Celebrating its 25th anniversary this October, View Conference is back in the stunning baroque city of Turin, Italy, bringing with it a spectacular line-up of award-winning speakers in the fields of animation, VFX, games, filmmaking and AI, assembled from around the globe.
This week-long event curates a live program of keynotes, talks, panels, in-depth workshops and masterclasses that are guaranteed to inspire, inform and educate everyone who attends. An English-speaking event, this year’s conference takes place 14-19 October at the futuristic OGR venue in Turin, plus other venues around the city. It brings together industry professionals, thought leaders, creative and technical innovators, students and enthusiasts. Tickets for the conference are now available from the official website.
“I am incredibly proud of the program we have created for View Conference 2024,” says conference director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “We are honoured to have so many talented individuals attending our 25th anniversary event, to share their wisdom and experience with passion and style. Above all, View Conference is about people, and I cannot wait to receive everyone into our warm, inclusive atmosphere. Welcome to Italy, everyone – let’s take the roof off and celebrate in style!”
Explore the 2024 conference program here
Award-winning directors
The 2024 program boasts keynote speakers like Oscar-nominated writer, producer and director Jonathan Nolan who is currently executive producing Amazon MGM Studios and Kilter Films’ Emmy Award-nominated Fallout, and Fede Alvarez, director, co-writer and executive producer of the sci-fi/horror-thriller Alien: Romulus.
Joining them are the directors behind some of this year’s biggest animated features. Kelsey Mann, director of Pixar and Disney’s Inside Out 2, delivers a presentation on the making of the movie in which newly minted teenager Riley has to deal with an unexpected new set of emotions. Oscar-nominated director Chris Sanders talks about The Wild Robot, the upcoming feature from DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures, based on the best-selling novel by Peter Brown. Also speaking at the event are Emmy Award-winner Shannon Tindle who has directed Netflix’s acclaimed animated feature Ultraman: Rising; and Josh Cooley, director of Paramount Animation’s Transformers One.
The conference will present three exclusive premiere events:
- Amy Smeed, VES Award-nominated head of animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios will present a unique look inside Disney Animation’s next theatrical feature Moana 2, which reunites Moana and Maui for an expansive new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. During this special presentation, the audience will have the chance to enjoy one quarter of the entire film, over a month before it hits movie theaters on 29 November, 2024.
- Simon Otto, director of Netflix’s and Locksmith Animation’s That Christmas, will premiere footage from the upcoming seasonal feature based on the trilogy of books by Richard Curtis, about family and friends, love and loneliness, Santa Claus making a big mistake – and an enormous number of turkeys!
- Aardman Animations supervising animator and stop-motion lead Will Becher will present a first look at the company’s latest stop-motion animated feature Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, in which the beloved duo face a vengeful figure from the past.
Spectacular VFX, animation and production design
The conference has also curated a program of sessions on VFX, animation and production design. Award-winning VFX supervisors are in attendance to deliver eye-popping presentations on the latest blockbuster movies and streaming series. This year’s speakers include Paul Lambert, overall VFX supervisor on Dune: Part Two, Denis Villeneuve’s acclaimed sci-fi sequel from Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment, and Jay Worth, overall VFX supervisor on Amazon MGM Studios and Kilter Films’ Fallout.
The art and science of visual effects will further come under the microscope with deep dives by the VFX supervisors of this year’s most memorable shows. Swen Gillberg will discuss his work on the irreverent superhero hit Deadpool and Wolverine; Stefen Fangmeier explores the intricate worlds of 3 Body Problem; Florian Witzel whips up a storm with his presentation on Twisters; and Jason Greenblum talks about the spine-chilling effects of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
Also attending the conference are the creative teams behind some of the year’s biggest productions. Speakers include: Raymond Zibach and Jeff Budsberg, production designer and VFX supervisor of The Wild Robot; Rob Coleman, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) creative director and animation supervisor of Transformers One; and Hayden Jones, ILM’s VFX supervisor of Ultraman: Rising. Meanwhile, sci-fi fans will not want to miss “Animating Star Wars” with Hal Hickel, senior animation supervisor at ILM.
Additionally, Hollywood monster maestro Alec Gillis talks about his role as creature FX designer on “Alien: Romulus.” In a separate presentation, Gillis reflects on his extraordinary decades-long career with his talk “Practical Character Effects & Why They Still Matter: Alien: Romulus, Starship Troopers, Death Becomes Her.”
Visionary thinkers and provocative panels
The event will also welcome a host of visionary thinkers and industry leaders. Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, will be live on stage to receive this year’s View Visionary Award, presented for outstanding contribution to the visual arts. Previous recipients include Oscar-winning cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins, pioneering visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, animated feature director Nora Twomey and Pixar designer/director Ralph Eggleston.
This year’s conference features a dedicated strand exploring the impact of AI on the creative arts. Nvidia media & entertainment VP/GM Richard Kerris will delivers an illuminating talk on “How AI Has Already Become a Valuable Tool Throughout Production”; Martin Nebelong, freelance artist and VR pioneer will lead an inspiring workshop called “Human Creativity in an Age of Generative AI;” Jake Maymudes, founder and CEO of Wylie Co. VFX will give a talk entitled “Cinema’s Technology Revolution: How Wylie Co. VFX Adopted Machine Learning to Empower Artists on Blockbusters.”
Creativity will come under the microscope in the discussion “The New Age of Creativity and Technology Convergence,” with panelists including Wacom branded business group and creative business executive vice president Faik Karaoglu, and Rob Hoffmann, manager of worldwide media and entertainment for Lenovo. Heidi Wang, senior VP, Wacom Ink Division, B2B EMEA will deliver a talk entitled “Elevating Creativity: How Wacom’s Commitment to Innovation Supports Creative Professionals.” The conference’s program of thought leader panels includes “WIA – Women in Animation” and “Young Voices in View,” showcasing international and Italian students discussing the future of storytelling and climate change.
Inspirational speakers at the conference include: Rob Bredow, SVP/CCO at Industrial Light & Magic; Rochele Gloor, assistant director for Innovation Technologies MFA Computer Arts, School of Visual Arts; Heidi Wang, senior VP, Wacom Ink Division, B2B EMEA; and Amie Loyd and Michel Bellini from the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning in Illinois, who will present a talk entitled “Enhancing Instructor Development in Higher Ed: Power of Storytelling, Immersive Tech, and AI.”
In-depth creative workshops
View Conference 2024 boasts an outstanding program of in-depth workshops and masterclasses. Josh Cooley, director of Transformers One, delivers a personal workshop entitled “Make Me Care About Story!” Meanwhile, AI comes under scrutiny with workshops including: “AI Tools for Film Production” with VFX supervisor Andreas Maaninka.
Other workshops include: “Unleash Your Creative Potential: A Workshop for Pixar’s RenderMan Art Challenge” with artist and designer Dylan Sisson; “Visual Storytelling” with artist and production designer Pascal Campion; “Creating Three Dimensional Paper Sculpture for Film, Television, and Amusement Parks” with Walt Disney Imagineering’s Megan Brain; a hands-on “Mixed Media” workshop with artist and quilter Liberty Worth; “Storyboarding: Draw Yourself into the Movies!” with Michael Coldewey, professor of concept art, drawing & design, Media Design University of Applied Sciences in Munich; and “Dynamic Anatomy & Figure Drawing” with artist and designer Scott Eaton.
Fantasy artist Jesper Ejsing will lead an inspirational workshop “Paint & Draw with Jesper: Believable Fantasy.” NFBC’s Eloi Champagne’s workshop “Make Your Own Unique Creative Tools & Workflows Using ComfyUI & Other AI-Enabled Tools” will explore practical AI tools and workflows for indie creators and small animation or gaming studios. Oleg Fryzanov, associate professor in The National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth University, will present “Unreal Introduction into the World of Real-Time Animation.” The in-depth workshop “Cinematography for Stylised Motion Pictures” will be led by Christos Obretenov of Lollipop Shaders, and Ernst Janssen Groesbeek of 9to3animation.
Animated short films
Every year, the event welcomes the directors of some of the latest groundbreaking animated short films. This year is no exception. Taking to the stage are: Joseph Wallace, director of award-winning stop-motion animated films including Salvation Has No Name; Amanda Strong, director of Inkwo For When the Starving Return; Laura Goncalves, co-director of Percebes; Diego Alonso Sanchez de la Barquera and Christian Arredondo Narvaez, co-directors of Nube; Eloi Champagne, head of technical direction and production technology, National Film Board of Canada, will present Maybe Elephants and Loïc Espuche, director of Yuck!.
Games
Award-winning creatives and leaders from some of the world’s biggest games companies will be attending the event. They include Nicolas Doucet, founder and president at Team Asobi, with his insightful presentation: “Play Will Find a Way: The Making of Astro Bot.” Also sharing his professional insights with the audience will be Jan-Bart van Beek, studio director, and studio art and animation director, from Guerrilla Games. Supercell art director and team lead John ‘Cip’ Cipriani will deliver “Small Teams, Big Dreams – The Impact of Supercell Art,” a powerhouse talk exploring the impact of art for huge global IPs.
Nurturing talent in business
the conference will provide boundless opportunities for students and junior creatives to meet their heroes and mentors, as it brings young talent face-to-face with top-level professionals who are committed to nurturing the next generation.
Sessions will include portfolio reviews, mock interviews, and a number of presentations focused on educational topics, such as “A Comprehensive Approach to Virtual Production in Higher Education” with Tim McLaughlin, dean at the School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts, Texas A&M University. Terrence Masson, MFA computer arts chair, School of Visual Arts (SVA), will moderate a special panel entitled “Inspiring the Next Generation – AI and Innovation Technologies in Education.” Rob Bredow will host industry luminaries Shannon Tindle, Amy Smeed, Jay Worth and Megan Brain for an eye-opening panel in which they share rarely-seen footage from their careers.
In a strand dedicated entirely to business, the event will present “Let’s Talk Business,” a panel exclusively made up from company CEOs and co-founders, and a special panel on “International Co-Production” with Delphine Coudray, head of operations at Animation Ireland, Deirdre Barry, program director at The National Talent Academy for Animation, and Sarah Maizes, executive producer at Cheeky Squirrel Productions.
“VIEW Conference 2024 is only a few weeks away,” added Gutierrez. “I want to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful conference partners and sponsors for their support. Without their important contributions, we wouldn’t be able to deliver View Conference. I also want to give heartfelt thanks to all our speakers for attending, and for making our 25th anniversary conference truly special. In the words of Maui in Moana: ‘You’re welcome!’”
View Conference is made possible with support from Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT, Regione Piemonte, Camera di Commercio di Torino, Lenovo | Nvidia, Supercell, Accenture, Netflix, ILM, Wacom, School of Visual Arts, Iren and Alps Studios.