Unreal Build: Virtual Production
November 10, 2020
Courtesy of Neweb Labs
Join us at Unreal Build: Virtual Production!
UPDATE: Unreal Build: Virtual Production 2020 has now concluded, but you can now watch the sessions on-demand below.
Coming to you from the comfort of your own home on Tuesday, November 10 starting at 9 AM PST | 12 PM EST | 5 PM GMT, Unreal Build: Virtual Production is a free half-day virtual event that showcases incredible projects and innovations from film and television industry trailblazers. We'll also be bringing you the latest features in the upcoming Unreal Engine 4.26 release. Plus! Don't miss a special guest presentation from Weta Digital.
Huge thanks to our wonderful industry partners, without whom this event would not have been possible. These are just some of them:
Fireside Chat with Robert Zemeckis and Kevin Baillie
Unreal Build: Virtual Production 2020
Featured speakers
Robert Zemeckis
Director
'Forrest Gump', 'Castaway', 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit', and many more!
Academy Award-winning visionary Robert Zemeckis has directed some of the most iconic films of our era, including Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Contact, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which he also wrote. Continually embracing the latest VFX techniques, he broke new ground with motion capture in The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol. His most recent work includes a reimagining of The Witches.
Kevin Baillie
VFX Supervisor
Electric Sheep Productions
Kevin started his career as a previs artist on Star Wars: Episode 1. In the 25 years since then, he has led VFX teams on box office hits like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Superman Returns, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In 2010, he co-founded Atomic Fiction, whose work on films such as The Walk, Allied, and Flight garnered awards recognition and critical acclaim, and enjoyed a long collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis.
Girish Balakrishnan
Director of Virtual Production
Netflix
Girish Balakrishnan is Director of Virtual Production at Netflix. He supports Netflix filmmakers and creators to enhance their storytelling through the use of new production technologies and oversees the company's virtual production R&D initiative, NLAB. He’s recently been involved in productions such as Disney's The Lion King and Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, helping engage directors, production designers, and DPs through the use of game engine technologies and VR/AR.
Shari Hanson
SVP of Physical Production
Paramount Pictures
In over 25 years in the industry, Shari Hanson has credits on multiple award-winning tentpoles, including Hulk, Day After Tomorrow, The Island, Mission Impossible III, Transformers, Star Trek, Terminator Genisys, The Lone Ranger, and the Oscar award-winning Rango. Shari is currently Senior Vice President of Physical Production at Paramount, where she works closely with filmmakers to bring the director’s vision to the screen while balancing the realities of physical production and financing.
Chris Del Conte
Global Head of VFX
Amazon Studios
Chris Del Conte has 25+ years of VFX production experience delivering high-end work on over 95 feature, television, stereo conversion, and special venue projects. Prior to his current role, Chris has held a variety of roles at companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Shade VFX, Disney Studios, Cinesite, Prime Focus, and Digital Dimension. His film credits include Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales; Avatar; and Titanic.
Lynwen Brennan
General Manager and EVP
Lucasfilm
As General Manager and EVP of Lucasfilm, Lynwen Brennan oversees all businesses, including Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound. She’s responsible for the development and execution of Lucasfilm’s business strategy and implementation of the company vision. Lynwen oversees the Star Wars franchise groups including Marketing and Integrated Planning, Games, Publishing and Consumer Products, Publicity, Asset Management, and Content Strategy.
Colin Brady
Chief Creative Officer & Chief Technology Officer
AMGI Studios
Colin Brady is a celebrated animation talent who was the chief animator for Pixar’s original Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Amazing Spiderman, and Game of Thrones, among many other productions. He has worked as a director, creative producer, story supervisor, and animation supervisor for Steve Jobs, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ang Lee, and Martin Scorsese, and pioneered many motion capture puppeteering techniques.
Chris Cram
SVP, Visual Effects
Universal Pictures
As SVP of Visual Effects at Universal Pictures, Chris has overseen the development and execution of visual effects on over 50 feature film projects including the Jurassic World franchise. He serves on both Universal’s Virtual Production Council and its Innovation Forum—cross-functional teams focused on virtual production strategy and implementation. Prior to joining Universal, Chris worked in freelance visual effects and film production.
Andrew Jones
Art Director and Production Designer
'The Mandalorian'
Andrew Jones is a production designer and art director. Since working on The Polar Express in 2003, Andrew has been involved in film and TV projects that employ emerging technology, including Avatar, Tintin, and The Jungle Book. Andrew is a key part of the team that developed and produced The Mandalorian with Jon Favreau, for which he won an Emmy. Andrew lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Aaron Sims
President
Aaron Sims Creative
Aaron Sims is a legendary VFX artist with a career spanning three decades. Starting out in special effects, he’s played a critical part in the making of some of the most memorable and iconic movie creatures of all time. His studio Aaron Sims Creative has contributed characters, creatures, and environments for TV shows and films including Stranger Things, The Planet of the Apes trilogy, and Wonder Woman.
Alasdair Coull
Vice President of Special Projects
Weta Digital
Alasdair is responsible for the vision and execution of the Special Projects group. A long-time VR and AR visionary, Alasdair presented the first Unreal/Apple ARKit integration during Apple’s WWWDC keynote and previously led Weta Digital's extensive R&D team, earning an Academy® Science & Technology Award for contributions to hair/fur software. Key film credits include Planet of the Apes, Avatar, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, and Furious 7.
Max Rocchetti
Chief Creative Officer
Luno Studios
Max Rocchetti is a filmmaker and commercial director. He moved to San Francisco to join ILM as a VFX artist in 1997, where he helped master filmmakers including George Lucas and Steven Spielberg create worlds for their characters to inhabit. As the co-founder and chief creative officer for Luno Studios, he’s now focused on bringing new virtual production workflows to set—from a filmmakers’ point of view.
Noah Kadner
Contributing Writer
American Cinematographer
Noah Kadner brings a unique combination of on-set production experience and in-depth post-production research and analysis to clients including Apple, the United Nations, Sony, Panasonic, and Epic Games, for whom he wrote the Virtual Production Field Guide. Noah currently hosts the Virtual Production podcast. He also writes for American Cinematographer magazine and has interviewed many groundbreaking filmmakers, including J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau, Sir Kenneth Branagh, and Michael Bay.
Connie Kennedy
Head of LA Lab
Epic Games
A veteran film and TV producer, Connie Kennedy has consistently been at the forefront of emerging technologies to facilitate both physical and virtual production. She is currently Head of the Los Angeles Lab at Epic Games, where she’s responsible for education and industry adoption of Unreal Engine in film and television, working with top studios to leverage workflows in innovative ways on projects such as The Mandalorian and Westworld.
Miles Perkins
Business Development Manager
Epic Games
Miles Perkins helps Epic Games drive adoption of real-time workflows in the film and television industry. During his 23 years at Lucasfilm, Miles oversaw PR campaigns for blockbusters including the Star Wars prequels, the Jurassic Park series, and the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Following his tenure at Lucasfilm, Miles went on to serve as VP of Marketing at Jaunt, one of the earliest and most technologically innovative XR startups.
David Morin
Industry Manager - Film & TV
Epic Games
David Morin spearheads Epic Games’ efforts to support the adoption of Unreal Engine in the film and television industries. He’s been involved in motion capture and 3D software since Jurassic Park at companies including Softimage, Microsoft, Avid Technology, and Autodesk. David is the executive director of the Academy Software Foundation, chairman of the Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Production, and chairman of the Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Reality.