Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 28, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
And once again, the year’s future or already proven cinema blockbusters will be discussed here. The line-up includes not only Ratatouille, winner of the animation Oscar. Also being presented are the winner and the two other nominees for the Visual Effects Oscar (The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Transformers), as well as two of the nominees for best animated short film, Même les Pigeons vont au Paradis and the Aardman production The Pearce Sisters.
Co-curated by Eric Roth, Executive Director of the Visual Effects Society (VES), the VFX programme aims to impress with a strong line-up: David Ebner (CafeFX) outlines the digitally revived splendour of old Kabul in The Kite Runner; the new VES chairman Jeff Barnes (ComputerCafe Group) talks about the high-risk territory of Hollywood, and Double Negative and The Moving Picture Company report on Roland Emmerich’s Stone Age epic 10,000 B.C.
At fmx/08, CGI’s success story does not obscure its social and artistic consequences. For example, Van Ling and Gene Kozicki (Rhythm&Hues) reflect on “Cultural Responsibility and the Ethics of Visual Effects Manipulation”. And it fits the picture that fmx/08 is ushered in by a keynote that is as thoughtful as it is passionate: Glenn Entis, CGI pioneer and Senior Vice President of the world’s largest games manufacturer, Electronic Arts, considers “30 Years in CG – A Personal History of Computer Graphics”.
Today, games set the standards for animation even more than film does. Games, including the increasingly prominent “variant” of serious games, are therefore an important focus of the fmx/08 programme. Alongside specific projects, fmx/08 also discusses very fundamental questions about games: Joseph Olin talks about games and the players of tomorrow – the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has curated an entire day of the games programme at fmx/08. Talks include BOOM BLOX, the joint games project by Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts, character animation in the new instalment of Grand Theft Auto, the animation structures of Assasin’s Creed and the making of the benchmark-setting game Crysis. In addition, the G.A.M.E. Regio Summit addresses funding opportunities for computer games.
The Digital Media series looks at pioneering developments and distribution channels: Marc Petit (Autodesk) analyses the role of games as the industry’s new driver of innovation. Neil Trevett (NVIDIA) describes the challenges and emerging solutions for making mobile phones truly multimedia-capable. Steffen Ritter (Microsoft) talks about the strategically pivotal role of user experience and design. Another talk in this series is likely to attract heightened fan interest: Digital Domain and NVIDIA report on progress in high-performance rendering for Speed Racer, the new film by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix).
This year’s Digital Cinema series explores the interconnections between digital cinema and 3D. Stereoscopy has not only experienced an unexpected renaissance among audiences in recent years. It is now also regarded as the key to the spread of digital film. Among others, Debbie Denise and Rob Engle of Sony Pictures Imageworks guide the audience through the 3D production process – they have been able to gather plenty of experience with The Polar Express, Jagdfieber/Open Season, Monster House and Beowulf. Disney’s Robert Neuman and Mark Empey report on “The use of stereoscopic depth as a storytelling tool”. Christopher Townsend and Chris Harvey (Frantic Films) outline their “Journey in Stereo” on the occasion of the new 3D film adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”. Alaric Hamacher of Virtual Experience reflects on the artistic consequences of 3D technology. And finally, Charlotte Jones of Screen Digest takes a very close look at the costs: how and why does the film industry benefit from investing in 3D?
Thanks to the growing importance of interactivity and computer games, realtime, meaning immediately available animation without the intermediate rendering step, has become a key technology. The traditional division of work is giving way to an experimental community that uses realtime applications for exciting new creations – whether in gaming, the visual performances of VJs or film. Robert Rose of FH Augsburg has compiled the realtime programme for fmx/08. It offers fascinating insights into the world of the demo and machinima scenes and presents brand-new formats, for example the audiovisual encyclopaedia OVO, which packages information in entertaining documentary clips for mobile and traditional devices.
fmx/08 is also supported by numerous partners from industry, led by Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Microsoft and NVIDIA, as well as Sony and TVD.
