Connect with the artists behind-the-scenes, and get insight into the making of some of today’s greatest animation features, shorts, and series.
Moving a traditional feature animation pipeline into a real-time renderer requires creative problem solving from both the production, the technology, and the leadership. Listen in to how this was tackled on Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat.
Image courtesy © 2021 DNEG Animation & Howdybot Productions. All Rights Reserved.
SPEAKERS
Taylor Moll
VFX Supervisor // DNEG Animation
(Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, Ron's Gone Wrong, Home, Rise of the Guardians, Kung Fu Panda 2)
Taylor Moll is a VFX supervisor at DNEG Animation with over a decade of experience. She is currently VFX Supervisor on Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, an animated short from Academy Award-winning director, writer and illustrator, William Joyce. Taylor is known as a go-to resource for her teams, having accumulated strong technical expertise over the years across multiple studios.
With experience from her first major project, Broken Saints, a flash-animation comic series that won multiple awards (including Telefilm Canada and Sundance Film Festival), Taylor’s skill and understanding of complex workflows was apparent from the beginning of her career. Her earlier projects also include George Miller’s critically acclaimed Happy Feet and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild. From her experience with DreamWorks Animation as Lead and Senior Surfacing Artist, Taylor honed her skills on titles such as Home, Rise of the Guardians, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Shrek Forever After among others. More recently, Taylor has supervised DNEG’s surfacing work on the upcoming animated feature film, Ron’s Gone Wrong.
Shelley Smith
Producer // DNEG Animation
(Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, Toy Story That Time Forgot, Tales from Radiator Springs, Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex, Cars 2)
Shelley Smith started in Feature Animation in 2010 as an intern at Pixar Animation Studios. Over the last decade, she has worked on six feature films, including Coco, Toy Story 4, Jungle Book and Ron’s Gone Wrong, as well as numerous shorts and television specials. She has also worked in clearances and development, utilizing her law degree from the University of Florida. Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat is her first Producer role.
Gabriele Pellegrini
CG Supervisor // DNEG Animation
(Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, Ron's Gone Wrong, Hercules, Thor: The Dark World, Man of Steel, John Carter)
Gabriele Pellegrini is Supervising Technical Director at DNEG Animation, hailing from Tuscany, Italy. A 3D Generalist, he excels at all of the disciplines, but feels most passionately about rigging. Before joining the team at DNEG Animation he worked at a multitude of studios in Italy and around Europe, in feature animation, advertisements and video games.
Connect with the artists behind-the-scenes, and get insight into the making of some of today’s greatest animation features, shorts, and series.
Moving a traditional feature animation pipeline into a real-time renderer requires creative problem solving from both the production, the technology, and the leadership. Listen in to how this was tackled on Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat.
Image courtesy © 2021 DNEG Animation & Howdybot Productions. All Rights Reserved.
SPEAKERS
Taylor Moll
VFX Supervisor // DNEG Animation
(Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, Ron's Gone Wrong, Home, Rise of the Guardians, Kung Fu Panda 2)
Taylor Moll is a VFX supervisor at DNEG Animation with over a decade of experience. She is currently VFX Supervisor on Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, an animated short from Academy Award-winning director, writer and illustrator, William Joyce. Taylor is known as a go-to resource for her teams, having accumulated strong technical expertise over the years across multiple studios.
With experience from her first major project, Broken Saints, a flash-animation comic series that won multiple awards (including Telefilm Canada and Sundance Film Festival), Taylor’s skill and understanding of complex workflows was apparent from the beginning of her career. Her earlier projects also include George Miller’s critically acclaimed Happy Feet and Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild. From her experience with DreamWorks Animation as Lead and Senior Surfacing Artist, Taylor honed her skills on titles such as Home, Rise of the Guardians, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Shrek Forever After among others. More recently, Taylor has supervised DNEG’s surfacing work on the upcoming animated feature film, Ron’s Gone Wrong.
Shelley Smith
Producer // DNEG Animation
(Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, Toy Story That Time Forgot, Tales from Radiator Springs, Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex, Cars 2)
Shelley Smith started in Feature Animation in 2010 as an intern at Pixar Animation Studios. Over the last decade, she has worked on six feature films, including Coco, Toy Story 4, Jungle Book and Ron’s Gone Wrong, as well as numerous shorts and television specials. She has also worked in clearances and development, utilizing her law degree from the University of Florida. Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat is her first Producer role.
Gabriele Pellegrini
CG Supervisor // DNEG Animation
(Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, Ron's Gone Wrong, Hercules, Thor: The Dark World, Man of Steel, John Carter)
Gabriele Pellegrini is Supervising Technical Director at DNEG Animation, hailing from Tuscany, Italy. A 3D Generalist, he excels at all of the disciplines, but feels most passionately about rigging. Before joining the team at DNEG Animation he worked at a multitude of studios in Italy and around Europe, in feature animation, advertisements and video games.
