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<H1><FONT face=Arial color=#ee9900>IBM-MIT/ESD Innovation <BR>Lecture
Series: </FONT></H1>
<H3><FONT face=Arial color=#ee9900>Engineering Systems Solutions to Real
World Challenges in Media and Entertainment:<BR>Threshold Animation
Studios</FONT></H3>
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<P><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><IMG height=173
alt="Larry Kasanoff"
src="http://esd.mit.edu/HeadLine/calendar/2007/images/Larry.jpg"
width=144 align=right>By </FONT><A
href="http://esd.mit.edu/HeadLine/calendar/2007/032207threshold.html#kasanoff"><FONT
face=Arial>Larry Kasanoff</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>, CEO,
Threshold Animation Studios and Producer/Director/Co-creator/Writer,
<EM>Foodfight! </EM></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Moderated by </FONT><A
href="http://esd.mit.edu/people/scholars/wladawsky-berger/wladawsky-berger.htm"><FONT
face=Arial>Irving Wladawsky-Berger</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>,
Visiting Professor of Engineering Systems and VP, Technical Strategy
and Innovation, IBM</FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>
</FONT></P><STRONG>
<H4 align=right><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </H4>
<P align=left><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><B>Thursday,</B> March
22, 2007</FONT></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Time:
</STRONG>4:00 pm<BR>Reception to follow</FONT></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><B>Location:</B> MIT,
Building E51-345 Cambridge, MA</FONT><FONT
size=2> </FONT></FONT></P>
<P align=left><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Contact:
</FONT></STRONG><A href="mailto:lslavin@mit.edu"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Lois Slavin</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=2> <SPAN
class=734310319-14032007>617.253.0812</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P align=right><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><STRONG>Sponsored
by:</STRONG> MIT's Engineering System </FONT>About the
Series:</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Today’s increasingly complex world
requires engineers to innovate as never before. To have real impact,
whether within a firm or society as a whole, engineers must not only
develop technologically superior solutions, but also know how to
think systemically and lead strategically.<BR><BR>In the 21st
century, mastery of a wide range of interdisciplinary skills is
needed to create effective, resilient solutions to complex problems.
Today’s engineers must understand how to work individually and on
teams. They must recognize critical factors that emerge along
technical, organizational, and societal boundaries that can enable
or preclude technological success. Moreover, they must apply careful
analysis not only at the product level, but also within the
technical and managerial context in which engineering and design
challenges occur.<BR></FONT><EM><BR><FONT face=Arial>Engineering
Systems Solutions to Real World Challenges</FONT></EM><FONT
face=Arial> is a seminar series co-sponsored by IBM and MIT’s
Engineering Systems Division. Each seminar will show how today’s
leaders and practitioners are using engineering systems and services
sciences approaches to address complex problems. Drawing from
real-life examples, the series will explain how these approaches
were applied at IBM and other organizations, and demonstrate how to
achieve breakthrough solutions that deliver sustained value to
enterprises and society as a whole.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>About the Lecture<BR>Threshold: A
quantum leap in animation:</FONT></STRONG><FONT size=2><BR><BR><FONT
face=Arial>The short history of modern digitally animated films has
so far been huge budgets, animation staffs in the hundreds and long,
long production cycles. This “blockbuster model” reflects the labor
intensity of the traditional process, where an artist at a
workstation meticulously creates a series of separate frames to
illustrate action. This method, a 21⁄2 minute sequence involves
3,600 frames and can take up to six months. The back-end process, in
which animation code is translated or rendered into viewable frames
also requires extremely large amounts of processing
power.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Today changes are taking place. Audiences
have developed high expectations for animation quality. Major
digital animation studios realize to reduce risk and time-to-market
requires making movies faster, cheaper and more flexibly, while
improving quality. Digital animation has had a long record of
innovation. But today one surprise is a driver of
innovation–Threshold Animation Studios–has emerged not from the
industry’s center stage but from the wings.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Innovation plays a small role in most
studio strategies but Threshold’s entire business model is built
upon it. Employing fewer than 200, this upstart studio broke into
the animation business by overcoming one of its most potent barriers
to entry–the need to invest in a costly infrastructure to handle the
massive processing requirements of rendering–through an agreement
with IBM to deliver computing capacity on demand. Rendering
resources are especially critical for Threshold because of the
groundbreaking and complex nature of its first full-length film,
<EM>Foodfight!</EM>, a film set in a supermarket after closing time.
The set, a complex digital "marketropolis" with over 300 buildings
intricately designed in 3D, thousands of “extras” and more than 100
speaking characters, posed an unprecedented rendering
challenge.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>This lecture will discuss how Threshold
achieved an order-of-magnitude increase in animation complexity–on
time and within budget–as well as a fundamental change in the
animation process. Their e-studio uses an animation technique known
as motion capture, where the movements of live actors are captured
via fiber optic sensors and converted directly and in real time to
3D digital files. Threshold's innovation took this mocap technology
that plays a peripheral role in the business, customized and
enhanced it and made it the foundation of a first-of-its-kind
<EM>real-time animation system</EM>.</FONT></P>
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<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial><IMG height=259
src="http://esd.mit.edu/HeadLine/calendar/2007/032207TimesSquare.jpg"
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<P><B><FONT face=Arial>About the Speakers:</FONT></B></P>
<P align=left><FONT size=2><STRONG><A name=kasanoff></A><FONT
face=Arial>Larry Kasanoff </FONT></STRONG></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>is a film producer who is CEO of Threshold Animation Studios
(TAS), one of the world’s leading digital animation and visual
effects production studios. TAS is backed by a unique alliance with
IBM.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>To date, all of the films and
film deals made under Mr. Kasanoff’s leadership are
profitable.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Currently, Kasanoff is
producing and directing <EM>FOODFIGHT!</EM>, a full-length digitally
animated feature film. </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kasanoff is the Producer of
all Mortal Kombat non-video game media including two highly
successful films, a television series, an animated series, platinum
selling soundtracks, home video, CD-Roms and a live tour.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kasanoff was Executive
Producer of the film “True Lies,” which starred Arnold
Schwarzenegger and was directed by James Cameron.<BR>As President
and Co-Founder of Lightstorm Entertainment, he assembled a
consortium of worldwide film and ancillary rights distributors who
agreed to provide $500 million in financing for the company’s films.
This unique structure gave the company complete creative control and
100% ownership of its films. Also in that capacity, Kasanoff
supervised production, marketing, publicity and merchandising for
the four-time Academy Award winning film “Terminator 2: Judgment
Day.” This property has generated over a billion dollars in
revenues, several hundred million of which came from non-film
rights. </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Previously, Kasanoff was head
of production and acquisitions for Vestron, Inc. He executive
produced over 25 films and created “prebuy” financing and
acquisition deals for over 200 additional films, including the 1986
Academy Award Best Picture “Platoon.” Mr. Kasanoff also co-founded
Vestron’s original and music video programming divisions.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the music world, Mr.
Kasanoff has packaged or produced video projects with several of the
world’s biggest talents, including Michael Jackson, The Rolling
Stones and Dick Clark. He founded Lightstorm Records and Music
Publishing (a partnership with Sony Music). For T2, he produced
MTV’s 1991 top video “You Could Be Mine” with Gun’s ‘N
Roses.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kasanoff holds an MBA from the
The Wharton School and a BA from Cornell
University.</FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=left><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Lois Slavin</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Communications Director</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">MIT Engineering Systems
Division</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address
style="BACKGROUND-POSITION: left bottom; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(res://ietag.dll/#34/#1001); BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat-x"
tabIndex=0 w:st="on"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">77
Massachusetts Avenue</SPAN></st1:address></st1:Street></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">E40-315</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Cambridge</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, <st1:State
w:st="on">MA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">02139</st1:PostalCode></SPAN></st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">-4307</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tel. 617.253.0812</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Fax: 617.253.1462</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">WWW: <A
href="http://esd.mit.edu/"><FONT
color=#800080>http://esd.mit.edu</FONT></A></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: purple; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="http://esd.mit.edu/Esd_Staff/Lois/lslavin.htm">http://esd.mit.edu/Esd_Staff/Lois/lslavin.htm</A></SPAN></U></P></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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