‘Zootopia’ Director Byron Howard Among Keynote Speakers At VIEW Conference

One of the industry’s most unique digital art events, Italy’s VIEW Conference, has announced the line-up for its 17th edition, which will take place between October 24-28 in Turin, Italy.

The event has managed to once again attract a remarkable variety of high-profile guests from a diverse cross-section of creative talent working in feature animation, visual effects, virtual reality, and digital design.

Three people have been announced as the conference’s keynote speakers:

• Byron Howard – Co-Director of Walt Disney Animation Studio’s Zootopia, Howard will discuss the film’s five-plus year evolution.
• Dr. Donald Greenberg – Director of the Program of Computer Graphics at Cornell University, with research supported by Pixar, DreamWorks, Microsoft, Intel, Oculus, Valve, and Autodesk, and with government funding, Greenberg will address the question of what’s necessary to make vr real.
• Brad Lewis – Producer of Warner Animation Groups’ second animated feature, Storks, will discuss creation of the new film.

In addition to the keynote speakers, the conference offers five days of talks and workshops from industry leaders in the digital arts. Conference director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez says this year’s line-up “the largest and most diverse panel of industry leaders in the history of our show.” Among the talks and workshops that have been confirmed so far:

• TALK: The Visual Design of The Good Dinosaur – Sharon Calahan – director of photography, The Good Dinosaur, Pixar Animation Studios
• WORKSHOP: ‘Storytelling with Light’ – Sharon Calahan
• TALK: Kubo and The Two Strings – Marc Haimes – screenplay writer, Kubo and The Two Strings, Laika
• TALK: ‘Finding Hank’ – John Halstead – supervising technical director, Finding Dory, Pixar Animation Studios
• TALK: Virtual Reality – Jump Into The Story – Maureen Fan – CEO/co-founder Baobab Studios
• TALK: Google Spotlight Stories – Rain or Shine – Luke Youngman, executive producer/deputy head of production and Felix Massie, director, Nexus Productions
• TALK: The Making Of Open Season: Scared Silly – David Feiss, director, Open Season: Scared Silly, Sony Pictures Animation
• WORKSHOP: The Fundamentals of Storyboarding– David Feiss
• TALK: The Power of Ambition as a Motivating Force in Creative Endeavors – Josh Holmes, franchise creative director – 343 Industries
• TALK: Neuroscience and Video Games: A New Class of Medicine – Adam Gazzaley, co-founder, Chief Science Advisor, Akili Interactive and Matt Omernick, co-founder, chief creative officer, Akili Interactive
• TALK: The Emotions of Game Development – Daryl Anselmo – art and creative director, Zynga
• TALK: ADR1FT and at Peace – Adam Orth – CEO, creative director, Three One Zero
• TALK: Alice Through the Looking Glass – Troy Saliba – animation supervisor, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Sony Pictures Imageworks
• WORKSHOP: Animation Posing and Composition – Troy Saliba
• TALK: New Directions for Stylized CG – Chris Perry – associate professor of media arts and sciences, Hampshire College
• WORKSHOP: Directing the Visual Story- Chris Perry
• WORKSHOP: Portfolio review with J.C. Cornwell – J.C. Cornwell – director of training and artist development, Sony Pictures Imageworks
• WORKSHOP: 3D Animation Taster – Alex Williams – head of animation, Escape Studios

For more information on attending VIEW, visit viewconference.it.