Press release

20 August 2008 – The eyes of the world will be on Wales this November as the international SAND (Swansea Animation Days) conference returns, with a promise of more high calibre speakers and delegates from the world of animation and computer graphic imagery (CGI).

SAND, now in its ninth year, is organised by Swansea Metropolitan University’s School of Digital Media and is supported by its principal sponsor, the Welsh Assembly Government. It will take place at the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea from 24th until 28th November.

CGI stretches across many of the sectors in the creative media industries. Animated content can be found on television, in feature films, commercials, websites and computer or video games. The industry continues to grow at a rapid rate since the global success of films such as Toy Story and the Oscar-winning Shrek, as well as the ever developing computer games market.

SAND is a highly prestigious event which is seen as a must for anybody involved with digital media. Touted as ‘easily one of the best shows around at the moment’ by leading CGI publication 3D World, SAND is unique as it deals solely in CGI and attracts companies and journalists from around the world.

As in previous years, SAND will be spilt in to different categories covering business, artificial intelligence, games, commercials and film.

In a tantalising introduction to this year’s event, SAND Director Felicity Blastland said: “We are starting to confirm the speakers and our delegates won’t be disappointed! In the next few weeks we will start to release information about the conference and it’s going to be our biggest one to date.
“However, we can promise a stellar line-up with Double Negative, the Soho effects studio who created VFX sequences for the new Batman film ‘The Dark Knight’ as well as Aardman Animation (Wallace and Grommit), EA Games (FIFA 2009) and Blitz Games (SpongeBob) already confirmed. Throughout the conference week there will also be animation screenings, including ‘The Dark Knight’, professional sector workshops and business seminars.”

Last year’s event saw nearly 2000 delegates enjoy talks from DreamWorks (Kung-Fu Panda, Shrek), Cinesite (The Golden Compass), MPC (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Rhythm and Hues, India (The Chronicles of Narnia), and Pixar Animation Studios (Ratatouille, Finding Nemo).

Pixar’s Apurva Shah, a leading special effects supervisor on films such as Finding Nemo and Ratatouille, attended SAND last year.

He said: “SAND is a truly community oriented conference that brings together artists, technicians and filmmakers from around the world to Swansea for a week of presentations, workshops, discussions and screenings.

“The topics and speakers at the conference cover a broad spectrum of interests that collectively represent the state-of-the-art for animation and gaming. In that sense it really puts Swansea on the international map and provides Swansea Met’s students, local studios and artists with a great opportunity to engage with professionals from around the world.”

Shelley Page, Head of International Outreach at Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Animation, said: ”SAND is a remarkable event. The importance of the opportunity this excellent conference provides for both students and local companies to hear directly from leading representatives of so many sectors of the games, animation and visual effects cannot be overstated.

“The fact that the speakers at SAND, every year, are among the leaders of their particular sector reflects the high esteem this event is held in – and it is greatly to the credit of the organisers that such a high calibre of presenter has been maintained over the years of SAND‘s existence. I try to attend SAND every year as I know I will always be both informed and entertained by the speakers and the other attendees!”

Swansea itself has become a centre of excellence for CGI education with Swansea Met offering industry-acclaimed undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 3D computer animation, creative computer games design, multimedia, interactive digital media and music technology.

In 2007, the world’s leading publication for 3D artists, 3D World, rated Swansea Met as one of the best for animation education, voted for by some of the industry’s biggest names.

For more details of SAND 2008, visit www.smu.ac.uk/sand or email sandadmin@smu.ac.uk

For details on Swansea Met’s School of Digital Media, please call 01792 481117, email sdm@smu.ac.uk or visit www.smu.ac.uk