Taiwanese student Shiao Sheng-wen (蕭勝文) will vie for the Jury Award at the SIGGRAPH 2009 Computer Animation Festival scheduled to take place next week in the US, making him the first Taiwanese to be nominated for an award at the world’s premier forum for computer graphics and interactive techniques.
Shiao, from the Graduate Institute of Design at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, received the nomination for his animated work on abortion titled Love Child.
The other two nominees for the award are Anima, by a group of students from French animation school Supinfocom Valenciennes, and Dix, by UK and US-based visual effects company The Mill.
Shiao said his film, which is 2 minutes, 13 seconds long, was produced using high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D computer modeling software package Autodesk Maya.
Set to music from the French opera Carmen, the film begins with a small cube that gradually develops into a baby. The film comes to a stunning end when the baby explodes following a click on a computer-style “abort” button by its producer. Shiao said the word “abort” was used to relate the image to abortion.
“There is no right or wrong about abortion. I’m just trying to highlight the issue for contemplation by the public,” he said.
Shiao said that before he began working on the project, he spent six months discussing the subject matter with his professor, Sun Chun-wang (孫春望).
The actual production of the film took him another six months, during which he worked 14 hours a day.
“I’m already very happy just to be nominated,” he said.
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the New York-based Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (ACM SIGGRAPH). The event is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals.
This year, the conference is scheduled for Aug. 3 to Aug. 7 in New Orleans. The winners will be announced on Aug. 3. This year’s nominees were chosen from 770 submissions worldwide, and more than 140 films will be presented.
Since 1999, the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival has been an official qualifying festival for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “Best Animated Short Film” Academy Award.
The winner of the SIGGRAPH Best of Show Award will be qualified to be considered for nomination for an Academy Award, better known as an Oscar.
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