Thursday, April 30th, 2015

Special Production in VR and AR

Organized by David Marlett, author, VR filmmaker, CINEMERSIA

11:00 AM – Noon

VR Cinema Workshop:  Writing and Directing

Joyce Slate, Artist, Director of Operations, CINEMERSIA, Moderator

Chanel Summers, Co-Founder, Syndicate 17 and Professor, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media & Games Division

David Marlett, author, VR filmmaker, CINEMERSIA

Rodrigo Cerqueira, VR director, CEO, panoGrama (Brazil)

Kara Fry, actress, VR Film: MansLaughter

development, and strategic consultation and leadership. David is a best-selling novelist, with his historical novel Fortunate Son reaching #2 in all of Amazon’s historical fiction, and #3 in all of their literature and fiction in 2014. In addition, he is a prolific photo-artist, with his award winning work having sold in galleries across the country. David recently wrapped principal photography on the world’s first live-action, feature, VR film, MansLaughter, scheduled for a August 15, 2015 release. Meanwhile he is in preproduction on this VR film and stage play, Blue Highway, which he is producing under the CINEMERSIA banner with the Emmy award winning Richard Middleton (The Artist, Hitchcock, I Love You Phillip Morris).

Joyce Slate, Artist, Director of Operations, CINEMERSIA: Joyce brings 15 years of theater and film work, including on and off stage, to CINEMERSIA where she is the Director of Operations.  She has acted on a number of professional stages and appeared in numerous commercials.  In addition, she has over ten years experience in the film industry, having worked in a number of films, including Fargo, and served in a variety of production positions, including editor, set decorator, and casting coordinator. In addition, Joyce is a highly sought-after and award winning designer of exclusive jewelry, having being compared to the work of David Yurman and Elsa Peretti.

Rodrigo Cerqueira, VR director, CEO, panoGrama (Brazil): As an experient interactive film director, focused specifically in panoramic/VR films and 3D Photos since 2010, Rodrigo Cerqueira has directed more than 100 films for brands such as Fifa/Embratur WorldCup’ 14, Globo, VW, Jeep, Honda, IBM, Vogue, Budlight and P&G. Cerqueira also directed/broadcast over 20 live events in Brazil, United States, Argentina and Bahamas for IDT/Sensation, Quilmes, VW and Bud Light, among others. Lately, Cerqueira’s passion for VR drove him to explore more narratives for storytelling (drama, fiction, documentaries and horror) and for 2015/16 he is involved with 5 VR Film production.

Kara Fry, Actress, VR Film: MansLaughter: Kara is an actress with a number of films and commercials to her credit including Run Fast and Missy Audrey.  Most recently she starred in the world’s first live-action, feature, VR film, MansLaughter, scheduled for a August 15, 2015 release.

Chanel Summers began her career as a pioneering designer and producer of video games, developing innovative products ranging from high-performance 3D vehicle simulations, to action/arcade platform games, to hardware peripherals while working at early industry-leading companies such as Mindscape, Velocity and Mattel Media. Recruited to Microsoft in the late '90s, Chanel was responsible for the release of that company's first multiplayer internet game, Fighter Ace, a precursor to the rise of online gaming. Chanel was subsequently selected as the company's first Audio Technical Evangelist, in which capacity she was responsible for launching innovative audio technologies such as DirectMusic (a revolutionary method of creating and delivering interactive music and sound design) and also dramatically increasing the use of Windows as a platform for audio creation. With the inception of Microsoft's Xbox game system in 2000, Chanel was tapped to help design and promote the audio capabilities of the new hardware and to create the industry's first support team for content creators: a team of graphic artists, sound designers, composers and game designers who would work with the development community, coaching game creators to take advantage of the capabilities presented by Xbox. As a result, Chanel became a widely recognized figure in leading industry organizations, as well as the published author of a number of articles and technical white papers After leaving Microsoft, Chanel co-founded Syndicate 17, an audio production house based in Seattle and Los Angeles that specializes in writing and producing original scores, cues, and sound effects for everything from films and television shows to video games and emergent technology. In addition, Chanel is also a highly sought-after professional drummer, recording with and performing frequently in a number of nationally touring bands, working alongside such bands as Missing Persons, The Dreaming, Smile Empty Soul, The Last Vegas, Endless Hallway, and Vast, and showcasing in festivals ranging from CMJ to SXSW. Chanel is a frequent lecturer at both music and technology industry events around the world, as well as at leading educational institutions, captivating audiences as diverse as TEDx, SXSW Interactive, the Game Developers’ Conference, Trinity College (Dublin), SESAC, the Irish Music Rights Organization, the Seattle Interactive Conference, the Develop Conference, Girls Make Games, The Centre for Digital Media (Vancouver, BC), Queen Mary University of London, Lancaster University (HighWire Doctoral Training Centre), and the Dublin Institute of Technology. Chanel sits on the advisory board for The Academy of Entertainment and Technology at Santa Monica College and the inaugural innovative audio conference A3E, and is a member of the 5D Institute, a cutting edge research organization exploring the future of narrative media through World Building. Chanel recently served as a consulting Chief Product Officer for a technology start-up based in Ireland and consults for a variety of innovative technology companies. Chanel developed and teaches a new course at the University of Southern California's Interactive Media & Games Division in the School of Cinematic Arts which focuses on the art and aesthetics of creating audio for video games and has worked with the USC faculty to create a dedicated minor in interactive audio for students looking to specialize in that area and Chanel also serves as Artist in Residence at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart where she has produced a blended/collaborative learning program incorporating American Literature and Sound Design.