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Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 29, 2014. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
This year’s FMX took place under the motto “A Realtime Experience” and brought together representatives from the fields of art, technology and business for four event days full of presentations, discussions and workshops. The undisputed highlight of this year’s FMX was the keynote speech by the world-famous and outstanding “performance capture” pioneer Andy Serkis, who presented previously unreleased film material from “Dawn of the planet of the Apes” and shared his experiences and insights with visitors to the König-Karl-Halle, which was packed to the last seat.
Serkis describes his impressions of FMX as follows: FMX is a great meeting place for a wide variety of talents – but they all speak the same language.
Facts and figures: Speakers and participants
FMX is becoming increasingly international – this trend is particularly underlined by the composition of this year’s speakers: 260 speakers from 25 countries – a quarter from Germany, a quarter from the USA – gave a total of over 260 presentations, workshops, masterclasses and curated tracks. Around 3,000 visitors flocked to FMX 2014 every day. The slight drop in visitor numbers can also be attributed to the fact that FMX could only take place at two venues this year (Haus der Wirtschaft, the Gloria 2), as the Gewerkschaftshaus is currently being renovated. Around two thirds of all visitors were professionals and one third students. The number of visitors from abroad increased slightly, underlining the internationalisation of FMX; more than a third of all participants came from abroad, most of them from the UK, followed by the USA, Austria and Switzerland. The proportion of female visitors continued to rise compared to previous years, emphasising the increasing presence of women in the industry: 32% of all visitors were female, and among the students present the proportion was as high as 38%. 140 journalists were on site to report on the event.
Facts and figures, companies, schools, exhibitors
More than 100 companies, universities and research institutes from various countries – from Switzerland to New Zealand – were represented at the Forum this year. 36 companies and R&D projects presented their products, services and innovations in the continuously populated Marketplace – more than ever before. Among the most impressive exhibits were the camera robot from Bot & Dolly and the augmented reality game “The Gaudy Woods”. The design contest Alter Ego by Cut&Paste attracted creative minds behind the GraphicTablets. In the Recruiting Hub, 24 companies from all over the world were on the lookout for creative talent, including renowned global players such as Walt Disney Animation, MPC and Framestore, as well as local companies such as Stuttgart-based LUXX Studios. The School Campus was fully booked with 21 media schools from 9 countries. The popular pitching format “Fast Forward Education” introduced the students and recruiters in attendance to the best projects from each school in 20 five-minute presentations. The “Meet the Speakers” sessions, which were organised for the first time and invited open discussions in a relaxed atmosphere between conference speakers and visitors, were very well received by both sides. Speakers from DreamWorks Animation and Walt Disney Animation were also available for dialogue. 35 interesting and informative workshops, including from market leaders such as Adobe and Autodesk, rounded off the forum, which also featured three company suites (Autodesk, Beijing Film Animation Association, Side Effects). Once again, Ed Hook’s popular “Acting for Animators” masterclasses were filled to capacity. Two media installations by students were also on show: Sprout the Word and DIS:LOCATE. The Moving Pictures exhibition in the foyer of the Haus der Wirtschaft also showed over 80 exhibits on the subject of interactive graphic novels.
Andy Serkis at the FMX
FMX is proud to have welcomed the world-famous actor and outstanding performance capture pioneer Andy Serkis to Stuttgart. His presentation was one of this year’s keynotes at FMX 2014 and caused long queues outside the König-Karl-Halle. Serkis gained worldwide fame for his work as a motion-capture actor and voice actor for CG characters such as Gollum in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. At FMX 2014, Serkis gave a first insight into the eagerly awaited second instalment of the ape saga with his presentation “Early Look at Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”. Dave Gougé, Head of Marketing at Weta Digital, introduced the actor, who showed exclusive film footage to the attendees. Serkis spoke about the possibilities of performance capturing and emphasised the great acting performance that makes it possible to bring virtual characters to the screen in the first place. He also ventured a glimpse into the future of motion capturing, in which actors could even embody four-legged animal characters.
Virtual Production: Gravity and other cinema productions
For the third time in a row, FMX presented the Virtual Production track, curated by David Morin (Autodesk) and Sebastian Sylwan (Creative Technologist, formerly Weta Digital). The series of presentations was dedicated to the possibilities for filmmakers to further develop their projects through pre-visualisation and real-time techniques. Five presentations by recognised experts and companies such as Framestore and Bot & Dolly analysed the seven-time Oscar winner Gravity. Among others, Chris DeFaria, producer of “Gravity” and President, Animation, Digital Production and Visual Effects, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Tim Webber from the British VFX company Framestore discussed the production of the space odyssey. Producer Jon Landau (Avatar, Titanic), who has already been honoured with the Academy Award and Golden Globe for his work, also enriched the speaker line-up. At FMX, Landau exclusively discussed the current status of research and development for the next Avatar films, which are currently in production. Other virtual production presentations centred on “The Return of the First Avenger”, “World War Z”, “White House Down”, “300: Rise of an Empire” and the TV series “Cosmos”.
The Art of Visual Effects: Ves Special, Creatures, Concept Art and Commercials
The virtual production track at FMX 2014 was complemented by further highlights in the VFX sector. The long list of high-calibre presentations was headed by the VES Special “The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro”. Among the prominent guests at this year’s FMX were film creatures: Dave Gougé (Weta Digital) curated a series of lectures in which VFX veteran John Knoll presented ILM’s effects in Guillermo del Toro’s action hit “Pacific Rim”. Sven Martin (Pixomondo) gave an insightful and entertaining talk on the technical difficulties faced by a growing dragon in “Game of Thrones”, and Dan Zelcs (MPC) brought the battling demon Oni from “47 Ronin” to the FMX stage. Further VFX talks on “Rush”, “Thor: The Dark World”, commercials and concept art made up the VFX programme.
Animation: cinema hits and independent greats
The animation area was characterised by the popular “The Art of Animation” presentations as well as exclusive insights into films that have not yet been released in German cinemas. Three months before the film’s release, Scott Peterson (DreamWorks) amazed FMX visitors with clips from the adventure sequel “Dragon Taming Made Easy 2”. One of the absolute crowd favourites at FMX was Disney’s “The Frozen”, this year’s Oscar-winning film in the “Best Animated Feature Film” category. In addition to two presentations that examined the now most successful animated film of all time from a technical perspective, Michael Giaimo (Walt Disney Animation Studios) highlighted the artistic decisions and visual challenges of the film in the extremely well-attended “The Art of Animation” track. Damien Gray’s (Animal Logic) presentation looked at the world of “The LEGO Movie” and discussed how the little toy figures became moving characters for the film. Blue Sky was represented with Rio 2. Once again, the “Wild ‘n Strange” series curated by Andreas Hykade highlighted indie highlights. Oscar-winner Chris Landreth talked about his very personal experiences as an independent filmmaker.
Games: Game highlights and Games 4 Change
Blockbuster games were just as much in the spotlight at FMX 2014 as the design of socially critical games. Kenneth McDonald and Teppei Takehana (both Quantic Dream) shed light on the successful action adventure “Beyond: Two Souls” for Playstation 3, while Dan Calvert and Alex Zapata, (both Guerillla Games) presented their upcoming NextGen AAA asset production “Killzone: Shadow Fall”. Other gaming tracks delved into new developments in mobile games and high-end graphics for new game platforms, including Jon Peddie’s presentation “Amazing Developments from Handhelds to Consoles and PCs”. There were also presentations on the hit games “Battlefield 4” and “Ryse: Son of Rome” as part of the Virtual Production track.
Business: Disruption and entrepreneurship
FMX placed a special focus on disruption, i.e. the massive upheaval caused by new technologies and work processes. A number of renowned speakers shed light on Germany as a production location for internationally successful projects, including UFA producer Nico Hofmann, who took a look at the bestselling film adaptation of “Der Medicus”, and Henrik Fett, Gabriel Sanchez (both LOOK Effects) and Simon Weisse, who spoke about their shooting experiences in Germany and the creation of visual effects for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. Other talks focussed on the challenges and opportunities of media production in France (Jacques Bled, Illumination Mac Guff, I: Simply Incorrigible 2) and China (Tore Blystad). The extensive lecture series “Disruptive Education”, curated by Marilyn Friedmann (formerly of DreamWorks Animation), complemented the thematic focus and dealt with the question of how education and industry can be better interlinked. There was such a large turnout that additional live streams were set up to allow more visitors to follow the track. Two exclusive panel discussions were dedicated to increasing professionalisation: the FMX and VES CEO Summit brought together decision-makers from various sectors for the second time in a row; the “Games Education South West” round table gave 40 experts from Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland the opportunity to discuss previous findings and educational content.
Transmedia Experiences: 5D Institute: Pipe Dreams and the animation studio of the future
The highlight of this year’s Transmedia Experiences was undoubtedly the lecture series “5D Institute: Pipe Dream”, which was organised by Alex McDowell (5D World Building Institute of the USC School of Cinematic Arts) and Sarah Smith (Locksmith Animation). Various panel discussions were dedicated to the search for a blueprint for an exemplary blueprint for the animation studio of the future, which – according to the concluding conclusion – creates a space in which creativity can be lived intuitively and immersively. The focus is on the story and no longer on the question of how to technically realise the content. Other focal points included 3D printing, interactive graphic novels and the regional characteristics of Ibero-American countries. Don Levy also presented three lectures on “Visual Communication” from books to interactive experiences. Games were also part of the Transmedia Experiences at FMX 2014: Dennis Lenart (Telltale Games) gave insights into the success of the multi-award-winning episodic game and transmedia project “The Walking Dead”.
Next year’s FMX will take place from 5 to 8 May.
Picture: Reiner Pfisterer
