Production Sessions

Industry leaders demonstrate breakthroughs in visual effects, animation, VR/AR/MR, games, themed entertainment, architecture, scientific visualization, and platforms we haven’t yet dreamed of.

Program Content

Take a meaningful look behind the curtain of computer graphics in production.

Production Sessions bring the production community together to learn from the brightest minds in graphics. These 60-80 minute panel talks leave attendees feeling inspired, energized, and ready to push new boundaries.

One of the goals of Production Sessions at SIGGRAPH 2019 is to demonstrate the achievements across subgenres in computer graphics. As our industry morphs, democratizes, and reinvents itself, the barriers of entry for creating industry-defining work have faded. We plan to see surprising projects, independent teams, and your favorite studios rubbing elbows and sharing ideas.

PRODUCTION SESSION & GALLERY PHOTOS

Production Gallery

The Production Gallery will return in 2019 and is an exhibition highlighting the artists, process, and physical materials integral to the production of the industry-leading content shown during SIGGRAPH Production Sessions. Inside you will find a unique opportunity to view production artifacts and behind-the-scenes imagery up close.  Additionally, take advantage of exclusive special events with the artists and creators who created the work. Look around, enjoy the space, and don’t forget to share some photos!

Contributing Studios
DreamWorks Animation
Felix & Paul Studios
Marvel Studios
Pixar Animation Studios
Sony Pictures Imageworks

Opening Reception
Sunday, 28 July, 11:30 AM

Marvel Studios Visual Development
Live Demonstration: Tuesday, 30 July, 12:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Signing: Wednesday, 31 July, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Anthem Technical Art Team
Signing + Lithographs: Wednesday, 31 July, 12:30 PM – 1:15 PM

 

Derrick Nau

Production Sessions Chair

Monday, 29 July 2019 3:45pm-5:15pm West Hall B
Production Session
: The Making of Marvel Studios’ ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Panelists
Victoria Alonso
Dan DeLeeuw
Jen Underdahl
Kelly Port
Russell Earl
Matt Aitken
Gerardo Ramirez
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeMonday, 29 July 20193:45pm - 5:15pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionThe fourth installment in the Avengers saga is the culmination of 22 interconnected films and has drawn audiences to witness the turning point of this epic journey. Our beloved heroes now truly understand how fragile our world is, and the sacrifices that must be made to protect it. It is a story of friendship, teamwork, and setting aside our differences to overcome an immense obstacle.

Join Marvel Studios, Digital Domain, ILM, Weta Digital and The Third Floor as they discuss how the most diverse collection of heroes, environments, and visual effects were assembled into this ultimate climactic final chapter.
Panelists
Victoria Alonso
Executive Producer
Marvel Studios
Dan DeLeeuw
VFX Supervisor
Marvel Studios
Jen Underdahl
VFX Producer
Marvel Studios
Kelly Port
VFX Supervisor
Digital Domain
Russell Earl
VFX Supervisor
Industrial Light & Magic
Matt Aitken
VFX Supervisor
Weta Digital
Gerardo Ramirez
Visualization Supervisor
The Third Floor
Tuesday, 30 July 2019 2pm-3:30pm West Hall B
Production Session
: Step Right Up, Everyone's a Winner – The Making of ‘Toy Story 4’
Panelists
Bob Moyer
Bill Reeves
Derek Williams
Thomas Jordan
Steve Karski
Sajan Skaria
Amy Jones
Ariela Federov
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeTuesday, 30 July 20192pm - 3:30pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionToy Story 4 continues the rich history of the previous three films, while also expanding the world and exposing the characters to new and exciting challenges. For Woody, a journey far beyond the kids' rooms and neighborhoods he's always known introduces him to new faces that test his assumptions of what it means to be there for a child. And of course, he’ll need the help of some old friends to navigate the adventures he encounters. In this session, the crew will discuss how the sets, characters, cinematography and even pipeline were all developed to celebrate this next chapter. Please keep your hands inside the ride at all times.
Panelists
Bob Moyer
Supervising Technical Director
Pixar
Bill Reeves
Technology & Pipeline Supervisor
Pixar
Derek Williams
Layout Lead
Pixar
Thomas Jordan
Sets Supervisor
Pixar
Steve Karski
Sets Supervisor
Pixar
Sajan Skaria
Characters Supervisor
Pixar
Amy Jones
Lighting Lead
Pixar
Ariela Federov
Rendering Supervisor
Pixar
Tuesday, 30 July 2019 3:45pm-5:15pm West Hall B
Production Session
: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’: The Hidden What?
Panelists
Dave Walvoord
Lawrence Lee
Munira Tayabji
Paolo deGuzman
Pablo Valle
Chris De St. Jeor
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeTuesday, 30 July 20193:45pm - 5:15pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World represents the final installment of the Dragon trilogy whose releases spanned 9 years during which technology changed dramatically. The filmmakers will discuss how the third film evolved to embrace new technology, particularly Physically Based Rendering and improved simulation capabilities, while remaining true to the design principles established in the first movie.

It was critical to the storytelling that the Hidden World, home of the dragons, needed to be expansive and endless despite being underground. It needed to be rooted in the naturalistic style of the franchise, yet feel alien to our human world. We will discuss the creative design challenges and technical hurdles faced in bringing this world to life.

Due to the introduction of new software and pipeline, built on USD, as well as schedule challenges, the production process resembled less of our traditional linear pipeline typical of feature animation production with much more back and forth between departments working at the same time. The panelists will explore how this “controlled chaos” that characterized production of The Hidden World impacted the final film.
Panelists
Dave Walvoord
Visual Effects Supervisor
DreamWorks Animation
Lawrence Lee
Head of FX
DreamWorks Animation
Munira Tayabji
Visual Effects Supervisor
DreamWorks Animation
Paolo deGuzman
Head of Surfacing
DreamWorks Animation
Pablo Valle
Head of Lighting
DreamWorks Animation
Chris De St. Jeor
Character FX Lead
DreamWorks Animation
Wednesday, 31 July 2019 10:45am-12:15pm West Hall B
Production Session
: Creating the Immersive World of BioWare's ‘Anthem’
Panelists
Gracie Arenas Strittmatter
Jeff Vanelle
Ben Cloward
Eve Colvin
Darrin Stewart
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Gaming & Interactive
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Gaming & Interactive
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeWednesday, 31 July 201910:45am - 12:15pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionThe savage world of Anthem is volatile, lush, expansive, and full of unexpected characters. Bringing these aspects to life in a real-time (30fps) interactive environment presented a wealth of challenging problems for BioWare's technical artists and rendering engineers. These developers work with content creators to bridge art and technology through creative problem solving in areas such as performance/runtime, shaders, and artist tools. This retrospective panel will highlight some of the team's work, alongside reflections on innovation, distributed collaboration/coordination, and the successes and challenges of creating a new IP for the world to enjoy.
Panelists
Gracie Arenas Strittmatter
Technical Art Director
BioWare
Electronic Arts
Jeff Vanelle
Sr. Technical Artist I
BioWare
Electronic Arts
Ben Cloward
Sr. Technical Artist II
BioWare
Electronic Arts
Eve Colvin
Sr. Technical Artist I
BioWare
Electronic Arts
Darrin Stewart
Sr. Software Engineer
BioWare
Electronic Arts
Wednesday, 31 July 2019 2pm-3:30pm West Hall B
Production Session
: ‘Space Explorers: Life in Orbit’ - Filming VR In Microgravity
Panelists
Sebastian Sylwan
Michael Interbartolo
Rachel Barry
Florent Cohen
Laura Gouillon
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V Yes
Interest Areas
Gaming & Interactive
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeWednesday, 31 July 20192pm - 3:30pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionIn December 2018, TIME and Felix & Paul Studios launched virtual reality cameras—built to operate in microgravity—to the International Space Station. Since then, filming has documented astronauts from several countries in their daring missions more than 250 miles above Earth, capturing life in space as viewers have never truly seen before, and culminating in the first-ever spacewalk in cinematic virtual reality.

Join Felix & Paul Studios, along with collaborators from NASA and the ISS National Lab, as they share insights from one of the most ambitious VR projects ever undertaken. In this production session, we will discuss the background of how this partnership came to be, before diving into the technical challenges of capturing cinematic virtual reality on the ISS. How do you direct a scene in such a tight and constrained place, especially while down on Earth? How can you transfer terabytes of data from the cameras to Mission Control? And finally, what does it take to build and operate cameras that can capture a spacewalk?

The team will explore the variety of challenges inherent in such a groundbreaking project, from building a camera that can capture an EVA (extra-vehicular activity) in the extreme environment of space, to tracking and crafting months of astronaut footage into a cohesive episodic narrative. Finally, the team will share never-before-seen early footage from the project.
Panelists
Sebastian Sylwan
CTO & Creative Partner
Felix & Paul Studios
Michael Interbartolo
Moonshot Navigator
NASA
Rachel Barry
Communications Managing Editor
ISS National Lab
Florent Cohen
Head of Core Technologies Group
Felix & Paul Studios
Laura Gouillon
Technical Project Manager
Felix & Paul Studios
Wednesday, 31 July 2019 3:45pm-5:15pm West Hall B
Production Session
: The VFX of Netflix Series
Panelists
Sean Santiago
Chris White
Aladino Debert
Yvon Jardel
Paul Graff
Sue Rowe
Everett Burrell
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V Yes
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeWednesday, 31 July 20193:45pm - 5:15pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionFrom the tragic tales of orphans to a joint force of super siblings to sinister forces threatening 1908s Indiana, the VFX teams on Netflix series have delivered some of the year’s most astounding visuals. We’ve queued three of them up for bingeing en masse. Join creatives behind A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY and STRANGER THINGS as they present some of the work, techniques, and passion that brought these worlds and characters into being.
Panelists
Sean Santiago
Director, VFX, Netflix Original Series
Netflix
Chris White
VFX Supervisor
Weta Digital
Aladino Debert
VFX Supervisor
Digital Domain
Yvon Jardel
Animation Supervisor
Rodeo FX
Paul Graff
VFX Supervisor
N/A
Sue Rowe
VFX Supervisor
N/A
Everett Burrell
VFX Supervisor
N/A
Wednesday, 31 July 2019 6:30pm-8pm West Hall B
Production Session
: For the Throne - The Making of ‘Game of Thrones’: Season 8
Panelists
Zorianna Kit
Martin Hill
Thomas Schelesny
Ryo Sakaguchi
Sven Martin
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeWednesday, 31 July 20196:30pm - 8pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionThe eighth and final season of “Game of Thrones” was the most anticipated show in recent television history. The cinematic saga spanned six VFX-heavy episodes, from the spectacular Battle of Winterfell to the destruction of Red Keep, and its aftermath. In this talk, Weta Digital, Image Engine, Pixomondo, and Scanline team up to reveal the VFX they created for the climactic conclusion to “Game of Thrones,” and how their collective work on the long-running series created a new standard of cinematic television that has forever changed the landscape of TV viewing.

The visual effects supervisor from each facility will delve in to the creation over 3000 VFX shots across every episode, featuring dragons, large-scale environments, and epic battles. They will describe how they used cutting-edge film techniques to produce some of the most complex VFX ever seen on TV, and, in doing so, rewrote the rules of what can be accomplished on the small screen.
Panelists
Zorianna Kit
Moderator
Pixomodo
Martin Hill
Visual Effects Supervisor
Weta Digital
Thomas Schelesny
Visual Effects Supervisor
Image Engine
Ryo Sakaguchi
CG Supervisor Ryo Sakaguchi
Scanline
Sven Martin
Visual Effects Supervisor
Pixomondo
Thursday, 1 August 2019 10:45am-12:15pm West Hall B
Production Session
: ‘First Man’: Redefining In-Camera FX
Panelists
Michelle Eisenreich
Tristan Myles
Ian Hunter
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeThursday, 1 August 201910:45am - 12:15pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionAs the lead VFX house DNEG’s work on First Man was centered around trying to achieve some of the most realistic and immersive in-camera VFX shots ever seen. The team used a blend of cutting-edge in-camera VFX techniques, special effects, scale models, and never-before-seen footage from NASA’s archive to tell the story of Neil Armstrong’s journey to the moon and back. Join Michelle Eisenreich, DNEG VFX Producer, (and DNEG's Academy award-winning DFX Supervisor Tristan Myles - note: depending on Tristan's availability TBC) as she/they share(s) insights on how the First Man VFX crew were able to realise this by using one of the biggest LED screens ever built on a movie set.
Panelists
Michelle Eisenreich
VFX Producer on Oscar Winning First Man (and currently Executive Producer for DNEG TV Vancouver)
DNEG
Tristan Myles
DFX Supervisor
DNEG
Ian Hunter
Miniature Effects Supervisor
Independent
Thursday, 1 August 2019 2pm-3:30pm West Hall B
Production Session
: ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ - The Art of Being Human
Panelist
Nick Epstein
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeThursday, 1 August 20192pm - 3:30pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionAlita: Battle Angel follows the young cyborg Alita as she unearths her extraordinary past. Her palpable humanness was key to the film’s success and her character represents a new standard of photoreal digital doubles and humanoid CG character realization. Visual Effects Supervisor Nick Epstein will discuss how Weta Digital's advances in performance capture, CG biology, and facial animation brought her story to life.
Panelist
Nick Epstein
Visual Effects Supervisor
Weta Digital
Thursday, 1 August 2019 3:45pm-5:15pm West Hall B
Production Session
: Swing into Another Dimension: The Making of ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’
Panelists
Danny Dimian
Joshua Beveridge
Bret St. Clair
Pav Grochola
Ben Hendricks
Event Type
Production Session
Photography and Recording Policies
P/V No
Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Primary Interest Areas
Production & Animation
Registration Levels
F
FP
S
TimeThursday, 1 August 20193:45pm - 5:15pm
LocationWest Hall B
DescriptionThis production session will explore the art and innovation behind the creation of the Academy Award®-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The filmmaking team behind the first-ever animated Spider-Man feature film took significant risks to develop an all-new visual style inspired by the graphic look of comic books. The hand of the artist is visible in every frame, including misalignments and bleeding colors, imperfections rarely seen in CG animation. The entire look of the film was driven by artists' intentions, in which design and style was more important than accuracy or realism.

The presentation will delve into the new technology developed and the changes to both the pipeline and workflow required to accommodate working in this new visual style. Every department at Sony Pictures Imageworks was asked to reconsider what it means to make an animated feature in the spirit of this revolutionary comic book style and to bring something new to the look of the film. Various new techniques were developed including the rigging and animating of facial line work, 2D hand-drawn effects and stylized rendering.
Panelists
Danny Dimian
VFX Supervisor
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Joshua Beveridge
Animation Supervisor
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Bret St. Clair
Look Development Supervisor
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Pav Grochola
FX Supervisor
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Ben Hendricks
CG Supervisor
Sony Pictures Imageworks

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