Interacting with Story and Characters

George Georgeadis and Joshua Staub. Photo courtesy of George Georgeadis.

In May, The Banff Centre’s BNMI Accelerator program and the Digital Media Association of Alberta presented a starring line up of storytellers for the exciting Perfecting the Mix of Story, Character, & Interactivity workshop. Animators, story supervisors, design directors, and producers were joined by an audience of industry professionals. They learned strategies for conceptualizing stories, and tips for character and plot development, while networking with the industry’s best and brightest.

The workshop got off to an adventurous start with industry veteran Kris Pearn, head of story/storyboard artist for Sony Pictures Animation. Pearn demonstrated the importance of storytelling in feature films and television through his own captivating performance that exemplified character and plot development. He continued to engage the audience as he artfully explained the dynamics of storyboarding and the mechanics of creating compelling characters.

Ronnie del Carmen, story supervisor, Pixar Animation Studios, presented the evolution of story conception, development and execution as he guided participants through the process of constructing meaningful, funny and endearing stories. Later in small break out group sessions, del Carmen shared a strategy for conceptualizing stories and managing characters within a stories’ development, through a series of interactive creative exercises.

In the latest issue of Games™ magazine, speaker George P. Georgeadis, founder of Dreamgazers Interactive and creator of Dreamers, is featured in The Video Game Hotlist as one of the names to look out for in 2007! As a local producer and ambitious creator of the upcoming video game Dreamers, Georgeadis delivered an engaging  presentation about his next-generation action and adventure game featuring a young man suffering from narcolepsy. Using his current project as an example, Georgeadis advised participants on how to find inspiration for their tales. His future plans include breaking the mold of the gaming audience and taking advantage of the explosive female video game market.

Nominated for an academy award in 2006 for his short film The Mantis Parable, Josh Staub presented a special screening of the charming fable for participants. From the creative process to technical choices, Staub recounted his own tale of developing a film which garnered international awards and accolades. Inspired by the tales of past children’s stories, Staub investigated and revitalized classic storytelling by creating an original parable and crossing it over into a modern setting. The Mantis Parable is a stunning example of narrative animated filmmaking.

“It was amazing to interact directly with so many key industry people and learn the mechanics of storyboarding from such successful animators one-on-one. I have re-examined my storyboarding process since and have made substantial changes. I can’t wait to attend the next Accelerator event”

— Jason Blower, Participant, Calgary, Alberta

For more information about story, characters, and interaction visit:

Cartoon Brew

Ottawa International Animation festival

CGChannel.com

Ronnie del Carmen’s blog

Kris Pearn’s blog

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