We are excited to be working with AT&T this year on AT&T SHAPE being held at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles on June 2-3, 2018. SHAPE is an immersive event that explores the convergence of technology and entertainment. Discover how the future of content creation and distribution will usher in new audience experiences. Get inspired by visionary speakers, and experience interactive exhibits from promising start-ups and industry leaders at Warner Bros. Studios backlots.
New York Film Academy will hold Interactive Demos led by NYFA award-winning instructors. You’ll be able to try out the latest full-body motion capture technology and create a live digital action scene with a fellow performer. See your emotions come to life on animatronics and robotics through the magic of facial motion-data conversion. Get some hands-on experience creating your own VFX video using green screens and the most popular visual effects programs. There will be live Twitch streaming for the gaming enthusiasts, and more.
What Can You Explore at SHAPE 2018?
Take a stroll through interactive exhibits that will demonstrate how technology is revolutionizing entertainment. There will be a variety of demos on display that feature a visual effects studio, full body and facial motion capture, drone and filming tech, virtual and augmented reality and 5G. Here are just a few that you can explore at SHAPE:
- Full Dome Pro: Take a step into our 360 projection dome and get transported to the next level in immersive experiences. This is VR made social. No headsets, no goggles, no limits- just breathtaking shared virtual reality. Experience VR you will never forget.
- Open the Portal: –Mirror Rorrom, Electronic Countermeasure, and Open the Portal teamed up to create a hall of mirrors unlike any other. A stop motion character will guide you through an experience that transforms your image before your eyes and facilitates a thought-provoking journey for you to consider your own feelings about the future that technology is facilitating and your place within it.
- KUKA: See how robotics can enhance the motion picture capture process. KUKA Robotics, in cooperation with their integration partner Motorized Precision, are demonstrating the KIRA 2.0 cinema robotic automation system.
- Red: Sample games, movies, and other content on the RED Hydrogen One smartphone before it is released to the public.
Visionary Speakers at SHAPE
Be inspired by visionary speakers as they discuss how new technologies like mixed reality, interactive storytelling, emerging tech in networking, blockchain are transforming digital media, film, television, and gaming. A few of our featured speakers and sessions include the following:
- Ava DuVernay: A writer, producer, director, and distributor of independent film, DuVernay will co-host our AT&T Film Awards finals and discuss her experience as an aspiring filmmaker. She is the director of Selma, which chronicles the historic 1965 voting rights campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Her most recent work includes her 2018 film, A Wrinkle in Time. and screening. Join her as we screen the finalists’ films in front of a live audience. Attend this session to vote for your favorite short and help determine who will take home a share of $60,000 in prizes.
- Issa Rae: With her own unique flare and infectious sense of humor, Issa Rae’s content has garnered million of views online and she has received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress for her hit show, HBO’s Insecure. Issa’s web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl was the recipient of the coveted Shorty Award for Best Web Show and her first book, a collection of essays, is a New York Times Best Seller. Rae has graced the cover and pages of major national media outlets including Essence, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, CNN, VOGUE and TIME with appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, The View and more. She’ll join us at SHAPE for an intimate conversation about her experience in getting to mainstream broadcast.
- Brian Krzanich: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Intel, Krzanich was elected CEO in May 2013 after serving in a variety of technical and leadership roles in manufacturing and as the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). As CEO, Krzanich is transforming Intel from a PC-centric to a data-centric company. Under his leadership, Intel has expanded in markets like memory, modems, and programmable solutions while investing in emerging areas such as AI, 5G, and autonomous driving. Hear Krzanich talk about the new ways content will be delivered and monetized through immersive experiences, including how data and investments in 5G will transform networks to meet the growing demand for new entertainment experiences.
- Brian McLean: In 2016, McLean was awarded a Scientific and Engineering Oscar® plaque for pioneering the use of 3D printers in stop-motion animated characters. In 2017, he received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Visual Effects for his contributions to Kubo and the Two Strings. In 2009, McLean won an Annie Award for Special Achievement in Animation for his work on Following the release of ParaNorman, he was named by Variety as one of 2012’s “Animation Elite.” Prior to LAIKA, Brian worked as a traditionally trained sculptor and model maker for print and TV ads.
- Steve Emerson: An Oscar®-nominated visual effects supervisor and longtime LAIKA collaborator, he has contributed to all four award-winning films: Kubo and the Two Strings, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, and Coraline. Prior to joining LAIKA, Steve spent nearly twenty years working in visual effects as an artist and technical director. He has worked on many feature films and television series including The Matrix Reloaded, Transformers, The Dark Knight, and Sliders for Universal Television. In 2017, he received the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature for Kubo and the Two Strings.
- Brent Bushnell: An entrepreneur, electrical engineer, software developer, and an authority in immersive entertainment, VR, MR, and AR, Bushnell also serves as CEO of experiential entertainment company, Two Bit Circus. Brent is an expert in the art of engagement and passionate about using immersive technologies to create new ways to capture people’s hearts and minds. The interdisciplinary team strives to create immersive, social fun and is currently building a network of micro-amusement parks featuring free-roaming VR, robot bartenders, an interactive supper club, and more.
- Jess Fuselier: A community outreach, marketing, and data specialist, Fuselier pioneered a community outreach program to connect film sets across the U.S. with the communities in which they operate. An experienced coder, she co-founded Young Women Who Code, teaching elementary-age girls the building blocks of STEM education. As Manager of Research and Education at Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Initiative, Fuselier works to cultivate meaningful insights rooted in data transparency, in order to create resources that impact the sustainability of the independent film community.
- Liz Manashil: In addition to her work at Sundance Institute’s Creative Distribution Initiative, Manashil is also a feature writer and film director. She earned her B.A. in Film & Media Studies at Washington University, and her M.F.A. from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Manashil spent several years as a film critic for the PBS/Hulu series Just Seen It and has worked with distribution guru Peter Broderick. Her debut feature, Bread and Butter, was called “an absolute must-watch for women everywhere” by HelloGiggles. Liz is currently in pre-production on her next film, Speed of Life.
- Ross Goodwin: Artist, creative technologist, hacker, gonzo data scientist, and former White House ghostwriter, Goodwin employs machine learning, natural language processing, and other computational tools to realize new forms and interfaces for written language. Ross’s projects—from word.camera, a camera that expressively narrates photographs in real-time using artificial neural networks, to Sunspring (with Oscar Sharp), the world’s first film created from an A.I.-written screenplay—have earned international acclaim.
- Oscar Sharp: A BAFTA-nominated British filmmaker, Sharp is best known for short films The Kármán Line, Sign Language, and Sunspring, and upcoming feature Woolly for 20th Century Fox. In 2016, Sharp teamed up with Ross Goodwin and actor Thomas Middleditch to create Sunspring, the first film to be entirely scripted by artificial intelligence and produced widespread international discussion. Sharp and Goodwin followed Sunspring in 2017 with It’s No Game starring David Hasselhoff, in which the actor performs dialogue generated by an AI from a large collection of his past performances.
SHAPE Competitions
Every year at SHAPE, a few competitions are held to inspire aspiring filmmakers and creators.
- AT&T Create-a-thon:Watch or participate in the AT&T Create-a-thon where you can shoot your short film at Warner Bros. Studios using select iconic cityscapes and backlots. You’ll have a chance to win a $10,000* cash prize for the best, completed film in a number of categories.
- AT&T Film Awards: Come see the finals of the AT&T Film Awards, a short film competition for aspiring creators who are using emerging filmmaking technologies to tell their stories. Vote for your favorite short and help determine who will take home a share of $60,000 in prizes, as we screen the finalists’ films in front of a live audience and esteemed panel of judges.
Take the Warner Bros. Studio Tour and explore outdoor sets and soundstages used to create productions such as Gilmore Girls, The Big Bang Theory, and Argo. Visit the DC Universe and walk through the DC Comics Exhibit, the real Central Perk Friends set, original Batman Museum, where you’ll see the Batmobile Collection, and so much more.
Continue to check the schedule on the registration website to give you the most recent information about SHAPE. We hope to see you in Los Angeles in June!
*No purchase necessary, U.S. resident, age of majority. Enter by 4/27/17. Void where prohibited. See Official Rules.