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After being shortlisted last year, two works by Dans Digital became finalists again in AEAF 2018
- 2020/7/31 13:47:04 & BY DANS DIGITAL
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21st AEAF was successfully concluded on August 30th, CEEC and Tianan Cyber Park·T5 by Dans Digital became finalists in the category of Live Event Installation & Projections and Commercials VFX. It was the second time Dans Digital achieve good result in AEAF. Last year, Dans Digital attended the competition for the first time and its 4 works became finalists in the fierce competition.
As a grand event on the tiptoe of expectations within the visual effect & animation industry, AEAF 2018 not only presents lots of visually striking works, it also provides an excellent network for professional communications. Worldwide top-notched professionals of the digital image, animation, games, interaction, and emerging technology industry attended the ceremony, some of them gave out important speeches. Some biggest names within the industry present their insights into the techniques they used in their works and shared their opinions regarding the industry trend, such as Simon Pickard, VFX Supervisor Matt Aitkin of Weta Digital (production company for Avengers: Infinity War); Jordan Soles, VP Development & Technology at Rodeo FX (production company for Game of Thrones Season 7); Simon Pickard Animation Supervisor of Animal Logic (production company for Peter Rabbit). And the award ceremony in Chauvel Cinema(Australia) makes the most exciting part of the event.
▲ Chauvel Cinema, where the 2018 AEAF award ceremony was held
▲ AEAF 2018 Award Ceremony
Founded in 1997, AEAF is an international event combining competition, speaker program, and screening together, and it is a significant communication platform for visual effects and animation works in the world. Each year, leading figures within the industry and the most excellent works from top-notched post-production companies and film studios gathered here. ILM which won 28 Academy Awards; Framestore who produced Doctor Strange and Batman; RodeoFX, post-production company of Game of Thrones, Now You See Me, The Twilight, Blade Runner 2049 are all frequent guests of the festival.
▲ AEAF Award-winning companies and their masterpieces over the years
There’re totally 21 competition categories in 2018 AEAF. Compared to last year, three categories were added this year, which means more entries were received and the competition is more intense. The most familiar blockbusters with amazing visual effects were almost listed in the Finalist list, include Avengers: Infinity War,Rampage, Maze Runner: The Death Cure by Weta Digital; Thor: Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 by Framestore; Wonder Woman; The Greatest Showman; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales; Alien Covenant; Blade Runner 2049.
▲Finalists in the category of Feature Films VFX in AEAF 2018
Commercials VFX and Commercial Animation are always the biggest categories which receive the largest number of entries. Finalists in the category of Commercials VFX also include Paddington and The Christmas Visitor made for Marks & Spencer by Framestore (which is the post-production company of Doctor Strange and Batman); Sea to Stars made for US Navy by MPC (which is the post-production company of Harry Potter Series, Superman); Moving You made for Honda by Blackbird (which won Yellow Pencil in D&AD and Gold Award in ADFEST); ASUS Zenbook by Collider and Blackbird (which won 2 Cannes Lions Awards, 4 Yellow Pencils in D&AD and 2 AEAF award), etc. Except for the works made by the high-level companies, lots of famous brands are on the Finalist list, such as works for Honda, Mercedes-Benz, TOYOTA, Apple, Nike, etc.
▲Other Finalists in the category of Commercials VFX include the brands of Marks & Spencer, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, MAZDA, Apple, ASUS
Being the only Chinese work in the finalist list, it is a test for Tianan Cyber Park·T5 to competed with the most famous post-production companies of the world. In the end the work became a finalist, it is the biggest inspiration to the film-maker. Just like the moral of the story, the way of innovation for Dans Digital is full of difficulties and obstacles, too. However,like the sky town went through the mighty storm and moved on all the way forward, Dans Digital faced the difficulties bravely, finally it embraced with the splendid sunrise.
▲Screenshot of Tianan Cyber Park·T5 by Dans Digital
Meanwhile, another work CEEC by Dans Digital became finalist in the category of Live Event Installations & Projections. The work is a fresh attempt in creative experience space field, and it’s very innovative. The Film stimulated the scene that human went back to CEEC Aircraft Carrier after exploring the virgin land on the outer planet in the Age of Space Exploration. This film is made for the audio-visual elevators of China International Consumer Electronics Exhibition / Exchange Center. As the elevator goes up, the five glass panels showed the scenery outside the ascending spaceship. When the elevator rises to the top, the spaceship in the video arrived at its destination at the same time. People will feel they are immersed in a spaceship capsule. It’s a comprehensive innovation which combines creativity, VFX technology, special-built equipment and special application space, and the work marks a new direction for the world’s visual effect technology and moves it forward.
▲Showreel process pictures of CEEC by Dans Digital (Excerpts)
▲ Unfolded surface drawing of CEEC
▲Structural drawing of CEEC
One year ago, 4 works by Dans Digital were shortlisted in AEAF, and Dans became the first Chinese company to enter into AEAF final match. This year, the name of Dans Digital was on the finalist list again. This arouses the attention of the organizer, the development of China’s visual effects and animation industry earned respect from them, too. From the magnificent “Sky Castle” to the fancy & forgettable “Space Travel” experience, the two of films of different styles won several awards one after another, from Finalist in CGarchitect Architectural 3D Awards 2018, to Crystal Award in the category of Innovation in AD Stars 2018 , and this time again to become finalists, these are the biggest compliment for us. Of course, our pursuit for innovation will never end, Dans Digital will create better works in the future and surpass ourselves.
