Stuttgart, Germany

Tuesday Morning at Munich Central Station… Armed with showreels and businesscards the VFX class of 2013 boards a train. Destination: Stuttgart. There, the FMX will take place, the International Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Digital Media.

For us VFX students that means a full week of workshops, masterclasses, lectures, recruitement sessions and the latest movies. Particularly exciting is, of course, the networking with colleagues, gurus-of-the-scene and perhaps future employers … Reason enough to be a little excited.

After picking up our tickets & goody bags we run straigt to the first lecture: “The unfilmable Life of Pi”. Did you know that the animations in Life of Pi are so complex that some scenes took more than a month time to render for one second of footage?

The sun is not letting us down during the week. In between the workshops and lectures we’re sucking up inspiration & enjoying the great variety of (inter)national Animation movies at the open air cinema in the city centre. In order not to miss anything, the program guide is our fixed companion. Often that means a hectic running-up-and-down between different locations.

For those who still have energy left in the evening, there’s also plenty to do. CultNight, Opening-, Closing- and real-time Party with live video projection: Even at night it’s hard to get bored. In addition, the parties provide a relaxed opportunity with like-minded people from all over the world to share experiences.

It is an incredibly interesting week and I’m kind of sad to have to go home again. In the train I’m processing all the impressions and wonder: Where will we -next year around this time- all be?