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fmx/05 Adds Programs, Speakers

fmx/05, a key event in animation, visual effects, games and other 3D content, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year (April 27-30 in Stuttgart, Germany) by continuing to offer a holistic, cinematic and integrated approach to the booming CGI industry.

Richard Chuang, co-founder of Pacific Data Images (now DreamWorks/PDI), will give the fmx/essentials series keynote address: "A Unique Perspective on 25 Years of Animation, a personal guided tour through the extensive body of work as well as the innovations, challenges and philosophy. Reflecting on the history, he will also take a glimpse into the future of the industry.

fmx/conference in the central König-Karl auditorium offers:

* John Kahrs, Pixar Animation Studios "Animating: The Walt Disney Pictures Presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios FILM, THE INCREDIBLES"

* Peter Nofz, Sony Pictures Imageworks "Facial Animation in "SPIDER-MAN 2"

* Keynote Eric Roth, managing director of the Visual Effects Society "The Globalization of Visual Effects - Pre- and Post-TITANIC"

* Yoshiki Sakurai, Production I.G "GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 - INNOCENCE"

* Ramon Rivero, head of Motion Capturing LORD OF THE RINGS, SAE "Motion Capture for Gollum"

Numerous talks deal with this year's thematic focus, "workflow," including:

* Joshua Kolden, Crack Creative "Previsualizing THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW"

* Animal Logic "Set Supervision for HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS"

* Malcolm Humphreys, Rising Sun Pictures. "The Digital Sets of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW"

* Rene Limberger, Sony Pictures Imageworks "21⁄2 D Matte Painting AVIATOR and POLAR EXPRESS"

* Thomas Zauner & Stephan Trojansky, Scanline "Saving the Earth from Martians - The Visual Effects of TRAUMSCHIFF SURPRISE PERIODE 1"

Another important focus of this year's fmx is production, as CGI has proven to make spectacular imagery not only possible but also affordable. The series, Digital Production, created in close cooperation with the FFA, brings some of Germany's most renowned experts to the stage:

* Franz Kraus, Arri "What's New About Digital Production?"

* Manfred Büttner, tvt. postproduction gmbh "Why Digital Effects? Examples from International Co-Productions"

* Wolfgang Oppenrieder, ProSieben SAT.1 "TV Movie meets SFX"

* Bernd Schulze, Pictorion das werk "Digital Intermediate Workflows"

The lectures will be accompanied by case studies:

* Karsten Aurich, Sabotage Films, & Matthias Schellenberg (Camera) "The Edukators"

* Norbert Preuss, Fanes Film "About the Looking for and the Finding of Love, Blood Wedding and More"

* Tom Fährmann (Camera) & Bernd Schulze, Pictorion das werk "Interplay of Camera, Effects and Post-Production in THE MIRACLE OF BERN

* Sascha Schwingel, Teamworx, & Stephan Trojanski, Scanline "Fire and Flood Simulations in the Pre-Production for DIE STURMFLUT AND DRESDEN DER BRAND"

The series fmx/essentials takes a look at exemplary and groundbreaking films. Beyond pure economic or technical issues, this series appraises artistic, social and content-based aspects of film. This year's thought-provoking guests include:

* David Sproxton, Aardman Animations "How Do Production Techniques Influence Content?"

* Mike Milne, Framestore CFC "How Do Budgets Influence Workflow?"

fmx/technologies reports from the front line of research and development. This section is all about new trends and technologies, including:

* Stephan Trojansky & Danielle Plantec, Scanline "Hunting a Megalodon Without Getting Wet Research & Development on Hydro-Fluid Dynamics"

* Eric Enderton, NVIDIA "Film Rendering on GPUs"

* Takashi Fukumoto "Motion Capture for Game Cinematics"

* Rene Limberger, Sony Pictures Imageworks "Color & Lighting on THE POLAR EXPRESS"

The fmx/forum seminars also dig down into useful practicalities from industry experts:

* Ed Hooks, Actor and Animation Trainer "Acting for Animators"

* Jeanine Breaker, Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, London "Life Drawing for Animators"

* Sacha Bertram, idagrove ent. "VFX Producing"

* SAGASNET, European Network for Professional Developers of Content for Interactive Digital Media "Developing Interactive Narrative Content"

fmx/05 (www.fmx.de) is organized by the Film and Media Festival Co., supported by the Institute for Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Post-production at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. fmx is funded by the Ministry of the Land Baden-Württemberg, the MFG Baden-Württemberg, as well as the German Federal Film Board FFA.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.