VIEW Conference 2007: Day two with Pixar, Softimage, DreamWorks and more!
Here I am with a report of the second day at VIEW Conference 8.
Some data about the audience: all sessions are crowded. The Pixar’s ones have forced the local authorities to make people wait outside because the room was too full. Fortunately the organizers told me the arrange an external room with seats and a live screen projection of the talks.
I was a bit worried about the parallel events, in particular the various specialized Master Classes but I am happy to report that all rooms where chock full of people and the presentations have been a great success!
Enea Le Fons of Softimage personally told me that his classes where absolutely full! It’s only with more relaxed time that I will be able to write the details.
One special mention should go to the technical direction of the organization and the logistics: everything is working flawlessly and I am able to access to the internet and to my computer any time I want as well as all journalists and guests are doing in the press room. Thanks Massimo! (What a beautiful name you have) 8-)
While my ambition was the one of reporting in a very detailed way each talk I must change strategy since sessions are so much interesting and so many that I have physically no time to do it. Rather I have some considerations which I had the luck to elaborate together with my close friends, with colleagues, with speakers and with organizers.
This event is the perfect place to face the challenge of understanding the complexity of the huge world of image making, cinematography, animation, visual effects and videogames together with any field and topic which could be closely or loosely related.
A person in the audience can assist to detailed, precious presentations by qualified presenters: professionals working in the industry of the highest levels.
Most of them are excellent presenters delivering well designed presentations, provoking thoughts, considerations and comments. You usually find beautiful and exclusive images and video contributions illustrating the concepts and the techniques explained. And, most important of all, you have the possibility of interacting directly with them during the questions and answers session.
That is why such an event is unique, precious and cannot be missed if you work in the industry or if you want to work in it.
Speaking in detail of some of the talks: Jessica McMackin started with maybe the most brilliant presentation: clear, well structured, timely, rich, exhaustive. At the end I didn’t know what to ask…
She covered beautifully the design and production of the latest animated feature film from Pixar Animation Studios: Ratatouille. The screen got colored with beautiful images of food, rats and parts of the beautiful city of Paris. Jessica went into very specific and technical detail of the simulation, modeling, rendering and visual effects of the production. The essence of this project has been: facing and managing the complexity of reality. I need more time to elaborate the large amount of notes I took to be able to report all details to you. Anyway at the end I was absolutely stunned.
On the same frequency Alex Harvill, Technical Director of Pixar, told the story of what a technicians has to face when he or she has to support artistic choices and solutions. I really liked the eclectic, jack-of-all-the-trade’s approach which has been explained very clearly. Keywords for Alex’ speech are: interaction, complementarities, interdisciplinary.
I was extremely pleased to enjoy the fast, dynamic, elegant presentation of Andrew Daffy. I have seen the technology and the techniques of 3D animation and visual effects totally dedicated to producing stunning images with catch so much the eye attention that you cannot move away from the screen. Andrew became a free-lance and now also teach his art and his craft. I must say I saw poetry and beauty on the screen in-betweened by a smart and intelligent use of advanced creature rigging, compositing, animation and lighting. Good job Mr Daffy.
I missed a lot. My fault but ubiquity is not included in my CV. The last talk I attended to was the very enlightening one from Signora Lucia Modesto. The Senior Character Technical Director who assisted at the creation of Shrek and all of the characters in the trilogy film by PDI DreamWorks gave a very technical talk. Madame Modesto went through an excursus of the evolution of character design and setup during the three film production and it was clear the increment in the sophistication and the quality of the solutions found and invented during the process.
Beautiful images, nice detailed statistics and comparison tables really gave the sense of what kind of complexity a technical department of an animation studio must manage to complete a film.
I was able to ask questions to all the guests: I received generous, detailed answers and explanations of all of my enquiries. I really felt like being part of a road crossing where the best artists and professionals of the world of digital cinematography stopped by to tell their best stories.
I learned how much is important to have a well assorted team of special people where tight and frequent interactions is fundamental. Where hierarchies, processes, supervision, logistics, science, art, intuition, creativity, technique are the most important ingredients to create unique and coherent worlds.
I am full of inspiration and propulsions, my mind cannot be stopped to draw relationships and to absorb new information.
Let me share a friendly message for Maria Elena Gutierrez, the invaluable art director, Deus ex Machina, Factotum, wonderful person in charge of managing this fantastic event that is VIEW Conference: HEY! THIS IS GREAT!
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VIEW Conference
Ciao,
Max
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