{"id":874,"date":"2019-11-16T14:04:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T21:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=874"},"modified":"2019-11-16T14:04:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T21:04:46","slug":"reflections-on-infinity-festival-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2019\/reflections-on-infinity-festival-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on Infinity Festival 2019 By Gerry O."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/infinityfestival-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-875\" width=\"225\" height=\"127\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/infinityfestival-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/infinityfestival.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2019\u00a0Infinity\u00a0Festival, celebrating &#8220;Story Advanced by Technology,\u201d took place November 7 &#8211; 9th at Goya Studios in Hollywood, culminating with the 2019 IF Monolith Awards ceremony, presenting awards for technology and narrative arts to the best in the industry. Voted on by a body of professional peers, the Monolith Awards recognize excellent accomplishments in narrative arts and technology that showcase the concept of storytelling. These unique awards are prestigious in that they are given to companies and individuals that are paving the way in the ever evolving film and technology industries. The winners are innovative and have utilized new and futuristic technology to create content that can be experienced at a whole new level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAdvancements in technology have enabled artists to tell their stories in new, exciting and often unexpected ways,\u201d said Hanno Basse, Chairman,\u00a0Infinity\u00a0Festival. \u201cThe\u00a0Infinity\u00a0Festival\u00a0Monolith Awards celebrate new versions of content enabled by technology and the inventions\u00a0 that make them possible. Selected from a panel of their professional peers, these awards truly honor those who showcase the future of technology in storytelling and its incredible impact on how audiences will enjoy content. These awards are unique, because they recognize new ways of storytelling which may not fit into more traditional categories.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 See Gerry O.&#8217;s commentary below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflections on Infinity Festival 2019\u00a0<br>By Gerry O., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, Age 17\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Gerry.2019-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-876\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems what can be done with technology\nnever ceases to stop changing as society continues to innovate. While the\nmasses marvel at what becomes capable, the entertainment industry monitors on\nhow to implement these new inventions into the art of storytelling, and the\nInfinity Festival showcased just that &#8211; the new possibilities in cinema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creators have been experimenting with the new\nformat of virtual reality for several years now, with impressive results.&nbsp;<em>Gloomy Eyes Vol. 2<\/em>, an animated short\nfilm that can be seen on the HTC Vive feels nothing like a traditional film\nthat can be watched in theaters but in its unique way, manages to tell a whole,\nwell-designed story. Structured like a diorama, the animated film happens\naround the viewer in a series of scenes that carefully guide the viewer where\nand how to look. While the experience can still be improved, the immense detail\nand rich storytelling serve as an example that virtual reality movies can be\nmade, in some capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Infinity Festival \u2022 Hollywood\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x0KQH9m56yA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Simulated Reality showed an educational use of this technology with\u00a0<em>7 Miracles<\/em>\u00a0which\u00a0allows the user to travel back in time to ancient Jerusalem and experience the life of Jesus Christ. The experience, however, fails in its limited video quality &#8211; \u00a0in standard \u201cflat\u201d cinema, cameras have delivered crisp video since the 1960s; virtual reality, on the other hand, looks grainy and the user can see individual pixels, to the point where it distracts from the experience. Looking in the future however, the possibilities of physically traveling to historic faraway locations have profound educational opportunities. Students can travel to different planets to learn about our solar system, or to different wars in history. They can take tours of the Louvre for art class, or walk among a Viennese symphonic orchestra for music class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Infinity Festival 2019 \u2022 KTLA Interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U793ClBQTm8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Intel attempted yet another strategy for films\nin virtual reality. This experience combines virtual reality with a moving\nchair to create &#8220;virtual reality theaters,&#8221; which allow someone to\nboth see and feel the digital world. In an experience set in the&nbsp;<em>How to Train Your Dragon&nbsp;<\/em>franchise,\nthe viewer gets carried by a dragon through a beautiful and exciting adventure,\nbut at the end one feels as if they experienced a carnival attraction that\nbelongs in a theme park, not a film that belongs in a theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside of virtual reality, other technologies\npromise to help streamline the filmmaking process. Lenovo presented demos of\ntheir augmented reality headset,&nbsp;<em>Think\nReality<\/em>, which attempts to use advanced glasses to project objects\non walls around the user. In concept, this can be a beautiful tool for\nproductions &#8211; the Assistant Director could have schedules and shot lists on\ntheir display. The Assistant Camera Operator could use augmented reality to\nhelp keep shots in focus. Yet, this technology exists in its infant stage today\n\u2013 the demo scarcely worked and, in a complicated environment like that of a\nfilm set, it would be far too unreliable due to the current dimness of the\nprojections.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In post-production, one technology keeps being\nreferenced &#8211; machine learning. One concept called AuVive, part of the&nbsp;<em>Immersive Media Challenge&nbsp;<\/em>at the Entertainment Technology Center\nat USC, theorizes a system in which machine learning can scan a video and\nproduce an auditory description for those with impaired vision. While the\nconcept sounds like the work of science fiction, many aspects of the technology\nalready exist today, most notably with Adobe VoCo that can synthesize human\nspeech from very small samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Infinity Film Festival Beverly Hills - Official Teaser\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mRuidqcD7EA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As the boom of technology continues to amaze and dazzle, one\nmust remember that each new advancement does not mean revolutionary change.\nWhile virtual reality has created a whole new sector of the entertainment\nindustry, its capability in storytelling remains limited. Augmented reality\nexists in mere infancy and requires years of development to be anything close\nto usable for individuals. While the Infinity Festival may have presented the\nnewest hallmarks in the entertainment industry, it also shows just how much\nmore development is needed before these new advances surpass their status as\nexciting gimmicks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2019 Infinity Festival, celebrating &#8220;Story Advanced by Technology,\u201d took place November 7 &#8211; 9th at Goya Studios in Hollywood, culminating with the 2019 IF Monolith Awards ceremony, presenting awards for technology and narrative arts to the best in the industry. Voted on by a body of professional peers, the Monolith Awards recognize excellent accomplishments in narrative arts and technology that showcase the concept of storytelling. These unique awards are prestigious in that they are given to companies and individuals that are paving the way in the ever evolving film and technology industries. The winners are innovative and have utilized new and futuristic technology to create content that can be experienced at a whole new level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdvancements in technology have enabled artists to tell their stories in new, exciting and often unexpected ways,\u201d said Hanno Basse, Chairman, Infinity Festival. \u201cThe Infinity Festival Monolith Awards celebrate new versions of content enabled by technology and the inventions  that make them possible. Selected from a panel of their professional peers, these awards truly honor those who showcase the future of technology in storytelling and its incredible impact on how audiences will enjoy content. These awards are unique, because they recognize new ways of storytelling which may not fit into more traditional categories.\u201d   KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Gerry O. commented on the festival, \u201c\u2026what can be done with technology never ceases to stop changing as society continues to innovate. While the masses marvel at what becomes capable, the entertainment industry monitors on how to implement these new inventions into the art of storytelling, and the Infinity Festival showcased just that &#8211; the new possibilities in cinema.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[127,129,80,120,121,128,119,126,125,123,124,130,122],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jury-updates","tag-auvive","tag-entertainment-technology-center","tag-gerry-orz","tag-goya-studios","tag-hanno-basse","tag-immersive-media-challenge","tag-infinity-festival","tag-intel","tag-simulated-reality","tag-storytelling","tag-technolody","tag-usc","tag-virtual-reality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions\/879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}