, by Lynette Clee | Eventcoverage
They say you should never meet your heroes. Yet attendees at Trojan Horse was a Unicorn (THU) this year realized on Day Zero of the digital arts festival that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
On the eve of THU2014, this year’s attendees and speakers connected over free drinks for a meet and greet ahead of Day One of the intensive schedule of talks and activities. This was followed by a world-first screening of Loic Zimmermann‘s 42-minute documentary, ‘Gamma Wray’, a very honest and beautifully captured piece that reflects upon one year in the life of the traditional painter, William Wray.
Day 1
“Welcome home!” was the opening statement on the morning of Day One by THU Ambassador, Scott Ross, the industry legend that led George Lucas’ companies before co-founding Digital Domain with James Cameron and Stan Winston. At the start of the second year of the festival, a wide-eyed audience hung on Ross’ every word as he went on to explain that “at THU there are no superstars; there are no VIPs – everyone is here to share and talk… To help!” With an age range of 18 to 81, what was apparent immediately at THU is that the entire event is truly and simply about the art, and the artists. It’s a relationship between artists and speakers. “We’re a tribe. The THU Tribe!” Ross proclaimed.
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THU Official Spot 2014 from Trojan Horse was a Unicorn
Setting the mood for the first day of the event was a very special video created by the talented Brazilian studio, Techno Image, especially for THU/2014. A moving THU/2014 manifesto was then revealed as a surprise for the audience, crafted in record timing by the remarkably talented and humble 3D genius, Victor Hugo, and dedicated in loving memory to one of last year’s attendees who passed away months before this year’s festival.
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THU Manifesto – Finding your magic is an inside Job from Trojan Horse was a Unicorn
“Finding your magic is an inside job” is the message that greeted attendees and speakers alike every morning as they ceremoniously placed colourful lanyards over their heads for another day of networking, learning, evolving, and sharing, with hundreds of their peers. When Scott Ross posed the question, “Are you ready to be transformed?” on Day One, the air in the main auditorium was instantly filled with promise, as the industry’s future talents looked to the stage to see their heroes line up ahead of four days of life-changing presentations, fireside chats, workshops, mentorship sessions – and, of course, partying. “Try just to get an hour’s sleep,” was the advice from Ross at the end of his Keynote speech. And he really wasn’t exaggerating…
Mentorships were new to THU/2014, offering yet another way to bring down the barriers between artists and speakers. Attendees could share their portfolios within small groups with one of many industry legends for the kind of advice you just can’t get in the every day. Also added to the schedule in 2014 were hands-on workshops, which allowed groups of attendees to sign up for classes in traditional clay sculpting, ZBrush, MARI, NUKE, Maxwell Render, and environment creation. The hardest part of THU, then, became trying to choose what to do at any given time. With an intensely packed schedule across three screening rooms, four workshop rooms, an art gallery, and the bustling bar, the big question on everyone’s lips was always: Where are you heading next? This question dissipated at midnight, however, when the entire THU group would descend on Troia’s casino – in the same resort as the conference centre – to enjoy the digital art battles and plenty of socialising. It wasn’t uncommon to see the casino closing at 3AM with hundreds of attendees still chatting and wanting more!
Day One’s first presentation was by Jan Fiedler, VFX Producer on Game of Thrones at Pixomondo. Discussing the key challenges of creating high-quality VFX for TV on weekly deadlines, sharing incredible insights into the making of the Shadow Creatures, crafting the epic environments we know and love, and revealing how they ‘grew’ the CG dragons over the course of the seasons, Fiedler was a motivating speaker that left the room hungry for more. If you’ve never thought about looking at the anatomy of a defrosted chicken carcass to help with the creation of a dragon, you’ve definitely not been to one of Fiedler’s exceptional talks!
Catherine Mullan, Denis Zilber, Gavriil Klimov, Techno Image, Ian McQue and Martin Mayer led the afternoon’s talks, which were interspersed with short breaks, Happy Hour, and the awe-inspiring mentorship sessions. Mullan revealed how she broke into the film industry from a small village in Ireland; Zilber humbly shared his own career-establishing story, while Klimov and Techno Image offered their production secrets. A highlight was McQue’s live demo session showcasing how he explores composition and value in monochrome concept sketches. He, like many of the speakers, spoke frankly of his nerves for live presentations – which only helped reinforce the fact that our heroes are, in fact, just like the rest of us. “I’m shy and I’m doing this!” was just one of his heart-warming remarks, as he painted live in Photoshop for all to marvel at.
Scott Ross closed Day One with a wake-up call. He described the industry as a “stool with three legs” – those being Creativity, Technology, and Business. “If you only have a stool with two legs, you’ll fall over,” he warned. His main message was that the state of affairs in the movie industry is, today, as bad as it’s ever been. With only six clients in the industry to bid to, it’s no longer the lowest-cost-highest-quality company that’s winning – it’s the big studios calling the shots. This may have come as a dampener to some of the young and aspiring members of the audience, but Ross’ message was clear: To get a foot in the door at a major studio, people will do just about anything. But why should you work for free? Why don’t you get overtime? Or why work for such a low wage? “VFX people are treated like the b*****d stepchild,” Ross continued. “No one is getting excited to see the VFX artist on the set of a film – they’re listed below the caterer in the credits and they sit in the back row of the premiere.” His main woe is that people aren’t negotiating because they’re scared to death. “All [the studios] want is cheaper, better, faster – if we keep going this way, at some point the subsidies being approved by the politicians are going to go away,” he stressed. He ended on a more positive note, however, saying: “If you’ve got great work, you’re going to get hired.” The emphasis therefore being placed on the individuals to work out for themselves where and when to make a stand. “Everything is about negotiation,” he concluded.
Another light on the horizon that emerged from Scott Ross’ late-night Fireside Chat in the main auditorium was the advent of Netflix, and the powerful force that it’s becoming. “Cable TV is where it’s at in the States!” he exclaimed. He closed the chat by asking the audience which big names they’d like to see at THU/2015 – it’s just a matter of waiting now to see now who will be on the speaker panel for next year. One thing is for sure: they’re going to be huge.
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Day 2
Day Two kicked off with a jam-packed schedule of workshops followed by talks by Alessandro Baldasseroni, Karla Ortiz, Christian Alzmann and Ben Mauro. Baldasseroni revealed Blur Studio’s production pipeline, while Ortiz shared how to “Do it all” – concept art, illustration and fine art. Meanwhile, Alzmann unveiled his career path to date, while Mauro gave Part One of his production techniques presentation. The afternoon gave way to another seven talks by Mathias Verhasselt, Furio Tedeschi, Denis Zilber, Andrew Hickinbottom, Kyle McCulloch, Tiago Hoisel, and Carlos Baena – choosing which talks to go to was an almost impossible task! The evening was then dedicated to Oscar winner, Andrew Jones, who revealed his career path as an artist followed by a Fireside Chat with Scott Ross. To wrap up the evening were (of course) the usual shenanigans at the casino, which hosted the late night art battles and catered drinks the size of goldfish bowls.
The artist career path talks were a particularly enlightening feature of THU. Hearing how the Guardians of the Galaxy VFX Supervisor spent years working on Barbie movies before he got his break was a lesson to everyone that we all start somewhere. “Go small! Find some tiny shop doing small work – you’ll have a lot more opportunity to touch so much more work,” Kyle McCulloch of Framestore advised his audience. It was this complimentary mix of inspirational talks alongside live demos and technical presentations that helped THU stand head and shoulders above the industry giants.
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Day 3
For those still standing, Day Three woke everyone up to more workshops, plus live demos by Ian McQue and Jana Schirmer, plus talks by In-Ah Roediger, Andrew Schmidt, and Furio Tedeschi. After lunch, Ben Mauro, Kyle McCulloch and Devon Fay all took to the stage before Happy Hour commenced to offer its daily gathering at the bar, with Victor Hugo, Louie Tucci, Christian Alzmann, and Hugo Guerra wrapping up before the one-and-only Syd Mead stole the audience’s hearts that evening.
“I’m 81,” Mead stated. “I don’t know how many people in this audience are over 40?” And he had a point. Looking at the faces of the audience, the smiles returned were, in the majority, those of hungry students and junior artists looking for the skills and opportunities to help them forge their future career successes. The festival vibe helps pull these young go-getters, too. But it wasn’t all youths! Art directors, company owners, CEOs, software manufacturers, and hobbyists could all be found enjoying the THU offerings. No one was out of place, and no one was left out. For the event organiser’s motto was: “If you see someone on their own, go and talk to them.” This made absolutely sure everyone felt a part of the big THU family. And is just another of the very many ways that THU is different to other events in our industry.
The audience gave Mead a standing ovation when he took to the stage in his LED-flashing T-shirt, blue flashing pin, and legendary shades. No one could believe that they were seeing the real Syd Mead. He talked his entranced listeners through his career history, starting from drawing at school, to learning gouache, to rendering visualisations for films such as Blade Runner – the top sci-fi film of its time. “The tools will change all the time – the one thing that’s more valuable is the idea,” Mead offered. He continued to talk about his work on Blade Runner while the audience gasped at never-before-seen slides. “Ridley wanted a bathroom,” he said. “I knew exactly what he meant. It had to look sort of grungy. The sink hadn’t been cleaned in a couple of weeks!”
To wrap up his talk, Mead spoke out to the audience: “I’m in a room with such a high concentration of intelligence… It’s a huge privilege for me to be here as your peer.” But that wasn’t the end of Mead’s presence at THU. As well as joining the Happy Hour breaks, eating with the other speakers and staff, and generally enjoying the festival’s highlights with everyone else, Mead also took to the main auditorium once again for the Day Three Fireside Chat, where he sat with Scott Ross and shared many jokes and industry insights with very happy onlookers. “Notice everything,” was Mead’s final ‘best piece of advice’. As midnight crept up and Mead headed for his quarters, the THU attendees – all in high spirits – took to the casino once more to revel in the usual after party with their peers, and generally avoiding sleep for as long as possible, while trying to beat the sun coming up.
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Day 4
The fourth and final day was a tough one to prepare for. No one wanted to leave; everyone was tired from all the learning and late nights; and no one wanted to say goodbye to such a unique experience and the friends that they’d made. It was often easy to think that those 600 people were the only folks left at the end of the world. The “tribe” that Ross had referred to on Day One made a lot of sense by Day Four. These people had become your people. Everyone was in it together. And it was lucky that Portugal avoided any natural disasters that week, or the world’s talent pool would have massively depleted!
Day Four showed no signs of mercy: workshops at 9AM tested those with hangovers from the night (or morning!) before, while Christian Alzmann, Alessandro Baldasseroni, and Hugo Guerra gave their final talks for the week. Serge Birault also made an appearance in the morning with a live demo on painting shapes and forms, which was yet another crowd-pleasing addition to the line-up. The afternoon welcomed Carlos Baena, Marc Simonetti, Matthias Verhasselt, Ben Mauro, Andrew Hickinbottom, Gavrril Klimov, and Catherine Mullan back to the screening rooms. And then all that was left was for Michael Kutsche to grace the stage of the main auditorium for the final act of the festival, alongside his good friend and industry peer, Loic Zimmermann. “It’s the first event that I’ve been to where artists gather together,” Michael said, early on in his talk. “I’ve been blown away by the experience… We are all a big family – it doesn’t matter where we’re from, our brains are kind of wired to each other.” Talking through his career, his experiences, and his inspirations, the audience was mesmerised – and, quite clearly, a little bit in love with Kutsche. He summarised THU perfectly for many of the audience when he said: “I wouldn’t change any bit or piece of this event. It’s perfect; an experience I will never forget.”
As the crowd left the main auditorium for the last time, emotions were running high. Cakes were distributed by the THU team to keep spirits high, while the party moved onto dinner, and then the casino, where a special DJ was ready and waiting to give attendees a final night to remember. For those that stood the test of time, when the casino closed, speakers and attendees continued their celebrations together onto the beach until the early hours of the morning, watching as a lighting storm flashed in the distance. It was obvious that people had made some genuine connections, and no one wanted the party to end. But these connections will not fade. Facebook is rife with Friend Requests; LinkedIn is being inundated with new industry connections, and everyone is talking about THU/2015. There has also been talk between attendees and speakers of mini meet-ups in various countries throughout the year to keep the spirits high ready for the next festival! By creating an event for artists, by artists, event organiser Andre Luis and his team has managed to hit the chord just right, and in doing so has summoned a passionate crowd of people that will no doubt follow him to the end.
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Wrap up
Even though the event was much bigger than the year before (its first year), the common feeling among the attendees in 2014 was that it managed to retain its intimacy, which comes down in large part to the exceptional location that the THU team has discovered, which caters perfectly for 600 people and encourages interaction through regular breaks, Happy Hours, and parties in the on-site casino. People get to know each other; they spend four-plus intensive days by each other’s sides; they wave as they pass in the hallways; and they meet up after dark to ensure they get the absolute most time with the incredible people they befriend over the course of the festival.
600 people, 45 countries, 6 continents. Within just one year, THU more than doubled in size to fill the venue on the peninsula of Troia to capacity. And they’ll do it all again in 2015! But it won’t get bigger; neither will it become more corporate. Luis believes firmly that THU will always remain focused on the artists. A private THU Attendees Facebook Group has been flooded since the event with messages to attendees and the THU team alike, and inundated with pictures of meaningful experiences and captured moments. THU is not just an event. It’s not just a festival. It’s become a family, and that family is already planning its next reunion on the peninsula of Troia in 2015.
See you there?
Related links
www.facebook.com/trojanunicorn
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