Keynote Speaker for animago 2016

Keynote Speaker for animago 2016 Internationale Animation Experts and VFX Luminaries of ZOOMANIA, INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE, MANOU THE SWIFT, GAME OF THRONES, THE SHALLOWS and others will be guests at Munich´s Culture Center GASTEIG for the first time.

Munich, 06. Oktober 2016: Keynote Speaker for animago 2016 Animation and visual effects (VFX) have longs since become ubiquitous and unavoidable in the field of digital media production. Indeed, a large majority of the things we see in films and on TV – all those spectacular explosions, futuristic worlds, fearsome characters, fantastical creatures and 3D doubles that are indistinguishable from real-life actors – are created by digital artists using software made especially for them. The cream of the crop of these creative and digital artists will descend upon Munich on 27th and 28th October 2016 to showcase their work. The animago 2016 AWARD & CONFERENCE is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and will be held for the first time at the Gasteig Centre. Organisers are looking forward to welcoming a number of high-profile industry experts and world renowned studio execs to the new location.

Keynote Speaker for animago 2016 of this year´s conference program

Animation & Visual Effects

Adam Habib, Lead Camera and Staging Artist, Pixar Animation Studios, California
Topic: The Audience’s Eye: Camera and Staging in Animated Filmmaking

Brandon Jarratt, General TD, Walt Disney Animation Studios, California
Topic: The Art and Technology of “Zoomania”

Luis Guggenberger, Sr. Concept Artist, Industrial Light & Magic, UK
Topic:  Concept design for “Star Wars” and more

Kevin Spruce, Head of Animation, Framestore, UK
Topic:  Animating Creatures with Framestore

Thomas Zauner, CEO, ScanlineVFX, Deutschland
Topic:  Making-of “The Shallows” 

Juri Stanossek, VFX Supervisior, Mackevision Medien Design, Germany
Topic:  The Visual Effects of “Gotthard“

Andrea Block and Christian Haas, CEOs, LUXX Studios, Germany
Topic:  VFX for “Independence Day: Resurgence”  

Visualization & Industry Design

Detlef Müller (Director Creation Technologies) and Michael C. Müller (Manager Creation Technologies), adidas Group, Germany
Topic:  Digital Creation at Adidas – Virtual Product Lifecycle from Design to Production

Matt Finke, Managing Director, loop light GmbH, Germany
Topic:  Digital Production Tools & Workflows in Live Entertainment & Live Presentation “Perspective Tracking in Realtime”

Dominik Tarolli, Director for Global Business Development 3D Geodesign, Esri California and Matthias Buehler, Founder, vrbn
Topic:  Model Cities with the Tech behind “Independence Day: Resurgence”

Henning Westerwelle, Managing Director, INFECTED Postproduction, Germany
Topic:  Case Study: Mercedes Benz – Backstage – how we created a fully digital music concert  

Special guest speakers from Canada in corporation with the Embassy of Canada

Phil Cramer, Head of Animation & Animation Director, Digital Domain
Topic: Animation on Major VFX films: “Independence Day 2” vs. “Pixels” vs. “Deadpool”

Ian Dominic Kirby, Founder and Creative Director, The Sequence Group
Topic: Small companies big projects: How a 15 person team creates animations for Disney, Marvel and Microsoft

Tom Morrison, Lead Lighting Artist, Mr. X Inc.
Topic: Take me to Valhalla: A look into the VFX behind Vikings  

20 Years of animago AWARD: Anniversary Welcome, Sketch Battle and Live Band

It was only 20 years ago that the German-language magazine DIGITAL PRODUCTION launched the animago AWARD as a means of honouring digital artists in all disciplines relating to the burgeoning field of digital media production. Today, the animago is known across the globe as one of the most important international competitions and platforms. The work of digital artists is reviewed by a jury of experts who select and honour their favourite projects at a gala award presentation that serves to showcase the work to a wider public audience. In the lead-up to this year’s anniversary edition of the animago AWARD, the organisers received 1,076 submissions from 58 countries.

The gala awards ceremony will get underway on the evening of Thursday, 27 October 2016 with an anniversary reception organised by DIGITAL PRODUCTION’s publisher ATEC Business Information GmbH. The main sponsor behind the celebrations is Vogelsänger Studio GmbH & Co. KG.

The traditional Sketch Battle sponsored by Wacom will take place this year at the anniversary reception. In keeping with our new Bavarian event location, Sketch Battle participants will be asked to draw a “Wolpertinger”, a mythical creature from the Bavarian Forest that embodies up to five different animals. Participants will draw on-stage, in front of an audience and under significant time pressure.

The highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the annual animago 2016. The after-show party will be accompanied by the music of Natalie Elwood and her band Soul Junction, a music project supported by the Initiative Musik gGmbH and Munich’s Department of Culture.