This year’s edition of Animation Magazine’s World Animation and VFX Summit began on a high note on Sunday night with a star-studded awards ceremony that featured voice legend June Foray, Industrial Light & Magic’s CCO John Knoll, directors Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco (DreamWorks’ The Croods), DQ Entertainment CEO Tapaas Chakravarti, Stoopid Buddy Stoodios’ Matthew Senreich, John Harvatine IV and Eric Towner.
The awards were hosted by Tom Kenny, the brilliant and talented voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, who kept the event moving a fast and funny pace. Helping out with the award presentations were Academy Award-nominated actress Catherine Keener (the voice of cavewomen Ugga in The Croods), Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau (Titanic, Avatar); executive producer Tiffany Ward (Mr. Peabody & Sherman) and President and CEO of Emmy-winning animation software powerhouse Toon Boom Joan Volgelsang.
World Animation & VFX Summit takes place through Wednesday (Nov. 6) at the California Yacht Club, Marina del Rey, California. The event will feature panels, discussion and networking with a global array of high-level animation and visual effects professionals, who are creating new business models in animation, vfx, distribution and financing.
Among the events planned for Monday and Tuesday:
VFX Feature Film Case Study
Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll and Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel will present Industrial Light & Magic’s exciting work on Guillermo del Toro’s blockbuster Pacific Rim.
Animated Feature Film Case Study
Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 creative team (Director Cody Cameron, Producer Pam Marsden, Co-Producer Chris Juen, Production Designer Justin Thompson, Art Director Dave Bleich) will be on board to talk about the ins and outs of development, production, and the challenges of making an animated feature for today’s global audience.
Also featured is the VFX and tech team from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ eagerly awaited holiday feature Frozen. They will share their behind-the-scenes process of making the movie.
We are also hosting an Oscar contenders’ panel highlighting Fox/Blue Sky’s Epic, Reel FX’s Free Birds and GKIDS’s Ernest and Celestine.
Among the many high-level animation and vfx industry professionals confirmed to appear on this year’s Summit panels are:
- Carolyn Bates, Executive Producer, Buttercup Pictures & Senior Production Executive, Shut Up! Cartoons
- Jason Bierut, Technical Director, Disney Television Animation
- Kristine Belson, Producer, The Croods
- Ted Biaselli, Vice President, Programming, Hub Network
- Jacques Bilodeau, President & Producer, Oasis Animation
- Jamie Kezlarian Bolio, GKIDS, Ernest and Celestine
- Jenna Boyd, Senior Vice President, Animation Development, Nickelodeon
- Brendan Burch, CEO, Six Point Harness
- Ryan Carroll, CEO, Summertime Entertainment
- Tapaas Chakravarti, CEO, DQ Entertainment
- Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, President, Marathon Media
- Dan Clark, Creator, Grid Smasher
- Ryan Cooper, Animator, PCB Productions
- Fred de Wysocki, Partner & Co-Founder, Fantastic Films
- Sheena Duggal, Visual Effects Supervisor, The Hunger Games
- Chris Edwards, CEO, The Third Floor Inc.
- Frank Falcone, President & Creative Director, Guru Studio
- Jenny Fulle, CEO, The Creative-Cartel
- Peter Gal, Head of Television Development, DreamWorks Animation
- Raul Garcia, Producer, R&R Communications
- Daniel Gregoire, CEO, Halon
- Anthony Hoit, Systems Development Lead, Graphic Film Company
- Lenora Hume, Executive In Charge of Production, Shut Up! Cartoons
- Andrew Koski, Partner, Licensing & Royalties Consulting Services
- Stephen Lawes, Co-Founder, Cantina Creative
- Youngki Lee, CEO, WonderWorld Studios
- Ludovico Marenzi, Managing Director, Mackevision
- Peter J. McHugh, Agent, The Gotham Group
- Scott Metzger, Visual Effects Supervisor
- Tim Miller, Director, Co-Founder, Blur Studio
- Conrad Montgomery, Director of Comedy Animation, Cartoon Network
- Mike Moon, Vice President, Creative, Disney Television Animation
- Alexis Nelson, Executive Producer, Hoax Films
- Petteri Pasanen, Producer, CEO, Anima Vitae
- Greg Payne, Attorney, Executive Producer, Foothill Entertainment
- Chris Prynoski, Executive Producer, Co-Founder, Titmouse
- Shannon Prynoski, Supervising Producer, Co-Founder, Titmouse
- Fred Schaefer, Executive Producer, OddBot
- Alex Schwartz, Producer, Mr. Peabody & Sherman
- Sander Schwartz, President, Kids & Family Entertainment, Fremantlemedia
- Robert Sethi, Creative Director, The Mill
- Evan Spiridellis, Co-Founder, JibJab
- Mark Vulcano, Animation Director, Heavy Iron Studios
- Aron Warner, President of Animation, Reel Fx; Executive Producer, Free Birds
- Chris Wedge, Co-Founder & VP of Creative Development, Blue Sky Studios; Director, Epic
See the inner workings of The Mill, Sony Pictures Animation and Titmouse.
This year’s event is sponsored by DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation, Ile de France, Illumination Entertainment, Toon Boom, CelAction, The Gotham Group and Variety.
