The game changing fourth edition of the Miami Animation Conference and Festival will present in October 10 and 11, 2014. Contributors need to get their ducks in a row to meet various September submission deadlines.
Computer animation, gaming, visual effects, motion graphics, film, web design and visual arts are featured in this industry conference. On site portfolio reviews will be offered by notables in the field to offer professional comments and criticism.
A major draw will be the "Pitch to the Industry," allowing lucky submission winners to see heavy hitters of the animated world without the expense and difficulties of flying off to wrangle a meeting with the big kids. Animation categories include a Student competition and Directors’ competition. Winners will have their videos included on the WPBT2 schedule and promoted for one year in various prominent venues as well as full conference passes.
Partnering with hosts Miami-Dade College in 2013 gave the festival a boost along with a terrific venue to hold the MAF in the MDC comprehensive downtown Wolfson Campus. The festival has been an enormous help in bringing together the various cells of South Florida animators previously working without knowledge of the many talented related groups bubbling up. This event has given animation artists a wider platform to share, exchange and evolve as a tighter entity bringing our area into focus on the greater world stage. Miami profits by enabling more jobs offered locally to talented new animators previously forced to go elsewhere to hone their craft in this up and coming world class recognized climate.
In the 1920s, Walt Disney exploded on the scene with Mickey Mouse and this niche-oriented art form embedded itself into the population. Pixar further rammed its moving images into the cosmic consciousness over the past few decades with a new technique that resonated wildly with the modern world. Animation soon became popular with the computer gaming format and remains a large draw to young animators-in-training.
Founder and president of Miami Animation Festival, Mauricio Ferrazza
IS: What can we expect from MAF his year?
MF: At this year’s conference we are incorporating a new track to the event: illustration, story-board and conceptual design. We are bringing the pre-production aspect of animation. Until now, our focus was solely on the hands on production aspect of the art of animation. Now we want to focus also on the conceptual aspect, the content and what it takes to formulate, create, come up with styles and characters which will compose a major animation title.
IS: How has Miami’s reputation as an animation hub morphed since you started the festival?
MF: Several gaming studios have opened in Miami since we started the conference, as well as some start-up companies. I don’t know if that’s a consequence of the event, but I’m sure there is some relation. One thing I can tell you, outside of Miami, the conference has gotten recognition in several parts of the country. Everybody knows about it in California and New York, and other states as well.
IS: MDC’s participation and its official role in this event?
MF: The partnership with MDC has added so much to the event; not only have they supported the event fully, animation and game design might be part of their curriculum in the near future.
IS: And besides your founding and presidential input, who is guiding this train?
Leah Hoyer - Gaming, Pitch to the Industry
Drew Tolman - Animation, Industry Relations
IS: Who are the speakers this year?
MF: Our keynote speaker is Tom Sito, a legend in the animation field. (He is) an animator, historian and Professor of Cinema Practice at the University of Southern California. His movie credits include Beauty and the Beast (1991), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Shrek (2001) and Hop! (2010). His books include: Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson (U Press of Kentucky, 2006) Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation (MIT Press, 2013), which is the first comprehensive history of computer animation in book form. It was also nominated for a Kraszner-Krausz Book Award, named to the 2013 list of Notable Books by ACM’s Computer Reviews"
IS: What’s new in the biz that we need to be aware of?
MF: The big trend in animation right now, believe it or not, is content. Since animation production has been outsourced more and more through the years, studios are now focusing more and more on content, looking for artists who can come up with new stories and characters. This is one of the reasons we have opened this new track at the conference, to make people aware of this new demand in Hollywood and the animation industry.
IS: Does Miami have a "signature" animation genre?
MF: No, not that I am aware of, but we are working to start producing animations here in Miami. MIA Animation will start producing short animated movies this year here in Miami, and send them to other festivals around the world. WPLG2 started broadcasting the 2013 animation festival on their award winning show ART LOFT on May 13, 2014.
IS: How far afield do submissions come?
MF: We receive submissions from all over the world. Last year alone, we had submissions from United States, Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, the United Kingdom, India, Indonesia, Germany, Croatia, Italy, France, Israel, Belgium, Afghanistan and Switzerland. This year we have submissions coming already from the United States, United Kingdom, and China.
Additionally, I would like to thank MDC and the Cadillac Courtyard by Marriott Miami Beach Oceanfront who is sponsoring the event this year.
Paolo Cogliati, a previous festival winner weighs in on his adventure:
“The MIA Festival has been a really rewarding experience. I have made good friendships with other participants, with whom I regularly keep in touch, even if we were never able to meet at the festival. It also was very rewarding to be able to know my film was appreciated, and see my animated movie, Serial Taxi, exponentially grow both as a film and as an animation piece through online and live viewings. It was selected by E! Online as one of "The Best Things in Pop Culture this Week," as-well as being used for educational purposes in learning English for children and second-language speakers through sites like Film-English after the exposure given to it by festivals like MIA.
So, dust off your career motivator and consider sending in your artful animated animations. You have the summer to get your ideas loaded into the system. All entries must be uploaded to www.animiami.com by September deadlines. Click onto the festival website to “Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction” (talking Doorknob quote, Alice in Wonderland).
Miami Animation Conference and Festival - October 10 and 11th, 2014
Miami-Dade College
300 NE Second Avenue
Miami, 33132
www.miaanimation.com/animation-festivalSee what your competition is doing:
Winner, Young Directors competition 2013 (Chris Burns)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4efkHTTlR8#t=14Winner, Student Competition 2012 (director Leo Crane)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Vf1_Cno34#t=45
