Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 27, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Although some parts of the programme are still in the final planning phase, one thing is already certain: next May, the FMX Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia will once again ensure a unique, international exchange between the increasingly merging film and games community and attract the most renowned experts from all over the world to Stuttgart’s Haus der Wirtschaft.
These include Oscar winner Doug Trumbull, who co-directed the VFX classics 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Blade Runner, and Ray Feeney, who has won six Scientific and Engineering Academy Awards. In addition to powerful action films such as John Carter and Men in Black III, the audience can also look forward to current animation highlights such as “Ice Age 4”, “Madagascar 3”, “Arthur Christmas” and “The Pirates” as well as exciting presentations of the popular games series SSX and Mortal Kombat.
In addition, international visitors and experts can look forward to a very special treat: FMX is dedicating a separate programme series to the topic of virtual production, which is currently changing film production like no other, with top-class presentations, panel discussions and popular case studies such as “Real Steel”, “Hugo Cabret”, “Companions”, “Total Recall” and “The Adventures of Tintin”. Detailed information on the Virtual Production series, which can be realised thanks to the support of this year’s Main Partner Autodesk, will follow in the coming weeks.
Further information can be found at: www.fmx.de
Two VFX pioneers: Doug Trumbull and Ray Feeney
In addition to this year’s Oscar winner Rob Legato, who will talk in detail about the visual effects in Martin Scorsese’s five-award-winning blockbuster Hugo Cabret, FMX is delighted to have two other high-calibre speakers on board: VFX supervisor and pioneer Doug Trumbull, who was awarded an honorary Oscar for his life’s work a few weeks ago, has confirmed his attendance, as has RFX president and founder Ray Feeney, who has already been honoured with six different Scientific and Engineering Academy Awards. Douglas Trumbull first caused a sensation in 1968 as special effects supervisor on Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey and in the following decades was responsible for the visual effects in genre milestones such as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. His most recent work includes Terrence Mallick’s Cannes winner The Tree of Life. In his FMX keynote, Trumbull looks back on his work to date and discusses the extent to which higher frame rates improve the cinema experience as part of the “Cinema of the Future” series with Ray Feeney and film journalist Bill Desowitz. While Peter Jackson is realising his fantasy adventure The Little Hobbit in 48fps and James Cameron is planning his Avatar sequel in 60fps, Trumbull is already in favour of frame rates of 120fps. Ray Feeney also dedicates a retrospective to the history of visual effects. Over the past decades, the VFX pioneer has developed and applied numerous technologies that later matured into industry standards. As a former employee of Robert Abel and Associates (RA&A), Feeney explains how the company’s innovative developments have had a decisive influence on visual effects work. Early on, these enabled effects that are taken for granted today. His retrospective looks at fluid character animation and full ray-raced renders, among other things.
Cool action heroes: Men in Black III & Sherlock Holmes 2
On 24 May, Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) return to German screens and save the world from aliens for the first time in 3D in Men in Black III. Two weeks before the film’s release, Jay Redd, Visual Effects Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks, gives FMX audiences an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the highly anticipated science fiction comedy. Fifteen years after the initial success of Men in Black and ten years after the equally popular sequel Men in Black II, there are now completely new possibilities in the field of visual effects: Redd analyses how the “look and feel” of the first two films could be retained despite this rapid technical development, without closing oneself off to the innovations. The combination of old-school approaches and new techniques guaranteed an extremely broad spectrum of effects in Men in Black III: almost invisible VFX are just as much an integral part of the film as completely virtual worlds and characters. Sherlock Holmes 2 is another blockbuster on the programme of the “Effects: Showcases” series: CG Supervisor Ben White (Framestore) analyses various sequences of the action film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law and explains the different techniques used at Framestore. A particular focus of his presentation is on the final waterfall sequence, which was shot in slow motion.
Blockbuster between two worlds: John Carter
As part of the “Effects: Showcases” series, FMX is dedicating three detailed presentations to the 3D adventure John Carter – Between Two Worlds. The science fiction epic, which was released in cinemas at the beginning of March, is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ eleven-part Mars cycle book series and contains over 2,000 visual effect shots realised by four different VFX companies. The lion’s share of the effects in John Carter were produced by the London-based experts at Double Negative. In his lecture “Creating the world of John Carter”, visual effects supervisor and co-founder Peter Chiang discusses the special challenges involved in producing the effects. His colleague Ken McGaugh, Visual Effects Supervisor at DNeg, will explain in his presentation how the CG characters were brought to life in the science fiction world. A particular focus will be on the creation of Tharks, Thoates, Woola and the white, four-armed apes in terms of conception, modelling, rigging and animation. The British company Cinesite was responsible for 830 shots of John Carter and converted almost 90 minutes of the film into 3D format. Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Sue Rowe explains how Cinesite created the exciting film world on the computer: These include the hostile cities of Zodanga and Helium, the big aerial battle, the digital full-screen doubles of John Carter and Princess Dejah and the sanctuary of the holy Therns, which could be realised stereoscopically using a 360° green screen in a room 90 metres high and 100 metres wide.
Frosty animation fun: Ice Age 4 & Arthur Christmas
With the Ice Age films, the American Blue Sky Studios created one of the world’s most popular animated film series of all time. Since 2002, the adventures of Sid, Scrat & Co. have attracted almost 25 million viewers to the cinema in Germany alone – a unique success story that will continue on the big screen on 2 July with Ice Age 4 – Voll verschoben. Two months before the nationwide cinema release, Supervising Animator Nick Bruno and Lead Animator Jeff Gabor, who was honoured with the Annie Award for Character Animation in Rio a few weeks ago, dedicate their presentation “How do you Scrat?” to the most popular of all Ice Age characters. The two animation experts explain how the likeable CG squirrel Scrat is squashed, stretched and distorted – and how Blue Sky Studios realises these famous extreme poses and Scrat’s eternal hunt for the acorn. The British production company Aardman Animations, internationally renowned for its Oscar-winning clay animation Wallace & Gromit, will also be represented at FMX as part of the “Animation Highlights” programme series: Director-Supervising Animator Seamus Malone will explain the work on the Christmas film Arthur Christmas to the audience – starting with the initial idea, through story and character development, to the final animation of the film.
Off to new shores: Madagascar 3 & The Pirates
The Madagascar series from DreamWorks Animation was received no less positively than the Ice Age films by the trade press and audiences. In the third instalment, Madagascar 3: Escape Through Europe, cinema-goers experience the latest adventure of Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo for the first time in 3D stereo. Five months before the nationwide cinema release of Madagascar 3, Scott Peterson, Head of Effects at DreamWorks Animation, takes a look behind the CG scenes and takes the audience on the involuntary European odyssey of the popular four-legged friends. Technical Director Tom Barnes (Aardman) is devoting himself to another animated adventure: The Pirates – A Bunch of Odd Fellows is considered Aardman Animations’ most ambitious stop-frame film to date. It is the first stop-motion work that the British company has realised entirely in digital 3D and scores with its remarkable attention to detail: around 340 latex figures were used in the production to create the film’s striking look. The Pirates – A Bunch of Strange Guys opens in German cinemas at the end of March.
Animation: Wild & Strange
The “Animation: Wild ‘n Strange” programme series curated by Andreas Hykade illustrates that the craft of animation is by no means limited to Hollywood blockbusters and popular family entertainment. Director Marv Newland explains how his experimental short film CMYK combines digital and handmade symbols in bright colours with music and, thanks to the animation technique, becomes a symphony of colour and sound. Filmmaker Rosto A.D., whose style is reminiscent of Tim Burton, explains the animation of his 30-minute musical film The Monster of Nix, whose voice actors include Tom Waits and Terry Gilliam. Young Scandinavian director Bo Mathorne illustrates the macabre but no less impressive look of his animated film Backwater Gospel – his final project at the Danish film school Animation Workshop. And Kevin Chuan-Chang Wang from Next Media Animation explains the production of animated news, which often has to be produced in a very short time to ensure rapid reporting. Wang explains how the production process has accelerated since the use of technology from the games sector.
Two perennial favourites: SSX and Mortal Kombat
Two perennial favourites among video games are on the programme of this year’s expanded games sector. Senior CG Supervisor TJ Galda (EA Sports) will illustrate how the latest edition of the adrenaline-fuelled snowboarding series SSX once again sets new visual standards. He also explains how, despite a budget that a few years ago could only have realised fifteen downhill runs for the player, it was possible to create over 100 different drops on 29 mountain peaks in the latest SSX edition. The popular Mortal Kombat series, which has been firmly anchored in the gaming landscape for twenty years now, will also be in the spotlight: Dominic Cianciolo, Cinematic Director of NetherRealm Studios, will focus on the creative aspects of the production in his presentation. Without sophisticated character performance, realistic fights and elaborate story development, it would be almost impossible to realise the player’s long-standing emotional attachment to a franchise, even in the face of fierce competition in the fighting game genre.
Thinking outside the box: games and transmedia
Not least because FMX has always seen itself as an international meeting place for the increasingly merging film and games industry, it not only presents specific case studies, but also looks beyond the horizon. In his presentation, Rick Stringfellow, Executive Art Director of EA Sports, will explore the question of how quality and quantity can be guaranteed against the backdrop of the constantly growing games sector, new online distribution channels and the increasing importance of mobile devices and browser games. Director of Central Media Ben Cammarano explains why Microsoft Studios dropped the word “game” from its official title last summer: “Games are increasingly merging with films and interactive media and are just one example of the trend towards transmedia convergence. This presents studios and game developers with considerable challenges that need to be mastered, particularly in terms of content and budget.
About the author
Redakteurin der Digital Production
Article details
- Published
- Author
- Mirja Fürst
- Reading time
- About 10 min
- Word count
- 1,952