An English-speaking event, the VIEW Conference takes place from October 15-20, 2023, at the futuristic OGR venue in the beautiful baroque city of Turin, Italy. Join an inclusive family of industry professionals, thought leaders, students, and enthusiasts as they gather to celebrate the latest cutting-edge developments in animation, VFX, games, and much more. Tickets for VIEW Conference 2023 are available now:
https://www.viewconference.it/pages/registration
The VIEW Conference 2023 program boasts a truly remarkable cross-section of award-winning international talent. This year’s keynote “Old and New: How Star Wars Shaped My Art and Design” is delivered by Oscar-winner Doug Chiang, vice president and executive creative director at Lucasfilm, who oversees designs for the
Star Wars franchise including films, theme parks, games, and new media. Chiang’s presentation is followed by “
Killers of the Flower Moon: Telling the Story with Sound,” a special talk by Mark Ulano, Oscar-winning sound engineer on Martin Scorsese’s latest film, which begins its theatrical release during the week of the conference.
Also among this year’s speakers are ten of the directors behind this year’s biggest grossing animated features – not to mention a trio of movies that have not yet been released. Also in the mix are the production-side VFX supervisors of blockbuster films including Barbie,
Oppenheimer, and
Avatar: The Way of Water, plus a diverse range of visionary thinkers and industry powerhouses from every branch of media and technology, from AI and real-time rendering to game design, sound design, music, and beyond.
“When I look at the program for VIEW Conference 2023 I am simply touched!’” says Conference Director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “I am honored to welcome so many talented individuals to Italy for the annual event that is VIEW Conference. The caliber of our award-winning speakers is second-to-none, and I cannot wait for them to share their passion and wisdom with our audience. I urge everyone to visit the VIEW Conference website where they can see the entire program. I guarantee you will be blown away!”
Amazing Animation
Every year VIEW Conference invites the directors of the latest animated features onto its stage, to speak about the creative journeys they took bringing the latest blockbusters to the screen. This year VIEW Conference is thrilled to welcome no less than ten movie directors, including Joaquim Dos Santos (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”), who will be discussing the critically-acclaimed superhero smash with Oscar-winning director Peter Ramsey (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”).
Also attending are Peter Sohn, director of Disney and Pixar’s latest animated triumph “Elemental” and Jeff Rowe, director of Nickelodeon’s and Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, directors of Netflix’s “Nimona,” will be in Turin together with author ND Stevenson, creator of the original “Nimona” graphic novel. Animation royalty is in attendance in the form of Oscar®-nominated Henry Selick, legendary director of stop-motion classics including “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “James and the Giant Peach,” “Coraline” and “Wendell & Wild.”
Still more exciting, four of this year’s animation presentations deliver the scoop on movies so new that some have not yet been released. In one of three exclusive Italian premieres, VFX supervisor Kyle Odermatt offers a special sneak preview of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 62ndanimated feature “Wish,” while director Benjamin Renner is at the conference speaking about Illumination’ upcoming animated feature “Migration.” Director Sam Fell presents Netflix’s and Aardman’s “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.” Hot off the press, VFX supervisor Marc Scott reveals the wonders of DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming feature “Trolls Band Together.”
Animation is further represented by talents such as Ted Ty, global head of character animation at DNEG Animation, and Andreas Deja, veteran Disney animator and director of “Mushka,” whose contribution includes an unmissable 2-hour workshop on character animation. Meanwhile Carolyn Giardina of The Hollywood Reporter moderates an incisive discussion on the topic “Women in Animation,” with panelists Osnat Shurer, co-CCO of Baobab Studios, media consultant and executive producer Lotte Kronborg Thomsen, Amy Ash from Axis Studios and Apollonia Hartmann from Accenture Song VFX.
Blockbuster VFX
VIEW Conference 2023 blows the roof off Turin’s stylish OGR venue with an explosive program of visual effects sessions. Award-winning production VFX supervisors are in attendance to deliver dazzling presentations on the latest blockbuster movies. Speakers include Andrew Jackson, overall VFX supervisor of Christopher Nolan’s record-shattering epic thriller “Oppenheimer” and multi-Oscar-winner Joe Letteri, senior VFX supervisor of James Cameron’s groundbreaking sci-fi sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
More secrets are revealed about the VFX of some of 2023’s runaway box office hits. Production VFX supervisors Glen Pratt, Michael Lasker and Stephane Ceretti explain how they conjured up the movie magic of “Barbie,” “Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3” respectively. Marvel Studios VFX supervisor Jake Morrison (“Thor: Love and Thunder”) will be live on stage at VIEW Conference 2023 with a masterclass inviting the audience to “Learn New Approaches to VFX Lighting,” followed by an exclusive meet-and-greet session.
“Star Wars” aficionados will not want to miss “A Masterclass Conversation about Art and Star Wars” with keynote speaker Doug Chiang. Meanwhile Hal Hickel, animation director at Industrial Light & Magic, reveals the secrets behind Season 3 of the hit streaming show “The Mandalorian,” and promises the ultimate in audience participation with his interactive session “Ask Me Anything About Character Animation for VFX.”
Visionary Thinkers
VIEW Conference 2023 is honored to welcome a plethora of visionary thinkers and industry to this year’s conference. James Knight, global director of media and entertainment/visual effects at AMD, joins a panel of world-class filmmakers for our inspirational session on “The Future of Storytelling,” and joins Pixar’s Dylan Sisson to discuss “Pixels & Processors: The Relationship Between Art and Technology in Visual Storytelling,” in which they explore the evolving landscape where art meets technology.
The subject everyone wants to talk about is “AI,” and VIEW Conference is proud to present a range of panels exploring this rapidly-expanding phenomenon. “AI and Education” with Neil Peplow, director and CEO of London Film School, Terrence Masson from NYC’s School of Visual Arts, Lotte Kronborg, Head of Studies at BFA Animation and Gray Marshall, Chair of Visual Effects at SCAD. Discussion continues with “Out of Distribution: Thriving Creatively in the Age of AI,” a thought-provoking keynote presentation by artist and creative technologist Scott Eaton. Heidi Wang, senior vice president at Wacom, navigates the legal issues surrounding copyrights with her talk “Copyright and How to Secure Your Digital Artworks.”
Other must-see panels include “Showcasing Africa's Future,” which brings together the creators of “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” a Disney+ sci-fi anthology imagining the future from an African perspective with original short films made by the continent’s top filmmakers. Joining the panels are the show’s directors and producers including Anthony Silverston, Tendayi Nyeke, Tshepo Moche, Ng'endo Mukii and Oscar-winning executive producer Peter Ramsey. Environmental concerns take center stage with “Filmmaking's Role in Healing Our Planet,” featuring panelists including Aardman Animations’ Simone Giampolo and Brenda Ximena Roldan Romero from Axis Studios.
Deep Dive Workshops
VIEW Conference is renowned for the quality and depth of its unparalleled program of hands-on workshops. Our 2023 program leads with includes a huge variety of sessions giving participants the opportunity to explore the fast-growing phenomenon of AI, including “Characters and AI” with John Gaeta, Oscar-winning VFX supervisor of “The Matrix” and CCO at Inworld AI, and “AI-Powered Video Magic: Creating Trailers and Videos Made Simple” with Andreas Maaninka.
Other workshops run the gamut from vision to sound and beyond. Cartoon Saloon’s Almu Redondo presents “Art Direction, Visual Development and Stylization,” while Lola VFX supervisor and de-ageing specialist Trent Claus tutors participants on “Facial Anatomy for the Digital Artist.” Award-winning composer Bruno Coulais leads a workshop on “Composing Music for Animated Features,” while Mark Ulano shares his wealth of experience with his workshop on “Sound Design.” Meanwhile Mike Jelinek presents “Master the Principles of Ideation: Learn How to Develop Original IP” and senior 3D and VFX trainer Helge Maus leads a series of deep dive workshops on the open source 3D computer graphics software Blender.
An addition to its extensive workshop program, VIEW Conference 2023 provides countless opportunities for students and junior creatives to meet their heroes and mentors, bringing young talent face-to-face with top-level professionals who are committed to nurturing the next generation. These include portfolio reviews, mock interviews with experts such as Michael Coldewey, Professor of Concept Art, Drawing & Design at the Media Design University of Applied Sciences in Munich, and informal “Ask-Me-Anything” sessions with some of the world’s top achievers. Students and professionals alike are invited to practice their skills in VIEW Conference 2023’s free exhibition featuring 15 workstations equipped with the latest Wacom graphics tablet technology.
The wider topic of education comes under scrutiny with “The Future of Education,” a panel discussion featuring Simon Devereux, founder of ACCESS: VFX and director of global talent development at Framestore, Saint Walker, deputy dean at Escape Studios, Tim McLaughlin of Texas A&M University, Mauro Baldissera, founder of Skyup Academy and Alwyn Hunt, Adobe’s head of education, partnerships and co-founder of The Rookies.
Completing the education picture is a series of scoops including the launch of RenderMan 26, the latest release of Pixar’s award-winning rendering software. RenderMan’s Dylan Sisson leads a workshop titled “Unlocking the Future of Digital Artistry: AI, VR, and Pixar’s RenderMan Unveiled,” and also demonstrates the magic of combining traditional illustrations, AI generative imagery, VR sculpting and next-gen rendering with his talk “Exploring the Boundaries of Creativity: AI, VR, and VFX.”
“VIEW Conference 2023 is nearly upon us,” adds Conference Director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez, “and I want to take this opportunity to thank our partners for their invaluable support. Without their important contribution we wouldn’t be able to deliver VIEW Conference. I also want to thank all our speakers for giving up their time and sharing their wisdom and experience. This year’s program is one of the most comprehensive and complete we have ever had. The common thread that binds everything together is the warmth and humanity of all the talented people who make it happen. It is going to be unforgettable week here in beautiful Torino!”
VIEW Conference is made possible with the support from Fondazione CRT and Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Regione Piemonte, Camera di Commercio di Torino, AMD, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Lenovo and Nvidia, Wacom, Netflix and RenderMan.