The Digital Hollywood Experience

The Digital Hollywood Experience

CHUCK PEIL, HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS, Reel FXAs a founding member of Reel FX, Peil has participated in the studios significant growth over the past 22 years which now employs 315 team members in their 75,000 square foot Dallas and 17,000 square foot Santa Monica studios. Reel FX is currently working a full roster of upcoming animated theatrical films: Scooby-Doo directed by Tony Cervone and produced by Charles Roven, Richard Suckle and Allison Abbate for Warner Animation Group (slated for a September 18, 2018 release); Wish Police directed by Headless (Adrian Garcia, Alfredo Torres, Victor Maldonado) and produced by Kirk Bodyfelt; as well as a multi-picture deal with director Jorge Gutierrez, including the Untitled Kung-Fu Space Western. Most recently Peil was attached as Executive Producer on The Book of Life, from Reel FX and 20th Century Fox, directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez and produced by Guillermo Del Toro and Brad Booker. The film has been nominated for: The Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, Visual Effects Society Awards, Producers Guild of America Awards, Imagen Awards, five Annie Awards and won Best Character Design for the Annie Awards. Peil is a respected leader and innovator in the entertainment space with over 50 projects to his credit in the theatrical, location based and VR space. Theatrical credits include: The Book of Life - 20th Century Fox/Reel FX, Free Birds – Relativity Media/Reel FX, Rise of the Guardians - DreamWorks Animation/Reel FX, Despicable Me Ride - Universal Studios/Illumination Studios, Ferrari Dark Ride - Abu Dhabi, The Simpsons Ride - Universal Studios, Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away  - James Cameron, Tales of the Black Freighter - The Watchmen/Warner Bros., Looney Tunes CG shorts - Warner Bros. Animation, Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas – Blue Sky/20th Century FOX, Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five – DreamWorks Animation. Reel FX Partial Virtual Reality/Immersive credits include: Hunger Games VR Experience - Lionsgate, Jaeger Pilot VR for Pacific Rim - Legendary Pictures, You vs. Sharapova - American Express,  It Can Wait Driving Simulation - AT&T, Porsche VR Experience – OMD, Performance Lab Activation VR - US Air Force, Shatter Reality App for Divergent Series: Insurgent - Lionsgate,  The Book of Life VR - DELL Inc./20th Century FOX, 'Twas the Flight Before Christmas Activation – JC Penney,  WWE Summer Slam VR Experience – Samsung, The Polyphonic Spree's 13th Annual Holiday Extravaganza VR Experience – Reel

Joseph Itaya is one of the pioneers in Live Action VR, a director/producer of history making VR experiences for the Annenberg Foundation, Mattel, Sony, Fox, XQ Super School, and the United Nations, among many others.  Joseph is an award-winning filmmaker, having produced over a hundred commercials, music videos, documentary and narrative films.  His work has appeared on broadcast television, in theatrical release, and film festivals around the world.  His latest feature film Lost & Found is being released by Sony Pictures and AMC Theaters in the fall of 2016.  Joseph has produced films for the Annenberg Foundation, Fox, Vision Workshops, Lipstick Angels, Cedars Sinai Hospital, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California, The Village Nation, Bentonville Film Festival, National Geographic, GOFARR Foundation, Hammer Museum, and the Geena Davis Institute. Joseph holds an MFA in film production from the University of Southern California. He is the Founder & CEO of Epicenter VR, which is available in the App Store.

Mike Nichols, VP, Creative Technology, Fuel: With more than 20 years of production, business, and leadership experience in the game industry, Mike currently serves as VP of Creative Technology at Fuel Youth in Seattle. Mike began his carrier in video games working as a designer and artist before co-founding Surreal Software in 1995. In 2004 Midway purchased Surreal after creating several successful franchises including the Drakan and The Suffering series, among others. Mike then moved to Microsoft as Executive Producer for Kinect, then served as VP/GM for SoftKinetic, where he focused to expand natural gesture technology and experiences to new platforms. He currently keep Fuel innovating new technologies for both game and business executions, and is a prolific thought-leader on the ways technology will shape the future of creativity and play.

Dave Curry, VP, Emerging Trends & Technology, POP (www.wearepop.com): Dave leads POP’s efforts to identify the trends and technologies that will make a future impact on client’s businesses. He leverages his vast experience as a creative technologist to curate vertical-specific collections of technology that are expected to shape – and occasionally disrupt – the industries in which POP’s clients compete. Throughout Dave’s 20-year tenure at POP, he has worked on hundreds of client engagements, including work for Nike, Starbucks, Nintendo, Target and Toyota. Dave’s writing has been published by Advertising Age, his thoughts heard over the airwaves of American Public Media, and his work has been recognized by Print Interactive Annual, Communication Arts, The Webby Awards, The FWA, and Graphis Design Annual. Dave also curates Required Reading, a semi-weekly round-up of findings from around the Internet and hosts Say Something Worth Stealing, a conversational podcast, where creative professionals share stories about their careers, life, and craft.

Cynthia Lieberman, Marketing and Media Strategist, Lieberman Communications: Equipped with an entrepreneurial spirit, Cynthia Lieberman is a marketing and media strategist who operates her own marketing and public relations consulting firm, Lieberman Communications. She is a leader in creative brand marketing, publicity and digital media strategies/integration for a long list of prestigious Fortune 500 companies and clients including Verizon, Google, and most major studios including Warner Bros., Sony, Fox, and Paramount as well as independent production companies, celebrities and non-profits. Her deep foundation of experience is fortified by a state-of-the-art graduate degree in the pioneering field of Media Psychology and Social Change, which focuses on the study of human behavior, how it is affected by the media and how to use it to motivate social change. Lieberman teaches Mass Communication Research/Social Media as an adjunct professor at CSUN and has received multiple Promax Medallion Awards in recognition of her creative marketing talents. She is also an advocate for global digital literacy and serves as a Board of Director for the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) and is a former board member of the Television Publicity Executive Committee (TPEC).

Thursday, October 20th, 2016

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – The VR - AR - Immersive Track

Session I: Ahmanson Hall, Live Webcast

Advertising, Live and Brands in VR-AR-360 Video – from Mobile & Immersive to Experiential

Lex Halaby, Director, Funny Or Die VR, Music Videos & Commercials

Chuck Peil, Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, Reel FX (VR for Lionsgate, JC Penny, AT&T, Samsung)

Mike Nichols, VP, Creative Technology, Fuel

Joseph Itaya, Founder & CEO, Epicenter VR

Dave Curry, VP, Emerging Trends & Technology, POP

Cynthia Lieberman, Media & Marketing Strategist, Lieberman Communications, Moderator

Lex Halaby, Director, Funny Or Die VR, Music Videos & Commericals: With over 10 years of experience in music videos, commercials, and short form content, director Lex Halaby creates evocative interactive experiences through a narrative lens. After pivoting into the interactive and VR space in 2012 his work has won worldwide acclaim at festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, and The Los Angeles Film Festival. Recent projects include an interactive music video for Microsoft, Funny or Die's first VR sketch comedy, a thirteen episode VR talk show, as well branded VR content for Budweiser, KCRW, Warner Brothers Pictures, and ABC Digital. You can see more of his work and follow his VR blog at www.lexhalaby.com