AWN Headline News

Harrison, New York-based BLUE SKY STUDIOS has promoted CHRIS BURROWS andTIM SPELTZ to technical directors. Since beginning as a technical assistantat Blue Sky Studios in 1998, Burrows has worked on a variety of projects,including lighting and rendering for Blue Sky's Oscar award-winning short,BUNNY. Speltz has been with Blue Sky Studios since he graduated from BrownUniversity in 1997. Since then, he has excelled at effects, particle work,and lighting. He was credited as technical assistant and technical directoron BUNNY.

INFOGRAMES, a global publisher of interactive entertainment software, hasappointed a new management team. STAN ROACH, formerly executive vicepresident of marketing, will take on the role of COO overseeing sales,marketing and product development. YVES LEGRIS, formerly with Infogrames'headquarters in France, will become COO responsible for finance, businessdevelopment, legal affairs, studio operations, information technology andhuman resources.

Mumbai, India-based GRAPHITI MULTIMEDIA has completed two :15 spots forLimca soft drink. In one of the spots, an animated version of Indian moviestar Shah Rukh Khan is chased by a dog while on a date with his girlfriend.In the other spot, a cricket player is taunted by a duck. In both spots,the characters are encouraged to "take it easy" with a Limca soft drink.Graphiti used Cambridge Animation Systems' Animo software to composite thehand-drawn characters with the backgrounds, which were created using AdobePhotoshop.

Manga Video is releasing MACROSS PLUS on DVD on October 12, 1999. MACROSSPLUS, directed by Shoji Kawamori, is a DTV (direct-to-video) which is basedon the original Japanese TV series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, whichwas used as the basis for the 1980s American TV series ROBOTECH. MACROSSPLUS is set approximately thirty years after the original MACROSS and justbefore the events in the Japanese TV series MACROSS 7. In MACROSS PLUS, theuniverse's most popular virtual reality singer, Sharon Apple, comes alive

A.D.V. Films is releasing the following anime titles in the US. On November9: MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO VOLUME 1 - INVASION! - An unorthodox crewfights to save Earth from annihilation by Martians; COMPILER 2 - It'sCompiler versus Compiler in deadly showdown!; and ORIGINAL DIRTY PAIRVOLUME 4 - Kei and Yuri stumble upon a child who is the sole survivor of amass murder committed over twenty years ago. November 23: BUBBLEGUM CRISISVOLUME 2 - TRIAL BY FIRE - Sylia's brother Mackey joins the team as the

CARTOON NETWORK has promoted MARK NORMAN to senior vice president ofbusiness operations for Cartoon Network USA and BOOMERANG. Norman will beresponsible for long range strategic planning and forecasting, includingnetwork investments in original programming and program acquisitions. Hewill also oversee all business and operational aspects of the new CartoonNetwork Studio in Los Angeles, as well as orchestrate the launch and manageall operation of Boomerang, the network's new classic animation channelwhich will launch on April 1, 2000.