JIM RYGIEL - OSCAR WINNER 2002 FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, OSCAR NOMINEE 2003 THE TWO TOWERS - TO HEAD PROGRAM AT THE AUSTRALIAN EFFECTS & ANIMATION FESTIVAL, MELBOURNE
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
May 12-13, 2003
In an exciting new move for the Australian Effects & Animation Festival, dates have been set to stage a special event in Melbourne for the first time in May. Heading the line up will be Jim Rygiel, Visual Effects Supervisor on Peter Jackson's acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy. Rygiel will be flying direct from New Zealand to speak at AEAF Melbourne on the digital creation of The Two Towers, the second installment in Jackson's film epic.
Nearly two months after opening, The Two Towers continues to break box office records in Australia and around the world. Featuring 800 visual effects shots (compared to 560 shots in the Fellowship of the Ring), Rygiel's direction on The Two Towers has earned him and his team a second Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects in as many years. This nomination quickly follows on from his win at the 2002 Academy Awards for Fellowship of the Ring, a win that justified Lord of the Rings as one of the most talked about film projects of recent times.
In his presentation at AEAF Melbourne, Rygiel will give detailed insight into the creation of a digital Gollum, that other-worldly character whose role is pivotal in The Two Towers; Treebeard, leader of the Ents who protects the trees of the forest, and the awesome battle scenes at Helm's Deep.
More than 70 on-screen minutes of the 179-minute-long film can be credited to the work of the visual effects team and the computer programmers at Weta Digital who created a specific software for crowd control called 'Massive'. Massive was essential to the effectiveness of the battle scenes at Helm's Deep and the massing of the Orc Armies as the software enabled the digital characters to make their own 'decisions' on what to do in a crowd situation.
Rygiel leads the program of speakers at the first Melbourne event organisers of AEAF have staged. For eight years, Sydney has played host to the Festival, bringing the world's most influential visual effects artists and computer-animators together at one location.
Rygiel joined the program at the last AEAF event which was held in Sydney in December 2002, presenting a session on Fellowship of the Ring with colleague and fellow Oscar winner 2002, Randy Cook. They were joined on the program by visual effects masters, Anthony La Molinara (Spider-Man) and Rob Coleman (Star Wars Episode II). All now vie against each other for the elusive Oscar in the Visual Effects category at the forthcoming Academy Awards ceremony in March.
With the AEAF now touring to cater to the local industry in other areas of Australia, May 12-13 will see AEAF at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, again featuring a strong line up of local and international guest speakers.
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A Festival Pass costs $250.00 + gst and includes entry to all AEAF events. Student prices are also available.
Please visit http://www.dmw.com.au for program information or phone 02 9319 4277
The Australian Effects & Animation Festival
May 12-13, 2003
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Federation Square, Melbourne