In Cape Town, we focused on the development phase and concept art stage of animation. A perfect example of how important this stage is to production was provided by Shy the Sun.

Jannes ran through the process that went into pulling off the very impressive United Airlines "Sea Orchestra" spot which has been making waves (excuse the pun) internationally. The advert is a mix of 3D and After Effects work, but Ree Treweek's strong illustrative style is clear throughout. The huge amount of preparation that went into the piece was also evident - each of her intricate drawings of the countless creatures that each flit past for a few seconds still had complete character descriptions. It is great to see projects of this caliber coming out of SA and if you haven't seen the ad (or their latest for Baker's Biscuit) check it out online.

I presented my own project, Khumba after this. With no budget and only a few weeks to put together a visual pitch, I am very pleased with what we pulled off and I think it shows how a focused development phase can give a good idea of where a project is headed. Check it out at www.khumbamovie.com. Rob van Zyl provided Art Direction, our team at Triggerfish did the 3D modelling and texturing while Daniel Clarke did the backgrounds and Ric Capecci some character sketches.

Jason Human then presented some work from his company, Altered States, a new off-shoot of CFX which handles design, illustration, concept art and CGI. Check out some of their great work below:

November will probably be our last Xchange for the year, so make sure to come and if you have any of your own work, bring it along. We will focus on VFX with presentations in CT from Blackginger and others. We are also lucky to premiere Claudia Pavan of Lung Animation's latest music video for The Parlotones.

Thursday November 13th 7 pm to 9pm.