Animex Talk!

Programme: 8 February

OL1, Europa Building, University of Teesside

Please note: the schedule of events and speakers at Animex Talk! is a provisional programme and is subject to change.

8.45am	Registration (Foyer of Europa Building)
9.15am	Welcome and Opening Address Professor Paul Wells Loughborough University
9.45am	Recruiters Summit
Finding and retaining talent for some of the world's largest studios is no easy feat! Recruitment experts from both sides of the Atlantic come to Animex to give their views on what it takes to get that all-important 'foot in the door'. Shelley Page, Dreamworks, Rachelle Lewis, Rachelle Lewis Talent, Vic Rogers, Double Negative, Amy Smith, Framestore CFC, Matthew Sagar, Moving Picture Company.
10.45am	Break
11.00am	Rachelle Lewis, Rachelle Lewis Talent The realities of getting a job in animation or visual effects
The straight talk about getting in and working in the industry...buckle your seatbelts! What constitutes a good reel and MANY more subjects will be discussed. Also you'll see a variety of great reels that got the artist hired, and find out why.
11.45am	JAKe From illustrator to animator
JAKe became known on the animation circuit because of Geekboy, the animated adventures of one of his characters that became a series of animated interstitials for the Sci-Fi Channel. He made his name as an illustrator and has been working for many years for clients as diverse as the Beastie Boys and fashion designers Comme Des Garcons. JAKe comes to Animex to describe how he made the transition from illustrator to animator and how things have changed since his success with Geekboy.
12.30pm	Lunch
1.30pm	Karen DeJong, Disney Feature Animation Meet the people who made The Robinsons
Karen lets us into the secrets of how one of the world's major powers in animation turns an idea into a fully blown feature film. Karen will illustrate her talk with examples from Meet the Robinsons, Disney's latest CG feature which is currently in production.
2.15pm	Thomas Jordan, Lead Shading Artist on Cars, Pixar Animation Studies Va Va Voom
Cars, another triumph for Pixar Animation Studios, gets the Animex treatment when Thomas demonstrates how the studio made the latest in their line of box offices hits.
3.15pm	Break
3.30pm	Dan Smiczek, Rhythm & Hues Unlocking the Potential of Digital Crowds in Film
From piles of writhing snakes to the battlefield of Narnia, Effects Supervisor Dan Smiczek will take you behind the scenes of how Los Angeles based visual effects house Rhythm & Hues used Massive Software to bring many recent feature films to life.
4.30pm	Hans Rijpkema, Rhythm & Hues Unweaving the Pixel
How does a bird fold its wing? How does water splash? By using examples from a large variety of Rhythm & Hues projects (like Night at the Museum, Charlotte's Web, Happy Feet, Superman Returns, Tokyo Drift and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) we explore what is involved in translating the complexities of the real world into techniques that can be used in the artificial world of CGI. In other words: observe, analyse and fake.
5.30pm	Close
9.30pm	Animex Party
University of Teesside Students' Union The Animation Festival party to topple all others. Swing in a Northern style 'til the early hours.