3D animations in the film and gaming industry: history and challenges

Computer graphics and 3D animations are playing a major role in both movies and video-gaming. They raise not only technical issues, related to quality of images and movements, but also communication issues, related to storytelling, trust, choice of avatars, theatrical performance, etc. The Seminar will provide an overview on the topic, on its history, its recent developments and future trends. In particular, it will address how avatars are dressed – and the corresponding issues linked to fashion – as well as how places are created – in terms of reconstruction of actual physical places or creation of fictional ones. 

Monday, November 19, 10:30 in the USI auditorium (Lugano campus), Craig Caton-Largent, the director of the 3D Animation & Visual Effects School at the New York Film Academy, will introduce the audience to the topic. Craig Caton-Largent has been creating visual effects for the motion picture industry for over 37 years and has contributed to over 100 films. He has created animatronic puppets and worked as a puppeteer on movies such as “Jurassic Park,” “Terminator 2,” “Tremors,” “Batman Returns,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Return of the Living Dead.” Craig has maintained and puppeteered E.T., The Extraterrestrial, for commercials and public appearances since 1992. Craig has also worked as a technical director/visual effects artist on many films, including “Apollo 13,” “How To Train Your Dragon 2,” “Rise of the Guardians,” “Tangled,” “Total Recall” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.”  

The workshop will be held in English and is offered in collaboration with the Festival internazionale del cinema giovane Bellinzona and the Master in Digital Fashion Communication.