Each year, the "been there, done that" crowd at SIGGRAPH continues to be impressed by the animations featured in the Computer Animation Festival's Electronic Theater and Daytime Selects. And this year was no different in that regard.
The theater itself was outfitted and dressed nicely, says Cogswell Polytechnical College's Jerome Solomon, this year's chair. "A large screen from RealD. Awesome, beautiful digital projectors from Christie. The work looked better than ever. We also added some fun for our attendees, like serving popcorn on premiere night."
This year, 477 juried submissions were received from 40 countries, and of those, 35 were accepted into the festival, along with 26 invited entries. The works span a number of categories, including: Animated Feature Film, Computer Animation Shorts, Games, Short Film, Student Projects, Commercial Advertisements, Visual Effects, Visualization and Simulations, and Compilations. For the first time, awards were given in every category. "We have more awards this year because it is a major achievement for an individual to make it in to the Computer Animation Festival's Electronic Theater. We felt people earned the right to be acknowledged with an award for their achievement."
Solomon points out that the level of student work this year was quite high, with three of the nine award winners being student projects.
"The work is just incredible. It's such a difficult process to cut from nearly 400 pieces from around the world, down to 35. So, you were truly seeing the best in the world at SIGGRAPH," Solomon says. "It was a great room to be in because you were probably sitting next to someone who has done something amazing. It was a very cool experience for all our attendees, and it only happens at SIGGRAPH."
The excitement was not limited to the Theater. Daytime Select was totally different this year. "I kept saying it was going to blow people's socks off their feet!" Rachel Corres curated the work. There was stop motion, traditional animation, Demoscene, Canadian animation, and even some great live-action short films. "We wanted to make Daytime Select something different than just another place to see 'more CG.' It was a must-see event and a pleasant and unique surprise for our attendees." - Karen Moltenbrey
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