Stash Media announces that John Kahrs and Scott Ross have joined the COLLIDER Conference lineup.
New York, NY -- COLLIDER announced Disney director John Kahrs and visual effects industry icon Scott Ross are joining the event’s growing list of speakers.
Kahrs won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Paperman. Scott Ross was a co-founder of Digital Domain and is currently a leading voice in the ongoing crisis shaking the visual effects industry.
The list of speakers, panelists, and master class instructors announced today also includes top studio representatives from across the digital production spectrum including Weta Digital, The Mill, Logan, MPC, Stardust, LucasArts, Leviathan, Method, Psyop, Svengali FX, and 1stAveMachine.
Conference panel discussions will tackle pressing industry subjects including VFX and animation career opportunities in New York, the debate over regional industry tax incentives and the break down in communications between creative studios, ad agencies, and brands.
COLLIDER will also present a full day of software Master Classes led by an international roster of top industry pros including Kevin Romond from Weta Digital (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Man of Steel, Iron Man 3), Todd Akita from Psyop, Robert Nederhorst (After Earth, Captain America, Thor), and Ken Huling (Epic, Ice Age: Continental Drift).
For a full rundown of COLLIDER speakers, presentations, panels and master classes, check out colliderevents.com. For information about tickets to COLLIDER, visit creativeheads.net.
Sure to be a highlight at the three-day event will be “Making the Virtual Real across Multiple Platforms,” presented by Kim Lee, Director of Digital Production and R&D at New York’s Worlds Away Productions. The presentation will also serve as the world premiere of a next-level experimental project from Autodesk.
COLLIDER – named for the continuing convergence of digital media genres and forms – launches just as the visual effects and animation industry confronts major issues around profitability, business practices, creative trends, and the impact of new technology, and its selection of speakers and topics reflects that environment.
For example, New York native Scott Ross has been at the forefront of the visual effects business since serving as General Manager at Industrial Light & Magic and Senior Vice President at Lucasfilm before co-founding Digital Domain in 1993. Now an independent consultant, producer, lecturer, and creative director, Ross is a passionate and outspoken advocate for the visual effects industry. At COLLIDER, he’ll discuss the current state of the industry and what he feels needs to be done to save it.
John Kahrs’ Paperman is the first animated short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios to win an Academy Award in over 40 years. Kahrs, who grew up in New York's Hudson Valley, will provide an intimate, behind-the-scenes view into the creative and technical challenges of creating his delightful film.
Presented and produced by Stash Media, COLLIDER launches June 9-11 at New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania.
Source: Stash Media
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
