The C Word
Convergence, that is, to be discussed at a free event later this month at BAFTA.
A day long series of presentations and discussions that examine issues of convergence in the Film and Games Industries.
Speakers from FRAMESTORE CFC, DOUBLE NEGATIVE, EVOLUTION STUDIOS, IMAGE METRICS, NATURALMOTION, SCEE, MONUMENTAL GAMES, GEOMERICS, plus others.
Friday October 31st , 9am to 5pm
BAFTA, (Run Run Shaw Room) 195 Piccadilly, London.
TO BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE: www.bafta.org/whats-on
(Go to 'October 31st' on the calendar)
The idea of convergence is not new, but it's rare that practitioners from Film and Games get to meet and swap notes about how far their fields are merging, and whether this will lead to more standardization, more collaboration, or new hybrid practices and innovative workflows.
The day is divided into a series of key issues. There'll be a short presentation from each speaker of their position on the subject, and a resulting discussion panel.
Presentation/Panel Discussion 1: LIGHT WORK An essential element to any visually arresting scene is the management of colour and light. Film grading and colour correction have been well established, and lighting is an essential part of the cinematographers arsenal, but the demand for ever more complex and evocative lighting in games poses problems given the real time nature of its implementation. In short, Games often have to rely on tricks and low bandwidth kludges to avoid CPU bottlenecks. But with ever improving chip sets and graphics cards is this about to change? Can we learn anything from Film in this respect? Will lighting in Games ever be raised to the level of artform that it is in Film?
Presentation/Panel Discussion 2: MO-CAP AND ANIMATION Motion or Performance capture are staples of Games and Film CGI, but what different approaches do each have to collecting and cleaning motion data?
And how is this impinging on the role of the animator?
Presentation/Panel Discussion 3: CODE
Off the shelf solutions are never enough as each new Game or Post-Production project demands greater gameplay or visual spectacle. In this section, companies give a case study of software solutions they created to raise the benchmark in their work.
Could Games and VFX houses share and collaborate more? Are technical skillsets converging? We talk to technical personnel who 'have crossed the floor' between Games and VFX.
Presentation/Panel Discussion 4: RENDERING AND REALISM Blinns Law dictates that the time spent rendering images in the CGI world has remained constant over the years- increased power and sleeker chipsets have meant you simply add more processes in an increasing spiral of resolution and pixel depth. But do Games really benefit from ever more believable images and verisimilitude? Or will this forever be a defining difference between Games and Film CGI? Here experts from both fields give their take on avoiding the uncanny valley; the future of cut scenes and audience/player demand for visual immersion.