Programme 2014

'Evolution Man' – Production Content, Procedure and Strategy

After two false starts, "Evolution Man" is now well on its way and is set for theatrical release next spring. Marc Miance is managing the production and will be reflecting on the apparent paradox of letting director Jamel Debbouze, known for his spontaneous creativity, use a process that is technically innovating, but very complex and necessarily strict.

Anatomy of 2 Stop-motion Animation Studios: Aardman Animations and LAIKA

Two major studios will be presented in detail during two consecutive sessions in the afternoon.

Connecting with the Public from the Production Phase: Keys to Success for a Brilliant Distribution

Animated features demand an enormous amount of time and money to produce, and it's too late to fix many common problems once the film is completed. How can creative teams position themselves for success by taking the audience's expectations into account from the very beginning of the production? At what point should they start thinking about the distribution? What is the right way to identify and serve the target audience early on?

WorldWide Writing

Animation is exported all around the world. Delightful though this may be, the fact that it is so successful is no chance matter.

Right from the development stage, writers working on the series incorporate certain constraints so that they will be able to circulate in many countries. They also work in close collaboration with other foreign writers, producers and broadcasters.

This internationally biased writing is therefore thought about throughout all the different stages of development, writing and production. The conference aims to examine how this international perspective enriches the writing, but can also hold things up.

How do writers manage to play with these constraints?

Mixed images and transgenre programmes

The conferences on Tuesday will be devoted mainly to stop-motion.

The morning session will give studios working in the TV series market the opportunity to explain how stop-motion can be compatible with the constraints of TV production. One solution may be to combine it with other techniques, giving an added advantage of bypassing codes and shaking up genres.

Animation by phone: How Google makes movies

A 3D but not linear animated film by Jan Pinkava, in a Google/Motorola smartphone. Another, by Glen Keane, in 2D and currently in production. Showing how a technological breakthrough opens radically new horizons in narration and creation, and very shortly perhaps, in uses.

The Distribution of Animated Series Confronted with New Markets

In a market where the number of traditional broadcasters buying licences for animated series is steadily declining, certain distributors and producers are developing innovative strategies to compensate for this drop by accessing new broadcasters, new media and new sources of revenue. What are these new Eldorados and how should they be approached?

The Role of the Web in Diffusing Short Animated Films

Promotion, access to a large public, source of revenue, virality? From a few hundred views to millions of clicks, what role can the web play in airing and spreading an animated short? What are the strategies for different films? What are the expected benefits? How do you make the balance between the "big bad Web" and a "digital Eldorado"? At a time when online diffusion channels are structuring their offer, and the public are discovering new ways of consuming images, three speakers who work with the Web will talk about their experience of connecting creation with new uses in a meaningful way.

Feature films: case studies

The feature film is always a unique adventure, for which there is no predetermined recipe; the animated feature is an amazing feat that requires combining narrative and visual impact with the intense constraints of production organisation and management; without exception, the European animated feature has to contend with inadequate funding and reduced exposure. Some people claim to be able to rise to these challenges...

Song of the Sea

A Rigged World

Richard the Stork

Yellowbird

Music and Sound Design in Animation series

Sound brings breath, life and energy to an image. It's the ultimate step that crystallises the image and the animated drawing. Music and sound will play their roles, each in its own way.

How can you define a character or set an atmosphere? How can you articulate the artistic relationship between the sound and the image, and the composer, sound designer and director? How much of a say do broadcasters have in this process? How is the economic environment and the use of computers influencing sound?

Emerging Tools

New tools: productivity and conviviality

Each year, optimising productivity is one of the main intentions of the Production Organisation Conferences. Traditionally, Friday morning's conference is reserved for emerging tools that are relevant in this context. But of course, consideration regarding aesthetic quality and conviviality will not be left out. We will offer several such demonstrations that will likely renew the habits of some professionals.

The Creative Process: How to Develop and Produce a Creator-Driven Global Hit Property

Creatively developing and producing a hit show that will be an international success is the dream goal for creators, broadcasters and producers alike.

What are the ingredients for a creator-driven show? What steps are typically taken once the broadcaster is involved? And how much of the process is creator-driven versus developed by the broadcaster? All these questions and more will be discussed by a panel of directors and creative development executives who live, breathe and sleep the creative development process.

VFX

In some of the more ambitious feature films and commercials, the artistic talent and technical skills of VFX technicians are often characterised by a level of excellence that reflects the state of the art in this particular field of representation. However, these professionals are not always recognised at their true value. The double ambition of this VFX conference is to pay tribute to them and show the inspiration they represent for the animation industry as a whole.