[csaa-forum] Chris Landreth UTS Seminar.doc

Tue Jun 30 13:41:47 CST 2009

SPECIAL INVITATION

CHRIS LANDRETH : 

Psycho-realism and 3D Animation : Moving Beyond the Uncanny Valley

Thursday 2nd July, 2009

5:00 pm - 6:30pm

University of Technology, Sydney

Cost : Free

Oscar winning, animation director, Chris Landreth is one of the true
legends of the contemporary creative animation scene, Landreth has been
at the absolute forefront of computer animation development for a
decade. His films - The End, Bingo and Ryan - represented groundbreaking
leaps in pushing technology to its limits to show the breadth of what
animation was capable of depicting on the screen. Landreth was nominated
for an Academy Award for The End, with Ryan winning the Oscar for Best
Short Animation in 2005.

This seminar presentation will go beyond Landreth's films and provide
insight into his successful marriage of creativity and technology.
Landreth will talk about "Psycho-realism", the use of art and animation
to depict the realism of one's emotional and spiritual state. He
explores the "Uncanny Valley" (the "creepy" effect experienced when CGI
characters are too realistic, leading to a feeling of revulsion in the
viewer) and how his latest film The Spine attempts to avoid this
problem. He also shows how his animators used a Method-acting approach
to nick subtle gestures, ticks, and micro-expressions in their
characters' faces and bodies, and explains how his crew balanced realism
and stylization to create characters who are Uncanny in a positive way.
Landreth's talk will be followed by a  Q&A.

Location: 

University of Technology, Sydney, 

Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building,

3rd Floor, Lecture Theatre 322

702 - 730 Harris Street ( next to the ABC) map here:

http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/dab/location-maps/index.html
<http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/dab/location-maps/index.html> 

Transport

UTS is only ten minutes walk from Central Station, Eddy Avenue and
Railway Square bus stops.

Parking is available for those with a disability or special need to
drive: Peter Johnson Building, Basement Car Park, 702-730 Harris St.
Ultimo.

Chris Landreth

Biography

Armed with a degree in Applied Mechanics from the University of
Illinois, Chris Landreth joined Alias|Wavefront in 1994, where it was
his job to define, test and abuse animation software, in-house, before
it was released to the public. In addition to well-mannered software,
this work resulted in the production of animated short films, including
The End (1995) and Bingo (1998). Chris was a senior animator at
Alias|Wavelength when his film "The End" was nominated for an Academy
Award in 1995. "The End" brought a shimmer and fluidity to computer
animation that had not been seen before. It also introduced us to an
animator who clearly was not afraid to push his imagination. 

His next film Bingo, a five-minute computer animated adaptation of a
live theatre performance called Disregard This Play by the Chicago-based
theatre company The Neo-Futurists, wrote the bible for the then
fledgling animation software package, Maya. The End and Bingo have
received wide international recognition and numerous awards.

Landreth then turned his attentions to a biography of animator Ryan
Larkin, while at the same time challenging notions of documentary and
animation. The legend of Canadian animator Ryan Larkin is now well
known. Larkin had made several extraordinary films for the National Film
Board of Canada in the late 1960's including "Walking", which was
nominated for an Academy Award. Larkin disintegrated, becoming a
homeless panhandler before becoming the subject of Landreth's animated
documentary Ryan in 2004. The film became a phenomena, screening at
countless festivals, provoking terabytes of on-line discussion, sparking
several books and - to some extent - resurrecting Larkin's career, or at
least his reputation as a gifted, instinctual animator and artist. 

Ryan the film was totally unique, its design stripped the characters
back to something much less than their full physical states, exposing,
literally and metaphorically, their inner selves. The film won the
Academy Award for Best Short Animation in 2005 and has taken out
countless awards worldwide.

Landreth's latest film, The Spine, is hot off the press, premiering to
critical acclaim at the prestigious Annecy International Animation
Festival just three weeks ago. The Spine is the latest chapter in the
work of one of the most influential and fascinating practitioners
working in the realm of CGI animation.

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