VES Virtual Production Series
The Visual Effects Society, in collaboration with the VES Technology Committee and the industry’s Virtual Production Committee, have assembled a series of conversations around Virtual Production.
These online events will bring together diverse members of the film, TV, animation and games communities to discuss why they are committed to Virtual Production and how the technology is helping to solve new creative challenges.
Virtual Production: Exploring Careers in a New Platform
Monday, December 11, 2023
Join the Visual Effects Society for an online panel discussion delving into the spectrum of roles in Virtual Production and the LED volume. Learn from industry experts, and discover career paths available for students, and transition opportunities for seasoned pros in this new and exciting aspect of filmmaking. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the roles that exist on a Virtual Production stage, how they work together to create stunning in-camera visual effects, and how to best explore them as a career option.
Shenaz Baksh
Shenaz Baksh
Shenaz Baksh is the Director of Screen Industry Training Hub, a Toronto based company focusing on creative screen industry workforce development through innovative technology, partnerships and training solutions. Specializing in group training for professional and community industry organizations, companies and educational institutions, our goal is to positively impact and fill gaps in the evolving industry ecosystems. Working across borders, our skilled team with decades of experience, designs and delivers training programs in Film (Analogue and Digital), Television, Virtual Reality, VFX, Animation and Virtual Production (Unreal Engine).
Most recently, we led the Summer 2023 IM4 Media Lab Virtual Production Storytelling Micro-credential, administered by Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. It was the first Indigenous training program of its kind empowering 24 students across Canada to learn the technology workflow and tools to create short films in Unreal Engine. Annually our team creates, implements and manages 200+ training and community opportunities that impact approximately 1000+ local and international artists. Shenaz’s leadership champions access and skill development for underrepresented communities, fosters organizational growth, and supports economic development in the entertainment sector.
Thiago Correia Carneiro
Thiago Correia Carneiro
Thiago, currently serving as a Virtual Production Specialist at Girraphic and previously holding the position of Lead Unreal Engine Generalist at Pixomondo Toronto, brings his expertise to prominent productions such as The Boys, Halo, Star Trek, and Avatar: The Airbender. In his role as an Education Advisor with Epic Games, he actively cultivates partnerships with educational institutions in Brazil, Portugal, and Canada. Beyond his professional commitments, Thiago invests his spare time in instructing Unreal Engine courses tailored for Gaming, Animation, and VFX at esteemed institutions such as Seneca College and the Toronto Metropolitan University.
Jim Geduldick
Jim Geduldick
Jim Geduldick, a Virtual Production, Visual Effects Supervisor and Cinematographer inspired by the power of emerging technologies for creatives and storytelling brings a career of pushing the boundaries of marrying technology and creative solutions. He has worked across film, TV, broadcast, experiential, music videos and action sports films. Working alongside teams of engineers, designers, CG artists, animators and fellow cinematographer to inspire new uses of emerging technology and methodologies for projects across industries. He has been able to be a industry leader in virtual production, visual effects, volumetric capture and realtime workflows. He has been working with in recent years implementing tools in AI and machine learning across various projects across industries. With his varied background in traditional production, visual effects and realtime he has been able to collaborate on award-winning projects for Disney, Amazon, Sony , Redbull, Epic Games and many others.
Mujia Liao
Mujia Liao
Mujia Liao is the Head of Virtual Art Department and Art Director at PIXOMONDO.
For the past decade, Mujia has worked on many high profile television series such as The Mandalorian, Westworld, Star Trek: Discovery, as well as prestigious studio IP titles including Wonder Woman and The Fast and the Furious.As Head of Department, Mujia focuses on structuring and building the VAD team, she is one of the core PXO pioneers who helped the franchise transition to Virtual Production on PXO’s LED Volume Stage.
Ben Love
Ben Love
Ben Love is Lux Machina’s Head of Engine Operations, he combines extensive knowledge of Unreal and various DCCs with technical expertise in virtual production and VFX from his diverse career spanning roles at Autodesk, Technicolor, Giant Studios, and Lightstorm Entertainment.
Ben has just completed virtual production for the opening ceremony of the League of Legends Worlds Finals in Seoul, Korea as lead of the engine team.
Brian Pohl
Brian Pohl
Brian J. Pohl has over seventeen years of experience as a visual effects artist, layout artist, and previs supervisor. A veteran of George Lucas’ previs team and Industrial Light and Magic’s art department, Pohl is credited for creating or supervising previs on over twenty-seven feature films. Pohl has also served an additional nine years within the software development industry designing new tools that assist the digital artist’s production workflow.
Trained in agile workflow methodology alongside multiple years of teaching and lecturing at various educational institutions, Pohl has spent a large portion of his career providing creative cinematic direction, story and technical previs supervision and educational subject matter expertise to large sized production teams and audiences in either the film or broadcast industries.Recently, Pohl worked at Epic Games as a technical account and program manager for the Media and Entertainment industry. During this time, Pohl constructed a community education program known as the Unreal Fellowship and acted as the program’s academic Dean. This program has impacted over 1000 Fellows and it is shaping the future of the virtual production industry.
MaryAnn Talavera
MaryAnn Talavera
Born in the Dominican Republic, MaryAnn Talavera is an award winning creative technologist, filmmaker, educator, and polyglot with a love of travel and storytelling. She studied XR and virtual production in the Interactive Telecommunications Program(ITP) at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. MaryAnn is the Associate Director of Recruitment in Tisch Special Programs, where she produces promotional content for the school including audio and video projects, as well as graphic design for print and digital media. She is also a part-time instructor at the New School where she teaches XR world-building. In 2022, MaryAnn was an Artist-in-Residence at Barnard College’s Movement Lab where she worked on and showcased the ORIXA Project. This spring, she was accepted as a member of the Onassis Foundation’s ONX Studio and joined the Future of Storytelling Explorer’s Club. She has studied and worked all over the world, including Italy, France, Brazil, and Japan.
MaryAnn is a 3D artist, founder of Rolos Productions, and Co-Founder of the ORIXA Project. In 2021, she received a HEAR US(Helping Elevate and Recapitalize Underrepresented Stories) Award for “Root,” a project highlighting issues of representation within 3D, specifically the lack of afro-textured hair assets and Black character options. MaryAnn is passionate about projects that uplift Black and Brown narratives and transcend borders while tackling social justice issues like race, gender, and climate change.
Virtual Production Is Production #2:
Producing, Budgeting, Scheduling & Crewing
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 at 5:00PM (PDT), 8:00PM (EDT) and Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 10:00AM (AEST) and 12:00PM (NZST)
The Visual Effects Society (VES) and Producers Guild of America (PGA) join together for a second event to analyze scheduling and budgeting for virtual production. In this discussion, we will hear how to potentially approach large and small budgets whilst looking at different virtual production techniques, break down the optimum scheduling especially in regards to pre-production, and how to examine the appropriate crewing. Speakers will include BLACK ADAM Virtual Production Supervisor and VES Board member Kathryn Brillhart, VES Award-winning Manager of Virtual Production at Netflix Ryan Stafford, VES Award-winning Producer Kurt Williams and VES Award-winning Visual Effects Producer on MAHOGANY Sandra Scott, Moderated by PGA member, VES Fellow and Board member Janet Muswell Hamilton, VES.
Kathryn Brillhart
Kathryn Brillhart
Kathryn Brillhart is a Cinematographer, Director, and Producer who leverages volumetric capture, visualization techniques, and supervising visual effects to enhance projects. For the past decade, she has helped to redefine best practices and standards in virtual production and has advocated for diversity in the film industry through her role on the Global Board of Directors for the Visual Effects Society. Kathryn is a member of the Virtual Production Committee within the ASC Motion Imaging and Technology Council. Her recent work incorporates real-time game engine and virtual production techniques to achieve in-camera visual effects. She is currently the Virtual Production Supervisor for Black Adam (2022).
Ryan Stafford
Ryan Stafford
Ryan Stafford is a two time VES award winning Executive Producer, VFX Producer and virtual production expert with over 20 years experience in producing advanced, cutting-edge content using the latest technology in visual effects and virtual production, in collaboration with traditional physical filmmaking practices to enhance creative opportunities. Ryan is currently working at Netflix on the newly minted Digital Production team where he is collaborating with cross functional partners to advise and implement new ways of filmmaking during all phases of visual & story development, prep and production in both features and series; live-action and animated. Prior, he had worked alongside and led the industry’s top visual effects, performance capture and virtual production teams on titles such as THE CALL OF THE WILD, The PLANET OF THE APES trilogy, and AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON.
Kurt Williams
Kurt Williams
Kurt Williams began his career 31 years ago in commercials as an Assistant Director and Producer before moving into the Feature Film VFX arena, holding the positions of Visual Effects Supervisor, Visual Effects Producer, and has since ascended to Co-Producer.
He has made his mark with a wealth of experience and knowledge in Live-Action Production, Virtual Production, Motion Capture Animation, and Visual Effects.
Through proactive inventive problem-solving, and visionary forethought, he bridges the gap between creative and the ever-changing technical process.
He won the VES Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature for his work on RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
Sandra Scott
Sandra Scott
Sandra Scott is a self-avowed dog-lover and yoga junky who ‘daylights’ as a VFX Producer and occasional Head of Production in the film industry. Sandra’s journey has taken her to the pinnacles of visual effects with a foundational path forged at Industrial Light & Magic and forces joined with the best and brightest at Framestore, Digital Domain, Imagemovers Digital and Atomic Fiction.
Throughout her career her ‘gravitational pull has always been towards animated character-centric films from Dobby the house elf in Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets to the tiny but mighty Desperaux mouse in Tale of Despereaux and allowed her to crisscross between vfx and digital animation genres.
A 12 year collaboration with filmmaker Robert Zemeckis and VFX Supervisor Kevin Baillie has taken her to all parts of the globe for production and post and provided an extraordinary window into virtual production filmmaking with one of the founding fathers in the medium
Janet Muswell Hamilton, VES
Janet Muswell Hamilton, VES
Janet Muswell served on the original board of directors for the VES, is a current board member and is an active member of the education committee. She has recently become involved in various PGA initiatives. Janet is passionate about educating the next diverse generation of visual effects professionals, she is also the proud recipient of title of VES Fellow.
Janet is a classically trained bassoonist (yes, the bassoon!) and her love of music led her to the fun world of music video editing and visual effects in the UK. She moved to the states to pursue the expanding digital world as a compositor, which quickly led to VFX supervising and producing. Her curiosity for new technology has taken her around the globe working on innovative projects, to recently heading up the Global VFX group for Netflix when she was able to immerse herself in the exciting and revolutionary world of Virtual Production. Janet has supervised and produced VFX, CGI and Animation for theatrical features, IMAX, television, commercials and Stereoscopic Special Venues. On the management side she has overseen and managed VFX companies both large and small. During her time at Netflix Europe, she oversaw the hugely popular first season of The Witcher.
Virtual Production Is Production
Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 5:00PM (PDT), 8:00PM (EDT) and Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 10:00AM (AEST) and 12:00PM (NZST)
The VES and PGA join together to demystify virtual production and how it’s impacting the industry. This panel will showcase how the latest real-time techniques are accessible, scalable, and affordable for a variety of projects. Panelists will spotlight their experience on some of the industry’s latest shows and movies discussing techniques such as world capture, visualization, performance capture, simulcam and interactive lighting. Panelists include VES Award-winning Executive Producer of THE MIDNIGHT SKY Greg Baxter, Visualization Supervisor at The Third Floor Sophia Yu, Virtual Cinematographer on STOWAWAY Jannicke Mikkelsen, FNF as well as Founder and CPO at Glassbox Technologies Mariana Acuña, moderated by Manager of Virtual Production at Netflix Christina Lee Storm.
Greg Baxter
Greg Baxter – Executive Producer
Greg Baxter is an award-winning creative producer with a strong background and extensive experience in digital and
virtual production.
Baxter’s professional career began in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999 at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic
(ILM) where he was involved in numerous projects including the resurrection of the Star Wars saga.
In 2002 Baxter left the VFX facility world behind and made the freelance jump to collaborate with with director Peter
Berg on The Rudown.
As a VFX Producer, Baxter brought his experience and digital insight to film projects ranging from horror franchises
such as Blade and Final Destination to studio tentpoles including the X-Men and Divergent series.
In 2014, Baxter first teamed with director Rob Letterman on Goosebumps as Co-Producer, using his knowledge of
digital production techniques to help bring realism and lifelike characteristics to the animation-hybrid creature film.
Baxter and Letterman carried that relationship on to launch a new era in the Pokemon IP’s film franchise with 2019’s
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu.
Baxter’s Co-Producer role included the space adventure Passengers in 2016 which marked his third collaboration
with Producer Neal Moritz.
In 2019 Baxter increased his leadership presence as Executive Producer on The Midnight Sky – along side director
George Clooney – where Baxter used his experience and knowledge of various virtual production tools including LED
volumes, virtual photography and facial performance capture to help bring the epic story to screens of all sizes.
On every project, Baxter is involved in all aspects of production from development through post – including
breakdowns and concepts, methodology strategy, visual development and virtual art department oversight,
budgeting, scheduling, interdepartmental collaboration, shoot oversight, digital production execution and post
production workflow.
Baxter’s unique skillset and talent make him an incredible ally and advocate for filmmakers who are looking to tell
stories that require a mixture of complex methodologies.
Sophia Yu
Sophia Yu, Visualization Supervisor, The Third Floor
Sophia, Texas-born and raised, first saw the incredible world of possibility in cinematic animation after playing Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. After graduating from the animation program at Savannah College of Art & Design, she jumped into a variety of 2D and 3D animation jobs in commercials and games before landing at The Third Floor in 2016. With a strong sense of cinematography and level-headed attitude, she rapidly embraced the world of previs/postvis and was propelled to the supervisor position after 3 years of deep immersion in film world. Her credits include blockbuster hits like Deadpool 2, Captain Marvel, and Avengers: Endgame.
Jannicke Mikkelsen
Jannicke Mikkelsen
(Norwegian Society of Cinematographers) Award winning Film Director & Cinematographer FNF specialized in high-tech film production in hazardous environments. She is internationally known for her innovative work with wildlife filmmaker David Attenborough, legendary rock band QUEEN, Apollo11 50th Anniversary installation for NASA, and Mission Payload Specialist Crew onboard the 2019 World Record flight mission ‘One More Orbit’ circumnavigating the planet over North and South Pole. Mikkelsen’s ground breaking film work awarded her the first ever European Society of Cinematographers Award for Extraordinary Technical Achievement, in 2017 she was named Norway’s most influential woman in tech, in 2019 one of UK’s most influential women in tech. In 2019 she became the first ever woman to circumnavigate the planet over the North and South Pole landing her in the Guinness Book of World records 2021. Jannicke Mikkelsen is a frequent public speaker and motivational speaker on tech-innovation and has been keynote speaker at business events such as Google, Disney, Pixar, AI Show Biz, IBC show, Paramount Pictures, BVE expo and BSC expo. Her work has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Wired, Variety and Teen Vogue.
Mariana Acuña
Mariana Acuña
Mariana is a technologist, connector, and entrepreneur. During her years at The Foundry, she focused on virtual reality post workflows as well as being the Head of Creative Specialists. Mariana was a pioneer in her hometown Mexico City, where she founded the first VR and 360 video production and branding agency – JoltVR.
Most recently she co-founded Glassbox Technologies, where she leads the roadmap for new and existing technology developing tools for Virtual Production transforming the way filmmaking is done today. She is also a Mentor for the Virtual Production Fellowships by Epic Games.
Prior to her switch into tech, she worked as an on-set VFX supervisor & senior compositor. She was featured in the book Voices of Labor: Creativity, Craft, and Conflict in a Global Hollywood, as well as in the acclaimed documentary “Hollywood’s Greatest Tricks”.
Christina Lee Storm
Christina Lee Storm
Christina Lee Storm is an award-winning producer with a unique blend of experience in animation, VR/AR, real-time, documentaries, and features while working at the cross section of story and technology.
Christina drives adoption and global development of virtual production for Netflix and the studio’s NLAB Initiatives as Manager of Virtual Production. She helps empower creatives, filmmakers, and production communities to investigate and share new ways of producing content through emerging technology. Christina founded Asher XR to provide strategic development, planning, and implementation of Virtual Production and emerging XR content. She served as Head of Content and Acquisitions for Positron, whose mission is to bring premium cinematic XR experiences to all audiences .
As Vice President at DreamWorks Animation, Christina led the Advanced Creative Technology group with the goal to advance DreamWorks IP into new forms of immersive creative content on all platforms using AR, VR, real-time rendering, motion capture, and virtual production.
Christina’s passion for making films with profound themes most recently led her to produce SOLITARY with David Oyelowo (“Selma”) and BRON Studios. She also produced three award-winning DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” VR experiences (2 nominated for the Producers Guild of America’s Innovation Award), various AR projects for “Trolls World Tour,” “Abominable,” and an interactive “Kung Fu Panda” experience at the Universal Beijing Theme Park.
Elected to the Producers Guild of America’s National Board of Directors and New Media Council Board of Delegates, Christina also serves on the Television Academy’s Interactive Media Executive Committee and as Board of Governors for the Advanced Imaging Society. Identifying the importance of supporting women in the area of STEAM, she is proud to be a founding member and advisor of DreamWorks Animation’s TECHWomen and member of Women in Animation.
Intro to Virtual Production 101:
The Future Is Now!
Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 10:00AM (PDT), 1:00PM (EDT), 6:00PM (BST), 7:00PM (CEST)
During the event moderated by AD/UPM VFX/Digital Technology Committee Chair Susan Zwerman, VES, Director/Associate Director Brad Duns (THE MASKED SINGER), 1st AD Kim Richards & 2nd AD Heather Wagner (THE MANDALORIAN), Stage Manager Valdez Flagg (MARIAH CAREY’S MAGICAL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL), The Third Floor Line Producer Lara Cawsey and Happy Mushroom CEO/Virtual Production Producer Felix Jorge gave informative presentations that covered topics such as what types of scenes are good for Virtual Production; how visualization feeds into the Virtual Production pipeline; technical terms that DGA Members should know; tips on how to shoot and schedule Virtual Production; a basic primer on how the Virtual Production pipeline works; and XR (Extended Reality) as well as AR (Augmented Reality) technology.
All presenters then participated in a group Q&A and answered questions submitted by DGA members.
Intersection Between Camera, VFX & Lighting for Virtual Production
Friday, November 20, 2020 at 9:00AM (PST), 12:00PM (EST),5:00PM (GMT),6:00PM (CET)
Join the VES, ASC, Camerimage and the Virtual Production Committee for a conversation on the intersection between camera, VFX and lighting as they pertain to Virtual Production, brought to you by Netflix.
Confirmed panelists include Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, ASC who’s won the VES Award for his work on THE LION KING, ASC’s and Camerimage’s Lifetime Achievement Awards as well as an ASC Award for his work on THE PATRIOT; Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Legato, ASC, winner of 7 VES Awards, 3 Oscars for his work on THE JUNGLE BOOK, HUGO and TITANIC, 2 BAFTAs and 2 Emmys, Lighting Director and VES member Samuel Maniscalco is a who’s worked on THE LION KING, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, THE JUNGLE BOOK and others, USC School of Cinematic Arts Professor and George Méliès Endowed Chair in Visual Effects Michael Fink, VES who’s won an Oscar and a BAFTA for his work on THE GOLDEN COMPASS, Unity Technologies Head of Development Habib Zargarpour who’s won the VES Award for Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game as well as 2 BAFTAs and 2 Oscar nominations for his work on THE PERFECT STORM and TWISTER as well as Epic Games Business Development Manager Miles Perkins who worked on IRON MAN, the STAR TREK reboot and many more, moderated by Director of Emerging Technology at The Mill Boo Wong.
Caleb Deschanel
Rob Legato
Robert Legato, ASC
After a career in Television for Paramount Pictures, Rob Legato joined the newly formed Digital Domain, a visual effects company founded by James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross. For Rob’s first feature assignment, he became the Visual Effects Supervisor, 2nd Unit Director and VFX Director of Photography for Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire.” This first feature led to Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13″ with Legato serving as the film’s Visual Effects Supervisor and Director of Photography for the VFX unit. Mr. Legato earned his first Academy Award nomination and won the British Academy Award’s BAFTA for his effects work in “Apollo 13.”
His next feature assignment, James Cameron’s “Titanic,” spanned the next several years and proved ultimately to be one of the most successful films ever made. Besides earning Mr. Legato his first Academy Award®, the film went on to win a total of 11 Oscars® (including Best Picture and Best Visual Effects) and became the highest grossing movie of all time. Mr. Legato also offered some last minute assistance to Martin Scorsese’s production of “Kundun” and Michael Bay’s film “Armageddon.”
Legato left Digital Domain to join Sony Pictures Imageworks where he served as Visual Effects Supervisor on two Robert Zemeckis films, “What Lies Beneath” and “Cast Away.”
Legato was senior Visual Effects Supervisor on “Bad Boys II,” which was nominated for a VES (Visual Effects Society) Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture. Rob’s next picture was the international phenomenon “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” based on the best selling book by J.K. Rowling. Rob was the Co 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman and Visual Effects Supervisor on Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator.” Besides being nominated for 11 Academy awards and receiving 5 Oscars® “The Aviator” garnered 3 VES awards and the International Press Academy’s Satellite award for Best Visual Effects.
Rob then completed Martin Scorsese’s feature “The Departed” as the 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman and VFX Supervisor. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. During the same time frame, Legato created and conceived the Virtual Cinematography Pipeline for James Cameron’s next feature production, “Avatar,” which went on to surpass “Titanic” as the highest grossing film of all time with $2.8 billion in worldwide receipts.
Rob had the fortunate opportunity to work on Robert DeNiro’s second directorial effort, “The Good Shepherd”,
serving as both the 2nd unit Director/Cameraman and Visual Effects Supervisor. The very next projects included Martin Scorsese’s Clio award winning “Freixenet: The Key to Reserva,” a 10 minute commercial project, as well as the feature documentary on the Rolling Stones entitled “Shine a Light.” Legato also served as the VFX Consultant on Errol Morris’ documentary film “Standard Operating Procedure”.
Legato’s next feature film was Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” upon which he served as both Visual Effects Supervisor and 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman. Rob’s next assignment as VFX Supervisor and 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman was on Martin Scorsese’s epic 3D film “Hugo.” “Hugo” was nominated for 11 Oscars® and 11 BAFTAS, including Best Picture and Best Visual Effects. “Hugo” was ultimately awarded the Oscar® for best Visual Effects, as well as three VES Society Awards and an International Satellite Award.
Rob’s last assignment for Martin Scorsese was the Leonardo DiCaprio starring “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Rob served as both the film’s 2nd Unit Director/Cameraman and Visual Effects Supervisor. Rob’s latest film is Disney’s Jungle Book and he also served as the 2nd Unit Director/Cinematographer and Visual Effects Supervisor. “The Jungle Book” received an Academy Award, British Academy Award, five VES Awards as well as the Critics Choice Award, among several others, for Best Visual Effects for 2016. In 2017, Rob directed episode 5 of the Netflix series “Medal of Honor.” Rob’s latest film is Disney’s “The Lion King” for which he was nominated for the Academy Award, the BAFTA and for which he won two VES awards.
Rob’s union and Guild affiliations include the DGA, A.M.P.A.S, A.S.C., Local 600, Local 700 and the VES.
Samuel Maniscalco
Samuel Maniscalco, Lead Lighting Artist at DreamWorks Animation
Samuel Maniscalco is a VES member and established Lighting Director whose body of work includes THE LION KING, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, THE JUNGLE BOOK among others.
Michael Fink
Michael Fink, VES Professor Of Cinematic Arts Kortschak Family Endowed Division Chair in Film and Television Production Georges Méliès Endowed Chair in Visual Effects
Michael started his film career on “The China Syndrome”, followed shortly by films such as “Star Trek – The Motion Picture”, and “Blade Runner”. Michael received his first Visual Effects Supervisor credit on “War Games” in 1982. During the very early years of digital animation and visual effects, on films such as “Buckaroo Banzai” and “Project X”, Michael innovated novel ways to integrate computer graphics with live action and traditional visual effects.
Michael produced and directed for Sony a real-time composited live action and animation short which was the first demonstration of real-time integration of computer graphics with high definition video in 1989 (Symbolics and Sony HDTV).
Michael received an Academy Award nomination and BAFTA Award nomination for “Batman Returns” in 1993. In that film he supervised the creation of the first photo-real computer graphic creatures in a feature film that faithfully replicated existing, living, beings (penguins and bats).
In 1993, Michael directed the first Coca-Cola “Polar Bear” spot, which may be the first public showing of a computer graphic creature with three-dimensional fur.
Michael was honored in October 2001 at the Premio Immagine in Milan, Italy for his contribution to the art and science of digital filmmaking.
In 2008, Michael received an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and a BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects for the film “The Golden Compass”. The film combined live action, animation, and visual effects in nearly every cut.
Michael was happy to contribute to the Academy Award winning film “Life of Pi” in 2012, working with BUF Compagnie on a 1½ minute sequence known as Tiger Vision, which was often cited in reviews of the film as a seminal moment in the story, establishing the strong bond between Pi and Richard Parker, the tiger.
Michael is a Professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he holds the George Méliès Endowed Chair in Visual Effects. Michael continues to do 2nd unit directing, visual effects supervision, and consulting on visual effects, animation, and 3D projects. He is on the Executive Committee of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is a founding member, Board member, and a Fellow of the Visual Effects Society. Michael and his wife Melissa Bachrach live in Los Angeles.
Habib Zargarpour
Habib Zargarpour, Head of Film Development Unity Technologies
Habib has been nominated for two Academy Awards and won two BAFTA’s for his work on Twister and The Perfect Storm. His visual effects career has included developing ground-breaking effects while at Industrial Light & Magic, Electronic Arts, and as Director of Visuals for XBox Publishing at Microsoft.
His film credits include: Greyhound, Blade Runner 2049, and The Jungle Book where he pioneered Virtual Production using Real-Time Engines. Other credits are Signs, The Bourne Identity, Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace, Spawn, Jumanji, Star Trek: Generations, and The Mask.
He has also been Senior Art Director on hit video games such as: RYSE: Son of Rome, Need for Speed Most Wanted/ Underground, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing.
He is currently directing his first feature film, Squadron. While at UNITY Habib continues to develop real-time techniques for film making and combining his experience in film and real time engines in order to bring their benefits to Virtual Production.
He is an active member of the VFX Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, and a founding member of the Visual Effects Society and the 5D-Conference.
Miles Perkins
Miles Perkins, Business Development, Unreal Film & Television Team Epic Games
Miles Perkins brings a wealth of experience from an extensive background in visualization technologies for media and entertainment, spanning visual effects for film and television, XR, and interactive media.
At Epic Games Miles is a member of the Unreal enterprise business development team, responsible for helping bring cutting edge real-time workflows into the film and television industry. Before joining Epic Games Miles served as VP of marketing at Jaunt Inc., one of the earliest XR startups in the industry.
Prior to that Miles was a 23-year veteran of Lucasfilm where as head of corporate communications he was responsible for the development and implementation of marketing communications and public relations across all Lucasfilm companies globally, including Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and LucasArts.
While at Lucasfilm Miles also ran marketing communications for Industrial Light & Magic, one of the film industry’s premiere visual effects companies. During his tenure, he was central in developing and managing the ILM brand through a deep knowledge of the creative and post-production process. At ILM he worked on a wide range of projects including the STAR WARS prequels, the JURASSIC PARK series, the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series, IRON MAN and IRON MAN 2 and is credited on films such as SUPER 8, RANGO, STAR TREK, TRANSFORMERS and TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, and INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.
Boo Wong
Boo Wong, Group Director, Emerging Technology The Mill
As Global Director of Emerging Technology, Boo Wong leads transformation, strategy and advancement for new business initiatives through creative technology for The Mill, the largest commercial production, post and technology studio serving the advertising industry today. She prides herself on identifying trends and translating market needs into solutions and company-wide technology initiatives, including the development of new pipelines for AR, VR, game engine development, virtual characters, virtual production, real-time VFX, volume and motion capture. Through The Mill, Boo heads up global teams engaged in development and delivery of the next generation of award-winning content, products, user experiences, and workflows for the most prominent brands and companies in the world.
Boo has been a pioneer and leader throughout the digital and technological evolution of advertising, film, and TV. Prior to joining The Mill, she served as Head of Computer Graphics at Curious Pictures before holding the position of Head of Production at Psyop. She is a frequent speaker and contributor to industry publications on the topics of innovation, creativity, technology, VR/AR/MR/XR and the future of media and marketing. Recent high-profile stories include “Game Engines Emerge as an Effective Tool to Keep Work Going” for Adweek and a thought-leadership piece in Quartz; “VR and AR will expand the limits of human perception”. Boo has also participated as a juror at leading industry festivals including Prix Ars Electronica, Siggraph, Brand Film Festival, AICP Next Awards and the Producers Guild of America’s inaugural Innovation Award.
Boo’s work has earned accolades from a variety of awards, including Cannes Lions, The Webby Awards, The Emmy Awards and the Advanced Imaging Society’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2019. She was most recently invited to join the prestigious Forbes Technology Council; publishing thought-provoking content, and driving community through networking with members and curating compelling events.
Navigating the Changing Landscape of Virtual Production
Monday, August 4, 2020
Panelists include Business Development Manager for The Third Floor Lara Cawsey, award-winning Director Mark Osborne, Epic Games Business Development Manager Miles Perkins, President & CEO of Aaron Sims Creative Aaron Sims, Director of Emerging Technology at The Mill Boo Wong with moderation by Netflix Director of Virtual Production Girish Balakrishnan.
Lara Cawsey
Lara Cawsey, Business Development Manager The Third Floor
Lara’s passion for emerging technology and practical experience on set has given her a unique advantage point towards the horizon of new technology. Lara’s tactical solutions and application of virtual production, mixed reality, and AI have created value for the TTF partners. Her advocacy for this technology has created a demand for her on the speaker service including NAB Show, RealTime Conference, and SXSW.
Cawsey has been working in the film and television industry for ten years. While working on Hollywood blockbusters including Gemini Man and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, her experience has spanned from development to production roles all around the globe. As the forefront of New Business, she continues to strategically align technology and storytellers to help facilitate THE THIRD FLOOR’s support of film, television, and emerging immersive spaces.
Mark Osborne
Mark Osborne
Mark Osborne is a a two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of the Chevalier of l’Order des Arts et Letters for his cultural work on behalf of the country of France. He most recently directed and the first-ever animated feature film adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved classic, THE LITTLE PRINCE. Mixing stop-motion animation and CGI, the film features an impressive cast of voice talents led by Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, and Mackenzie Foy. Premiering Out of Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, THE LITTLE PRINCE grossed over $100 million dollars at the global box office and garnered remarkable worldwide acclaim, capped by the 2016 French Cesar Film Award for Best Animated Feature, a Children’s BAFTA Award for Best Feature Film of 2016 and an impressive “Rotten Tomatoes” rating of 94%.
Osborne’s breakout was DreamWorks’ critically acclaimed animated blockbuster, KUNG FU PANDA, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Osborne’s other credits include the stop-motion animation short film, MORE, which received an Academy Award-nomination for Best Animated Short Film in 1999, a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and dozens of others distinctions. Osborne has also worked in live-action, directing sequences for the first SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE, as well as live-action sequences in the first three seasons of the popular TV series.
Mark graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a degree in Experimental Animation, previous to that he attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY where he met his wife Kimb who incidentally gave him his first ever copy of THE LITTLE PRINCE back when they were just dating. They now have two children, Maddie, who inspired the main character of his adaptation, and Riley, who voiced the titular character in the movie at age 11.
Mark is currently living just outside NYC, working on two animated feature film projects for Netflix Original Animation.
Miles Perkins
Miles Perkins, Business Development, Unreal Film & Television Team Epic Games
Miles Perkins brings a wealth of experience from an extensive background in visualization technologies for media and entertainment, spanning visual effects for film and television, XR, and interactive media.
At Epic Games Miles is a member of the Unreal enterprise business development team, responsible for helping bring cutting edge real-time workflows into the film and television industry. Before joining Epic Games Miles served as VP of marketing at Jaunt Inc., one of the earliest XR startups in the industry.
Prior to that Miles was a 23-year veteran of Lucasfilm where as head of corporate communications he was responsible for the development and implementation of marketing communications and public relations across all Lucasfilm companies globally, including Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and LucasArts.
While at Lucasfilm Miles also ran marketing communications for Industrial Light & Magic, one of the film industry’s premiere visual effects companies. During his tenure, he was central in developing and managing the ILM brand through a deep knowledge of the creative and post-production process. At ILM he worked on a wide range of projects including the STAR WARS prequels, the JURASSIC PARK series, the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series, IRON MAN and IRON MAN 2 and is credited on films such as SUPER 8, RANGO, STAR TREK, TRANSFORMERS and TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, and INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL.
Aaron Sims
Aaron Sims
Aaron Sims began his legendary career over three decades ago as a special effects artist working under industry giants Rick Baker and Stan Winston (EVIL DEAD, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, MEN IN BLACK, A.I., WAR OF THE WORLDS). As a critical voice in the making of some of the most memorable and iconic movie creatures of all time, his techniques in the world of visual effects helped influence the face of character and concept design for film and television early on in their application. From the early days of prosthetics and simple puppets in the 80’s, through the animatronics and emerging CG of the 90’s, to the latest advancements in VR and real-time VFX, Sims remains at the forefront of artistic and technical innovation. In 2005, Aaron Sims Creative was formed with the sole purpose of bringing together the world’s most talented concept and visual effects artists to create and realize unforgettable characters, creatures and environments for all platforms of visual entertainment (STRANGER THINGS, THE PLANET OF THE APES trilogy, WONDER WOMAN). Aaron’s unparalleled skill and dedication to creating consistently stunning content has made ASC the premiere boutique studio for creature and franchise design & development.
Most recently, ASC has launched its own slate of exciting IP projects and begun pre-production on an original feature film, DIVE. The first in a series of survival horror movies, Dive will showcase how ASC has fully integrated Unreal Engine into its live action production pipeline while pushing the boundaries of cinematic photo-realism, real-time creature VFX, and water simulation. The entire film will be pre-visualized in Unreal prior to production and will utilize those assets throughout real-time virtual production to final VFX. ASC is also utilizing real-time workflows for its animation pipeline to create their first real-time animated project, TANK, based on their upcoming narrative art book arriving February 2021 from 3D Total Publishing.
Aaron recognizes the power and efficiency of real-time workflows and considers Unreal Engine to be the ultimate tool for the modern storyteller and the next great leap in creative technology.
Boo Wong
Boo Wong, Group Director, Emerging Technology The Mill
As Global Director of Emerging Technology, Boo Wong leads transformation, strategy and advancement for new business initiatives through creative technology for The Mill, the largest commercial production, post and technology studio serving the advertising industry today. She prides herself on identifying trends and translating market needs into solutions and company-wide technology initiatives, including the development of new pipelines for AR, VR, game engine development, virtual characters, virtual production, real-time VFX, volume and motion capture. Through The Mill, Boo heads up global teams engaged in development and delivery of the next generation of award-winning content, products, user experiences, and workflows for the most prominent brands and companies in the world.
Boo has been a pioneer and leader throughout the digital and technological evolution of advertising, film, and TV. Prior to joining The Mill, she served as Head of Computer Graphics at Curious Pictures before holding the position of Head of Production at Psyop. She is a frequent speaker and contributor to industry publications on the topics of innovation, creativity, technology, VR/AR/MR/XR and the future of media and marketing. Recent high-profile stories include “Game Engines Emerge as an Effective Tool to Keep Work Going” for Adweek and a thought-leadership piece in Quartz; “VR and AR will expand the limits of human perception”. Boo has also participated as a juror at leading industry festivals including Prix Ars Electronica, Siggraph, Brand Film Festival, AICP Next Awards and the Producers Guild of America’s inaugural Innovation Award.
Boo’s work has earned accolades from a variety of awards, including Cannes Lions, The Webby Awards, The Emmy Awards and the Advanced Imaging Society’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2019. She was most recently invited to join the prestigious Forbes Technology Council; publishing thought-provoking content, and driving community through networking with members and curating compelling events.
Girish Balakrishnan
Girish Balakrishnan
Girish Balakrishnan is Director of Virtual Production at Netflix. In this role, he supports Netflix filmmakers and creators to enhance their storytelling through the use of new production technologies such as gameplay and virtual reality. He also oversees the company’s Virtual Production R&D initiative, NLAB. Throughout his career, Girish has sat at the intersection of real-time graphics and virtual cinematography at companies such as MPC, Digital Domain, and Side Effects Software working on the R&D of innovative visualization paradigms for filmmakers. Most recently, his involvement in productions such as Disney’s THE LION KING and Steven Spielberg’s READY PLAYER ONE helped engage directors, production designers, and DPs through the use of game engine technologies and virtual/augmented reality.
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