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An international forum on visual effects and animation was held in Taipei Monday with the aim of pointing the way for Taiwan as it seeks to strengthen its presence in these industries, the organizers said. Experts from studios based in France, the United States, Britain, Japan and Taiwan discussed a range of topics such as the value of visual effects and animation, international collaboration in those fields, and 3D animation and digital image technologies.
“Visual effects and animation are important to the upgrading of Taiwan's film and television industry,” said Jennifer Jao, director of the organizing Taipei Film Commission, in her opening remarks.
The commission said it hopes the Taipei International Forum of Visual Effects and Animation will give the participants a different perspective and open up opportunities for international cooperation.
Several local filmmakers also attended the one-day forum, which attracted around 200 participants.
Alexis Perrin, a pre-production executive at the French visual effects company BUF, said at the forum that his company has expanded its cooperation overseas to Belgium and Canada in a bid to remain competitive.
He said he welcomes the opportunity to work with Taiwanese artists and special effects companies.
BUF has worked on film productions such as the “Life of Pi,” and “Dark Shadows.”
Meanwhile, Liu Wei-gong, commissioner of the Taipei City Government's Department of Cultural Affairs, said at the opening that his department hopes to build Taipei into a “film-friendly” city and a “creative hub” that will encourage the exchanges of ideas between local and international specialists in the creative sector.
The speakers at the forum also included Edouard Valton, an executive visual effects producer at the French post production company Mikros Image, and Nathan McGuinness, creative director of Double Negative Visual Effects in Britain.
Mikros Image has worked on productions such as “Amour” and “Coco Before Chanel,” while Double Negative Visual Effects has produced visual effects for the movies “Inception” and “Sherlock Holmes.”