The Digital Hollywood Experience

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Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019

2:45 PM – 3:30 PM - Immersive Hollywood: VR – AR - MR

Session I: Haas Conference Center, Room 172-173

The VR-AR-Immersive - Innovators & Disruptors - Entertainment, Technology & Brand Vision

Christina Heller, CEO, Metastage

Dane Smith, Vice President, THE THIRD FLOOR, INC.

Shelley Andagan,  Senior Creative Tech Producer, Activision

Aurelien Simon, Executive Producer of Emerging Technology, The Mill

Jesse Ignjatovic, co-founder, Den of Thieves

Kate McCallum, Producer, MESMERICA, Vortex Immersion Media

Moderator - John Canning, Executive Producer – New Media & Experiential, Digital Domain

 

Aurelien Simon is the Executive Producer of Emerging Technology at The Mill where he spearheads the production of the department’s award-winning experiential, interactive projects in Los Angeles. With a background in business strategy, entertainment and technology in the context of immersive media and beyond, Aurelien brings 10 years of experience to The Mill. His previous endeavors led him to UNIT9 as Head of VR where he delivered projects for social, gaming, VFX and experiential for the likes of Samsung, Google and Sony Pictures. He later joined Digital Catapult as Head of Immersive, developing strategies to support the acceleration of VR and AR in the UK. In his time at The

Mill, Aurelien has led high-profile projects including a first-of-its-kind mobile AR App for the release of ‘Welcome to Marwen’ with Universal Pictures and an immersive microsite for Netflix’s release of Academy Award Best Picture nominated ’Roma’. Aurelien’s expertise in blending technology and moving image make him a leader in the immersive storytelling space. His work has been recognized with over 50 industry awards and accolades.

 

Christina Heller is the CEO of Metastage, a new volumetric capture studio in LA. With more than 15 years in content creation and distribution, Christina Heller has deep experience in handling cutting edge media technology. Prior to leading Metastage, Heller was the Co-Founder and CEO of VR Playhouse, an immersive production company based out of Los Angeles. During her tenure, she oversaw 60 projects with major brands, agencies, and technology players, with work showcased at Sundance, SXSW, and Cannes. She works as an advisor with VR Base, an incubator space in Amsterdam and Berlin that specializes in assisting VR and AR startups, and was called one of the 5 women changing the virtual reality scene by Craig Newmark. She is passionate about introducing new people to world of immersive technology and keeping good vibes at the places she leads.

 

Shelley Andagan,  Senior Creative Tech Producer, Activision: As Activision’s Senior Creative Tech Producer, Shelley Andagan facilitates project completion and pipeline efficiencies for the CTX Division while coordinating strategic project planning with their Senior Visual Director and Animation Director. The CTX Division within Central Tech is a crossdisciplinary group consisting of engineers, artists, & researchers who are uniquely positioned within Activision to harness the power of emerging technology and media to continuously provide captivating entertainment. Shelley collaborates with this multi-faceted, dynamic, visionary team to advance new technologies focused on developing problem-solving tools & techniques that improve content creation and the creative process for use within the Company as well as facilitating the sharing of their advancements with other studios. Shelley joined Activision fresh from her role as COO of 3DPaint/FX. Applying her unique combination of relentlessness, diligence, and bridging people to collaborate with a proactive approach gave Shelley the tools she needed to manage the completion of roughly 30 Virtual Reality projects while at the company. Her latest accomplishment was Executive Producing the award-winning interactive, immersive documentary installation, “Face to Face.” This project made its international debut at the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival where it was featured in the Alternate Realities Exhibition and won the division’s VR Award.

 

Jesse Ignjatovic, co-founder, Den of Thieves: Prior to Den of Thieves, Jesse Ignjatovic spent fourteen years at MTV developing innovative projects with musical talent, as well as long-form, music-based programming for the network. Ignjatovic co-created, developed and produced such memorable MTV programming as Meet the Barkers, Diary, mtvICON, Dancelife with Jennifer Lopez, and Life & Rhymes Of -which featured profiles of artists including Nas, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, Ludacris and Snoop Dogg. Additionally, Jesse co-created and executive produced the 2004 Grammy award winning “MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups – Jay-Z/Linkin Park”.

 

Dane Smith, Vice President, THE THIRD FLOOR, INC.: Dane Smith brings more than a decade of experience as a producer and innovator in visual effects and digital entertainment production to his role leading global business development and strategy at THE THIRD FLOOR.  Across his career, Dane has managed the delivery of over 100 studio and independent projects ranging from live-action and animated features to television series and emerging media platforms, including the motion pictures:  Deadpool, Warcraft, San Andreas, Star Trek Beyond, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Amazing Spiderman and Looper. In television, he has worked on top episodic shows such as Star Trek: Enterprise, The Man in the High Castle and Game of Thrones. Dane was visual effects producer on the acclaimed stop-motion animated feature Anomalisa, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Golden Globe and Annie Award nominations, in 2016.  Dane has also contributed to the evolution of 3D stereoscopic production and conversion with projects like Deepsea Challenge for James Cameron, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2 and Titanic. In 2015, he expanded his interests to virtual reality, producing VR-presented episodes of Stan Lee and Kapow Entertainment’s Cosmic Crusaders VR, and winning a 2017 Telly award in the process. In his spare time, he educates and inspires the next generation of digital Artists as a faculty member at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects and is an active member of BAFTA, VES and the Producers Guild of America.

 

Kate McCallum brings diverse professional experience to her roles as a producer, writer and transmedia consultant.  She spent 10 years at Universal Studios in television and feature production apprenticing with some of the top content creators in the business in development and production on series such as; “Equalizer,” “Miami Vice,” “Law & Order” and the sitcoms “Charles In Charge” and “Gimme A Break.”  Kate produced the NBC TV MOW “What Kind of Mother Are You?” then for 8 years served as VP of Creative Development at Western Sandblast Productions under their deal at Paramount Television where she developed, pitched and sold long-form movies to Showtime and UPN and optioned series concepts. In 2005 she founded Bridge Arts Media LLC through which she’s created several IP properties including The Art of Sound, a label specializing in 360 immersive fulldome/VR arts+music experiences.  Kate worked with Simplynew Productions on “VidBlogger Nation,” a Social Media TV Channel for Comcast On Demand, overseeing production of 240 episodes, website design and social media and her consulting clients have included; Vortex Immersion Media, ReelFX, 3D.com, Orb Media Group and currently, Createasphere, where she served as Chair, co-created and programmed the “TransVergence Summit,” a transmedia/cross platform conference, programmed and co-produced a DAM:  Digital Asset Management conference and DAM 101 Workshop and two Post Production Master Classes in NYC and LA.  In the role of Managing Editor, Kate was also responsible for developing, curating and co-launching an editorial site for Createasphere called The Transmedia Coalition www.transmediacoalition.com. As a journalist and staff writer Kate created and wrote a column for scr(i)pt magazine called “The Great Idea” interviewing writers on their process from content to screen.  She’s written white papers on transmedia storytelling, contributed to a recent article written by Chris Thomes addressing transmedia in the PGA magazing, “Produced By” and also contributed a chapter on Arts, Entertainment and Media 2020 for the STATE OF THE FUTURE 2011 report published by The Millennium Project.  Kate currently serves as the Managing Editor for the quarterly trade magazine published by the SOC:  Society of Camera Operators, Camera Operator. Kate is currently consulting with Vortex Immersion Media in the development and production of 360 fulldome immersive and interactive content and contributed to the launch of their immersive innovation lab and an AIR: Artist-In-Residence program in The Vortex Dome CineTheater venue. She’s been developing and has produced several media properties including; Migrations, an immersive arts+music concert, Deep, Deeper and Deepest art+music concert series with musician Steve Roach, Melting Rainbows arts+music performance art piece with artist Aaron Axelrod, and Robot Prayers, an interactive storyworld addressing ethics in AI with Audri Phillips to name a few. Kate served two 3-year terms as a Board Delegate on the PGA New Media Council from 2013-2019 and on the PGA National Board from 2016-2019 where she has been active in Education and has produced several events for the PGA.  She also collaborated with members to institute a new initiative called the PGA Social Impact Entertainment Task Force.  Kate’s a member of the Television Academy Television Executive Peer Group and the Interactive Group, and she also holds memberships in the WFS: World Futures Studies Federation, Chairs the Global Arts and Media Node of The Millennium Project, a Global Futurist Think Tank and is a Sr. Fellow of SNCR:  Society for New Communications Research.  She holds a BA in Communications from Western Michigan University and an MA in Consciousness Studies from the University of Philosophical Research. Kate speaks internationally on the topic of future trends in media and transmedia/cross-platform storytelling.  She’s presented talks or masterclasses at events such as; The Asian Children’s Content Conference in Singapore, Singapore’s MediaCorp, XMediaLab in Perth Australia, The Hong Kong Design Institute, the CICSEP Conference in Shenzhen, China, TIE in Mumbai, India, Inventure$ in Calgary, Canada, and has also designed and presented Transmedia Seminars for the PGA and the TV Academy.  Kate was honored as an Alumni Academy Inductee and she received Alumni Achievement Award from her alma mater, Western Michigan University and was also invited to deliver a talk through WMU’s Communication Department’s “Distinguished Speaker Series” on “Transmedia, Transformation and the Future of Content.”  Kate was invited to speak at “Transforming Hollywood 6,” an annual USC/UCLA event addressing trends in media and entertainment, and recently she moderating a panel for #AIShowbiz.

 

John Canning, is the Executive Producer – New Media & Experiential at Digital Domain. While their name might not be commonly known, you definitely know Digital Domain’s work - they create visual effects for feature films, including the recent Avengers Infinity War movie. They also create visuals for advertising, games, training, and immersive content, including their own original content. Prior to Digital Domain, John was the VP of Interactive Experiences for NBCUniversal, creating VR and other digital experiences for The Voice, Million Second Quiz, The Blacklist, and others. In the past, he’s also spent several years at both Microsoft and Disney. On the side, he’s the Chairman of the New Media Council at the Producers Guild of America. He’s also an independent producer, cinematographer, and photographer for good causes.