Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM - Immersive Hollywood: VR – AR - MR

Session I: Herscher Hall, 3rd Floor, Room 303-304

Exploring the Language and Artistry of VR-MR-AR in the Cinematic Experience

Celine Tricart, founder, Lucid Dreams Productions

Johannes Saam, Senior Creative Developer, Framestore

Andrew Shulkind, Director of Future Imaging and Content Innovation, M. Bonnieux, Inc.

Matthias Wittmann, VR Supervisor, Method EXP

Kalan Ray, Development Supervisor, Magnopus & co-founder, VKTRY Creative Studios

Cliff Spence, Head of Creative Technology, Whalerock Industries

Anna Marie Piersimoni, Instructor, Department of Cinema and Television Arts, California State University, Northridge, Moderator

Celine Tricart, founder, Lucid Dreams Productions: Celine Tricart is a director who has developed a unique and recognizable style with a strong visual sense due to her background as a director of photography. Her work was showcased in numerous Academy Awards qualifying festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Hotdocs, the Austin Film Festival, the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival and the Chicago Film Festival. Celine was the recipient of a Creative

Award by the Advanced Imaging Society amongst many other accolades. Celine Tricart is a world-renowned 3D and Virtual Reality expert. As such, she worked on cutting-edge films such as Michael Bay’s “Transformers” franchise.  She wrote two books published by Focal Press and available worldwide, “3D filmmaking” and “Virtual Reality Filmmaking”. In 2016, Celine founded Lucid Dreams Productions, a production company specializing in new technologies and the future of storytelling which was involved in numerous award-winning VR experiences. Celine produced and co-directed Maria Bello’s “Sun Ladies” VR experience about the women Yazidi fighting ISIS in Iraq which was selected in the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, HotDocs, Cannes and SXSW. For this, she had to travel through ISIS-held territory to meet the women soldiers at the border between Iraq and Syria and record their stories.

Matthias Wittmann has such a deep understanding of facial movement subtleties and human behavior we suspect he may actually be an AI himself. A recognized digital human pioneer, he worked in the film industry for 15 years as an animator and supervisor on groundbreaking digital humans for features including the VFX Academy-Award-winning “Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” as well as “I, Robot,” “Tron: Legacy,” and “Maleficent,” and was part of the team that created the appearance of ‘virtual Tupac’ at Coachella. He now specializes in developing interactive virtual humans for VR and AR working exclusively with real-time engines. Before joining Method EXP Matthias was a VR/VFX Supervisor at MPC, working on cutting edge VR experiences such as “Alien: Covenant – In Utero” and “Passengers – Awakening.” He has also held leadership creative and development roles at Digital Domain, IM360 and DAQRI.

Johannes Saam, Senior Creative Developer, Framestore: Senior Creative Developer Johannes Saam took an early interest in 3D, teaching himself key skills at a young age. He got his start self-taught then studied at ScanlineVFX in Munich, and after earning a Masters in Computer Animation from Bournemouth University, worked in Visual Effects for 12 years. He has worked on feature films including Legend of the Guardians, Mad Max 4, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Prometheus. Since joining Framestore, Johannes has worked on a wide variety of projects in emerging technology for high profile partners including Time Inc, BMW, CarFax, Facebook, and Dreamscape. Among his many achievements and honors, Johannes holds a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his development, prototyping, and promotion of technologies and workflows for deep compositing; six SIGGRAPH showcases; and three Animago Awards. Beyond his numerous awards, Johannes has spoken at a variety of events, most recently SXSW, Digital Hollywood, and GDC.

Kalan Ray is the Development Supervisor at Magnopus and co-founder of VKTRY Creative Studios: He is an animator, programmer, and designer whose work has contributed to the Emmy-Nominated interactive experience Mission:ISS, as well as Pixar’s Coco VR, Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab, Martin Scorsese's The Audition, and an upcoming global VR news platform. An expert in rapid prototyping and previsualization, Kalan has supervised and creatively contributed to development in feature films, television, commercials, music videos, theme park rides, video games, and VR experiences. His film credits include The Jungle Book, Fantastic4, Star Trek: Beyond, at many prestigious visual effects companies, including DreamWorks, Pixomondo, and Bad Robot. A California native, Kalan was born and raised in Barstow, and holds a degree in Linguistics from the University of California at Long Beach.

Andrew Shulkind, Director of Future Imaging and Content Innovation, M. Bonnieux, Inc.: Andrew Shulkind is one Hollywood’s leading voices on the future of entertainment. Building on an award-winning career as a cinematographer of films, television, and advertising, Andrew has a decade of work for the Superbowl and other projects under his belt garnering over 1 billion online views. He has co-founded three technology startups centered around immersive imaging, artificial intelligence, and the future of audience engagement. Andrew is a unique executive who understands both the value proposition of an IP-centric entertainment economy and the technical intricacies of what it takes to actually make a valuable piece of content. His pedigree for quality sets the bar for a sustainable future of premium experiences, merging only the best of what has worked before and trailblazing new systems for extraordinary efficiency. Andrew also serves as an innovation advisor for many of the leading technology corporations and content studios, speaking globally on how to mate creativity with products to connect to a connected audience.

Cliff Spence, Head of Creative Technology, Whalerock Industries: Cliff Spence is a creative technologist and product designer with a background in television production. Since 2013, he has grown creative technology and UX teams at Whalerock Industries in architecting the majority of the company's digital offerings and expanding their capabilities into connected devices, AR/VR, and studio technology. Previously, Cliff managed a full-service creative agency for over 10 years, building e-commerce and marketing solutions for Stanley, Ska Girl, L.A.M.B, Tommy Hilfiger, Shopify, and the National Archives. Cliff is an AIGA trustee and founding member of the InVision Design Leadership Forum.

Anna Marie Piersimoni specializes in the creation and marketing of media content across a broad range of digital platforms. She is currently instructor of the course, New Directions in Electronic (Digital) Media at California State University, Northridge. Previously, as Director of Internet Communications for the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, she managed institutional web sites and blogs, as well as e-news and online marketing campaigns. At AFI, she was a founding Director of AFI’s Digital Content Lab, an acclaimed R&D program for the production of interactive digital media and also managed development of the Institute’s K-12 Screen Education program. A former producer with Los Angeles public television station, KCET, she supervised web content development and social media for a companion website to the Emmy award-winning KCETLink program, “Your Turn to Care” and for a PBS series on America's food rebels, "Food Forward," winner of a James Beard media award. A regular speaker at industry events, such as Digital Hollywood, she began her career as a film and video artist and later, as a writer/producer of video content and on-air promotions, working for ABC Entertainment, E! Entertainment, and KCET Television, among others. She holds a BFA from the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford in Connecticut and is a candidate for a Master’s degree in Media Psychology through Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, CA.