Future of Film Podcast

Kevin Baillie's career at the forefront of visual effects and screen storytelling began in 1999 and is now part of industry folklore. As an 18-year old high school senior, he and his friend created a short film involving a futuristic speeder race through his school, primarily to attract the attention of Star Wars producer Rick McCallum. The short was hugely successful and the tactic worked with Kevin soon finding himself working alongside George Lucas in the visualisation department on STAR WARS: Episode One. Since then, Kevin has continued to blaze a trail in innovating the storytelling process. He formed a long-term creative collaboration with Robert Zemeckis, supervising the visual effects on films such as FLIGHT, THE WALK and THE WITCHES. Recently, this has started to incorporate increasing amounts of real-time and virtual production techniques into the workflows of his projects. In this episode Kevin reflects on the evolution of these creative tools, the benefits they offer to the storytelling process and explains why "virtual production will allow filmmakers to tell stories that would otherwise be untellable". About Kevin Baillie Kevin's VFX career started at age 18 when he when he joined Lucasfilm's JAK Films as a pre-visualization artist on Star Wars: Episode I. In the following 25 years, Kevin has blazed a bright path, helming VFX at The Orphanage on features including Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Night at the Museum, Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Hellboy, and supervising cutting-edge motion capture feature films at ImageMovers Digital. In 2010, he co-founded the groundbreaking VFX studio Atomic Fiction, whose outstanding work on films such as The Walk, Allied, and Flight garnered awards recognition and critical acclaim. In 2018 Atomic Fiction, having grown to over 300 employees in 2 countries, was acquired by Deluxe Entertainment. Kevin's VFX Supervisor credits also include two Star Trek movies, two Transformers features, Welcome to Marwen and The Witches. Most recently, Kevin acted as VFX Supervisor and 2nd Unit Director on Disney’s live-action Pinocchio - another title in his long collaboration with Director Robert Zemeckis. Kevin also founded the venture-funded cloud rendering technology company, Conductor Technologies, is active with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and is an active member of the Directors Guild of America. This episode is presented in partnership with Epic Games and Unreal Engine. More at www.futureoffilm.live

This episode is a deep dive into the revolutionary world of NFTs, Web 3 and the blockchain, with new media and technology entertainment industry executive, Rouslan Ovtcharoff. As the former head of marketing at Millennium Media (famous for blockbusters like The Expendables and Olympus Has Fallen), Rouslan is highly experienced in film and traditional media. More recently, however, he has dived deeply into the world of NFTs and the blockchain, founding Blockchain Global Entertainment Alliance and Groovesetter, a peer-to-peer platform for real-time online music collaboration. In this conversation, Rouslan shares his knowledge and passion for the subject including: What is an NFT ? How can we buy one - and make one? What is Web 3? Why are NFTs and Web 3 so important to the metaverse? What are some of the ways NFTs can be used in film? Why does every filmmaker and media company now needs to have an NFT strategy in 2022?

Kaya Jabar is a multidisciplinary visualisation supervisor with unique experience leading previs, postvis, techvis and virtual production for tentpole film and TV projects including Game of Thrones, Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker and Dumbo. Kaya is on a mission to develop real-time adoption and virtual production workflows with the aim of making visualisation more efficient and interactive. In other words she as at the forefront of the virtual production revolution and in this discussion we explore how realtime engines are transforming the filmmaking process, the role and potential of visualisation in achieving 'creative consensus' and why Kaya believes we are just at the start of a newly democratised future of film.

Robin McNichols is co-founder and Director of the award-winning creative studio Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) where he has directed a myriad of immersive experiences, large-scale installations and live performances. Exploring new sensory perspectives that challenge our relationship to the world around us plays a key role in Robin and the team at MLF’s work. His interest in full immersion lead to a 5 year deep-dive into virtual production and interaction techniques which has informed the development of mixed-reality storytelling methods for new forms of audience engagement. Earlier in 2021, this manifested in the pioneering collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s online interactive interpretation of A Midsummer’s Night Dream. In DREAM Robin and the MLF team utilised virtual production and realtime techniques to create an interactive, immersive digital WORLD for the RSC performance - which was critical in the show’s pivot to a fully online experience during lockdown. In this episode we explore the creative and technological process of DREAM and how virtual production tools can be utilised in a live theatrical experience. Robin also talks about the business of interactive storytelling and shares his incredibly thoughtful and articulate perspectives on the future of audiences and screen storytelling. Check out more on virtual production in Virtual Production Revolution available now at www.futureoffilm.live

Mahin Ibrahim and Phillip Domfeh are the executives behind Disney Launchpad, the new programme for untapped filmmaking talent. Available now on Disney+, Launchpad is a series of bold and new stories from emerging creators. In this talk, Mahin and Phillip share how the programme worked and the process of nurturing new talent. We also talk about inclusion behind and in front of the camera and the reasons that so often prevent a wider range of talent progressing through the system. More at www.futureoffilm.live

Jack Attridge is Creative Director and co-founder of Flavourworks, the London-based digital entertainment studio. Originally trained in filmmaking, Jack pivoted into the gaming industry, working at leading studios like EA, Rebellion, Mind Candy, and 22cans. In 2015 he co-founded Flavourworks to realise a new form of interactive storytelling. This resulted in the acclaimed game-film hybrid (or as Jack prefers, 'filmed game') ERICA which fuses live action storytelling with interactivity via an innovative new control system developed by Flavourworks called Touch Video. In this conversation we explore the new medium that Jack and Flavourworks are pioneering at this intersection of film and games. Jack does an amazing job in deconstructing these two forms and sharing his vision for this new kind of story experience they are driving forward, that combines the aesthetics and sensibilities of filmmaking with new levels of intimate, tactile interactivity. More at www.futureoffilm.live About Jack Attridge Jack Attridge is Creative Director and co-founder of Flavourworks, an innovative content and technology studio based in London that develops and produces filmed games. Specialising in design, audio, and filmmaking, Jack’s career spans studios including EA, Rebellion, Mind Candy and 22cans. In 2015 he set-up Flavourworks alongside his co-founder Pavle Mihajlovic to realise their vision of creating live-action cinematic narratives imbued with responsive gameplay features which are simple and intuitive, allowing them to be played by anyone, on any platform. Soon after forming, Flavourworks was funded by games industry legends Peter Molyneux OBE, and Ian Livingstone CBE, who also serves as Non-Executive Chairman. Flavourworks’s patent-pending Touch Video technology allows them to function simultaneously as both a game studio and film production company with the studio’s first game, “ERICA,”, now available on both PlayStation and iOS and coming to PC in May 2021.

This episode is about how filmmaker HaZ is reinventing his craft through realtime game engine-powered animation. Having originally started his career in VFX, Hasraf 'HaZ' Dulull transitioned to directing and producing, with the Netflix-acquired sci-fi. THE BEYOND. He then followed up with another sci fi feature, 2036 ORIGIN UNKNOWN before directing a major show for Disney, FAST LAYNE. Throughout a career characterised by innovation, HaZ has particularly made use of realtime game engine tools and Unreal Engine. In 2019 at Future of Film Summit , he showcased how these helped unlock finance for his projects through a 'pre-vis to pitch-vis' process. In 2020 he directed the groundbreaking Virtual Production live action short, PERCIVAL with Rebellion Studios. Now, working with a small global team, HaZ is using the same tools to realise his vision through completely animated films. In this conversation, HaZ shares the tools, techniques and workflow he is using to create the latest HaZ Films project, the animated anime feature film RIFT. He also explains how this process is enabling him to retain creative independence and achieve commercial success in the new streaming landscape.

Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, is a three-time Academy Award®-nominated, two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning and a two-time Peabody Award-winning producer. Blumhouse is known for pioneering a new model of studio filmmaking: producing high-quality micro-budget films and television series, and his multimedia company is regarded as the driving force in the horror renaissance. Throughout his career Jason has relentlessly innovated and defied collective wisdom on the business of filmmaking. His low budget approach is much more than about 'keeping costs down', it's about fundamentally reducing risk and retaining control. And the result of this? For Jason it has meant staying INDEPENDENT, empowering artists (like Damien Chazelle, Spike Lee and Jordan Peele) and building a global direct to consumer and industry brand. In this very special interview with journalist Wendy Mitchell, Jason discusses his work and the future of the film and television business. It was recorded in November 2020 for the Future of Film Summit.

Jeff Gomez is CEO of Starlight Runner and one of the world’s leading experts in story and narrative design. He works with executives, visionaries, and global leaders to develop vast fictional story universes on properties like Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers and Spider-Man This conversation is really an exploration of narrative design. In particular, Jeff describes how conceiving and developing stories as worlds that can be told across multiple platforms can unlock incredible value for creators and brands. We also discuss the movement of audiences to participants and how, as storytellers we can not only engage and learn from the audience as well as harness this incredible feedback in our work. This leads us to explore what Jeff refers to us the Collective Journey narrative modality which, he argues, is a more relevant way to think about story in today’s hyper connected world. We dig into what this means for film, for culture and how we are moving from Hollywood-centric storytelling to more global, diverse and inclusive narratives. www.futureoffilm.live

Johanna Koljonen is a media industry analyst, broadcaster, writer and experience designer. She is also the author of the Göteborg Film Festival’s annual Nostradamus Report, which is an industry leading analysis of the near future of the screen sectors. I recently had the honour of being invited to participate in the 2021 Report (subtitled "Transforming Storytelling Together") and in this episode I took the opportunity to 'turn the tables' to ask Johanna about her findings and thoughts on the future of film and screen storytelling. Johanna is incredibly articulate and insightful about where things are heading within film and media on a global basis and there is so much valuable information in this episode for anyone involved in the business of storytelling on screen. As well as writing The Nostradamus Report, Johanna lectures internationally on changes in the media sector, as well as on participation and narrative design for games and experiences in analogue and virtual spaces. Her background is in public service broadcasting in Sweden and she serves on the board of the Swedish Film Institute. In 2011, she received the Swedish Grand Journalism Award in the Innovator category. Her latest book is Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences (2019). More at www.futureoffilm.live The 2021 Nostradamus Report can be downloaded for free here: https://goteborgfilmfestival.se/nostradamus