SIGGRAPH 2007 announced the inclusion of an exclusive preview of BEOWULF in this year's Computer Animation Festival's Electronic Theater taking place at the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Aug. 5-9 in San Diego. BEOWULF is Robert Zemeckis' latest performance capture movie, opening Nov. 16 through Paramount Pictures.
"In an Electronic Theater filled with truly the best of the best in each category, BEOWULF is on the absolute cutting edge of what is being produced today," said Paul Debevec, SIGGRAPH 2007 Computer Animation Festival chair from the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. "This year's show weaves together amazing visuals from numerous disciplines into a single mind-altering experience."
BEOWULF is being made at Sony Pictures Imageworks with visual effects supervised by Academy Award-nominated Jerome Chen using the company's patented Imagemotion performance capture system. In addition to representing a high point for performance capture, the SIGGRAPH jury recognized BEOWULF for its facial animation, detailed textures and artistic lighting.
The Computer Animation Festival jury selected from a record 905 submissions for exemplary use of CG imagery and animation, and compelling storytelling. With show categories ranging from animation to research, this year's submissions originate from countries across the globe including France, Germany, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Switzerland, the U.K. and New Zealand. SIGGRAPH 2007 also marks the first time filmmakers were able to submit high definition video to the selection jury, which greatly increased the jury's ability to appreciate the intricacy of each film.
For more info, go to www.siggraph.org/s2007/.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
