Animex

8:50AM

Registration

Foyer, Middlesbrough Town Hall

9:15AM

Welcome

9:30AM

Behaviour Interactive

Anna Olsson | Behaviour Interactive

Exciting announcement to follow soon.

10:30AM

The technical animation pipeline of Fort Solis

Matthew Lake | Fallen Leaf

Dive into the technical animation pipeline of the Fort Solis, covering how Unreal Engine 5 helped breathe life into the characters for Fallen Leaf's debut title. The talk covers approaches to these technologies, and the many hurdles and lessons learnt from trying to push the animation envelope with an indie-sized team. This talk features spoilers from the game, so tread lightly.

11:30AM

Lunch

1:00PM

Self-determination theory and submarines

Peter Yates | d3t

Peter Yates explains the central tenets of self-determination theory, viewed through the medium of a cold war submarine simulator.

2:00PM

Brick by brick: Creating your dream career as a games artist

Jade Crosby | TT Games

Piotr Czternasty | TT Games

Nigel Middleman | TT Games

Get an overview of different career paths within the art team at TT Games. You look at environment, technical and VFX. Jade, Nigel and Piotr talk through the type of work they undertake daily, along with highlighting career paths into their respective disciplines. The presenters share experiences of how they began their journey, with tips and tricks of how to break into industry.

3:00PM

Break

4:00PM

Finding the plot: Level design techniques for visually communicating narrative to players

Fern Griffiths | Ubisoft

Story is a crucial part of many games, offering players the unique experience of being an active participant in the storytelling process. Level design is central to player experience and an integral way that games communicate with the player. It’s not just designing cool spaces for gameplay to take place in, but an important tool that can be used to tell stories, set the mood, and impact player emotions. This talk will cover ways that level design can be used to not only physically reflect the narrative but communicate it directly to the player.

5:00PM

Programming: Getting into the industry

Jason Lee | d3t

Stuart Pentelow | d3t

Jason Lee and Stuart Pentelow talk about entering the industry as a programmer, navigating the competitive landscape, and understanding things you can and can't control about most studios’ recruitment processes. Plus additional thought on what progression looks like in the industry from d3t's perspective and insight into co-development.

6:00PM

Game Day 2

7 November 23

Middlesbrough Town Hall | TS1 2QJ

9:00AM

Registration

Foyer, Middlesbrough Town Hall

9:30AM

How to effectively use your time in QA to get your foot in the industry

Zaid Shaikh | Firesprite

The game industry can be extremely competitive to enter, there’s no doubt of that. A common piece of advice is to get into QA to get your foot in the door. Rarely does anybody ever elaborate beyond that. You could be looking to use QA as a stepping-stone, genuinely be interested in the department, or hoping to figure out your spot in the game industry. This talk touches those points and how to best utilise your time in QA.

10:30AM

Deep dive into Cake Bash: Game art and programming

Laura Hutton | High Tea Frog

Clement Capart | High Tea Frog

A technical deep dive into Cake Bash was made. The game was shipped with online play on five platforms in two years, with a core team size of two. Laura is the artist who made everything you can see in the game, and Clement is the programmer who made it all work. Come and hear their story.

11:30AM

Lunch

1:00PM

The Art of Direction

Ron Ashtiani | Big Thursday Creative

Ron Ashtiani presents lessons learnt from his 24-year-long career crafting compelling art direction for games (Mortal Kombat X) and movies (Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers). In sharing how to develop a unique visual style, Ron talks about understanding target audiences, gathering references, presenting to a team, managing artists and more.

2:00PM

Bringing LEGO to life: character creation on The Skywalker Saga

Ruthie Nielsen | TT Games

Felix Pereira | TT Games

Daniel Martin | TT Games

Reice Collishaw | TT Games

Go behind the scenes on LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and see how TT build characters from character art to animation, bringing LEGO to life. This talk covers the entire character creation pipeline, going into depth on how TT collaborate with LEGO to strengthen the LEGO brand, and provides an exclusive window into future development work.

3:00PM

Break

4:00PM

Get in the Game – Career Talks

Nikita Lord | Aardvark Swift

Learn about the games industry and how to make yourself stand out. This talk highlights the benefits and reality of a career in video games development, giving you guidance on how to prepare and improve your employability. Get the most up-to-date guidance including the skills studios look for, tips for constructing the perfect CV and portfolio, how to network, and more.

5:00PM

A designer's role in Minecraft Dungeons

Tom Pedalino | Double Eleven

An in-depth look at the designer's role during Minecraft Dungeons' development. From the initial ideas phase up to post-release support.

6:00PM

AVFX Day 1

9 November 23

Middlesbrough Town Hall | TS1 2QJ

8:50AM

Registration

Foyer, Middlesbrough Town Hall

9:30AM

Puffin Rock - Finding Isabelle & My Feet

Jeremy Purcell | Cartoon Saloon

Jeremy Purcell discusses bringing a six-minute TV series preschool show to the cinema as a 75-minute feature film. And some of what he has learned as a first-time Feature Director.

10:30AM

Breaking into animation (armed with a crayon)

Curtis Jobling | Freelance

This talk covers Curtis' career in publishing and animation. From early work on Wallace & Gromit, through puppet painting on Mars Attacks!, leading to Curtis designing the BAFTA-winning Bob the Builder. There are gems of inspiration here for any soul looking to break into the world of animation. Curtis also covers show conception, including the pitching and development of his own BBC series such as Frankenstein’s Cat and Raa Raa the Noisy Lion. He then talks about the adaptation of his Wereworld series into a major new animated show for Netflix.

11:30AM

Lunch

1:00PM

From dragons to strange worlds – the unexpected importance of the biological sciences in creature creation and world building

Stuart Sumida | California State University, San Bernardino

Stuart Sumida discusses the importance of reference to the characters of animation and digital visual effects. He talks about the importance of generating the suspension of disbelief required when placing fantastical creatures in believable environments. And the importance of understanding biological organisms and body systems in environmental world-building. Stuart documents this spectrum ranging from early career work to the flight physics of dragons to his most recent work on Disney’s Strange World.

2:00PM

Visualising Barbieland

Kaya Jabar | Framestore

Join Kaya Jabar as she takes you behind the scenes of the visualisation process for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Explore the workflows Framestore employed on the film and the advanced planning techniques that ensured every element of the visual effects work was executed to perfection.

3:00PM

Break

4:00PM

Star Wars Visions ‘I Am Your Mother’

Magdalena Osinska | Aardman Animations

Magdalena Osinska discusses creating Star Wars Visions 'I Am Your Mother' from pitch process, through writing, design, animation and VFX.

5:00PM

Layout and story driven cinematography from Raya and the Last Dragon

Rob Dressel | Walt Disney Animation Studios

Since story is the number one goal at Disney Animation, you'll look at how it motivates the cinematography of an animated film. You explore how Layout creates the cinematography for a film and then explore how cinematic styles and choices were driven by the story on Raya and the Last Dragon.

6:00PM

AVFX Day 2

10 November 23

Middlesbrough Town Hall | TS1 2QJ

9:00AM

Registration

Middlesbrough Town Hall

9:30AM

Visualising the rebellion: A behind-the-scenes look at Andor

Jen Kitching | The Third Floor

Exploring a new perspective of the Star Wars galaxy, Andor tells the tale of a rising rebellion in the orbit of Cassian Andor. Jen Kitching presents how The Third Floor collaborated with the show team and VFX supervisor Mohen Leo to support visualisation and planning for shots and scenes. She breaks down the different visualisation techniques including previs, techvis, postvis and virtual camera.

10:30AM

Shine bright like Nimona

Johan Dekker | DNEG

Benjamin Spence | DNEG

Toby Seale | DNEG

Join the DNEG team behind the film adaption of the graphic novel Nimona, as they discuss how they blended heart and metal to achieve the edgy, defining look of the movie. Johan Dekker and Toby Seale outline the creative, technical and production challenges involved in their departments. Benjamin Spence will conclude with a look at his career journey and highlight how he got to be a part of such a special film.

11:30AM

Lunch

1:00PM

2.5D and beyond! Animating concept art at Atomhawk

Niel Bushnell | Atomhawk

Niel Bushnell discusses Atomhawk's approach to animating concept art for games and film. Using examples from recent projects, he shows how the studio's growing animation team combine 3D techniques, VFX and simulation to bring 2D art to life.

2:00PM

Lights, camera, render! Sequence-based lighting workflows at MPC

Will Earl | Moving Picture Company

Will Earl delves into MPC’s innovative approach to the lighting process for VFX in major movies and series, using examples from movies including Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers and Prehistoric Planet. He showcases how MPC harness Katana, RenderMan and Sequence Render, MPC’s in-house toolset for managing the lighting departments creative and technical workflows.

3:00PM

Break

4:00PM

Creating a post-apocalyptic world: The VFX of The Last of Us

Nick Marshall | DNEG

Join Nick Marshall for an in-depth look at the VFX of HBO’s hit series The Last of Us. Nick breaks down the creation of the vast environments in the show - from the first previsualisation tests, through to the modelling, surfacing, FX, animation, lighting, matte painting, and compositing that brought the iconic locations to life on our screens. Nick also discusses how striking a balance between beauty, photorealism, and compelling storytelling was key to the success of the visual effects work for the highly acclaimed series.

5:00PM

Magic of the man in the hat: Designing VFX for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Andrew Whitehurst | Industrial Light & Magic

Andrew Whitehurst discusses the creative and technical journey in making visual effects shots for the final Indiana Jones film. From the earliest sketches to final composites.

6:00PM

Animex Marketplace

8 November 23

Middlesbrough Town Hall | TS1 2QJ

9:00AM

Registration

Foyer, Middlesbrough Town Hall

9:30AM

Games portfolio reviews

Middlesbrough Town Hall - Fire Station

We have a line-up of industry veterans who will look at your portfolio and provide feedback and advice. It’s a great opportunity to get your name out there and find out what will get you into industry. These are aimed at second and third year games students. These are running throughout the morning from 9:30am - 11:30am.

9:30AM

Impactful character design

Lucy Kyriakidou |

Lucy Kyriakidou will explore what makes a successful character design through a demonstration. She starts with the basics and gives some tips on creating a unique, balanced and recognisable hero through shape language, colour and silhouette. The talk is targeted towards artists, people aiming to understand the process better or are developing their own game with characters.

10:30AM

The art of the animation business

David Neumann | NEWMATION

David Neumann speaks about his career and the creative and business side of the animation industry. He discusses the animation market, the gap between the USA and the rest of the world, diversity and inclusion, the process of creating, packaging, and selling new animation projects to studios and distributors, and how new creators advance their careers with or without an agent.

1:00PM

AVFX portfolio reviews

Middlesbrough Town Hall - Fire Station

We have a line-up of industry veterans who will look at your portfolio and provide feedback and advice. It’s a great opportunity to get your name out there and find out what will get you into industry. These are aimed at second and third year AVFX students. These are running throughout the afternoon from 1:00pm - 3:00pm.

2:00PM

Impact: The successes and challenges of being disabled and neurodiverse in the games industry

Harriet Frayling | Impact - Many Cats Studios and Ukie's #RaiseTheGame

Christopher Leech | Impact - Many Cats Studios and Ukie's #RaiseTheGame

Nathan Dunton | Impact - Many Cats Studios and Ukie's #RaiseTheGame

A roundtable discussion from Impact looking at the successes and challenges of being disabled and neurodiverse in the games industry.

Workshops

8 November 23

9:00AM

Registration

Foyer, Middlesbrough Town Hall

9:30AM

Animal anatomy for animators and VFX artists and its importance for creature construction

Stuart Sumida | California State University, San Bernardino

Stuart Sumida gives an overview of the animal and human anatomical lessons that have proven most useful over his career. He discusses the importance of the constructing real animals and people when creating fantastic creatures. Bring along some paper and a pencil or tablet (or both) to join in.

Book now

9:30AM

Blender blockouts: creating atmospheric scenes (Part 1)

Dennis van Kessel | Atomhawk

This is the first part of the workshop from Dennis van Kessel. Tailored for newcomers and people with some experience in Blender, this workshop guides you through the essentials of Blender for creating awesome blockouts. From using internet sources and Bridge to find 3D forms, to mastering lighting, atmosphere, and camera angles, you learn to create compelling scenes. The workshop covers Blender's interface and basic tools, lighting techniques and atmosphere manipulation to enhance visual narratives, and mastering camera angles for your scene.

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11:30AM

Lunch

1:00PM

Introduction to production and working in co-dev

Joe Borley | d3t

In this session you explore the role of a producer and their part in creating a successful development cycle. You also look at industry standard tools and techniques to aid your understanding in project management and your role within it. Finally, you go through several group exercises to plan out the initial steps of a game project.

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1:00PM

Masterclass: The art of the animation business

David Neumann | NEWMATION

Join this masterclass with David Neumann, CEO of NEWMATION, and investigate in-depth the creative and business sides of the animation industry. From representing the top creators to managing, selling and producing films and series, and navigating the trenches of working with Hollywood's elite agencies and studios. Immediate booking is advised – this will sell out.

Book now

2:00PM

An in-depth look at the QA interview process

Zaid Shaikh | Firesprite

This workshop is designed to help give you a competitive edge when looking for roles in QA. Join Zaid Shaikh to look at the quality assurance (QA) interview process. Learn what information a company looks for when asking you to write bugs and what to prioritise when making a test plan. Explore the different interview questions that can be asked and how you might answer them.

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3:00PM

Blender blockouts: creating atmospheric scenes (Part 2)

Dennis van Kessel | Atomhawk

This is the second part of the workshop from Dennis van Kessel. You refine your creation from the first part of the workshop and prepare your 3D files for a final polished look. Then in Photoshop you look at how to add style, textures, and details, making your 3D art more visually interesting. You learn to blend digital painting with your 3D work, creating stunning, ready-to-showcase art pieces.

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3:00PM

Portfolio creation for games artists

Jade Crosby | TT Games

Piotr Czternasty | TT Games

Nigel Middleman | TT Games

Jade, Nigel, and Piotr from TT Games guide you through some tips and tricks of how to prepare your portfolio, along with covering preparation for applying for jobs all the way through to how to prepare for the interview. The workshop gives you helpful information to land that dream job in game development.

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3:00PM

Practical application of artistic principles for VFX

Nick Marshall | DNEG

In this workshop you look at creating artistically pleasing shots. You'll break down the creation of shots, looking at key concepts such as colour, composition, object design, shot design, lighting and atmosphere. You leave you with an understanding of how to control your VFX shots and level up your work from merely technically proficient to something that has artistic merit and makes you stand out from the crowd.

Book now