Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 8, 2006. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
According to the organizers, fmx/06 recorded a 40 percent increase in visitors compared with the previous year. 5.000 participants crowded through Stuttgart’s magnificent Haus der Wirtschaft from May 3 to 6. The largest Digital Content Creation event in the German-speaking region offered its guests more than 300 lectures, demos, workshops and screenings with 350 speakers as well as a trade-fair area this year.
Among the highlights of the event, the central König-Karl-Halle in the heart of the building, with its 500 seats, was filled to the last seat, for example when Matt Aitken reported on his work on „King Kong“ or Jason Wen on „Wallace & Gromit“ (see interviews in DP 01:06).
The „Virtual Humans Forum“ on the afternoon of May 5 was also very well attended: A series of lectures that is to take place annually in future. Mark Sagar (WETA) reported on the facial animation of the King Kong model. Using the already somewhat older production „Lemmony Snicket“ (see DP 02:05) as an example, Christophe Héry of ILM explained how he simulated realistic skin. The lecture by Paul Ekman also attracted great interest. The psychology professor showed in detail which facial muscles, working together, express which feeling and how the absence of one component makes a facial expression appear hypocritical or unbelievable.
Other major production companies were also represented and provided insights into current productions: Disney („A Day With Wilbur Robinson”), Sony Pictures Imageworks („Open Season”, „Monster House”), Dreamworks („Over the Hedge”) and Pixar („One Man Band“).
The Games series presented itself in expanded form with lectures on the increasing convergence of games and film, covering every aspect of production. Keynote speaker was Jordan Mechner, who is currently adapting his computer game “Prince of Persia” into a film. Companies relevant in this segment were also represented, including Electronic Arts, LucasArts and Sony Entertainment.
The audience was visibly international in composition, and in some cases entire groups had traveled from other European countries. Alongside the Europeans, visitors from the USA, Singapore, China, Colombia and African countries were also on site. Almost all events therefore took place in English.
The appointment lists at the Recruiting Desks, on which students, career starters and freelancers could enter their names with the numerous companies seeking staff for their productions, were well filled.
Finally, fmx/06 once again provided the setting for awards ceremonies. On May 4, the Real-time Film Festival selected the winners in the five categories Demos, Machinima, CutScenes, Flash and VJ Visuals from more than 180 submitted works.
On May 5, moderator Prof. Bernd Willim (German Film School) presented the animago AWARDs to the five overall winners in the sold-out König-Karl-Halle. First place, honored with a white trophy, went to “Das schwarze Schaf”, produced by Spans & Partner (Hamburg) for GEZ.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, the animago AUDIENCE AWARD was presented for the first time this year: Visitors were allowed to select the best of five entries by SMS. The race was won by „Trusted Computing“ by Benjamin Stephan [LAFKON] and Lutz Vogel [pixelamusement.com]. In total, there were almost 1.000 participants from more than 50 countries who had submitted around 1.300 entries and thus provided a good overview of the current state of the DCC industry.
fmx/07 takes place at the same location from May 2 to 5, 2007.
Further links:
- fmx
