Image credit from top left to bottom right: Mo Mahler, Bill Shannon, Dawn Fidrick, Toby Cochran, Adrian Ochoa
In this episode of SIGGRAPH Spotlight, SIGGRAPH 2025 Electronic Theater Director Dawn Fidrick welcomes four SIGGRAPH 2024 Electronic Theater contributors, Toby Cochran, Adrian Ochoa, Mo Mahler, and Bill Shannon, for an enriching discussion about the world of animation and their wonderful works of art that will be showcased this year in Denver. Tune in for an exciting conversation that will leave you feeling inspired and excited to experience the many great pieces of work at SIGGRAPH 2024.
View the transcription of the podcast below.
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Push the boundaries of what is possible at SIGGRAPH 2024! Registration is now open for the 51st annual conference, 28 July–1 August, taking place in Denver and online. Get a front-row seat to the computer graphics excellence that bridges gaps across industries and the globe. Register today, then check out the Electronic Theater trailer for a glimpse at what you can expect during the premieres on Monday, 29 July, and Wednesday, 31 July.
About Our Guests
Toby Cochran is the Founder and creative force behind Big Grin Productions, boasts over 18 years of animation and production expertise. His roles span story artist, writer, and director, consistently infusing projects with heart and backed by thorough research. With a global impact in mind, Toby has successfully led teams across various entertainment realms, including games, commercials, live-action, and animated series. His dedication extends to creating original intellectual properties. Toby’s illustrious career includes collaborations with studios and companies such as the Discovery Channel, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nestle, Lego Universe, Netflix, and Disney. A seasoned story artist and award-winning director Toby has worked on projects with SoftBank Robotics, Marvel, ReelFX, Kuku Studios and is currently in the festival circuit for his short film LUKi & the Lights. His work stands as a testament to unwavering dedication, integrating research-driven authenticity and heartfelt storytelling into every endeavor.
Adrian Ochoa is an award winning Producer, prior to joining Big Grin, Adrian worked at Pixar Animation Studios, Playstudios and Penrose Studios. As a kid, Adrian was fascinated by Storytelling, Animation, VFX, Films and Computers. That passion has never gone away. Studio Ghibli has Toshio Suzuki and Big Grin has Adrian Ochoa. He thrives at being part of the creative team working on amazing projects. His credits included Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Wall-E, Cars 2, Monsters University, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur. He’s also worked on various shorts including Cars Toons, and Day and Night and a few live action shorts. He also produced over 45 mobile games, including three with Shaquille O’Neal and the award winning VR animated short film Arden’s Wake. Adrian loves writing short and feature film scripts, and video production. If he’s not in Napa enjoying some tasty cabernets you can find him cruising old cars or spending time with his family.
Moshe Mahler is an award-winning professional innovator, animator, and storyteller whose work has been featured in attractions at Disney Parks and Resorts and shown worldwide at prestigious venues, including SIGGRAPH, UIST, Comic Con, and Ars Electronica. For nearly a decade, Mahler led The Creative Technology Team at Disney Research of The Walt Disney Company, where he served as Principal Artist. Under his supervision, the team worked hand in hand with elite Research Scientists to invent and utilize new technologies across the Walt Disney Company, collaborating with Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Television Animation, Imagineering, and more. Mahler has authored more than a dozen technical paper publications at premiere conferences and is an inventor of four issued patents. His artworks and animated films have been featured in a number of venues internationally. Moshe currently holds a faculty position at The Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University and is the Principal and Owner of BIG eMotion Technologies.
Bill Shannon (1970) is an interdisciplinary artist, inventor and maker who explores body-centric work through video installation, sculpture, drawing, linguistics, sociology, choreography and dance. Bill has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography, a Foundation For Contemporary Art Fellowship in Performance Art, and a United States Artist Fellowship in Dance. Bill has received three NEA Multidisciplinary Arts Awards and worked as a choreographer on the creative team behind Cirque Du Soleil’s “Varekai” Bill’s interdisciplinary works have been performed and exhibited globally and include a multi-year street
performance “Regarding The Fall” and correlated line art series “Notes on Performance” a video installation series “Fragmentation Series” and five group works for dance theater focused on translating “street dance” to the stage. Shannons last group work “TouchUpdate” ( pre-covid) involved him designing & fabricating a Wearable Video Mask. A feature length documentary, “Crutch” 2020 focusing on Shannon’s life and work is currently available
streaming on Apple TV, Discovery+. Currently Shannon continues to work independently on a range of self directed projects while caring for his family in Pittsburgh PA.
Dawn Fidrick is an American film producer. The heart of her professional career was spent in New York and Los Angeles. Spanning work in animation, VFX, and live theatrical production her roots in theatre elevated her to stage manage the legendary Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatre in New York City. This seasoned range of experience has made her a high performing team leader with a deep knowledge of physical production, CG and animation pipelines, and post production. She cultivates a sense of purpose and meaning within her teams where that sense of belonging enables a creative and collaborative workspace. Dawn earned her Master of Fine Arts in Computer Art from School of Visual Arts and BFA in Production Management from DePaul University. She contributed as a visual effects artist on blockbuster films such as Star Trek: Into Darkness and Iron Man 3. The Hollywood Reporter called her independent feature producing debut Other Madnesses “a film that effectively gets under your skin”. And her dream project to date was producing the planetarium show Signs of Life, now playing in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. She is proud to currently be the Production Team Manager at DNEG in Vancouver, British Columbia and looks forward to serving her upcoming appointment as SIGGRAPH 2025 Electronic Theater Director, Program Chair.
