Wednesday, October 17, 2018

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

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

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

Skylar Sweetman, Stage Manager, Metastage

Mike Monello, co-founder, Campfire, Collaborator, The Mill & Producer, Blair Witch Project

Celine Tricart, founder, Lucid Dreams Productions

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

Kirk Miller, Director of Media Programming, MediaMation

Daniel Oberlerchner, Director of Content Operations, Method EXP

Johannes Saam, Senior Creative Developer, Framestore

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

Mike Monello, co-founder, Campfire: Mike Monello is a true pioneer when it comes to immersive storytelling and innovative marketing. In the late 1990s, Monello and his partners at Haxan Films created The Blair Witch Project, a story told across the burgeoning internet, a sci-fi channel pseudo-documentary, books, comics, games, and a feature film, which became a pop-culture touchstone and inspired legions of “found-footage” movies in its wake. It forever changed how fans engage with story and how marketers approach the

internet. Inspired by the possibilities for engaging connected fan cultures and communities online, Monello co-founded Campfire in 2006. There, he leads an agency that has developed and created groundbreaking participatory stories and experiences for HBO, Amazon, Netflix, Cinemax, Discovery, National Geographic, Harley- Davidson, Infiniti, and more. Campfire won Small Agency Campaign of the Year via AdAge in 2013 and Small Agency of the Year via Online Marketing Media and Advertising Awards in 2012, and has been awarded top honors at the Emmys, Cannes Lions Festival, Clios, One Show, and MIXX. Monello serves on the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors, and regularly speaks at high-profile events such as Cannes, Advertising Week, SXSW, and more.

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.

Skylar Sweetman, Stage Manager, Metastage: Skylar Sweetman is the stage manager of Metastage, the exclusive US partner for Microsoft's Mixed Reality volumetric capture system. Metastage specializes in capturing lifelike human performance for immersive experiences. Skylar comes from Lightstage at OTOY, where she spent over 3 years as a producer for high fidelity facial scanning. This included production, high poly digital capture, and texturing work. She was the key technical artist for the hero scans of the Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing in Star Wars: Rogue One.

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.

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.

Daniel Oberlerchner, Director of Content Operations, Method EXP: With a background that blends deep immersion in VR with VFX pipeline expertise, production operations and brand management, Daniel guides clients through all aspects of immersive content creation. Prior to joining Method EXP, he was an Executive Producer at Company 3 for Call of Duty titles including Advanced Warfare and Black Ops II. His recent projects at Method EXP include producing localization on Warner Bros’ Justice League VR. Daniel’s early-adopter approach has shaped his career – from brand management to marketing to producing and operations.

Kirk Miller, Director of Media Programming, MediaMation Inc.: In the entertainment industry for 35 years, after obtaining a degree from the University of Arizona, Kirk has worked on a variety of projects including sound design and motion programming. In 2001 he began marrying music with motion programming for fountain show choreography. His tenure as MediaMation's Director of Media Programming began shortly thereafter, which has culminated in his programming MX4D motion and efx for major cinema features, theme parks, and activations for brands. MediaMation, Inc is an interactive technology company and a worldwide, leading supplier and manufacturer of 4D/5D motion efx theaters, seating and systems integration. For twenty-seven years the company has designed and implemented creative solutions for complex shows, rides, fountain shows, interactive exhibits and 4D theaters, based on their award-winning software and hardware products. MediaMation’s systems integration experience ranges from audio/video, lighting, robotics and computer show control to innovative entertainment technology engineering involving show action and show control.

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.