Portfolio - July 2010 - Various Artists

Theater experiences are meant to entertain. But the annual SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival does so much more. It is the place where creativity and innovation meet technology and industry.

This year, that trends continues. “We are proud to present a unique mix of independent creations and works by prominent production houses and studios, a mix of personal visions, and mainstream computer animations and visual effects,” says Isaac Kerlow, festival director.

Of the approximately 750 submissions, 94 will be featured as either jury selections or invited works; in both instances, the pieces are pushing boundaries in terms of  originality, craft, storytelling, experimentation, and technology. Student works are also well represented, with 21 pieces by these novices. In terms of a global reach, 55 of the animations come from artists abroad.

For the past few years, the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival has been evolving, and this year marks the return of the popular Electronic Theater. “We have brought back the Electronic Theater, the tribal SIGGRAPH experience with an identical program three nights in a row, and we have included most of the jury selections in it,” says Kerlow.

In addition, there will be special screenings of TV commercials and cinematics, longer short films, and student projects.

“This year, the festival jury voted on submissions strictly within categories, and that proved to be a good system to compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges,” Kerlow explains. To this end, the 2010 juried content falls within one of 10 categories: Computer Animation Shorts, Music Videos, TV and Web Commercials, Visualizations and Simulations, Student Projects, Animated Feature Films, Visual Effects for Short Films and TV Programs, Visual Effects for Live-Action Feature Films, Real-Time Animation, and Miscellaneous.

“The 2010 Computer Animation Festival continues the tradition of showcasing the best in computer animation and visual effects,” says Laura Henneman, this year’s festival manager. “I want attendees to enjoy and learn from the festival. My hope is that attendees will have an endorphin rush as they watch the screenings, and that they learn from the interesting and timely talks and panels that we have organized. The Stereo 3D screenings will attract major interest, while the panels and talks promise to be informative and useful as artistic and technical references.”

A selection of still images from some of the festival animations appears on these pages.