The first SPARK animation event I attended was the 'Animation in Games' panel on Friday, September 11th, 2008. It featured Brett Pascal (Propaganda), Gabriel Meija (independent), Wayne Gilbert (EA Blackbox) and Andrew Ducette (Action Pants). Moderating was Ian Lloyd (EA Canada). I briefly met afterward with Jeff Haynie (Big Fish Games) to discuss the festival, and Big Fish Games itself. The SPARK panel was very interesting and informative, with each distinguished guest discussing their own animation-centric experiences within the gaming industry. Frequently the panel said that interactive media compromises animation, and requires animators to compensate for the degredation. For example, it was said that fluid animations are constrained by scripted calls (by the game engine) into canned excerpts. The panel also discussed the difficulty involved with porting animations from animation programs into game engine. Often, animations are too complex, and require heavy compression, or frame-dropping. The animators each claimed it was difficult to see their animations distorted or looking rigid once in the engine. The difficult transferring of a static animation is further complicated by pipeline issues. The animators said better communication between the software engineers and their teams would yield better results, both artistically, and technically. The event was worthwile, because I learnt how both the game pipeline and game architecture affects and challenges animators. I also learnt how much weaker interactive animation makes an animated sequence, as it gets compressed, and can flow incorrectly. The talk will influence my future and new ideas, as it has given me a better understanding of the complications animators face when involved with games, and of the gaming development pipeline itself. Once in the gaming industry, all information concerning how real work is done and how multidisciplinary teams work together will be an indispensable asset.


The second SPARK event I attended was the "Acting for Animators" lecture by Ed Hooks on Saturday, September 12th, 2008. Highly animated and opinionated, Hooks criticized many aspects of the film, game, and entertainment industry, while paying special attention towards animation. His central idea was that, while animation is technologically and visually impressive, it is irrelevant if human emotion is lost within a piece. He further explained that causal agents within animation are intrinsic to successful animation; an idea not too dissimilar from how actors engage a script. Hooks also detailed how technology is but a tool for reaching the core story or humanistic aspect within an animation, not the goal. While Hook's speech was cynical and said with a casual-tone, his main ideas were convincing and pertinent to all forms of media.  I learnt how important the human relation is in animation, and also, within games. Emotive responses and empathy for characters makes the animation matter. Likewise, human emotion in games (presented either through character, or the game itself) legitimizes and fleshes out the gameplay, making it relevant, and matter to the user. The talk was influential, indicating the most important part of all entertainment media: the experience derived from human emotional investment. The influence from the talk will undoubtedly be seen in all future entertainment media I create, as I will remember to ask the question "what will my audience feel?"