Insights into the making of and visual effects in Germany's first stop-motion feature "Das Sandmännchen - Abenteuer im Traumland". From in-camera effects, animating on glass to CGI effects, from complicated motion control moves, 'object to camera translation' to scaling, and live action combined with stop-motion figures. The presentation gives you a glimpse into this visual effects film, documented through time-lapse photography and making of pictures from the 18 active sets over 6 months of principal photography.

Julian Hermannsen has been working as VFX Supervisor / Artist since 1999 on feature films and in advertising. In 2005, he set up the vfx and 3d studio 'visual distractions' in Hamburg and has been its owner & managing director since. He has been working as motion control operator since 2006. He is the VFX & Motion Control Supervisor on "Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams".

Sinem Sakaoglu is a filmmaker who caught the animation bug in 2000 with her first stop-motion short "Eva" (story, design, animation). In 2004, she studied traditional 2D animation at animation-school-hamburg. Her graduation film "Bo" received amongst other international prizes first place at Hamburg Animation Award. She worked on animated feature films "The Three Robbers" and "Jasper" before her directorial debut in "Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams". Her current projects include concept work and character designs for a stop-motion TV series "Klara 'n' Rumms" as well as story development for an animated feature that is set in Istanbul.

scopas medien AG, with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany is a production house for film and television.The demand for knowhow and efficiency in international TV and film production places a premium on programme and service providers. In every respect scopas medien AG is perfectly equipped to generate unique and high quality programming. The company concentrates its attention on the commercial spheres of entertainment, business communication and production services. Currently scopas medien AG is in development and financing of several series like "Klara’n’Rumms“, "Spielegalaxie“, "Jonalu II“ and the CGI feature film "Mikisoq“.

Join Bruce Smith, Walt Disney Animation Studios, supervising animator, for a discussion of his latest character, Dr. Facilier from "The Princess & the Frog". Hear about his technique and approach to creating this deliciously evil and sinister character through the illusion of hand-drawn animation.

Bruce W. Smith, Supervising Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Cal Arts Alum, joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1988, as an animator on the genre-bending global hit "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".After contributing animation on various productions under the Disney Special Projects unit, Bruce went on to direct Paramount Pictures animated feature "Bebe's Kids” and directed animation in Warner Bros. "Space Jam". He returned to Disney to supervise the animation of the menacing Kerchak in "Tarzan", the much friendlier Pacha for "Emperors New Groove" and rancher Pearl for "Home on the Range". Bruce has also produced for the small screen. As co-founder of Jambalaya Studio, their focus was on creating and producing racially diverse animated projects. The first Jambalaya creation was the Disney Channel hit series "The Proud Family" followed by "Da Boom Crew" for Kids WB. Bruce returned to Walt Disney Animation Studio in 2008 to supervise animation for the evil villain, Dr. Facilier in “The Princess and the Frog”. Currently, Bruce is the supervising animator for Piglet in the 2011 release of “Winnie-the-Pooh”.

Located in Burbank, California, Walt Disney Animation Studios brings imagination to life through traditional and computer animated films. Our crew is filled with diverse talent from all around the globe whose passion is to create beautiful and timeless films through the art of storytelling, the magic of animation and the science of cutting edge technology.

Based on the illustrated book by Tomi Ungerer (“The three Robbers”) comes a new lunatic animated feature: "The Moon Man". Stephan Schesch - writer, director and producer - choose to go straight to the animatic with the support of various financial sources, outstanding voice talents (Katharina Thalbach, Ulrick Tukur, etc.) and fantastic artists. Discover the animatic of "The Moon Man".

Stephan Schesch started in animation as a trainee at Film Roman (“The Simpsons”). As Head of Development of Trickompany he was responsible for the animated TV-series "Max & Moritz", "Nick & Perry", "Pirate Family". As Associate Producer he contributed to the animated movie blockbusters "Werner 2" and "Kleines Arschloch". In 1999 he founded Schesch Filmkreation and produced the CGI/live action TV movie "The Canterville Ghost" (Bayerischer Fernsehpreis 2005), the documentary feature film "The Cave of the Yellow Dog" by Academy Award nominated director Byambasuren Davaa (Deutscher Filmpreis 2006) and the animated feature "The Three Robbers" (Audience Prize Annecy 2008).

Despite their CGI nature, characters in many recent animated films still benefit immensely from an underlying understanding of the classical scientific study of anatomy. This utility will be presented with examples from (some of the presenter´s work on) rigging (DreamWorks´ "Over the Hedge" and "Madagascar"), animation (locomotion in Pixar´s "Ratatouille" and Disney´s "Bolt"), and character design (different types of dragons from DreamWorks´ recent "How to Train Your Dragon").

Dr. Stuart Sumida is a paleontologist, animal and human anatomy specialist with the California State University System. In 2009 he was named the outstanding professor in the entire CSU system for science and engineering. He has provided anatomical consulting and reference for over 45 feature length films over the past 20 years with screen credits ranging from "Lion King" to "Tarzan", to "Ratatouille", to "Kung Fu Panda", to the recent "How to Train Your Dragon".

The California State University is the largest public university system in the United States with twenty-three campuses across the state. Numerous campuses in the system have programs in Animation, with a variety of faculty participating in Student instruction and training. Dr. Sumida is the only professor in the system that consults directly with animation and effects studios.

A tour behind the scenes of the british nation's favourite bedtime story: "The Gruffalo" debuted on BBC One last Christmas. The Magic Light Pictures Production is an all star beautiful adaptation of the best-selling book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, being brought to life by Studio Soi.

Born 1976 in Munich, Jakob Schuh started his studies at Ludwigsburg's Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1996, where he is teaching since 2003. In 1999 Jakob started working for London's studio aka, and in 2002 cofounded Studio Soi, where he since then has designed and directed a number of acclaimed shorts, commercials and titles.

Born 1976 in Konstanz, Mathias Schreck started his studies at Ludwigsburg's Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1998. In 2002 he cofounded Studio Soi and since then has been responsible for their 3D department from rendering, lighting to final comopositing on numerous shorts, commercials and titles.

Born 1971 in Limburg an der Lahn, working at the prop-department at the theater in Koblenz Klaus Morschheuser began studying at the Filmakademie Baden Württemberg in 1997. In 2001 he started freelancing as an animator for several commercials and music videos. In 2002 he cofounded Studio Soi, where he since then has animated and directed a number of shorts, commercials and titles. He is head of Studio Soi´s workshop building maquettes, puppets and sets.

Studio Soi is an independent animation studio based in Germany. It was founded in 2002 by seven animation directors with the aim of developing a longstanding collaboration. During the last 8 years we have been able to build up our ideal working environment, with studios in Ludwigsburg and Berlin, drawing on a combination of new talent and many years of experience. We attract clients who value taking part in the creative process, and we seek to be both a haven and a collaborator for artists and clients who also aim to push their work forward, to explore and create something new.



This was Nick Park’s first short film following the Wallace and Gromit feature film "The Curse of the Wererabbit" and as such perhaps had to carry the weight of high expectations. Whilst remaining true to the world of Wallace and Gromit, with all that that entails, the film marks a bit of a departure for Aardman: it was the first time digital capture and process were used for such a high profile project, so a bespoke production pipeline was developed. It was also the first time that the digital VFX were done entirely in house by Bram and his team. Bram Ttwheam and Dave Alex Riddett will show some clips, discuss how things were different this time around and chat about how it has helped inform current feature and future productions. This will be followed by a Q and A session.

Dave Alex is a veteran member of Aardman having worked with them since the early 80s. Both as a Director of Photography and occasionally as a Director he has worked on countless Commercials, short films, TV Series and music promos including: "Wallace and Gromit-The Wrong Trousers", "Wallace and Gromit- A Close Shave", "Wallace and Gromit - A matter of Loaf and Death", as well as the feature films "Chicken Run" and "Wallace and Gromit- The curse of the Wererabbit."

Bram Ttwheam has worked within the animation industry for a number of years, in a number of roles ranging from humble cel painter in the pre-digital era to VFX supervisor. He has worked in a number of studios on a wide variety of commercials and films including 4 BAFTA winning shorts.

Aardman has a deserved reputation as a world leader in model animation. Their award-winning work lead the field producing a unique brand of independent films alongside work for broadcast and advertising. The studio has had seven Oscar® nominations,and has won four. Peter Lord and David Sproxton registered the name Aardman Animations in 1972.
Peter and David met Nick Park at the National Film and Television School when he was working on his student film "A Grand Day Out". He joined Aardman full time in 1985.

The year 2010 is Moomin’s 65th anniversary year! Presenting the brand history of the Moomins. How the unique Polish puppet animation made on late 70s started to form into a beautiful 3D Moomin experience? Presenting Björk, the talent who composed and performed the new theme song for the movie. Including information also on Moomin merchandise and distribution.

Tom Carpelan has a Masters in Economics. He has extensive experience in film distribution since 1981, and is still heavily involved in it. Besides distributing films, Tom Carpelan has also worked on numerous films as a producer, e.g. "Hype - The Musical", 1995 (Producer), "Jungledyret Hugo: Den stora filmhelten" (Hugo – The Moviestar), 1996 (Co-producer; with A-film from Denmark), "Series of international instructional golf programs" 2001- (Producer), "Moomin and the Midsummer Madness" - 2008 (Producer) and current production "Moomin and the Comet Chase" (Producer).

Oy Filmkompaniet Alpha Ab is a Finnish company specializing in children's films and in branding these products. Filmkompaniet was founded in 2003 by Tom Carpelan, and today the company's core personnel consists of 5 people, joined by a solid co-operation network of numerous companies and freelance professionals in the different production and distribution areas.

Leo Sanchez Barbosa, Character Modeler, will share Disney's approach on developing characters in a CG environment. Leo will discuss how the involvement of modeling early on in the design process brought new challenges and solutions. Get an inside look at the newest Disney characters from "Tangled" (release November 2010).

Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, Leo Sanchez Barbosa is a self-taught CG artist. He is currently working as a modeler at Walt Disney Animation Studios. At age 19, Leo landed his first job at a Spanish company developing multimedia applications using different disciplines such as CG animation, video and motion graphics. He later moved to London to work for Uli Meyer Studios, where he was able to further develop his artistic skills working on commercial and television projects as a CG Generalist focused on characters. Other projects followed, such as “Valiant” for Vanguard Animation; “Happily N'ever After” for BFC (Berlin); and Henry Selick's shortfilm “Moongirl” for Laika. Leo joined at Walt Disney Animation Studios in early 2006 as a senior modeler. His credits include the short film “Glago’s Guest,” the hit 2009 TV holiday special, “Prep & Landing,” plus the Disney features, “Bolt” and ”Tangled” (scheduled for release this November).

Leo’s work on “Tangled” has pushed the boundaries of CG Modeling. His main focus has been on character development in CG - working closely different departments such as visual development/character design, animation and rigging. He is continuing to hone his artistic and technical skills - working towards a more organic and creative process in creating characters from early concept to final design.

Located in Burbank, California, Walt Disney Animation Studios brings imagination to life through traditional and computer animated films. Our crew is filled with diverse talent from all around the globe whose passion is to create beautiful and timeless films through the art of storytelling, the magic of animation and the science of cutting edge technology.

Simon Otto, Head of Character Animation on “How to Train Your Dragon” will present his insights on how he and his team created the animation style for DreamWorks Animation’s latest film. Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t exactly fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. The movie is set to release in Germany on March 25th. In his talk, Simon will not only describe the process of bringing characters from design to screen, but also share how the animation team attempted to create unique and believable dragons while taking advantage of the enormous acting opportunities that came with the premise of the film.

Simon Otto was born in Switzerland and studied animation at the prestigious animation school “Les Gobelins” in Paris, France. He has been an important part of DreamWorks’ character animation team ever since he joined the studio in 1997 to work on the their first animated film "The Prince of Egypt". He worked as a supervising animator on many of the studio’s animated features both in 2D and in CG including “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” and the Aardman co-production "Flushed Away". Otto also worked as a character designer on “Over The Hedge” and DreamWorks’ latest feature “How to Train Your Dragon,” the latter for which he also served as head of character animation.

DreamWorks Animation is principally devoted to developing and producing computer generated animated feature films. With world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced CG filmmaking technology and techniques, DreamWorks Animation makes high quality CG animated films meant for a broad movie-going audience. The company anticipates releasing its feature films into both conventional and IMAX® theatres worldwide. The company has theatrically released a total of 17 animated feature films including "Shrek", "Shrek 2", "Shark Tale", "Madagascar", "Over the Hedge", "Shrek the Third", "Bee Movie", "Kung Fu Panda", "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" and "Monsters VS. Aliens". Beginning from this year, all of the company’s feature films are produced in stereoscopic 3D technology.

The talk presents a breakdown of the techniques used in the most demanding sequence of "Planet 51". The efforts of various departments and an amazing group of artists, achieved results which exceeded expectations. Using FX libraries, shots with hundreds of hi-res fluid containers and high poly count rigid body dynamics were generated in weeks.

Javier Romero first worked at Dygra, Bren, Tresdeseos CGI and Enxebre. In 2004 he moved to UK, graduating from the University of Bournemouth with an Msc. Computer Science. He joined The Moving Picture Company, in London, where he worked on "Poseidon" as an effects animator. He joined the Ilion FX team in 2006 to work on "Planet 51", eventually rising to the position of effects supervisor.

Ilion Animation Studios was founded in 2002 to create state-of-the-art computer animated movies for worldwide theatrical release using its own purpose-built cutting-edge technology. Ilion Animation Studios and companies Zed and Pyro Studios were founded and are run by Ignacio Perez Dolset and Javier Perez Dolset.

Creating a film where a character has 70 feet of hair presents one obvious challenge: making that hair come alive on screen. That was only one of the challenges undertaken in Disney's newest film "Tangled" (release November 2010). The overall desire for a high artistic bar and the need for high productivity drove a number of technological initiatives. In this talk, Mark Hammel, Technical Supervisor, will discuss the challenges and solutions that affected every department, from Layout to Lighting.

In 1996 Mark Hammel started his industry career at Walt Disney Animation Studios as Technical Director on "Dinosaur" (2000). As part of the Look Development department, he was a primary contributor to the design and development of the render pipeline, and co-architected the shader construction & build system used at the studio for many years. He was also a key partner in designing and implementing the subdivision surface texturing workflow. After working on a series of animated projects, including the theme park attraction "Mickey's Philharmagic" and "Chicken Little" (2005), Mark was enlisted as the Technical Supervisor for "Meet the Robinsons" (2007), where he was responsible for and provided oversight for all technical issues related to production from initial research and development, through element production, to final archiving. He continues this role on "Tangled", scheduled for release in November of 2010. Mark earned a Bachelors of Science from the University of Saskatchewan, and received his PhD from the University of Calgary. His doctoral thesis centered on the simulation and visualization of plant development and he has a number of publications based both on his graduate research and on his work at Disney, including contributions to Siggraph.

Located in Burbank, California, Walt Disney Animation Studios brings imagination to life through traditional and computer animated films. Our crew is filled with diverse talent from all around the globe whose passion is to create beautiful and timeless films through the art of storytelling, the magic of animation and the science of cutting edge technology.

David Sproxton, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Aardman Animations, www.aardman.com

David Sproxton is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Aardman Animations Ltd, which has produced such land-mark films as the Oscar®-winning short "Creature Comforts", "Chicken Run", Wallace & Gromit in "The Curse of the Wererabbit" and "Flushed Away". He is also on the board of the National Film Television School and has recently taken over as Chairman of Encounters, Bristol’s International Short Film Festival.