LOS ANGELES — The Visual Effects Society (www.visualeffectssociety.com) has announced that acclaimed visual futurist and VES Visionary Award honoree Syd Mead will serve as a keynote speaker at its 9th annual Summit, “Inspiring Change: Building on 20 Years of VES Innovation.” Featured speakers will include president of IMAX Home Entertainment, Jason Brenek, and online security expert/founder of SSP Blue, Hemanshu Nigam. The interactive forum on Saturday, October 28th celebrates the Society’s 20th anniversary and will bring together top creatives, executives, thought leaders and visionaries from diverse disciplines to explore the evolution of visual imagery and the VFX industry landscape.
Syd Mead is an acclaimed visual futurist and conceptual artist whose storied career spans almost six decades. He was honored as the recipient of its VES Visionary Award at the 14th Annual VES Awards in 2016 for his ability to create unforgettable images and advance storytelling through his futuristic design aesthetic. Mead’s career began as he created characters and backgrounds for animated cinema intermission trailers just out of high school. After serving in the US Army and receiving his education at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Styling Studio recruited Mead. After Ford, he took on high-profile design assignments for blue chip companies including US Steel, Philips Electronics and Intercontinental Hotels.
In 1979, Mead’s projects expanded to designing for Hollywood as he began to work with most major studios. His cinema entrée was legendary, starting with the creation of the V’ger entity for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, followed by two cult classics - Bladerunner and Tron. Mead’s designs for robots, vehicles and other-worldly environments have also been featured in films including 2010, Short Circuit, Aliens, Time Cop, Johnny Mnemonic, Mission Impossible 3 and Elysium. With transportation design as his first love, Mead seldom misses an opportunity to provide his unique blend of futurism and believability to designing vehicles.
Featured speaker Jason Brenek joined IMAX Corporation in 2015 as president, IMAX Home Entertainment, where he oversees a series of global initiatives designed collectively to translate elements of The IMAX Experience to the home setting, including the IMAX Private Theatres, an over-the-top movie service for delivering IMAX-enhanced Hollywood films into homes, and IMAX technology licensing into premium consumer electronics. He also oversees virtual reality content acquisitions and curation for the new IMAX location-based VR centers.
Prior to joining IMAX, Brenek spent more than a decade in senior management at The Walt Disney Studios. He led Disney’s international teams and sub-distributors in the commercialization of Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movies in New Media/Digital, Television and Retail channels. His teams have led the industry in the launch of innovative and lucrative partnerships and products around the world. In his concurrent role of head of global business development and strategic partnerships, Brenek was later responsible for sourcing new revenue opportunities, business models, investments, establishing strategic partnerships, and digital product strategy and incubation for the studio’s multi-billion dollar global in-home distribution segment.
Featured speaker Hemanshu (Hemu) Nigam has worked inside the largest prosecuting agencies, software companies, media and entertainment giants, and most influential trade associations in the world. Nigam served as the chief security officer of News Corporation and Fox Interactive Media’s digital properties, as CSO of MySpace, and as a security executive in Microsoft. He was also the vice president of worldwide internet enforcement at the Motion Picture Association of America.
He began his career as Los Angeles County prosecutor, specializing in sex crimes and child abuse before serving as a federal prosecutor against online crimes against children and computer crimes in the US DOJ. Today, he is the founder of SSP Blue, a cyber security advisory company that has helped companies like Participant Media, SnapChat, Microsoft/Xbox, Disney, AT&T, Microsoft, JustFab, and others deal with challenges in cyber security, privacy and safety. A veteran of online security, he brings over 20 years of experience in private industry, government, and law enforcement.
The 2017 VES Summit takes place on Saturday, October 28th at the Sofitel Hotel Beverly Hills, CA.