Computer Animation Festival

Speaker(s):
Erick Oh, Tonko House, United States of America
Andrew Vernon, Netflix, United States of America
Celine You, Pixar Animation Studios, United States of America

Speaker:

Abstract: Director Erick Oh, Art Director Celine You, and Sound Designer/Composer Andrew Vernon discuss the production of Opera, Oh’s stunning, powerful new moving image project that he defines as a contemporary animated edition of Renaissance fresco mural paintings. The 9-minute 2D film, consisting of a day and night cycle that can be played on an infinite loop, is also presented in an 8K exhibition format that offers 16 x 9 meters of wall and another 16 x 9 meters of floor projection, laser tracking and 3D animations. Opera, written and directed by Oh, is driven by the spirits of Bosch, Michelangelo, Botticelli, and others. In his own signature whimsical and surreal way, Oh portrays human society and history filled with beauty and absurdity. Viewers will experience a range of emotions through this unique, intricate reflection of human life: it is hopeful, comical, and thoughtful, yet scary, disturbing, and sad. The piece proceeds like a living piece of art, designed as an invitation to question the mechanisms of our society and human behavior. Each section and individual character’s activities are intrinsically connected so the viewer can eventually enjoy the entire pyramid no matter which character they set their eyes on first.

Speaker(s) Bio:
Oh, who directed the 2018 Annecy Cristal-winning series, PIG: The Dam Keeper Poems, spent six years as an animator at Pixar - from 2010-2016 - before joining colleagues Robert Kondo and Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi at their studio, Tonko House, home to the award-winning The Dam Keeper franchise. He is currently directing and executive producing with Tsutsumi on Tonko House’s new Netflix project. In addition to his work as an animator on Pixar films like Brave, Inside Out, Finding Dory, Piper, Lou, and Sanjay’s Super Team, Oh found time to direct his own animated shorts: Communicate, Heart, How to Eat Your Apple, and O.

Vernon, who recently joined Scott Stafford’s Pollen Sound, spent over 10 years at Pixar, where he worked on numerous feature and short film projects including Car 2 and Cars 3, Brave, Monsters University, Purl and The Blue Umbrella. He's currently working on a new project Oh is directing at Baobab Studios.

You has been at Pixar for almost 6 years, and after recently wrapping her work as a character designer on Pete Docter’s upcoming animated feature, Soul, has been working on another as yet named film at the studio. She previously worked as an artist on the Pixar shorts Wind and Kitbull.

Speaker: