Press Release #3

New Confirmations: Jim Button and the Wild 13 | Enhanced Locations | Baba Yaga

FMX 2021
Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media
Online, May 4-6, 2021

Ludwigsburg/Germany, February 16, 2021. We are delighted to confirm new speakers for presentations on the making of the VFX in the stunning German live-action movie Jim Button and the Wild 13 and for Nexus Studios' bringing a 615-year-old palace to life through Next Generation AR. Furthermore, the six-time Emmy Award-winning team from Baobab Studios share their insights on the making of the awesome interactive animation Baba Yaga.

The making of Jim Button and the Wild 13

The cinematic adaptation of the book Jim Button and the Wild 13 by legendary author Michael Ende (The Neverending Story) is packed with breath-taking VFX. The family adventure movie directed by Dennis Gansel is a sequel to Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver (2018) and tells the story of orphan boy Jim's journey in search of his origin. Together with Luke the Engine Driver and their flying locomotives Emma and Molly, he travels through visually stunning worlds full of magical creatures. The VFX which brought Ende's fantastic story to life in a live action movie were created through a collaboration between several internationally acclaimed German VFX studios.

We are delighted to have five representatives of this Rat Pack Film production at this year's FMX online edition, giving an insight into the making of this VFX masterpiece: The film's Production VFX supervisor Frank Schlegel (Independent) and VFX supervisors Juri Stanossek (Mackevision) and Andreas Giesen (Rise Visual Effects Studios) will be joined by VFX Producer Julia Smola (Scanline VFX) and Senior CG Supervisor Chris Nickel (Trixter).

'Enhanced Locations' – Bringing a 615-year-old palace to life through Next Generation AR

Over the past few years Nexus Studios have paved the way for the future of Augmented Reality through the creation of 'Enhanced Locations', a term used to describe how real world places such as venues, theme parks, stadiums and galleries are mapped out digitally using the latest Visual Positioning technologies so that hyper accurate 3D content can be placed intelligently in situ. Hear from Nexus Studios Creative Director Alex Jenkins on their journey and their latest project which saw them bring a 615-year-old Korean palace to life through a ground-breaking AR guided tour, featuring a playful and enigmatic wayfinding character. Visitors are able to interact with members of the Joseon dynasty, reimagined in AR and partake in ancient customs and traditions. All streamed to the highest ever quality achieved in AR for mobile.

Baobab Studios: The Making of Baba Yaga

The six-time Emmy Award-winning team from Baobab Studios share their insights on making their latest interactive animation, BABA YAGA. BABA YAGA is a contemporary portrayal of the Eastern European legend breathed to life with illustrative 2D pop-up animation, as well as hand-drawn and stop-motion styles, creating a modern visual language for VR inspired by classic animation. Look forward to Maureen Fan (CEO/Co-founder Baobab Studios), Eric Darnell (CCO/Co-founder Baobab Studios, Writer/Director BABA YAGA), Mathias Chelebourg (Co-Director BABA YAGA), Vanessa Rojas (Editor BABA YAGA) and Nathaniel Dirksen (Producer/CG Supervisor BABA YAGA) discussing all aspects of the making of the film and how they incorporated interactivity to "make you, the audience, matter".