced that it will screen STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION, the sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 cult hit STARSHIP TROOPERS. The film marks the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett (who worked on VFX for the original). STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION will debut this month from Columbia TriStar Home Ent. on Special Edition DVD.

The live-action PETER PAN, another underrated gem from 2003, comes to DVD May 4, 2004 (Universal Home Video, $26.98) showing off CGI as gorgeous eye candy. The vfx (courtesy of ILM, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Digital Domain, Riot, among others) help push the wonder and whimsy of J.M.

AEAF Melbourne Short Film Festival
Melbourne, Australia
June 1, 2004
Deadline: May 21, 2003

As part of the Digital Media Festival, Melbourne, the Australian Effects & Animation Festival Short Film Festival will screen submissions alongside renowned international work from artists at Passion Pictures (U.K.), La Maison (France), Sony Pictures Imageworks (U.S.) and Vinton Studios (U.S.). The event will take place at the Melbourne Convention Centre, corner of Spencer & Flinders Streets.

According to TRENDWATCH, 22% of all U.S. studios/facilities do 3D modeling/animation/rendering (including character set-up, enveloping/skinning, lighting, etc.).

Significantly, this number jumps up to 68% for vfx/animation studios/facilities specializing in 3D work. Also, 35% of post-production studios/facilities do this type of 3D work as well. This number is up from 31% of post houses doing this work in TRENDWATCH's summer 2003 survey.

Excerpted from the TRENDWATCH VISUAL EFFECTS/DYNAMIC MEDIA REPORT Issue #4, Winter 2003-2004.

Continuing a collaboration that has lasted eight years, director Joss Whedon and Zoic Studios' vfx supervisor Loni Peristere are reunited for the upcoming Universal feature SERENITY. The move marks the most ambitious feature to date for Los Angeles-based Zoic.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) will present VES 2004, its sixth annual Festival of Visual Effects, June 18-20 in San Rafael, California. The three-day event at The Rafael Film Center features presentations and panels headed by visual effects supervisors and their teams, which focus on vfx and how they enhance the storytelling process.

Starting in May, Animation World Magazine and VFXWorld will feature a monthly gallery of new content from around the world. We're looking for visual effects and animated:

* Music Videos
* Shorts
* Titles
* IDs/Promos
* Interstitials
* Commercials
* Webisodes
* Games
* Training & Presentations
* Wireless Content

We conclude our April gaming focus with the Pixel Priestess' assessment of how vfx fits into the high-octane universe of games, and a discussion Mary Ann Skweres had with the Climax development team behind the upcoming Xbox role-playing title from Microsoft, SUDEKI. Meanwhile, later in the week Mark Ramshaw gives us a glimpse of what's hot in the U.K.

In response to growing demand from industry, Game Art and Design and Visual Effects have been added to broaden the mix of accredited diploma programs offered at Vancouver Institute of Media Arts. “The addition of Game Art & Design in 2003 and now Visual FX allows our students the ability to focus their training in more specific areas of the industry” says Alan Phillips, President of VanArts.