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Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 13, 2014. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
FMX is pleased to welcome Chris DeFaria, President, Animation, Digital Production and Visual Effects, Warner Bros. Pictures, to its speaker line-up. DeFaria will address the big Oscar winner of 2014 – “Gravity” – along with Tim Webber, who won the Gold Boy for Best Visual Effects for the space drama that year. FMX has received other commitments from greats such as Jon Landau, who will be giving a first insight into the production of the next Avatar films, and VFX artist John Knoll. Action-packed cinema is provided by “The Return of the First Avenger” and “300: Rise of an Empire”, while the gaming highlights are “Battlefield 4” and “Injustice: Gods Among Us”.
In addition, informative transmedia sessions entitled “5D Institute: Pipe Dreams” and presentations on concept art, creatures and 3D printing round off the wide range of presentations.
Virtual Production with Chris DeFaria, Tim Webber, Jon Landau, Gravity and the next Avatar films
FMX is proud to welcome key decision makers from the film industry to FMX. Chris DeFaria, who has made a name for himself as a successful and renowned producer and President, Animation, Digital Production and Visual Effects, Warner Bros. Pictures, and is also responsible for “Gravity”, will discuss the production of “Gravity” together with Tim Webber (Framestore). The presentation is part of the Virtual Production Track curated by David Morin (Autodesk) and Sebastian Sylwan (Creative Technologist, formerly of Weta Digital) and will be moderated by film journalist Bill Desowitz.
Tim Webber, who won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at this year’s Academy Awards, will present new, outstanding techniques and innovations used in the film.
Producer Jon Landau (Lightstorm Entertainment), who has already been honoured with the Academy Award and Golden Globe for his work, will also enrich the line-up of speakers. Jon Landau’s great achievements include the production of the two most commercially successful films of all time: “Titanic” and “Avatar”. At FMX, Landau will exclusively discuss the current state of research and development for the next Avatar films, which are currently in production. In addition, Landau will discuss in an interview the technical challenges of the “Avatar” world that need to be overcome to complete the film.
VFX Spectacular: 300: Rise of an Empire, The Return of the First Avenger and more
In addition to films, the Virtual Production Track also includes games and TV series. Chris DeFaria (Warner Bros.), Patrick Smith and Duncan Burbidge (both The Third Floor) receive expert support from Thomas Zauner (Scanline VFX) and Don Parker (Shotgun Software): Together they will illustrate the realisation of the Warner Bros. sequel “300: Rise of an Empire” from pre-visualisation to production management. From pre-visualisation to the final shot: Russell Earl, (Industrial Light & Magic) and Ron Frankel (Proof) dissect “The Return of the First Avenger” down to the smallest detail. The broad spectrum of audience favourites will be complemented by two further presentations on Roland Emmerich’s explosion-heavy action film “White House Down”. Firstly, Volker Engel (Uncharted Territory) will explain to FMX visitors the virtual production pipelines without which the film could not have been completed. Andrea Block and Christian Haas (both LUXX Studios) will then report on how the helicopter flight, which was realised completely digitally, was created. In addition to pre-visualisation, post-visualisation is also a theme of the track: Daniel Gregoire (Halon Entertainment) devotes himself to the zombie apocalypse “World War Z”. The track also proves that virtual production has long been used as a production process for other formats: Pepe Valencia (BARABOOM! Studios), Daniel Gregoire (Halon Entertainment), Isaac Partouche (SolidTrack) and Joe Lewis (Encodacam) present their work on the scientific documentary series Cosmos.
Creatures and concept art: Game of Thrones, Pacific Rim and 47 Ronin
Fantasy creatures and other creatures once only populated the periphery of the film landscape – but they have now become leading actors. Dave Gougé (Weta Digital) curates the corresponding event series “Creatures”, which is dedicated to battling demons, sea monsters, robots and dragons. VFX artist and veteran John Knoll (Industrial Light & Magic), whose work can be seen in Avatar and numerous films from the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” film series, will be looking at the multifaceted range of visual effects that ILM created for Guillermo del Toro’s science fiction action film “Pacific Rim”. Sven Martin also explains the difficulties faced by a growing dragon in “Game of Thrones” from a technical perspective. Dan Zelcs (MPC) complements the track with the demon Oni, which MPC conjured up from its virtual bag of tricks for “47 Ronin”. There is also something new to see in the field of concept art in 2014, as demonstrated by curator Patrick Hanenberger (THE NEULAND): Ravi Bansal (MPC) reviews his 17-year career as a concept artist (he created concept art for films such as Avatar and Elysium, for example), while Martin Bergquist (Avalanche Studios) also talks about “Concept Art in a Real-Time Production Environment”. Game hits fill the ranks: Injustice: Gods Among Us, Battlefield 4 Injustice: Gods Among Us is one of this year’s game highlights of the Game Cinematics Track, which will be organised by curator Dominic Cianciolo (NetherRealm Studios). Cianciolo will be devoting his full attention to the motion capture process – with a particular focus on the casting process, rehearsals and pre-visualisation. Battlefield 4 also joins the front row of blockbuster games: Frank Vitz (DICE) demonstrates the relevant film techniques and tools using the Frostbite 3 game engine, which played the decisive role in the realisation of Battlefield 4. Dr Jon Peddie’s presentation (Jon Peddie Research) takes a look into the crystal ball. Peddie sketches a version of the future that alternates between handheld devices and augmented reality platforms.
Transmedia Experiences – 5D Institute: Pipe Dreams and Animated Films
Holistic thinking is very important in the Transmedia Experiences part of the programme. Alex McDowell (5D World Building Institute at the USC School of Cinematic Arts) and Sarah Smith (Locksmith Animation), who directed Aardman’s animated film “Arthur Christmas”, are organising a series of different presentations and discussions. “5D Institute: Pipe Dreams” aims to create an exemplary blueprint for the animation film studio of the future. Aspects relating to both world building and virtual production will be debated – in other words, the concept and the production processes that come into play. How do these processes harmonise? Will 2D be consigned to the dustbin, or is it still the centrepiece of animated film? Do storyboards still function as creative bibles? When is a story pre-visualised and finally implemented as a final layout? How do production pipelines – which are often based on VFX work processes – need to change to become part of the holistic creative process? Six different sessions offer both experienced decision-makers from the field of animated film and innovative thinkers the opportunity to discuss, formulate and answer these questions with the audience.
Forward! 3D printing at the touch of a button and 3D selfies
Paul Debevec (University of Southern California) curates the “3D Printing” track, which demonstrates the advantages of 3D printing for a broad audience. Prof Dr Marc Alexa (TU Berlin) will provide a theoretical insight into 3D printing, focusing on the shading process, the resulting 3D models and their individual perception. Bernd Bickel (Disney Research Zurich) will shed light on the topic from a developer’s perspective: he is inventing techniques that bring virtual characters into the world as tangible figures and is making every effort to create a “3D print button” for animation software. Christoph Völcker (Purmundus) presents the company’s own approach to 3D-printed lifestyle products, and Prof Dr Hao Li (University of Southern California) explains how 3D family portraits and 3D selfies will change the culture of remembrance.
All further information can be found at: www.fmx.de
Picture: Reiner Pfisterer
