Untitled Week Course in Script-Writing and Concept Development
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PROGRAM EDITORIAL NipponNordic is a great way of bringing talents together from different styles and continents. We are happy to send our best people sharing our own learnings and experiences at the conference. To win in a competitive mobile gaming space, we are continuously challenging ourselves to make solid products that appeals to an American as well as a Japanese player. Jake, Tricky and Fresh have visited beautiful Tokyo on the grand Subway Surfers World Tour and our coming games draws inspiration from Japanese art and style as well. We are proud to support The Animation Workshop and your creative initiatives. We love the recent viral hit on climate change with Poseidon teaching a young guy a lesson on not throwing garbage on the beach. The school was where Sylvester and Bodie met and started SYBO. Since then we have hired several talents each year. The school symbolizes the creative vibe, tenacity and uniqueness that Danish digital design is known for. Morten and his team are dear friends of the house, and we are impressed with their achievements. At SYBO, we are constantly striving to make games and universes that can entertain and engage for years to come. Danish artists are core to delivering on that promise. We care for our talents and seek all the inspiration we can give them and their international talented colleagues. Knowing the Japanese art scene and history, we are eager to meet the Japanese talents invited for Nip- ponNordic. They will be meet a Creative Denmark in Viborg passionate to see how they express themselves, and to cross-polinate with their Danish art counterparts. Mathias Gredal Nørvig CEO, SYBO Games EDITORIAL The NipponNordic project promotes and creates opportu- nities for business development and the internationaliza- tion of gaming and animation activities. The project’s main action is the NipponNordic Universe Accelerator, which aims to bring 16 talented professional animation artists from Japan and Denmark together to develop story worlds and narrative frameworks for computer games and television. The core of the project focuses on IP development aimed simultaneously at markets in Europe and Japan. After spending three intensive weeks in the accelerator in September 2017, where they will be en- couraged and inspired by professional guest speakers and consultants from the international gaming and animation industry, participants will present their projects to a panel of five main players from the Japanese and Nordic gaming and animation industries. The Danish Business Authority The Animation Workshop is proud to host the NipponNordic Universe Accelerator in Viborg, Denmark in 2017 and 2018. We will use the unique opportunity to invite all participants to take full advantage of the deeply cre- ative environment around The Animation Workshop. Everything from serene workstations to noisy networking events and parties will be available for attendees, and those with the freedom to stay a bit longer can remain in town for The Viborg Animation Festival which has a special focus this year on Japan. The NipponNordic Universe Accelerator is an innovative and transnational project that hopes to bring visionary and entrepreneurial artists and concept designers from Japan and Denmark together. Although the two countries are geographically very far apart from each other, there exists a mutual respect and curiosity towards the cultures and traditions of each other. What can create better understanding between people than working together with the ambition to identify and realize yet unknown visions? It is our hope that the results of NipponNordic Universe Accelerator will be new exciting IP’s that target the worlds imminent need for clever and constructive entertainment and communication, whether it be for games, film, tv, virtual reality – or any thinkable or unthinkable combination thereof. NipponNordic Universe Accelerator will work with skilled and experienced tutors from all over the world, who will present high-level masterclasses as well as supervising workshops in cooperation with the wide range of local, regional, and international partners who support the program. Morten Thorning Center Director of The Animation Workshop VIA University College CONCEPT NipponNordic is a three weeks’ intensive skill-up creative lab, during which sixteen participants - directors, game designers, fresh graduated students - selected across Japan and Denmark, develop graphic and story worlds, either related to video or mobile game, animation TV or Web series, documentary, VR, AR and transmedia content. Speakers from the graphic industries are expected to give lectures and follow-up the devel- opment of the participants’ projects, helping them to identify their audiences, enhance their commercial potential and highlight the strengths of their IPs. NipponNordic aims to spark and ensure the continuous development of original, high quality animation / cross-media or game content, which can resonate both artistically and commercially in the markets of Denmark, Japan and hopefully beyond. TERRITORIES NipponNordic Universe Accelerator 2017 is launched in the framework of the big event Kawaii & Epikku: The largest show in Denmark about anime, manga and transmedia content which cele- brates the 150th Anniversary of the establishment of Japanese & Danish diplomatic relations with screenings, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, workshops and public events. There is a big potential for more cooperation and coproduction between the territories: There are many examples of Danish commitment to innovation, storytelling and design – from the fairy tale storyteller Hans Christian Andersen to a long list of world-renowned companies and brands of Danish origin, such as LEGO, Bang & Olufsen and Royal Copenhagen. Denmark (and Europe in general), have a strong animation and games tradition, with, amongst others, a specific strength in producing cost effective 3D feature films. Also, the games industry in Denmark is known to drive innovation on a global scale. Danish game brands include Hitman and, lately, LIMBO and Subway Surfers. All of them are testimonies to Denmark’s industrial traditions, know-how and skill. As the Danish game industry is searching for new markets to penetrate, the Japanese market has become of great interest to Nordic developers, especially since Japan is look- ing towards Denmark for nordic designed products. Japan has an old and well-established animation culture, especially in 2D, which has had an im- mense impact on western markets over the last 20+ years. Western productions, however, have a hard time entering the Japanese market. The potential market is, nonetheless, immense. Moreo- ver, Japan’s industry, is struggling with a lag in 3D animation. Japanese game producers have had a huge impact on the western games industry and the way games are designed. This event aims to establish an even closer collaboration and open up for new innovative ways of thinking about product development in the games industry. NipponNordic will run for two years in order to insure the continuity of lasting relationships between the two territories, to address the complementarity of those markets, and highlight partnerships and co-productions as viable alternatives to the subcontracting practices, which are a challenge for the creative industry in the era of globalization. 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL / 5 OBJECTIVE / 39 CONCEPT /8 Awards / 40 Territories / 9 The Jury / 41 CONFERENCES /13 Artists / 49 Inspirations & Strategies / 14 SCHEDULE / 58 Creative Concept Development / 28 VAF PROGRAMME / 62 Pitch Training / 34 PARTNERS / 63 TEAM / 71 11 12 CONFERENCES The participants get the opportunity to work in a very supportive environment and structure at The Anima- tion Workshop’s facilities, encouraged and inspired by professional guest speakers and consultants from the international media and animation industry. Through the thematic lectures, case studies, and hands-on development processes, the participants create their own, original concepts that are ready for the final stages of development. Via pitching sessions, group workshops, one-to-one ex- change sessions, the artists should give each other feed- back, approach each other for collaboration and influence one another, such as it has been successfully made during the SEA Masterclass. 13 CONFERENCES INSPIRATIONS & STRATEGIES KEYNOTE From markets & media culture in Denmark to global industry CLAUS TOKSVIG Claus Toksvig Kjaer is a Danish Animation Producer. He studied English Literature at Aarhus University but changed course and went to pursue Classical Drawing and Animation at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. After graduation he worked on a number of short films before joining Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny Ireland in the summer 2006, as Pro- duction Coordinator on their BBC Television Show ‘Skunk Fu’. Returning to Denmark in 2009 he began working for Mark Film as Production Manager leading a series of animated science projects and commercials. In order to attract international co-productions Arsenal- et hired him as Producer of their company cluster in mid October 2011. Focusing primarily on feature production he partnered up with Nørlum Animation Studio in 2013 co-producing such films as the Oscar nom- inated ‘Song of the Sea’ for Cartoon Saloon and ‘Longway North’ for Sacrebleu. The chance came for another collaboration with Cartoon Saloon in 2015, this time a 22 min. Pilot for Amazon Prime called ‘Eddie of the Realms Eternal’. September 11 - 10 am - Arsenalet 1st