“Digital Storytelling 2012: The Art and Science of Visual Effects” was the seventh international seminar on the creative use of technology in film, television and games. This popular annual event focuses on how visual effects and digital set design are used to advance storytelling and world building. Speakers from the Norwegian, Scandinavian and International film and visual effects community gathered in Oslo to present their work.

Swedish VFX studio Fido presented their stunning creature VFX work for Kon-Tiki, Underworld Awakening and Yoko and CTO Sebastian Sylwan of Weta Digital presented the keynote “The Evolution of Storytelling Through the Convergence of Art and Science:  A discussion of visual effects as a modern example of how art and science combine in the service of story.”

Indie game studio Theory Interactive talked about their upcoming game “Reset” featuring the amazing story world and cinematic storytelling as seen in their debut trailer, created with their state-of-the-art realtime game engine Praxis.

The VFX Omelette featured the Framestore Iceland studio and many of the usual Norwegian suspects such as Storm Studios, Gimpville, Qvisten Animation, Stripe, Electric Putty, Netron and Placebo Effects.

The Digital Storytelling Seminar and Workshop series is arranged in cooperation with the Norwegian Film Institute and took place in the Tancred Cinema at Filmens Hus, Oslo Norway. The event opened with a seminar on Monday May 14th followed by a Nuke X 6.3 New Features workshop for VFX artists on May 15th and a Maya to Houdini workshop on May 16th. The VFX workshops was led by professional instructor, Matt Leonard of Sphere VFX who returned by popular demand to Digital Storytelling for the third time.

Thanks to all of you who participated and supported Digital Storytelling 2012: The Art and Science of Visual Effects. We do hope to see many of you again at our next event!

Kim Baumann Larsen, Angela Amoroso & Eric Hanson, Digital Storytelling and
The Norwegian Film Institute.