The fmx/conference presents and examines the latest trends in an extraordinarily dynamic industry. The program is extensive, so only a selection of highlights can be covered here.
The Force will be with FMX from the outset: the German Garrison of Darth Vader’s 501st Legion will send stormtroopers to give the opening of fmx/09 a suitably interplanetary welcome, including the opening presentation by Xavier Nicolas of Lucasfilm Animation.
Senior visitors include Bob Osher, president of parent company Sony Pictures Digital Productions, and Hannah Minghella, president of production at Sony Pictures Animation. They will provide an inside look at the working methods and new projects of Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has once again assembled an exclusive program for fmx/09. VES chairman Eric Roth will speak with Chris deFaria, executive vice president of digital production, animation and visual effects at Warner Bros. Pictures, about the creative opportunities that new technical capabilities provide to digital artists and VFX specialists. Attendees can also meet two genuine VFX pioneers: two-time Oscar winner Richard Edlund, whose credits include Star Wars, Alien 3 and Die Hard, and visual effects designer and supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, whose credits include Star Wars and Tron. Further VFX highlights include Habib Zargarpour, senior art director at Electronic Arts, on the different role of production design in games and films; Moving Picture Company VFX supervisor Nicolas Aithadi, whose credits include Quantum of Solace, Prince Caspian and Sweeney Todd; Double Negative’s Tom Rolfe on Hellboy II: The Golden Army; and speakers from France’s BUF Compagnie on The Dark Knight, Speed Racer and Dante 01.
Watchmen Special: fmx/09 will devote its opening afternoon to Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the celebrated comics, with presentations by production designer Alex McDowell, whose credits include Minority Report, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride; VFX supervisor John “DJ” DesJardin; and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Pete Travers on the making of Doctor Manhattan.
The Virtual Humans Forum provides insight into state-of-the-art computer-generated characters and faces, as recently used to striking effect in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Digital Domain created the film’s elderly child and will be represented in Stuttgart by CG supervisor Jonathan Litt and animation support specialist Steve Preeg.
The new 3D stereo technology is the focus of a dedicated series of presentations and cinema screenings in original quality. Bolt director Chris Williams will present his successful film, while Coraline and Monsters vs. Aliens also feature in the 3D stereo track. The film-oriented sessions are supplemented by presentations on commercial stereo applications.
Alex McDowell, founder of the 5D Conference, coined the term “Immersive Design” to describe the creation of fully coherent narrative worlds within a virtual, collaborative production space. fmx/09 will host the new European branch of the 5D Conference, whose first edition begins with an impressive lineup.
Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), has recruited prominent colleagues for the fmx/09 games series. Speakers include cinematic director Jim Sonzero of Resident Evil 5 on “Film Directors in the 21st Century: Staying Relevant in the Era of Convergence”; Lucasfilm Animation art director Matt Aldrich on Jedi Alliance and The Force Unleashed; Ubisoft’s Jan-Erik Sjøvall on Prince of Persia; Electronic Arts chief creative director Richard Hilleman on the growing importance of small games; and Lyle Hall, vice president and general manager of Heavy Iron Studios, which develops the companion games for Pixar films.
The animation presentations are equally high-profile. Pixar’s Danielle Feinberg will discuss digital cinematography in the Oscar-winning WALL-E; illustrator Michael Faust will cover the acclaimed Israeli animated documentary Waltz with Bashir; creative director Viktor Antonov will present the major new European production The Prodigies; and Framestore cinematographer Brad Blackbourn will give “Painting with Virtual Light: The Tale of Despereaux.”
The Tech Talks go into technical depth, including University of Southern California researcher Paul E. Debevec on “Live Facial Performance Scanning for Virtual Actors and 3D Teleconferencing,” and Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Parag Havaldar on major advances in motion capture.
The fmx/spotlight track focuses on specialized subjects:
- The real-time series, curated by Professor Robert Rose of Augsburg University of Applied Sciences
- Automotive design, with contributions from Mackevision, Daimler AG and jangled nerves
- Focus on China, curated by Kevin Geiger, a visiting professor at the Beijing Film Academy
- Early Days in France: when digital images began to move in the 1980s and early 1990s, French companies were among the pioneers of CGI. Veterans from BUF, Mac Guff Ligne and Médialab will look back in sessions that promise both humor and technical fascination.
The future of animation is interactive. The Interactive Content series examines current forms and trends in the new dynamic relationship between medium and consumer.
A longstanding FMX partner, the flashconference is Europe’s oldest international conference devoted to Flash. Its eleventh edition presents important developments in the popular format, including the integrative approach of experience design, real-time Flash applications for multi-user systems and streaming, and innovative artistic applications such as the Spanish cult Flash comic nikodemo. Further information is available at http://www.flashconference.de.
The fmx/forum: a business platform for the digital industry
A marketplace of possibilities, the fmx/forum addresses the commercial and educational sides of digital image production. Workshops and seminars, product presentations and the fmx/expo trade exhibition provide a wide range of high-level information and training opportunities. The forum’s principal subjects are 3D stereoscopy, rendering, modeling and design, effects, character animation, workflow and pipeline, and postproduction. Particularly useful workshop combinations emerge when international software companies join German production houses, such as Side Effects with Black Mountain and Axis Animation, or weltenbauer with Pixomondo. Highlights for 2009 include contributions from two celebrated studios: Disney invites attendees to direct technical exchanges and peer portfolio reviews, while Pixar shares some of tomorrow’s animation techniques through its proprietary RenderMan technology.
fmx/recruiting now attracts global companies and has made FMX one of Europe’s leading animation job fairs. A two-stage process has proved particularly effective in Stuttgart. Companies first outline the profiles and specific vacancies they seek to fill, after which applicants can introduce themselves in individual interviews.
Finally, film schools and animation-training institutions from around the world use fmx/talents to present their programs and recruit talented students.
More information and detailed program highlights are available at http://www.fmx.de.