Hong Kong’s 3D seminars and exhibition open up whole new world

Richard Taylor has helped chart the future of cinema through his Oscar-winning design work on the likes o f Lord of the Rings and King Kong, experiences he will discuss at the next Hong Kong Entertainment Expo in the context of innovation.

He worked on James Cameron's Avatar too and Taylor says the world is only just beginning to appreciate how far advances in digital entertainment can go.

Similarly spurred on by the phenomenal international success of the likes of Avatar, Hong Kong's annual Entertainment Expo (http:// www.eexpohk.com) is this year also turning its focus to the wonderful world of digital entertainment and has invited Taylor and his Weta Workshop colleague Greg Broadmore to share their vision and their experiences.

Taylor believes Cameron's work on Avatar only scratched the surface of what the world can expect from developments in digital entertainment.

"[I see] fully immersive 3D virtual worlds where people can interact at a social level with a full level of emotional interplay between the digital avatars in the 3D space,''said Taylor.

"I think this is one of the exciting directions that digital media is taking us [in], along with the fact that now every person on the planet has the opportunity to tell their unique stories and get them out to the world market due to the cost effectiveness of modern day film technology and the ever-evolving digital distribution platforms that we have seen emerge on the internet.''

As well as a series of seminars and workshops planned for the March 22- April 18 Entertainment Expo, organizers have also invited Broadmore to exhibit some of his own artwork.

The designer - who has helped create the weird worlds inhabited in Lord of The Rings, District 9 and King Kong - is bringing his "Dr Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition'' to town, where it will take up residency at the Hong Kong Cyberport from March 24 until the end of May (http://exhibition.cyberport.hk).

The exhibition features more than 150 of Broadmore's pieces, part of a fictional universe he has created which evokes "the nostalgia of a lost age of exploration and discovery.''

Entertainment Expo Hong Kong 2010
March 22-April 18
Various venues

Nine core events bring together both the Asian and international film and entertainment industries - and, of course, the public they serve - over a month. There's the Hong Kong International Film and Television Market (Filmart), the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Hong Kong Film Awards, the Asian Film Awards, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, the Hong Kong Music Fair, the IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Awards, the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum and the Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards.

http://eexpohk.com

MS