Village Gamer

Banff – Telefilm Canada presents Shelly Palmer’s one day GetDigital seminar at BANFF, Tuesday June 9th 2009. Whether you are interested in workforce development, continuing professional education, honing your digital skills or playing catch-up, this course is designed to help you become more competitive and make you more productive in the digital economy of the 21st century. Join a crash course in digital literacy that will change your life. With only 50 places available, this course is FREE for BANFF attendees. Space will be filled on a first come, first served basis.

The Festival has also announced the winners of the TV 360 competition. The TV 360 Program is designed to train Canadian writers, directors, developers, interactive designers, show developers and TV, film and new media producers, to develop multiplatform projects and pitch them successfully both to Canadian and international buyers. Prior new media experience was not necessary to enter, however applicants were required to be professionals from the new media, film and television industries.

Congratulations to this year’s winners:
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Montreal – Via E3 – Earlier today Ubisoft unveiled their lofty list of upcoming titles at E3 – and I will admit that they did surprise, thrill and tantalize my tingly gamer senses. Ubisoft’s trailers have always been well done, but in this round, I have to say that the creativity, especially with the Red Steel 2, Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage and R.U.S.E. trailers, has advanced to new levels. Even the new Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Convictions may have won me over – this new incarnation of Sam Fisher looks like my kind of game hero – and the trailer appears to have some pretty intense game play and storyline happening.

A very pleasant surprise in the bevy of trailer reels was the preview of Academy of Champions. The game is very colourful with stylized characters and a highly-detailed environment, and judging solely from the trailer, Academy of Champions looks like the kind of game a player could end up investing a lot of time in. It would be easy to become drawn into the story and work hard to make sure that the good guys are victorious over the bad. My favourite though, is of course Assassin’s Creed 2. I am very much looking forward to seeing how the continuation of the story will unfold – along with all of that sneaking about with shiny blades stuck up my sleeves.

Continuing on with Ubi’s big announcements, filmmaker James Cameron made a surprise appearance on the press stage, introducing the first details for Avatar: The Game along with Yannis Mallat, CEO of Ubisoft Montreal.
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Toronto – Search Engine Strategies (SES) Toronto 2009 today announced the addition of copywriting, landing page and Twitter sessions to the already packed conference agenda. The largest search engine marketing conference in Canada will be held at the Sheraton Centre Toronto June 8-10, 2009.

According to Hitwise, Google received 80.2 percent of all Canadian searches conducted in the 12 weeks ending April 25, 2009. MSN search properties, Yahoo! search properties and Ask search properties received 8.8 percent, 7.3 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively. By comparison, Google accounted for 72.7 percent of all U.S. searches conducted during that period, according to Hitwise. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com received 16.3 percent, 5.7 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.
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Canada – Our inbox has received a number of notifications from a wide variety of Canadian studios alerting us to their presence at next week’s E3 Expo, and we are reminded of how strong our interactive media industry truly is – and equally envious that we are not able to attend this year’s convention. I’ve scoured the ‘net trying to find and confirm all of the Canadian products which will be shown at E3, and I think I’ve found everyone – however, I’m sure that I’ve overlooked a studio or two, especially for those studios who are working on projects for other houses. Some studio and game appearances may fall under the “conjecture” category due to typical pre-show “rumours” and while I did make every effort to confirm E3 studio appearances, some requests went unanswered – so we will just add to the perpetual pre-show “will they or won’t they” speculation – after all, that’s part of the excitement and anticipation for the annual unveilings, is it not?

So, without further ado, here, I think, is a comprehensive list of who is going to E3 2009:
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Toronto – The National Film Board of Canada is proud to present the world premiere of Chris Landreth’s The Spine, a bold new film whose dazzling artistic style pushes the limits of animation. Landreth’s latest is the eagerly awaited follow-up film to Ryan, his 2004 Oscar winner for best animated short. From the same creative team that produced Ryan, The Spine is entirely computer animated and features the voices of Gordon Pinsent and Alberta Watson. The Spine uses bizarre but strangely believable imagery to tell the story of an ordinary married couple whose lives are in turn tragic, absurd and beautiful. It premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (June 8-13) in Annecy, France and will have its North American premiere at the World Wide Short Film Festival (June 16-21) in Toronto, Canada.

For The Spine, Landreth joins forces again with producers Steve Hoban (Copperheart Animation), Mark Smith (Copperheart Animation) and Marcy Page (National Film Board of Canada), who had collaborated with him to make Ryan. The Spine is a poignant story of redemption that takes us into the relationship between a man and a woman trapped in a spiral of mutual destruction. Dan and Mary Rutherford, married 26 years, sit unhappily in a couples’ group counselling session. Angela, another troubled participant in this group, wonders why their marriage has become so lopsided, so twisted. But when Mary leaves Dan, he undergoes a beautiful transformation. What will happen when she returns? Director and scriptwriter Landreth has created an insightful and daring look at the ways individuals evolve, adapt and break.
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Vancouver – Our local ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver Chapter is very pleased to be presenting Watchmen Revealed at the VanCity Theatre on June 17. Tickets for this event will go on sale at noon on May 27.

©Images courtesy Warner Bros Pictures

Watchmen Revealed will be an evening full of inspiration, information and insight as the MPC team reveals the challenges of adapting “the greatest superhero stories ever told” (Entertainment Weekly). The evening begins at 6:30 pm with a free industry mixer where you and your friends have the opportunity to quench your thirst, nosh on some of Vancouver’s local culinary delights, catch up with your peers in the industry, and possibly meet some of the current and future decision-makers in town.

At 7:30 pm, Ben Cole, Landon Bootsma and Tim Mulvihill of MPC will reveal the pressure of recreating one of the most acclaimed comic books in history for the big screen and explore the technical hurdles they overcame to bring to life some of the more complex scenes in the film. This is a unique opportunity to gain insight into one of the biggest movies filmed in Vancouver.

This event is sponsored by: VanArts, Sophia Books, AnnexPro, Stash DVD Magazine, VEA[BC] and the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada Vancouver Chapter.

The Canadian Consulate General in Seattle will be a lead sponsor of Casual Connect this year in conjunction with any in-Canada partners who want to join – DFAIT can have one display table or several, depending on the level of participation. Being a part of the DFAIT contingent will allow access to the entire event (receptions, etc.), a profile on the website and the meeting scheduler, booth space on the conference floor and more.

Casual Connect is a trade show which highlights all of the great aspects of the casual game industry and is full of opportunities for established game designers and students alike. Casual Connect takes place this July 21 – 23 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington. Interested parties should contact Neil Swain at DFAIT as soon as possible. One point to remember – all travelers (air, land and sea) to the USA after June 1 must have either an enhanced driver’s license or valid passport as proof of citizenship to present to US customs and immigration inspectors.

Vancouver – At this month’s ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver seminar, animation director Eric Darnell shared his journey from Pre-Med student to animated feature film director. Who would’ve thought that problems with Organic Chemistry and watching a televised football game would lead to becoming the director of animated hits Antz, Madagascar and Madagascar 2, with a third and final Madagascar installment currently in production.

Eric Darnell

Throughout the seminar, which was a fire-side styled chat with Glenn Entis, Eric shared some of his early, experimental work with the audience. While I did enjoy the innovative styling of the collage-animation done for REM’s “Get Up” music video, my personal favourite was animation short Gas Planet, seen below. Eric has a knack for capturing just the right expressions in his characters, to the point where dialogue is simply not required in getting the point of the animation across. Gas Planet was the recipient of the Ottawa Animation Festival’s Special Jury Prize.

I think that the one, most valuable piece of advice which Eric had for aspiring animation directors was using whatever personal time they had to create their own experimental pieces. He stated that by pursuing such interests, “the experience will make your future, paid work better, and can take you to places which you never imagined. Real life experiences make you a better director – seemingly unrelated events help you bring more to the table.” Eric also went on to state that “as the director, you are the caretaker of the story, and it is important that you have very strong writers on your team.”
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Banff – “Beginning with the comedy troupe ‘Kids in the Hall’ Mark McKinney’s original characters and unconventional sketches have become a part of pop culture,” comments Peter Vamos, Executive Director of BANFF. “Whether as

Mark McKinney

creator, producer or actor in many memorable comedic productions, Mark has made an impressive contribution to the international film and television comedy landscape.”

Mark McKinney was first known for his work on the long-running sketch comedy troupe “The Kids in the Hall”, which ran from 1989 to 1995. Following that series’ success, Mark went on to star in “Saturday Night Live” from 1995 to 1997, and in 1998 wrote for Aaron Sorkin’s “Sports Night.” He later co-created the acclaimed mini-series “Slings and Arrows”, which he wrote and starred in for all three seasons. Mark then went on to both write and act on NBC’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” As well, he directed and appeared on the CBC Radio post-apocalyptic comedy “Steve, The First” and its sequel, “Steve, The Second.”

Mark has also appeared in several films including the Kids in the Hall movie “Brain Candy” and the SNL spin-offs “Superstar,” “The Ladies Man” and “A Night at The Roxbury.” Mark had a leading role in the Spice Girls’ movie, “Spice World,” and also starred opposite Isabella Rossellini in Guy Maddin’s acclaimed tragic comedy “The Saddest Music in the World.”
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Vancouver – Join CATA-WIT’s recently established BC Chapter on June 2, 2009 for a lunchtime event featuring vignette presentations by women leaders in BC’s technology sector, followed by interactive breakout and networking sessions:

SPEAKERS/FACILITATORS

* Catherine Boivie, Senior VP, Information Technology and CEO, Inventure Solutions
* Cybele Negris, Co-founder and COO of Webnames.ca
* Maria Pacella, Investment Manager: Information Technology, GrowthWorks

TOPICS

* Climbing the Corporate Ladder
* Women Entrepreneurs in Technology
* Securing Financing
* Working Effectively with Recruiters
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