The Technology of Animation

The first in a series of conversations with leading entertainment companies on the impact of technology on their businesses.


"Many of the tools that we use are things that we author ourselves. But we have two of the largest, and clearly two of the finest, high-tech companies in the world as creative and business partners of ours: Hewlett-Packard and Intel. Both of these companies keep us on the cutting edge. And they see us as a great almost test base, you know, a lighthouse, to put their best products through their paces, and to find out where the boundaries are. I consider them kind of our godparents."


Jeffrey Katzenberg
CEO, DreamWorks
Forbes, March 1, 2010



Computers were born and bred for war, hard science and business. Now they are telling stories. Computer technology drives movies and television today. It sweeps us into worlds built from 1s and 0s that seem more true-to-life than real life. We have explored Middle Earth and deep space. We have met animated characters as vivid as vital as any best actor performance.

The arrival of computers, like so many breakthroughs, was met with derision. Three-D was for cheap monster flicks. Digital movies would look like video games. They would never replace 35 mm film or match the subtlety of actors in the flesh.

It all happened so fast that the future of entertainment arrived even before the industry tried to predict it. Jeffery Katzenberg was one of the few who saw the potential: "It seemed like an all or nothing bet. This is our future."


Today, computers are freeing the industry to make movies out of stories that could otherwise never be filmed. And the future will challenge the barrier between fantasy and reality. Will we someday be able to step through the screen and into the story?


The Computer History Museum is proud to announce that DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg and Ed Leonard will kick off this series, in a conversation moderated by HP’s Phil McKinney. Over the course of the evening they’ll discuss the history, techniques, challenges and future possibilities of digital animation. You’ll receive a behind-the-scenes look at Silicon Valley’s contributions to creativity with today’s leading digital moguls.