April 2016 – At the start of NAB, SMPTE held the Digital Cinema Summit. The highlight speaker was Ang Lee who spoke following a discussion that HDR was not a tradeoff for future films, but was a technology that must be adopted due to its benefits in the story telling and immersive aspects of films….
August 11, 2015, Siggraph, Los Angeles—Part of the team from Pixar Animation Studios that developed the short “Lava” talked about the whole process. The group included James Murphy, Director, Colin Levy, Camera Supervisor, Aaron Hartline, Supervising Animator, Austin Lee, Modeling & Rigging Lead, Dirk Van Gelder, Real-Time Software Development, Byron Bashforth, Shading & Painting Lead,…
August 10, 2015, Siggraph, Los Angeles—A group from Walt Disney Animation Studios including Hank Driskill, Technical Supervisor, Larry Wu, Environment CG Supervisor, Adolph Lusinsky, Director of Cinematography, Lighting, and Sean D. Jenkins, Technical Supervisor for Disney’s Hyperion Renderer described their efforts in making the settings for “Big Hero 6”. Driskill opened with the important statement…
July 22, 2014, Casual Connect Conference, San Francisco—Kelly Fennig from the National Film Board of Canada described his efforts to use gaming tools and conventions to make an art exhibition more interactive. The challenge is that the transformation of a photo exhibit into a “non-game” requires also making it accessible for non-gamers. The idea of…
July 23, 2104, Casual Connect Conference, San Francisco—David Evans from Phantom Compass presented a rationale for embedding narrative into games. the narrative increased character identification and improves player retention, and is delivered through the game mechanics. In the past, game developers built cut scenes that had no connection to the game play. This silo strategy…
June 17, 2014, SMPTE Entertainment Technology in the Internet Age Conference, Stanford, CA—A panel addressed the issues and challenges in developing transmedia for stories. Roland Angst from Stanford opened the session with an overview of the various display modes and their impact on media. The goal of an immersive feel and interactivity on multiple platforms…
March 2014, Game Developers’ Conference, San Francisco—In one session, the focus was on unique characteristics of a game, “High School Story”, a dating sim where you create a dream high school, choose your click (nerd, jock, etc.), throw parties, go on dates, and dress up in costumes. Some characteristics include: > 1000 unique quests, and…
August 1, 2013, Independent Game Developers Association Summit, San Francisco-Evan Skolnick talked about the differences between a writer and narrative designer. This is a relatively new function that mixes the jobs of a game developer and writer. Some of the roles and responsibilities of the narrative designer include: mission flow, cut scene planning, mission voiceover…
July 24, 2013, Siggraph, Anaheim, CA—The director and technical staff of “The Croods” described their efforts and how they overcame the challenges and difficulties in bringing the characters and their world to life. This story about a family of prehistoric cave dwellers and a more modern interloper stretched the boundaries of their technologies. Director Chris…
November 7, 2012, Createasphere Entertainment Technology Expo, Burbank, CA—Fourth Wall Studios described their efforts in creating new types of content that crosses previous boundaries. The development of transmedia vehicles for programs requires more than just adding social media links. Élan Lee noted that the entertainment industry is facing a host of issues. TV is in…