VR Workshops

Running time: 45 mins

Empower yourself via the following VR workshops on these leading-edge topics during Cinequest VR, March 7-10. Location: 320 South First Street, San Jose, CA. Effective Storytelling In VR - Thursday, March 7th from 2:00pm to 2:45pm Compelling storytelling is required for all medium and VR is no exception. Find out how to engage viewers more intensely and make them participate in a VR experience instead of being passive viewers. Discuss how constantly evolving technology allows creators to push the edges of storytelling. Presenter - Nathalie Mathe, Founder of NativeVR Nathalie Mathe is an award-winning Virtual Reality creator and animation and documentary shorts director. She founded NativeVR, a studio crafting unique VR experiences that foster diversity. Over the past four years she contributed to dozens of VR projects for Google, Facebook, Jaunt, World Vision, etc. For twelve years, she was one of the few women creating visual effects on feature films like Fast & Furious 6, Skyfall and Dark Knight Rises. VR Animation and Storytelling - Friday, March 8th from 2:00pm to 2:45pm Animation has provided the world with many of the most impactful and popular movies over the past 25 years. VR Animation brings many new opportunities to artists and audiences, and it brings with it new challenges to the already complex yet exciting world of animated stories. Perhaps animation is the most suited format to optimize VR's immersive world. Nobody is more qualified than Eric Darnell and Larry Cutler to bring you up to speed and inspire you into the future. Presenters - Eric Darnell, Chief Creative Officer at Baobab Studios & Larry Cutler, Chief Technical Officer at Baobab Studios Eric Darnell (Director of all 4 Madagascar films): Eric's career spans 25 years as a computer animation director, screenwriter, story artist, film director and executive producer. Previously, Eric directed DreamWorks Animation's very first animated feature film, Antz, which features the voices of Woody Allen, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Sharon Stone. Larry Cutler brings deep technical leadership over the past 20 years in the area of animation creation and development. Larry currently serves on the Digital Imaging Technology Subcommittee for the Oscar Technical Achievement Awards. Larry spent 10 years at DreamWorks Animation holding leadership positions in the areas of character development, animation workflow, rigging, and character simulation. Larry began his career at Pixar Animation Studios as a Technical Director on the films Monster's Inc., Toy Story 2, and A Bug's Life. Successful VR Creative Models - Saturday, March 9th from 2:00pm to 2:45pm As an artist or producer, how do you seize the opportunities VR affords? Find out what makes successful VR applications. Discuss the uniqueness of modern VR with LBE (Location Based Experiences) and tetherless 6DOF (six degrees of freedom) and how that opens up huge new markets. Presenter - Frederic Lecompte, Co-Founder of Backlight First self-financed piece Birdy King Land was born by Backlight, meeting a huge success wolrdwide that comforted Backlight specializing in VR. Since then they have designed and produced more than 50 VR experiences, from passive rides on dynamic devices to interactive experiences, from 4D immersive set up with haptic feedbacks to mobile apps and 360 video. Amongst VR pioneers and leaders in France, they are strongly developing on VR brand content (advertising, training, real estate) & Entertainment (LBE, Theme parks). As passive witnesses of the rise of industries such as Video Games, CG Animation or Internet, Backlight are now determined to be part of this fascinating adventure that is Virtual Reality! AR's Bright Future - Sunday, March 10th from 2:00pm to 2:45pm From one of the worlds' foremost experts, take a look at where AR is today. What's worked and what hasn't. And then look into the thrilling future. In a future where wearables explode digitized information over everyday objects, creatives can use AR platforms to create art digitally anywhere which can be played back in a fixed spatial location. How can immersive film and game industries take advantage of these platforms and prepare for developing successful content now? Presenter - Tipatat Chennavasin, Co-Founder and General Partner of The Venture Reality Fund Tipatat is a VR/AR industry spokesperson and thought leader, advising and mentoring companies, incubators, and accelerators around the world. He works to advance the future of broadcasting, enabling dynamic content delivery that enhances user experience. Tipatat regularly contributes to publications and industry events, and serves as an advisor to Tokyo VR Startups.