I'm giving updates from MGFest via Twitter (MicheleYamazaki) if you'd like to live vicariously through me.
My presentation went great this morning. The topic was Top 10 Must-Have Plug-ins for After Effects. I'll be posting the presentation online soon, as soon as I get the videos embedded.
On now: Archiving the New Media Art of the 70's: Presentation by Jon Cates, SAIC, New Media. Really interesting.
Here are some photos of MGFest so far. I'll be posting more as I take them.
Don't miss MGFest in Chicago, which starts tomorrow on a very historic day (my birthday! LOL). You can get into all events for just $7 (except the Imagination College workshops, which I'm teaching a Greenscreen and Keying in After Effects workshop on Saturday).
Here's my info: "Top 10 Most Wanted After Effects Plugins" @ Motion Design Conference on Friday at 9a.
Workshop : Green Screen Made Easy, Saturday 9a-4p. There are still a couple of available seats, so sign up now! I'll be showing how to key professionally in After Effects, and show you a lot of tricks that would take you years of experience to learn.
My good friend Rani Stack has a Hands On with Modul8 on Friday at 10a, and Harry Frank is on at 11a with The Power of After Effects Expressions.
Harry also has an After Effects Expressions class on Sunday from 9a-4p, and there are a few seats still available as well.
(Chicago, IL, December 1, 2008) - From the Rolling Stone playing at Soldier Field to the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies, video projection has become a touchstone for live performances. Chicago has long been a live music capital in the nation, and as the cost of video projectors fall, the business of music is changing.
"Video can now be 'played' just like a musical instrument can be played," explains Mason Dixon, founder of the Chicago Motion Graphics Festival, "the lights made for live concerts now project full-motion video, and live music performance software like Ableton Live now sports video capabilities."
The 2009 Motion Graphics Festival's will showcase the "Video Band" at it's Audio Visual Performance Showcase at the Chicago Cultural Center on January 25th from 6:30pm to 9pm. The showcase features some of the worlds best talent in this new mode of performance, such as Stoptime 341 (http://Stoptime341.com), the Chicago-based, touring video artist for the internationally acclaimed DJ Tiesto, and MFChicago the video artists behind Lollapalooza’s video accompaniment.
"What's really interesting to see now, is how new visual genres will form. How will the video that plays with a rock band be different than what is played with a country band?" Mason theorizes.
The technology behind video for bands has launched a number of online communities such as Create Digital Motion (http://CreateDigitalMotion.com) and VJ Forums (http://VJForums.com), new software companies like VidVox (http://VidVox.net) and Ableton (http://www.ableton.com), and even special stock footage sites such as VJ Loops (http://www.vjloops.tv).
The Motion Graphics Festival runs from Monday, January 19th to Sunday January 25th in various locations across downtown Chicago. Up to the minute information can be found at www.MGFest.com.
About the Motion Graphics Festival
In its 6th year, MGFest stands as the premier US event showcasing creative motion picture design. The festival presents a year-long, regionally focused program of events. The 5-city tour focuses on motion design, sound design, and film & video technology by hosting: art showcases, exhibits, workshops, classes, panel discussions, studio tours, theater screenings and industry mixers. The entire week of events costs only $7 to attend. Online RSVP required at www.MGFest.com.
Festival Sponsors include: The Chicago Convergence, Columbia College, Stash DVD Magazine, Maxon, Toolfarm, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bridges Media Group, Lift Motion Design, Future Media Concepts, Create Digital Motion, Digieffects, Livid Instruments, Resolume, Boris FX, All City Technology, Lumen Eclipse, Sterling Ledet, VidVox, SXSW Interactive, Mac Specialist, Ableton, Harold Washington College, UnScene, and Clif Bar.
Only in Chicago: The Legendary $7 Festival of 2009
(Chicago, IL, December 1, 2008) - With MacWorld recently announcing they are closing their doors for good and Midway Games laying of 150 full-time employees... the recession of 2009 is beginning to infect the minds of the creative industry with decreasing budgets and bottom lines.
However, there is still cheery news for the holidays; the Chicago Motion Graphics Festival (a 7-day conference in the fast moving field of design technology) has opened it's Conference, Screenings, Studio Tours and Art Showcases for only $7. Rather than charging the typical $500-$1500 conference fee, the Chicago Motion Graphics Festival encourages participants to spend their money on new books, DVDs and software that are offered at a discount rate during the conference.
"Rather than buying an experience," comments Mason Dixon, co-director of the festival's sixth year, "we want people to commit to upgrading their skills, aesthetics and software, all the while getting totally inspired by some amazing motion design artists and technologists."
The festival's "Motion Market" offers attendees significant discounts on DVD collections of audio/video art and Motion Graphics work, technical training books, workshops, video hardware and software upgrades. Plus over $10,000 in free software will be given away as door prizes. All events require an RSVP on the MGFest website, which also grants access to several online-only events that occur during the festival week.
While Chicago is home to the Motion Graphics Festival, this year MGFest tours to four other cities nationally. In 2009, MGFest will visit Cambridge, Massachusetts, Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia and Washington DC.
"Chicago is, and always will be, the heart of MGFest. It is the launch and the conclusion; it's always the biggest event, and sets the tone for the rest of the year. Why else would it be in January" Mason explains. The festival kicks-off on January 20-25, 2009.
About the Motion Graphics Festival
In its 6th year, MGFest stands as the premier US event showcasing creative motion picture design. The festival presents a year-long, regionally focused program of events. The MGFest09 Tour focuses on motion design, sound design, and film & video technology by hosting: art showcases, exhibits, workshops, classes, panel discussions, studio tours, theater screenings and industry mixers.
For more information, visit the Festival web site at www.MGFest.com
Festival Sponsors include: The Chicago Convergence, Columbia College, Stash DVD Magazine, Maxon, Toolfarm, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bridges Media Group, Lift Motion Design, Future Media Concepts, Create Digital Motion, Digieffects, Livid Instruments, Resolume, Boris FX, All City Technology, Lumen Eclipse, Sterling Ledet, VidVox, SXSW Interactive, Mac Specialist, Ableton, Harold Washington College, UnScene, and Clif Bar.
[ Easy ] Submit a Link Simply enter a link to a video you think is really good!
Online voters will select the top videos in several caregories. If your video is selected you will reveive a free badge to the Motion Graphics Festival.
[ Medium ] Submit a Video Send us a DVD of a video you made. Late Entry Deadline: Dec 19, 2008
Send us your finest minutes, your dreams realized, your fictions animated, your adventures recorded, your sweat and passion woven into something of beauty, and we will take it to audiences across the country. Selections will be screened during the 6th annual Motion Graphics Festival tour in Chicago, Boston, Austin, Atlanta and Washington DC.
[ Hard ] Submit a Topic Suggest a presentation topic, performance or installation.
No Entry Fee. Just let us know what's on your mind. Our three themes are: New Motion, New Sound and New Media. Be a presenter, performer or panel/discussion leader. We are looking for presentation topics, technologies, abstracts, essays, performances, art installations, events, groups, conceptual meanderings and just plain smart fun.
Mason Dixon just shot an email my way regarding the 2009 Motion Graphics Festival (aka MG Fest 09). Toolfarm is a sponsor of the festival and I've been to the Chicago event for the past few years. It's not to be missed! Now it's a traveling show hitting several cities in the US. More info on that below.
How can you enter? Well there are 3 Ways to Enter!
[ Easy ] Simply enter a link to a video you think is really good!
Motion Graphics Festival announcing a 5-City Tour in 2009
In its 6th year, MGFest presents a year-long, regionally focused program of events which expands to 5 US Cities: Chicago, Boston, Austin, Atlanta and Washington DC. The 5-city tour focuses on motion design, sound design, and film & video technology by hosting: art showcases, exhibits, workshops, classes, panel discussions, studio tours, theater screenings and industry mixers.
Stay Tuned while periodic updates happen to the Official Website as the Motion Graphics Festival expands
Festival Sponsorship Opportunities - send us a shout... ...& we'll reply w/ the Advanced Info Kit
Pixel Bender is formerly code named known as Hydra, which you may remember reading about here about six months ago. This Pixel Bender Toolkit Preview Release 4 includes a high-performance graphics programming language that Adobe is developing for image processing, named Pixel Bender and an application to create, compile and preview Pixel Bender filters and effects. The toolkit contains a specification for the Pixel Bender language, several sample filters, and sample images provided by Pixel Bender team members.
I just got an email from Mason Dixon of MG Chicago and he said:
Also btw, Flash 9 new features: After Effect Style Timeline!!!! Actionscriptable plugin-style visual filters.... like photoshop filters but scriptable in realtime and 2.5D... um wow.
Attached was the link to Pixel Bender. I'm not going to even begin to understand all this can do but I thin kits something we should keep our eyes on.
The CMGF08 was a smashing success and we had a great time. We came in on Thursday morning and after getting settled in, we headed to the Stash Screening. I had forgotten that my laptop doesn't reset the timezones automagically like my phone does and I arrived over an hour early.
Well, it's a great thing that I did because I got to catch most of Reiner from LeftChannel Industries presentation. LeftChannel, of Colubus, Ohio, worked with a Japanese company on a project for Kirin Hyoketsu, an adult beverage flavored with Hyoketsu, a Japanese apple variety. He talked about how they made animatics and how the shots were incredibly detailed, even though the shots lasted all of 2 seconds. The video is on their website if you want to have a look.
He also talked about an amazing video that they produced by pulling two words out of a hat, 'Blissful' and 'Devil'. They passed around the posters that they came up with, based on those words, and in the end animated it. They entered it into film festivals all over the place and received several awards and new jobs too. Not half bad for pulling two words out of a hat!
I got to sit by my old friend Rani Stack, who worked with me 7-8 years ago at Postworks. She's now doing digital signage for big hotels. She presented earlier in the day, but unfortunately, I missed her presentation by a couple of hours.
There was a studio tour that evening, but I decided to get some sleep and be bright eyed for my class in the morning.
On Friday morning, Harry Frank and I met up in the doorway of the SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago). We taught a class together on intermediate to advanced After Effect use. I first taught Harry's lesson called 'DJ Roto' and went on to show s few things about the new Shape tool in After Effects. Harry filled the afternoon with some great examples from a Sherwin Williams spot he just finished with Digital Kitchen, and also showed us how to make incredibly cool 3D grass with CC Hair and a few other plug-ins.
The AE Class Harry and I taught. Greg Dillard snapped the pic.
Friday night was the tour at Bridges Media, a post house and studio in Chicago. It's the third year I've been there and they're pretty much all FCP HD suites and running all Macs with the Adobe video tools. The CEO gave us a tour. The food at the party was very interesting and vegan. They had really delicious (and hot!) stuffed jalepenos, plus mini salads served on a leaf of endive with watercress, grape tomatoes, and these crispy brown onions. Truffles too. Very frou-frou, and I loved it! They also had a DJ spinning some great tunes. It was a lot of fun meeting new people and seeing the folks I met in the past years at the fest.
Me, Rani Stack and Harry Frank at Bridges Media
Saturday morning was my Apple Motion class. It went really well and I plan to put some tutorials and presets up at Toolfarm/AE Freemart soon. Maybe I'll make some full training... not sure yet.
On Saturday night there was a video installation from 9pm-2am, but I missed it. I was very tired and it was very cold. When I say very cold, I mean frigid. I wasn't just being wimpy. The high was 3° and the wind chill was -40°
On Sunday, Harry taught After Effects Expressions at the SAIC and he said it went very well.
The event is really well organized and they have a terrific lineup of activities and guests. My only complaint is the weather. Chicago in January. Ick. How about having the fest in May next year?! It was also the same week as Mac World, which I know caused a few conflicts.
Also, I'd like to mention, for being such a hot dog/deep dish pizza place, I had some of the best food I've ever had in one city in Chicago. Chicago really is a culinary destination.
Motion Graphics Chicago Festival is awesome. I've gone the last two years in a row. Last year I taught a master's class in After Effects and I'll be teaching something again this year. I'm not sure of the dates of the festival yet, but I'll keep you posted. It's a great event and people travel from across the country to experience it. Plus, Toolfarm is a sponsor of the event.
Chicago's Motion Graphics Festival screens work from a variety of disciplines, including: demo reels, music videos, commercials, art film shorts, special effects, compositing, machinima & game graphics, sound effects & sound for film, animatics, retail video displays, remixes, website motion designs, camera & lighting effects, animatronics, robotics for film, multi-screen video displays, 3d & holographic cinema, kiosk & interactive menu design, audio visual installations, architectural video facades, and motion-picture experiments. The festival accepts entries from all over the world.
This year we will give special attention to work non-commercial motion design, sound effects for motion, and video for new media devices.
The DEADLINE for entry via mail is 1 December 2007.
The entry fee is $15 made payable to Motion Graphics Festival. Please fill out the entry form and mail it with your entry.
Entries should be mailed in DVD format to: Motion Graphics Festival 2008 1321 N Milwaukee Ave #510 Chicago, IL 60622
Motion Graphics Chicago Festival is awesome. I've gone the last two years in a row. Last year I taught a master's class in After Effects and I'll be teaching something again this year. I'm not sure of the dates of the festival yet, but I'll keep you posted. It's a great event and people travel from across the country to experience it. Plus, Toolfarm is a sponsor of the event.
