Professional Spotlight

Thomas Zauner, VFX Consultant and co-founder of ScanlineVFX, talks in detail about the tidal wave and flood sequences from Roland Emmerich’s epic disaster film "2012." Zauner discusses various aspects of how Scanline’s proprietary Flowline fluid and particle software was used alongside several new software and hardware advances developed to manage the immense amounts of data as well as to control the extremely complex simulations.

Drawing from their current work on the feature film "Conan," Ron Frankel and Kevin Tod Haug examine new fundamental shifts in visual effects design and production, where long-held divisions between prep, production and post are crumbling. Central to their argument is the expanded role of visualization and how a combination of existing and new technologies can be used to drive design and story from the earliest moments of development through production and into post.

Drawing from their current work on the feature film Conan, Ron Frankel and Kevin Tod Haug examine new fundamental shifts in visual effects design and production, where long-held divisions between prep, production and post are crumbling. Central to their argument is the expanded role of visualization and how a combination of existing and new technologies can be used to drive design and story from the earliest moments of development through production and into post.

Drawing from their current work on the feature film "Conan," Ron Frankel and Kevin Tod Haug examine new fundamental shifts in visual effects design and production, where long-held divisions between prep, production and post are crumbling. Central to their argument is the expanded role of visualization and how a combination of existing and new technologies can be used to drive design and story from the earliest moments of development through production and into post.

Eric Roth interviews John Bruno, Academy Award winner and six-time Oscar nominee in the field of Visual Effects. John talks about his long working relationship with James Cameron, which includes such films as "The Abyss" (1989), "Terminator 2" (1991), "True Lies" (1995), "Terminator 2/3D" (1996), "Titanic" (1998) and "Avatar" (2009). As one of the most acclaimed visual effects artists in Hollywood, Bruno won an Oscar for his work on "The Abyss" and was nominated for his visual effects work on "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II," "Batman Returns," "Cliffhanger" and "True Lies." He was a co-founder of and commercial director at Digital Domain. He was also a co-founder of Boss Film Studios and while at Boss, produced visual effects for such films as "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II," "Die Hard," "Batman Returns" and "Cliffhanger."

Tim Sarnoff, President of Technicolor Digital Productions, talks in depth about new paradigms in integrated global content production pipelines. The worlds of animation, visual effects and post-production have changed dramatically over the last few years, driven by growing demand, as well as a new decentralized model for production, and a whole new palette of tools that allow filmmakers to draw upon global creative resources – often in “real time.” Now we find a world where the creative filmmaker is at the center of the universe - with an ability to call upon talent from around the world, almost without restrictions.With more than 95 years of experience in entertainment innovation, Technicolor serves an international base of entertainment, software, and gaming customers. The company is a leading provider of production, postproduction, and distribution services to content creators and distributors. Technicolor is one of the world’s largest film processors; the largest independent manufacturer and distributor of DVDs (including Blu-ray Disc); and a leading global supplier of set-top boxes and gateways. The company also operates an Intellectual Property and Licensing business unit.

Tim Sarnoff, President of Technicolor Digital Productions, talks in depth about new paradigms in integrated global content production pipelines. The worlds of animation, visual effects and post-production have changed dramatically over the last few years, driven by growing demand, as well as a new decentralized model for production, and a whole new palette of tools that allow filmmakers to draw upon global creative resources – often in “real time.” Now we find a world where the creative filmmaker is at the center of the universe - with an ability to call upon talent from around the world, almost without restrictions.With more than 95 years of experience in entertainment innovation, Technicolor serves an international base of entertainment, software, and gaming customers. The company is a leading provider of production, postproduction, and distribution services to content creators and distributors. Technicolor is one of the world’s largest film processors; the largest independent manufacturer and distributor of DVDs (including Blu-ray Disc); and a leading global supplier of set-top boxes and gateways. The company also operates an Intellectual Property and Licensing business unit.

Eric Roth interviews John Bruno, Academy Award winner and six-time Oscar nominee in the field of Visual Effects. John talks about his long working relationship with James Cameron, which includes such films as "The Abyss" (1989), "Terminator 2" (1991), "True Lies" (1995), "Terminator 2/3D" (1996), "Titanic" (1998) and "Avatar" (2009). As one of the most acclaimed visual effects artists in Hollywood, Bruno won an Oscar for his work on "The Abyss" and was nominated for his visual effects work on "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II," "Batman Returns," "Cliffhanger" and "True Lies." He was a co-founder of and commercial director at Digital Domain. He was also a co-founder of Boss Film Studios and while at Boss, produced visual effects for such films as "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II," "Die Hard," "Batman Returns" and "Cliffhanger."

Eric Roth interviews John Bruno, Academy Award winner and six-time Oscar nominee in the field of Visual Effects. John talks about his long working relationship with James Cameron, which includes such films as "The Abyss" (1989), "Terminator 2" (1991), "True Lies" (1995), "Terminator 2/3D" (1996), "Titanic" (1998) and "Avatar" (2009). As one of the most acclaimed visual effects artists in Hollywood, Bruno won an Oscar for his work on "The Abyss" and was nominated for his visual effects work on "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II," "Batman Returns," "Cliffhanger" and "True Lies." He was a co-founder of and commercial director at Digital Domain. He was also a co-founder of Boss Film Studios and while at Boss, produced visual effects for such films as "Ghostbusters," "Poltergeist II," "Die Hard," "Batman Returns" and "Cliffhanger."

ILM Alumnus and current ImageMovers Digital Stereoscopic Supervisor Anthony Shafer provides a detailed breakdown of the real-time camera acquisition system, camera data-flow pipeline and stereoscopic 3D production workflow used at IMD for Robert Zemeckis’ "A Christmas Carol." Shafer’s extensive body of work includes stints as a sequence supervisor on such films as "Transformers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" and the "Star Wars" prequels. As ILM’s Stereoscopic Lead for Tim Burton’s "Nightmare Before Christmas" 2D-to-3D conversion re-release, he designed and wrote a proprietary application that was critical to finishing the show. Topics from this experience are the basis of his chapter on Stereoscopic 2D-to-3D Conversion for the first edition publication of “The VES Handbook of Visual Effects.”

Bruce talks about the comparison of old 2D films to current ones, the pressure of bringing back 2D films and his thoughts of 2D departments disappearing within studios.

Frank discusses the challenges of bringing techniques from feature films into the gaming industry as well as new techniques and systems used to improve the performance of Fight Night 4.

Corey discusses his educational background, how he got to his current position at Sony Pictures Imageworks and how production began on Alice in Wonderland.

Leo talks about changes that occurred while working on Tangled, how it was to work with the directors of the film and the relationship between Disney and Pixar.

Corey talks about Tim Burton's vision on making Alice in Wonderland and how Tim's artistic background affected the film.

Anthony discusses working with Robert Zemeckis and how planning is critical to the cost-effective success of such complicated filmmaking processes.

ILM Alumnus and current ImageMovers Digital Stereoscopic Supervisor Anthony Shafer provides a detailed breakdown of the real-time camera acquisition system, camera data-flow pipeline and stereoscopic 3D production workflow used at IMD for Robert Zemeckis’ "A Christmas Carol." Shafer’s extensive body of work includes stints as a sequence supervisor on such films as "Transformers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" and the "Star Wars" prequels. As ILM’s Stereoscopic Lead for Tim Burton’s "Nightmare Before Christmas" 2D-to-3D conversion re-release, he designed and wrote a proprietary application that was critical to finishing the show. Topics from this experience are the basis of his chapter on Stereoscopic 2D-to-3D Conversion for the first edition publication of “The VES Handbook of Visual Effects.”

ILM Alumnus and current ImageMovers Digital Stereoscopic Supervisor Anthony Shafer provides a detailed breakdown of the real-time camera acquisition system, camera data-flow pipeline and stereoscopic 3D production workflow used at IMD for Robert Zemeckis’ "A Christmas Carol." Shafer’s extensive body of work includes stints as a sequence supervisor on such films as "Transformers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" and the "Star Wars" prequels. As ILM’s Stereoscopic Lead for Tim Burton’s "Nightmare Before Christmas" 2D-to-3D conversion re-release, he designed and wrote a proprietary application that was critical to finishing the show. Topics from this experience are the basis of his chapter on Stereoscopic 2D-to-3D Conversion for the first edition publication of “The VES Handbook of Visual Effects.”

Tim Sarnoff, President of Technicolor Digital Productions, talks in depth about new paradigms in integrated global content production pipelines. The worlds of animation, visual effects and post-production have changed dramatically over the last few years, driven by growing demand, as well as a new decentralized model for production, and a whole new palette of tools that allow filmmakers to draw upon global creative resources – often in “real time.” Now we find a world where the creative filmmaker is at the center of the universe - with an ability to call upon talent from around the world, almost without restrictions.With more than 95 years of experience in entertainment innovation, Technicolor serves an international base of entertainment, software, and gaming customers. The company is a leading provider of production, postproduction, and distribution services to content creators and distributors. Technicolor is one of the world’s largest film processors; the largest independent manufacturer and distributor of DVDs (including Blu-ray Disc); and a leading global supplier of set-top boxes and gateways. The company also operates an Intellectual Property and Licensing business unit.