PAV GROCHOLA / FX SUPERVISOR SONY IMAGEWORKS
KEYNOTE: HOMEM-ARANHA NO ARANHAVERSO

Pav Grochola is a supervisor and Lead VFX artist at Sony Pictures Imageworks. He most recently worked on the effects team for the Academy Award®-winning animated film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. After completing his Fine Arts degree in Australia in 1999, Grochola saw his future in digital content production. He began his career producing visual effects for commercials and soon after moved to London to work in film. Grochola spent five years at Double Negative, specializing in animation, and worked on several films in the HARRY POTTER franchise. His credits include over 29 feature films and numerous awards. In 2012, he won the Annie Award for his work on EDGE OF TOMORROW, and in 2019, he received the Visual Effects Society award (Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature) for the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. 

HAO LI  / CEO PINSCREEN
KEYNOTE: HUMANOS DIGITAIS

Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, Director of the Vision and Graphics Lab at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, and CEO of Pinscreen, a Los Angeles-based startup that creates affordable photorealistic avatars for consumers. He is known for his seminal work in non-rigid shape alignment, real-time facial performance capture, hair digitization, and dynamic whole-body capture. His work in facial animation was the basis for Animoji on Apple's iPhone X. Hao Li worked at Weta Digital, collaborated on the creation of the digital reenactment technology for Paul Walker in the Fast & Furious films, and was a research leader at Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm. Named one of the most important young innovators by MIT Technology Review in 2013, he has received the Google Faculty Award, the Okawa Foundation Research Grant, as well as the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair. His work has been ranked number 1 on Microsoft Academic's list of top 10 computer graphics research over the past five years. 

JULIEN BOLBACH / VFX SUPERVISOR MPC
KEYNOTE: ART AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE FILM THE LION KING

The Visual Effects Supervisor (VFX Supervisor) from MPC (Moving Picture Company) will present his work on Walt Disney Pictures' "The Lion King," directed by Jon Favreau.    

In "The Lion King," Julien Bolbach worked directly with Favreau and the entire production team on the creation and lighting of 17 main animals, 63 unique species, more than 650,000 insects, and billions of blades of grass and vegetation in a virtual space of 150 square kilometers. “The Lion King” presented the unique challenge of creating a CG feature film that could cross the boundary of photorealism and be perceived as live action by the audience. The director and production design team wanted a naturalistic look, heavily influenced by real images of African landscapes. To create a world that could be fully explored by a wide variety of virtual lenses, the MPC team created complete CG environments on a scale that had never existed before, says Bolbach. Julien Bolbach has worked on projects ranging from commercials to animations and large productions, developing a diverse range of skills in production, filmmaking, and team management. Bolbach played a significant role in “Alien: Covenant,” directed by Ridley Scott, and also worked on films such as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” “Suicide Squad,” “Maleficent,” and “Justice League,” among others. He was nominated for the VES Award, a Visual Effects Society award, for his work on Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

LARRY BAFIA 

Animator and multimedia educator Larry began his career in stop motion and claymation at Will Vinton Studios in Portland, Oregon. For nearly a decade, Larry worked on stop motion projects such as Michael Jackson's Moonwalker video and numerous other commercial projects before joining PDI, Pacific Data Images, the company that originated DreamWorks studio.

During his seven years as Director of Commercial Animation at PDI/Dreamworks, Larry directed commercials for companies such as Coca-Cola, Sega, Intel, Kraft, and Target.

While working at PDI/Dreamworks, Larry was also a sequence animator on several successful films, including Antz and Batman & Robin. He was part of the effects team for Mission: Impossible II and was an animator on the stop-motion development team for Tim Burton's Mars Attacks, produced by Warner Bros.

From 2002 to 2008, Larry was head of the animation and visual effects department at Vancouver Film School. He also served as vice president of faculty and development at VanArts and was Director of the SIGGRAPH 2018 Computer Animation Festival. Currently, he is a senior faculty member in the Master of Digital Media program at the Centre for Digital Media, Vancouver BC.

ELECTRONIC THEATRE -SIGGRAPH 2019

VFXRIO brings Siggraph's Electronic Theater to Brazil. Recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1999, the Electronic Theater serves as a showcase for the Oscars. The CAF shows films produced with the latest technologies by artists, animators, independent producers, small production companies, and large film and game studios. 

The electronic theatre performance will be shown at the end of the first day of programming.

PROGRAM (AUDITORIUM):

FULL VFX RIO PROGRAM

Saturday, November 30th

09:00    Accreditation

10:00    Abertura VFXRIO

10:30    Digital Humans  & Deep Fakes  
              Hao Li | Pinscreen

12:00    VFX surprises and solutions
              Rudá Pim | TV GLOBO  

15:00    Painel Digital Humans,
              Deep Fakes & Novas TECHNOLOGYs 
              Hao Li (Pinscreen)
              Pablo Bioni (TV Globo)
              Russ Rive (SuperUber)
              Matteo Moriconi  (VFXRIO)

16:00    Performance in New Media
              Luiz Velho | IMPA | Visgraf

17:00    Computer Animation Festival 
              Electronic Theatre
              Larry Bafia | Siggraph  

Sunday, December 1st

 09:00 Accreditation

10:00     Ravi Velhal | INTEL

10:30 Creating the Universe of The Lion King
               Julien Bolbach | MPC 

12:00 VFX for Major Productions in        
               Hollywood: Armando Ricalde| Ollin VFX

3:00 PM The Great Mystic Circus 
              Marcelo Siqueira | Mistika
              Winner of the VFX Award
              from the Brazilian Academy of Cinema

16:00 .  Pluft o Fantasminha: Desafios na
             underwater post-production 
             Sandro di Segni | 02 Filmes e
             Roberto Faissal
             ABC Director of Photography 

5:00 PM Panel: Innovation, Science, and Art 
             Marcos Magalhães (Animamundi)
             Luiz Velho (IMPA)
             Armando Ricalde (Ollin VFX)
             Lucia Modesto (TV Globo) 

Monday, December 2nd 

09:00 Accreditation

10:00   Centre for Digital Media Vancouver    
             Larry Bafia 

11:00 Panel: Education for the careers of the future    
             Lucia Modesto (TV Globo)
             Pav Grochola (Sony Pictures Imageworks) 
             Larry Bafia (CDM)
             Liana Brazil (SuperUber) 

12:00   On Set to Delivery Journey Using Nuke    
             Juan Salazar| Foundry
            Leonardo Costa | Framestore         

15:00  Premiere e Making of do curta  "Umbrella"          
            Helena Hilario, Mario Pece, Alan Prado,
            Dhiego Guimarães and
            Felipe Pardini | Stratostorm

16:00 How to accommodate 24 million Brazilians
                 in an XR experience 
                 Luiz Evandro | Vetor Zero 

17:00  INNOVATION em Homen-Aranha o Aranhaverso
                 Pav Grochola  | Sony Pictures Imageworks 

PROGRAM (WORKSHOPS):

WORKSHOP MODULE 1:

Saturday, November 30th - Casa Firjan
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM - Daniele Reule - Duration: 3 hours

Introduction to the Development of Interactive Narratives

https://www.danireule.com/sobre

Temas abordados: Interactive or branching narratives, narrative construction, classical structure, character and world-building.
Description: Interactive narratives, fictional or not, present varying degrees of interaction or interactivity in their storytelling. In any media or technological format, an interactive narrative requires an active user, be it a reader, viewer, player, interactor, or internet user. The consumer is the protagonist and needs to experience the plot. Therefore, the emergence of interactive content reflects a market need to offer increasingly immersive experiences to users, whether in entertainment, education, or even medicine. The challenge lies in telling good stories in this format. This workshop aims to present narrative principles and tools to boost the development of good interactive plots.
For whom: 40 people - screenwriters for audiovisual media and games, copywriters, writers, and anyone interested in story creation.

Material: VFXRio will provide 3 computers for group sharing, as well as drawing and writing materials. We encourage students to bring their own materials, specific to their preferences and methodology. 
Bio: DANI REULE is a screenwriter, journalist, holds a master's degree in Communication and Information, and is certified by the Professional Program in Writing for Television at UCLA-TFT. She is the screenwriter for the series ‘Baile de Máscaras’ (produced by Giros for TV Cultura) and the feature film ‘Na Batalha’ (Raccord Produções; screenplay was a finalist at FRAPA 2017), and collaborated with author Marcílio Moraes on the series ‘Pigmaleão do Brejo’ (Rede Record). She has had short films presented at national festivals and is the creator and screenwriter of the sitcom 'Uma vida de Zenilde' (Tambellini Filmes). She has also been a speaker at the Semana do Audiovisual Primeiro Plano in Juiz de Fora, at WebFest, and at ROTA II in Rio, where she also worked as a consultant for the Feature Film and Series Project Development Laboratory. She is also a screenwriting professor at the Darcy Ribeiro Film School, Infnet, AIC, and in the screenwriting postgraduate program at FACHA, in addition to having her own course on project development for series. 

WORKSHOP MÓDULO 2:

Domingo, 1 de DECEMBER - Casa Firjan
10:00 - 13:00 - Russ River - course duration: 3 hours
https://superviz.com/

Workshop: Multi-realities. Creation and collaboration in 360º environments.
Temas abordados: Virtual and augmented reality, simulation, virtual teleportation, productivity, storytelling, design, collaboration.
Description: This workshop will introduce concepts related to reality capture, virtual reality, augmented reality, simulation, and reality manipulation, and how these tools are being used in real-world scenarios such as training, education, remote collaboration, and virtual teleportation. We will also explore what equipment and techniques exist today and what is coming soon. Students will create their own 360° projects using SuperViz to explore these concepts in a practical way. After completing the projects, students will experience virtual group teleportation together. The workshop will conclude with a Q&A session and an open discussion exploring the consequences of a future with multi-reality experiences.
For whom: 20 people. For anyone over 10 years old.
Material: VFXRio will provide 3 computers, VR headsets, and a 360º camera for group sharing. We encourage students to bring their own equipment (laptop, tablet, cell phone, 360º camera).
Bio: Russ is a creative technology director working at the intersection of the real and the virtual. He co-founded SuperUber in 2002, where he creates immersive and interactive experiences for museums, exhibitions, events, and brands. SuperUber's work has been exhibited worldwide at venues and events such as the UN headquarters (USA) and the SXSW Festival (USA), the London Design Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum (England). In Brazil, projects include the Museum of Tomorrow and the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games. In 2018, Russ co-founded SuperViz, a remote collaboration tool for teleporting people into virtual environments together. Before moving to Brazil, Russ co-founded Everdream Inc. in San Francisco in 1998, a pioneer in distributed computer automation and management. Everdream was acquired by Dell. In 1996, Russ was part of the initial team at Zip2, an internet software provider for the media industry. Zip2 was acquired by Compaq. Russ holds four US patents in the field of technologies and automation.

WORKSHOP MÓDULO 3:
Domingo, 1 de DECEMBER - Casa Firjan
15:00 - 18:00 - Marlus Araujo - workload: 3h
https://marlus.com

Workshop: Extended Reality with TouchDesigner

Temas abordados: Interaction design, programming, computer graphics, computer vision, interactive experiences, extended realities

Description: The workshop will cover aspects of creating interactive and immersive experiences through the development of several interactive experiments using different techniques: 3D stereoscopy, motion capture and computer vision, VR headsets, and real-time creative programming with TouchDesigner.

For whom: 15 people. Visual artists, designers, videographers, developers, and creatives with experience in graphic software, 2D or 3D animation.

Material: VFXRio will provide 3 computers for group sharing, as well as drawing and writing materials. We encourage students to bring their own materials, specific to their preferences and methodology.

Bio: Marlus Araujo holds a degree in design from the School of Fine Arts at UFRJ and a postgraduate degree in Digital Projects from IED Rio. Interested in the convergence between art, design, and technology, he has gained experience in the conception and development of various digital projects, ranging from websites, games, animations, and data visualizations to interactive installations, physical and visual interfaces for shows and performances.

https://marlus.com