The international animation contest known as FJORG! will return for a sophomore session during the 2008 SIGGRAPH conference. The “iron animator” event will have 16 teams from around the world competing to create the best character animation in just 32 hours. The animators will have to adhere to at least one of two themes and use at least one of 16 sound bites.
‘Given the resounding success of FJORG! at SIGGRAPH 2007, it was an easy decision to host it again this year,’ says Patricia Beckmann-Wells, SIGGRAPH 2008 FJORG! chair from Walt Disney Animation Studios. ‘This year we are expanding the submission process to welcome all animators’professionals and students, with teams or without’in order to showcase the brightest and best the world has to offer.’
Submissions are open to the public, and judges will select the most qualified 16 teams of 3D and 2D animators from a pool of team animation reels coming in from around the globe. New for 2008 is the addition of a submission category dubbed “Pot Luck,” which allows solo animators to qualify for the competition and placed into additional teams. Pending sufficient participation, the judging will be split into professional and student categories to create two divisions of competing teams.
The 16 teams chosen to compete in FJORG! will animate before a live audience and a panel of expert judges that will include leading talent from top graphics, feature film, animation and gaming companies. The event is also in need of sponsors and speakers from the education industry.
For more information, go to www.siggraph.org/s2008/submissions/late/fjorg/. The online submission system will open on March 15 with a deadline of May 7. A detailed recap of FJORG! 2007, including a documentary and final films, is available www.siggraph.org/s2007/attendees/fjorg/.
SIGGRAPH 2008 will take place August 11-15 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and is expected to attract as many as 30,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents. The expo and trade show will play host to various technical and creative programs focusing on research, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity, education and the web. More details are available at www.siggraph.org/s2008.
