New ‘Rapture of the Deep’ trailer, created by students at the Filmakademie‘s Animationsinstitut for the FMX Immersive Media track, is now online.
At FMX 2019, Oscar-winning miniature effects supervisor Ian Hunter (New Deal Studios) and VFX producer Michelle Eisenreich (DNEG) will reveal how they were able to create some of the most realistic and immersive in-camera VFX shots ever seen for ‘First Man.’
Additional programming highlights have been announced for FMX 2019, the international conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media running April 30 through May 3 in Stuttgart, Germany.
This year’s presentations will highlight some of the latest visual effects work that the industry has to offer, including the Oscar-winning First Man, Disney’s Dumbo, fantasy adventure Christopher Robin, and many more. FMX will also explore how to raise awareness for social issues through VR. The Expanded Realities track will feature some of the most exciting recent virtual and mixed-reality projects such as Jurassic World: Blue and Hold the World. Additionally, the official FMX 2019 Immersive Media Trailer Tiefenrausch is now online.
The FMX Program Schedule will go live on the FMX website at www.fmx.de on March 8, unlocking even more confirmed speakers. Early-bird tickets will be available for only one more week until March, 15.
The Evolution of SFX & The State of VFX – First Man, Alita, Mortal Engines & Dumbo
At FMX 2019, the Oscar-winning miniature effects supervisor Ian Hunter (New Deal Studios) and VFX producer Michelle Eisenreich (DNEG) will show how they were able to create some of the most realistic and immersive in-camera VFX shots ever seen for the movie First Man. VFX supervisor Eric Saindon will discuss Weta Digital’s work on the action-packed movie Alita: Battle Angel. The creative and technical challenges behind the VFX of Disney’s Dumbo will be the focus of a presentation given by VFX Supervisor Patrick Ledda (MPC). VFX Supervisor Ken McGaugh (Weta) will give insights into the creation of the post-apocalyptic adventure film Mortal Engines.
Social Impact – Raising Awareness through VR
While media and entertainment provide a source of escapism, they can also act as platforms for movements that may otherwise not be getting their due in the public arena. VR and 360° applications are a perfect medium for raising awareness for social issues all over the world. Gayatri Parameswaran is a VR/360° creator, documentary maker and journalist who has successfully attracted attention for subjects such as slavery in Iraq or intimate partner violence in India. With Felix Gaedtke, she co-founded NowHere Media, an award-winning immersive storytelling studio that crafts virtual and augmented experiences. At FMX 2019, they will talk about their interactive VR experience Home After War, depicting the story of an Iraqi father returning to Fallujah to face the threat of improvised exploding devices.
Expanded Realities – Exploring Natural History & Digital Humans
Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality are the focus of the Expanded Realities track, which will immerse its audience in some of the most exciting recent creative, narrative and technical achievements in the XR arena. John Foster (Factory 42) will present an insight into the virtual reality experience Hold the World offering a one-on-one audience at the Natural History Museum with natural history broadcaster David Attenborough. Jurassic World: Blue takes the visitors directly into a velociraptor’s habitat – the experience for Oculus Go and Rift will be the topic of a talk by Sebastian Sylwan, CTO and Creative Partner at Felix & Paul Studios. Matthias Wittmann, Real-Time Supervisor at Method EXP, will give the FMX attendees a look at how the state of the art in digital humans for interactive environments is advancing, taking them through work on the VR experience for Lionsgate’s Robin Hood and ongoing Research and Development.
Creatures & Characters – The Walking Dead, Captive State & Christopher Robin
The Creatures & Characters track at FMX 2019 will assemble a selection of exemplary work in the field of VFX, depicting living, breathing beings of all shapes and sizes convincingly on screen. The presentation on the science-fiction thriller Captive State will bring on stage Director Rupert Wyatt as well as Tom Brass (VFX Creative Director, Jellyfish) and Dave Cook (Head of 3D, Jellyfish). Fredrik Löfberg (Director) and Henrik Eklundh (VFX Supervisor) of Goodbye Kansas will show how the characters Aidan, Maya, Grant and Heather from the game Overkill’s The Walking Dead and its trailers were brought from script to screen. Chris Lawrence (VFX Supervisor, Framestore) will elaborate on the studio’s work on the Academy, VES and Annie Award-nominated live-action adventure Christopher Robin.
FMX 2019 Trailer #3 – Tiefenrausch
For the first time in 2019, FMX will release four different trailers, representing the four different areas of focus at the Conference. Each of the areas -- Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media -- will be represented with their own trailers, each of them unique in technique, style, and story.
Tiefenrausch (Rapture of the Deep) stands for Immersive Media and was created by students at Filmakademie‘s Animationsinstitut. Directed by Marvin Sprengel, the Concept/Design is by Monja Dietrich, the Animation by Lukas von Berg, Technical Directing by Enzio Probst, and Animation/VFX Producing by Vincent Waltan. A diver dares to swim deep down to the bottom of the ocean. At the ground, the world around her suddently changes dramatically. What happened?
Tiefenrausch is the third FMX 2019 trailer, following Wonderful World, representing VFX, and CatPlanets, representing Animation.
FMX Partners
Scanline VFX will be on board as an FMX Main Partner. Nu Boyana FX, Laubwerk, RebusFarm, Inria and Technicolor will have a booth on the Marketplace. Additoinal participants of the Recruiting Hub include The Focus, Goodbye Kansas, Rodeo FX, Trixter, Cinesite, Mikros Image, and for the School Campus, Mediadesign Hochschule, Anomalia, Filmakademie Wien, and the Stockholm University.
Source: FMX 2019
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.
