AWN Headline News

Matt Groening, creator of THE SIMPSONS and FUTURAMA, will speak at the 1999Portland Creative Conference. He will join Eugenio Zanetti, productiondesigner for WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, Disney producer Don Hahn, and nationallysyndicated cartoonist John Callahan. The Conference includes speakerpresentations, panel discussions, sneak preview film screenings, an openingnight kick-off celebration, and a closing night wrap party, and runsSeptember 16 through 18 at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. The

AtomFilms, a website devoted to short films, is teaming up with WarnerBros. Online, NBC's Snap.com, RealNetworks, On2.com, Atomic Pop, andStreamSearch. AtomFilms will provide short form entertainment to thesecompany's websites. These Internet companies join Atom's existingdistribution partners that span both online and traditional industries,including: HBO, Sundance Channel, Continental Airlines, Air Canada,Excite@Home, Go Network, Reel.com, Film.com, College Broadcast Network, and

New York City-based commercial production company SHELTER FILMS has signeddirector TODD FACTOR. Factor has directed spots for Coca-Cola, Budweiser,and Nice Skate Shoes.

STEVE BLEVINS has joined New York-based TIS/MAGNET as seniordesigner/animator. Blevins' duties include designing and creating(primarily 2D) animation for broadcast and the web, art direction, creativedevelopment, and research. Besides free-lancing for Magnet, Blevins hasdone traditional 2D and 3D CGI art and animation for companies such as SanFrancisco-based Wild Brain, New York-based Blue Sky, and Connecticut-based,Ball&Chain.

London-based BERMUDA SHORTS has completed "Rear Window," a spot for Natwestbank. The spot explores the things you can do in the privacy of your homeonce you own the property. The spot includes 2D animated people who sit bya stream, feeding fish, as well as a stop-motion animated man working onhis car. Phil Dale did the stop-motion animation. Run Wrake directed thespot for Agency TBWA.

Mumbai, India-based GRAPHITI MULTIMEDIA PVT. LTD. has completed a :20 spotfor ThumsUp soft drink, a Coca-Cola product. In the spot, a mosquito holdsa straw like a microphone and sings a 1970s Hindi love song until theThumsUp hero, played by a live model, squashes the insect. Graphiti usedCambridge Animation Systems' Animo software to composite the three mattelayers -- a highlight layer, a mid-tone layer, and a body shadow layer --making up the mosquito. The 3D environment was created with 3D Studio Max.Sunil Shetty directed the spot.

SIMON GOODCHILD, recently signed by London-based SHERBERT, has completedhis first commercial, "Colour Screams," a :40 spot for Procter and Gamble'snew washing powder, Vibrant. The agency was Grey Advertising. The spot,which uses abstract shapes and pure color to create a mood of vibrant,non-bleeding color, was designed with Truespace and Adobe Photoshop.

West Los Angeles-based RHYTHM & HUES has completed "Father and Daughter," a:30 spot for General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal. The spot featuresan alien pre-teen and her alien father discussing the out-of-this worldtaste and looks of the cereal. For the spot, real actors were videotaped asreferences. This reference footage was then used as inspiration whenplotting the animation curves in Maya. The spot was made for Minneapolis,Minnesota-based Agency Campbell Mithun Esty. Micheal Patterson directed for

The 1999 edition of SPIKE AND MIKE'S SICK AND TWISTED FESTIVAL OF ANIMATIONincludes NO NECK JOE III by DNA Productions, DIE HARD IN UNDER TWO MINUTESby Konstantin Bronzit, TYSON: I AM NOT AN ANIMAL by David Lipson, BALLETBLUES by Thomas Kung, BOWLIN' FER SOULS by SuperGenius, HORNED GRAMMA byDave Foss, LEGEND OF RAGGOT by Sean Scottm, GRIMM'S HUMPTY DUMPTY by RyanMontrucchio, SWING SLUTS by Brett Johnson, BILLY'S BALLOON by DonHertzfeldt, BEYOND GRANDPA II by Breehn John Burns, BODY PARTS by Jonas