“The Boss Baby: Family Business” director Tom McGrath will be the keynote speaker at the 22nd VIEW Conference, which will be held from Oct. 17-22 in Turin, Italy.
The DreamWorks Animation feature is the sixth film McGrath has made with the studio. He is the co-writer and co-director of the “Madagascar” movies, and he directed DWA’s “Megamind” in 2010. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2017 for “The Boss Baby.” His films have generated nearly $3 billion at the box office worldwide.
The VIEW Conference gathers together some of the top professionals in the areas of animation, visual effects, computer graphics, games, interactive and immersive media, virtual production and more for a week of keynote addresses, talks, presentations and workshops. Early bird ticket prices are available now through Aug. 31 at the VIEW Conference website.
Other speakers from the world of animation include “Wolfwalkers” director Tomm Moore; Kris Pearn, director of “The Willoughbys” and “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2”; Brad Lewis, producer of DWA’s “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and Warner Animation Group’s “The Lego Batman Movie”; and director of photography Kim White and character art director Deanna Marsigliese from Disney-Pixar’s “Luca.”
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Speakers in visual effects arena include WETA Digital’s Sean Walker, VFX supervisor on Marvel’s “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and Luke Millar, VFX supervisor on Disney’s “Jungle Cruise”; VFX supervisor Scott Squires, whose work includes “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” “Blade Runner” and “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace”; Oscar-winning VFX supervisors on “Independence Day” Volker Engel and Douglas Smith; and longtime animator and VFX supervisor Phil Tippett, whose credits include the original “Star Wars” trilogy, “Jurassic Park” and “Starship Troopers.”
Other VFX pros attending the conference are Rob Coleman, whose work can be seen in the “Star Wars” prequels, “Peter Rabbit,” “Happy Feet Two” and “The Lego Movie”; ILM’s Hal Hickle, who worked on the “Star Wars” films and the Disney Plus series “The Mandalorian”; and Mackevision VFX producer Heiko Burkardsmaier and VFX supervisor Juri Stanossek, whose work can be seen in “The Nevers,” “Star Trek: Discovery” and “The Game of Thrones.”
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Venom” production designer Oliver Scholl and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” production designer and “Independence Day” creature concept designer Patrick Tatopoulos are also on the roster.
Rounding out the initial list of entertainment and game industry speakers are Oscar-winning animation pioneer Glenn Entis; VP of immersive content innovation at ILMxLAB Vicki Dobbs Beck; Nordeus lead game artist Nikola Damjanov; Pixar’s chief technology officer Steve May and RenderMan specialist Dylan Sisson; NFB Animation Studio technical director Eloi Champagne; and author and behavioral design expert Tim Versnel.
“The list of speakers attending VIEW Conference 2021 is truly out of this world,” says conference director Maria Elena Gutierrez. “What’s more, it is growing all the time. Believe me when I say this first announcement is only the beginning. We have so many other talented people lining up to share their experiences, to offer profound insights into their creativity and technical prowess, and to inspire students and professionals alike. Inspiration is what VIEW Conference is all about, and I cannot wait to reveal our full program of exciting events for 2021.”
The conference will take place both in person at the OGR venue and virtually.