FMX 2023 // Avatar, Ant-Man, plus VP & AI panels

FMX is happy to roll out that extra fat, red carpet for its two Gold Partners this year, Wētā FX and AMCRS.

Conference:

VFX FOR FEATURES

 The photorealistic world of Pandora in AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

Is the Tree of Souls so close, you might wanna touch it? Wētā FX brought the photorealistic world of Pandora to life in AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER by grounding everything in real-world science. From the early stages of R&D to new on-set technology and the final artistic flourishes on a shot, Pavani Rao Boddapati (VFX Supervisor), Sam Cole (Associate VFX Supervisor), and Stephen Clee (Animation Supervisor) will unpack Wētā’s return to Pandora and share insights, stories and exclusive content with you.

DIGITAL HUMANS

Stuart Adcock shares Wētā FX’s „Anatomically Plausible Facial System“ for AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

Uncanny valley, be gone! Wētā FX’s new facial system used on AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER pushes beyond past techniques and establishes a new suite of controls to replicate an actor’s facial performance. Join Stuart Adcock, Head of Facial Motion at Wētā FX as he discusses Wētā’s new Anatomically Plausible Facial System (APFS) and the journey of creating emotionally engaging performances for James Cameron’s AVATAR sequel.

VFX FOR FEATURES

VFX and Virtual Production for ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

More flexibility, less traveling for the actual shoot – sounds amazing, right? Industrial Light & Magic’s Charmaine Chan (Associate VFX Supervisor) and Laurie Priest (CG Supervisor) discuss visual effects and virtual production techniques used on Marvel’s hit film ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. They will specifically focus on the StageCraft shoot Chan oversaw: StageCraft technology projected virtual backgrounds onto giant LED screens in real-time, eliminating the need for green screens and, in this case, making the film’s unique locations possible. The actors were placed inside the immersive LED volume, where practical sets were combined with digital enhancements on the screens. StageCraft was originally developed in 2018 by ILM for the first season of Lucasfilm’s hit Disney+ series, THE MANDALORIAN.

VIRTUAL PRODUCTION

Industry panel discusses the economics of Virtual Production

„The Economics of Virtual Production – ICVFX” features panelists James Thomas, Virtual Production Executive at Amazon Studios; Chris Bannister, Executive Producer of Virtual Production at Industrial Light & Magic; Lauren Paul, VP of Sales & Marketing at Lux Machina Consulting | NEP Virtual Studios; and Paolo Tamburrino, Sr. Industry Strategy Manager, Autodesk & Executive Producer; and focuses on the economics of using ICVFX (In-Camera Visual Effects) in virtual production.

The panel will provide a deeper dive into the reality of budgets and how they fit into the overall budget, the schedule needed for implementation, and the essential crew members required for a successful production. Their conversation will explore how focusing on budgets, schedules, and crew can lead to greater adoption of virtual production techniques. In addition, they will share insights into the latest developments and innovative approaches to production business models.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI panel on art, archetypes and algorithms

With AI, you better look at both the up- and the downsides – which is exactly what we’ll be doing at FMX. Artificial intelligence (AI) has opened up new frontiers of creativity and innovation by creating large language models (LLMs) and image generators that can produce realistic and diverse texts and images from any input. However, these models also reflect the hidden patterns and archetypes that pervade the data they are trained on, which originate from the collective unconscious of human culture.

In this talk, the panelists Dave McKean, artist; Sam Hodge, Founder Kognat; Andrew Cochrane, Immersive Content Creator at The AV Club Productions, Inc and Scott Broock, Founder Totem Networks, LLC, will explore how these models can be used to generate new myths and insights that can enrich our understanding of ourselves and the world, but also discuss the ethical challenges and risks that arise when these archetypes or stereotypes are exploited to influence our opinions and emotions.