Conference The Power of Collaboration Managing Change
ON SITE König-Karl-Halle Wednesday, April 24, 12:30

Real-time dreams: Can game engine unlock story worlds?

As the lines have blurred between games and stories, animation and VFX, short form and features, content creation presents new creative and technological challenges. While showing a sneak peek of the upcoming short film, DREAM OF THE BLACK WHALES, producer, Chris deFaria, along with co-director, Paul Franklin and DNEG Dimension’s, Steve Jelley, will discuss how they’re tackling these industry changes by activating a novel game-engine pipeline. DREAM OF THE BLACK WHALES is the second short film from The Hour Blue StoryWorld: a multi-platform science fiction narrative that made its debut at the 2023 Annecy Animation Film Festival.

 
Chris deFaria

Chris deFaria, Producer, Keylight

CHRIS deFARIA is a Hollywood-based producer whose credits span some of the most successful and innovative films of the past decade including Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg, Mad Max: Fury Road, by George Miller, Gravity, by Alfonso Cuarón, 300, by Zack Snyder along with animated films, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The LEGO Movie and Happy Feet.

Under his banner, Keylight, Chris has expanded into mixed media multi-platform projects including two Harry Potter VR experiences, a 360-degree dome cinematic experience at Comcast’s headquarters, and innovative hybrid animation/live-action feature films, Tom & Jerry and Coyote v. Acme.

Prior to establishing Keylight, Chris served as President of DreamWorks Animation and President of Digital Production and Innovative Technology at Warner Bros. where he founded Warner Animation Group.

Chris is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences along with The Writers Guild and serves on the board of directors for The Third Floor. He is a trustee for The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is a founding board member of FilmAid, a non-profit empowering underrepresented storytellers around the world.

Paul Franklin

Paul Franklin, VFX Supervisor & Designer, DNEG

Paul Franklin is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and visual effects artist with over 30 years of experience. In 1998 Paul co-founded DNEG, now one of the world’s biggest VFX studios with credits on hundreds of films. Paul’s VFX work can be seen in films including 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', 'Inception', and 'Interstellar'. He has won two Oscars® and two BAFTAs for VFX. He most recently worked as VFX Supervisor on the hotly anticipated sequel ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’. Prior to this, he directed the political thriller ‘Fireworks’, a film shot using real-time virtual production within an LED wall.

Steve Jelley

Steve Jelley, CEO of Dimension Studios and Managing Director, DNEG Virtual Production

Steve Jelley is an award-winning producer and entrepreneur. He is co-founder and co-CEO of Dimension, one of the world’s most advanced virtual production and XR studios.

He also leads Dimension’s partnership with DNEG in Virtual Production.Recent productions include Bullet Train, Pinocchio, Masters of the Air, and several independent feature films.

He is executive producer of the recently released No Way Up. He is passionate about the creative possibilities of realtime technologies, and broadening access to them within the independent film community.