Go Behind the Year’s Biggest Visual Effects Productions During SIGGRAPH 2020 With ‘Making Of’ Sessions and Talks

The SIGGRAPH 2020 Production Sessions and Talks programs boast an impressive lineup of more than 20 behind-the-scenes looks at the “making of” the year’s most high-profile productions in film, television, and advertising. Hear from the best minds in visual effects (VFX) through on-demand and live virtual sessions during the first-ever online event in the conference’s 47-year history, 17–28 August.

Beyond sessions from Oscars heavy hitters “The Irishman,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” and “Frozen 2”; recent releases “Trolls World Tour” and “Onward”; Emmy nominees “The Mandalorian” and “Watchmen”; and, Pixar Animation Studios’ expected November drop, “Soul,” SIGGRAPH 2020 programming will also feature a special session on the VFX work that goes into commercial advertising.

“SIGGRAPH Production Sessions and Talks continuously inspire and energize creatives in visual effects to push new boundaries and explore the limits of their existing pipelines. As the computer graphics industry shoulders an unprecedented reinvention, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, collaboration among studios remains thrilling to witness,” noted SIGGRAPH 2020 Production Sessions Chair Derrick Nau, of DreamWorks Animation. “Our virtual lineup reflects the latest technological applications at a time when maximizing these tools is more important than ever, and I’m so excited for these creators to share their stories.”

Highlights include:

ILM Presents ‘This Is the Way’ – The Making of Mandalorian | Production Session
Thursday, 27 August, 2 pm PDT
Go behind the scenes of Jon Favreau’s hit Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” as panelists discuss not only the traditional visual effects work on the series, but also the groundbreaking real-time production methodology they developed and implemented. Full description.

Finding the Look of Souls | Talk
On-demand: 17–28 August; Live Q&A: Friday, 28 August, noon PDT
Discover the technical approaches and solutions that emerged during the look development for the challenging designs of the soul characters for the movie “Soul” from Pixar Animation Studios. Details.

More With Less: The State of the Art of CG in Advertising
Tuesday, 25 August, 2 pm PDT
This session will present a view of the state of the art of computer graphics in advertising from the perspective of three industry-leading studios: MPC, The Mill, and Method Studios. Senior creative and technical staff from each studio will provide a vignette that demonstrates their unique point of view. Full description.

Creating the Looking Glass Mask on HBO’s ‘Watchmen’ | Talk
On-demand: 17–28 August; Live Q&A: Thursday, 27 August, 9 am PDT
VFX Supervisor Nathaniel Larouche worked as an artist on Rorschach’s iconic mask in the “Watchmen” film (2009), and was presented with a new challenge for HBO’s “Watchmen” series (2019): the Looking Glass mask. Hear a firsthand account of the challenges, proprietary technologies, and VFX pipeline that went into creating the impossibly seamless, mirror-like mask. Details.

ILM Presents: Making ‘The Irishman’ | Production Session
Wednesday, 26 August, noon PDT
From the very beginning — including “markerless” capture work done as early as 2015 — through the end of production, three panelists will discuss the schedule, production, and technology that went into “The Irishman.” The group will even go over requirements initially imposed by Scorsese and the actors, who wanted to perform on the set as they always do. Full description. (Catch a primer for this session via Episode 37 of the SIGGRAPH Spotlight podcast.)

Productions Sessions and Talks are open to participants with Ultimate registration. Register for SIGGRAPH 2020, the 47th international conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, at s2020.SIGGRAPH.org/register.