Platforms and Guitars
I attended the Platform International Animation Festival in Portland and it was a blast. I saw great films, experienced outstanding art installations, and hung out with a lot of fascinating and creative people. Oh, and drank beer. Portland is the most amazing beer town you can imagine. No, I’m serious.
Shawn Bowman talked me into a Guitar Hero competition at the Someday Lounge. Despite my initial misgivings, I really enjoyed it, and ended up taking 4th place. Don’t believe me? Check out the photo! Some people from Encore – the creators of Guitar Hero – were there to participate, and I hung out with them after. A fun, drunken time was had by all.
Scott McCloud gave an inspiring talk on comics – their history and future. Laika threw an outdoor barbecue for us all to enjoy. The whole city pretty much supported the festival: the animators, and the artwork, showing that they’ll likely be a center for animation in the near future.
I participated in a panel on Second Life, and Jason Stoddard attended virtually from San Francisco. The discussion ran the gamut from the impact of virtual worlds on social interactions to China and the upcoming HiPiHi platform to the future of animation and how animators and other artists can use virtual worlds to advance their art. Second Life is a platform in which animators, filmmakers, and other visual artists can prototype, do portfolio work, and create new tools and venues for expressing their work. Everyone was excited by the possibilities.
I left ecstatic.
