LIVERPOOL FILM & GAMING EVENT – Virtual Production: The State of the Art
DATE: Wednesday, August 17, 2022
TIME: 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM BST
VENUE: Redmonds Building / Screen School, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool (map)
From motion capture to LED volumes, virtual production and realtime technology is transforming the way that film, animation, games and television get made. From Netflix to Disney, Star Wars to Batman, productions are realising the huge efficiencies, benefits and creative possibilities that new processes can bring to content creation.
At this event you will hear from leading people disrupting this space and ask what it means for content creators and production companies in the North West.
The event is aimed at people working across film, broadcast, live events, games, music, content production and more. Co-organised By Mark Wright (Experimental Technologies Lab, Institute of Art and Technology) and Pete Woodbridge (Draw and Code/Immersive Liverpool) in conjunction with Liverpool Film Office, Liverpool Screen School, LJMU Faculty of Engineering & Computing and Liverpool City Council.
Speakers
Dr Declan Keeney, Director of the Ulster Screen Academy, Director of R&D at Studio Ulster
Dr Declan Keeney is Director of the Ulster Screen Academy in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Ulster University, His current research in the support of the screen industries represents £91.5m worth of live grant-based research and development investments. These include a £72m Virtual Production Studio complex that is part of the Belfast Region City Deal pillar innovation projects entitled ‘Studio Ulster’; a £13m AHRC funded creative cluster entitled Future Screens NI; a £2.9m EPSRC funded Network+ grant in Virtual Production; a £2.9m, ‘Levelling Up Fund’ grant for a hybrid virtual production studio and other funded projects.
Declan leads on the strategy and development of degrees in Games Design & Development, Animation, Interactive Media, Interaction Design, VFX, Virtual Production and Film and Television. He is an award-winning academic, filmmaker, screen technologist and digital media practitioner, who has worked in the creative industries for over 25 years, including the BBC for 13 years. He recently designed and introduced a £1.6m Virtual Production studio training facility at Ulster for skills development, teaching and research in Virtual Production. Declan is also currently co-delivering the ‘VP Futures’ training and development programme for eight companies around the UK, in partnership between Industrial Light and Magic, Epic Games, Futures Screens NI and Story Futures at the National Film and Television School.
Robin Cramp, XPLOR, Production Park
Robin Heads the Business Development at Production Park for XPLOR – the world’s first research & innovation centre for entertainment technology and production, developing capacity for their Centre for Virtual Production – Yorkshire’s first Extended Reality facility and one of the best-equipped XR stages in the North of England. A campus for live events, film, TV and virtual production where a community of creatives, technologists and engineers work together to create ground-breaking entertainment experiences, with access to extensive facilities.