3, 2, 1…FJORG!

by Stephanie Huerre and Valerie Tuffy

Always a catalyst for exciting new ideas, SIGGRAPH’s new “Viking Animator” competition challenges fifteen teams to create their best 15-second  character-based animation in 32 hours or less.

FJORG! (pronounced “forge”) pits 15 international teams of talented animators in a fight to the finish.  The brainchild of Patricia Beckman-Wells (DreamWorks Animation) and Samuel Lord Black, their inspiration was derived from a shared desire to create an event that exemplifies what the SIGGRAPH conference is really all about.  With the idea of some kind of deadline-oriented competition, Patricia narrowed the scope to animation and the project instantly took flight.

Patricia tells us that the initial goal was to include 20 teams of four animators, but as the sheer scale of this fantastic project was revealed, that number was quickly trimmed down to 15 teams of three.

Driven by a determined bunch of misfit gladiators as well as judges from the top animation companies, contestants will be evaluated on their talent, creativity, skills, teamwork, and… physical endurance!  An efficient team of volunteers worked seamlessly together to help make this competition possible.

Teams were given the opportunity to use their own rigged characters, provided that they submit the files prior to the competition and made them available to all of the contestants.

Throughout the competition the contestants were bombarded with distractions of every flavor:  martial artists, belly dancers, acrobats, musicians, and gladiators sporadically showing up screaming and fighting and generally causing all sorts of chaos.  When asked about the creative distractions, Patricia said “We didn’t want the animators to develop tunnel vision, so we figured that periodic distractions would be a natural way to break their focus and keep them on track.”

SIGGRAPH attendees were invited to come by and watch the contestants from a podium and to boisterously join in on the never ending stream of distractions.  In the hallway, 15 monitors representing each team, display the screen of each team member.

The software, hardware, rigs, and length of the animated shorts were provided to the contestants prior to the competition; however, the most important details were saved until the last crucial moment.

At the commencement of the competition, teams were required to include at least one of 16 voice-over recordings provided for them.  They were then given the choice of two themes for their short:

1. An impossible escape

2. A fate worse than death, not death but something so horrible or embarrassing it is worse than death

From the moment you enter the FJORG! room you are instantly elevated by the buzzing energy and spontaneous creativity that surrounds you.  The following is a fantastic point-by-point account of the event as it unfolded.

FJORG! From the Outside Looking In

by Stephanie Huerre

Day 1

8:00 am:           No public allowed, as the dedicated team of volunteers organizes, explain the rules, gives advice, a time schedule, and the themes!

9:00 am:           3, 2, 1 Go! The teams discuss the themes and ideas, sketch on their computers and on big white boards. There are no distractions yet, HAHAHAHA!

9:40 am:           Contestants are mimicking their ideas, refining their concepts.

The first of many distractions arrive: food is served!

“Are theirs caffeinated?” mocks one of the evil gladiators, laughing.

11:00 am:         Teams are calmly modeling; they don’t seem to be distracted at all by the software demo that is taking place.

3:00 pm:           Storyboarding, modeling, Animating, the contestants are working full speed now as they stay astonishingly calm. A mime does a little show and offers to take poses to help the animators.

Day 2

1:30 pm:           Contestants definitely start looking tired but the pressure keeps them more than awake. Animating, texturing, editing. The public can now start to understand the stories. If you don’t want to spoil the show, you should definitely not come see the work now.

3:00 pm:           The hit distraction is on: belly dancers!

With 2 hours left, the teams start to wrap up their animations. While the frames are pre-rendering on the screens, the team member can’t sop themselves from peeking at the fabulous belly dancers. Other teams, running a bit late, are quickly animating. It is really impressive how calm all the participants are.  It almost looks like they slept last night!

4:45 pm:           3 teams are still working!!

Slightly stressful techno music is playing in the room. 12 teams have already submitted their animation. A female gladiator is cheering the 3 last teams on from the stage. The red-eyed participants who already submitted their reels stand around in a bit of a daze.  Others are still on their computers, cleaning  up files. The remaining participants seem pretty spaced out.

4:47 pm:           2 teams left

4:48 pm:           One team left!

4:59 pm:           After a long fight with the network, the Israeli team finally submits their work.

5:00pm:            Patricia proudly announces that all participants made the deadline!

Now, it’s up to a talented team of judges to evaluate the submissions. I wonder if someone is going to try to distract them as well!

The results of the contest will be announced on Wednesday in room 1A-B at 6 pm.  Join us and see what the buzz is all about!