New Orleans, Louisiana

Wrap Up

Although Sun Microsystems and SGI were in attendance, this year's Siggraph conference -- devoted to the special effects in movies -- attracted fewer visitors than last year. The drop-off is perhaps because the conference was moved from Los Angeles to New Orleans. This year, approximately 26,000 participants and 300 visitors made the trek to the 27th annual event. The talk of the town was "virtual environments" with The Perfect Storm, Stuart Little and Hollow Man drawing large crowds to their panels and classes. The conference comes at a time when the industry is experiencing a boom, with films such as: Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Stuart Little, Jurassic Park 3, A.I, The Mummy 2 and Star Wars: Episode II lined up for production within the next year.

The Dinosaurs are Coming !

With several thousand people expected to attend, more than 300 exhibitors, plus an unforgettable film festival, this year's Siggraph is the hot spot for 3D animation. It will screen the 3D film Dinosaur from Disney and feature a tribute to veteran animator Phil Tippett.

The 27th Siggraph remains the premier expo for computer-generated images. The animation film festival, with a focus on special effects, will feature more than 50 top films from the past year.

In addition, there will be special conference on the newest Disney full-length animation film Dinosaur, which was created entirely in 3D. Another segment will focus on techniques de fur-making and clothing in Stuart Little, which was produced by Sony Pictures Imageworks with special effects supervised by John Dykstra, who was also at Imagina 2000.

Two special sessions will be devoted entirely to special effects. La first will highlight the making of The Perfect Storm with George Clooney and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The second session, about the history of animation, will honor Phil Tippett, a veteran animator who set the industry standards in puppet animation (using image by image technique) in 3D for the filming Jurassic Park in 1992-1993.

He is thought to have inspired the effects used in Starship Troopers from Paul Verhoeven; The Haunting, the recent remake from Jan de Bont; and The House of God from Robert Wise. Other films expected to be presented are: Gladiator from Ridley Scott, with special effects from the British company The Mill; Mission: Impossible 2 from John Woo; and Komodo from Michael Lantierim, who is part of the special effects team from Jurassic Park.

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Jean Segura