Animation World Network is excited to announce that it has been acquired by
Creative Planet (www.creativeplanet.com), a network of business-to-business
Web sites for creative professionals. Dan Sarto, COO and co-founder of AWN
said, "This transaction will afford AWN the opportunity to continue its
aggressive growth strategy and sustained position as the leading Internet
site for the animation profession." AWN brings to Creative Planet its vast
In the spring, Fox Kids Europe will launch a local TV affiliate in Italy
and initiate a fully localized Web site to coincide. The new channel will
be distributed by cable and direct satellite to about 400,000 subscribers
via the Stream pay television system. The channel will broadcast entirely
in Italian 15 hours a day with such well-known shows as X-MEN, MIGHTY
MORPHAN POWER RANGERS and INSPECTOR GADGET. The scheduled launch date for
the new net will be April 1, 2000. Following the Italian launch, Fox Kids
On February 11, 2000, CBS will air a special celebrating the career of THE
PEANUTS creator Charles Schultz. The hour-long GOOD GRIEF, CHARLIE BROWN: A
TRIBUTE TO CHARLES SCHULTZ will be hosted by CBS' former news legend Walter
Cronkite. The special will feature clips from the PEANUTS series and
specials, plus an interview with Charles Schultz. The legendary comic strip
artist retired at the beginning of the year in order to concentrate on
beating his newly diagnosed cancer.
NASCAR fans will soon be treated to the premiere of a new animated TV show
NASCAR RACERS. On Friday, February 5, 2000 at 3:30 pm, Fox Kids will kick
off the new series with a re-broadcast of the 90-minute NASCAR RACERS
telepic. Following the next day at 9:30 am, the series will premiere. The
show will follow the high-speed adventures of four young race car drivers.
Designed for those who produce commercials, music videos, industrial
projects and similar broadcast pieces, 'Lifestyles - Mixed Cuts' is a stock
CD which is packed full of video clips of people. The royalty free
collection of video snippets includes the faces of adults and children,
plus a wide variety of situations including a birthday party, a mother and
daughter out for a walk, professionals in a board room and even a transient
walking along train tracks. The uses are endless. Commercials and music
Toon Boom Technologies recently released a new version of its 2D cel animation software, USAnimation, which is used by top animation studios all over the world (Walt Disney TV Animation, Film Roman, Warner Bros., Klasky Csupo, Paramount Pictures, Mercury FilmWorks, Sunwoo, Cuckoo's Nest, Cinar). Version 5.0 brings a wealth of new tools to animators, including the new 3D camera, or USAnimation's Real-Time Scene Planning module (which can be used at any time after scanning).
Iowa State University's student television station is looking for animated
films of any kind under 7 minutes in length, for their animation
exposition. The winner will be broadcast locally in April of 2000 to an
audience of around 40-50,000 homes. In addition, animators that participate
will have their Web sites linked to from the station Web site. Submissions
can be on BetaSP, SVHS or VHS tapes. Since the animations will be broadcast
on TV, all submissions must meet FCC rules that include no nudity, graphic
ARNOLD RIFKIN, whose Cheyenne Enterprises, LLC, is currently partnered with
such talent as Bruce Willis, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, has joined
the Board of Directors of on-line entertainment company MediaTrip.com.
Rifkin was a founding partner in the talent agency, Triad Artists before it
was acquired by the William Morris Agency in 1992. Soon after Rifkin went
on head the Motion Picture Department at William Morris before being named
RAINBOW STUDIOS, a digital media company, announced DAVID STIPES has joined
Rainbow Studios' management staff. Stipes role will be to direct and
motivate Rainbow's team of award-winning producers, designers and artists
in current and upcoming projects. Stipes comes to Rainbow from Paramount
Pictures where he served as visual effects supervisor. Stipes designed
visual effects and supervised on-set live-action, motion control, CGI and
digital compositing for STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, STAR TREK: VOYAGER and
SYCONET.COM, INC., a leading U.S. distributor of anime videos and DVDs,
announced that ANNELIESE CHANG will become their new director of marketing.
Chang will be responsible for the development of sales and marketing for
the company. Before joining SyCoNet.com, Chang held a management position
at Disney Consumer Products-Licensing, where she managed the product
development for over 20 toy licensees on various Disney properties
including TOY STORY 2, DINOSAUR, MICKEY MOUSE and WINNIE THE POOH. Prior to
REBECCA POOLE, a veteran Nickelodeon Movies exec, has been appointed to the
newly created position of VP, production, at Burbank, CA-based
AniManagement. Poole will help lead the company's new efforts in animated
and live-action film production. Her responsibilities will include managing
the division's existing client base and the acquisition and development of
original material. Most recently, Poole served as manager, creative
affairs, at Nick Movies. Before joining Nick, Poole worked at American
Check out the latest "behind the scenes" features and tutorials from Visual
Magic Magazine...
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy
Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
FPS (Frames Per Second), the Canadian animation magazine, now has a
questionnaire on-line that they invite all readers, new and old, to fill
out. The FPS survey is located at
The current issue of FPS (#18) is available for sale in AWN's
where you can subscribe to your favorite animation publications and
February is our annual motion-capture and stop-motion issue, and we have
plenty in store as usual. Sharon Schatz interviews Brian Nilles of leading
motion-capture technology firm, Vicon Motion Systems. Gregory Singer goes
behind the scenes on one of the many projects which uses Vicon's
technology, while Laura Schiff introduces us to Webbie Tookay, a new
motion-capture personality. On the stop-motion side of things, Wendy
Jackson covers Aardman Animations' current high flying times as they work
New York-based HEAVY.COM is looking for ANIMATORS to join their growing
staff. Applicants are expected to have solid skills in drawing,
storytelling, design, Flash and interpersonal dynamics. Prior filmmaking
experience and/or background in traditional 2D animation techniques is a
plus.
For more information about these and other jobs, check out AWN's
Career Connections, the online Animation Job Fair.
STARDUST ENTERTAINMENT FILMPRODUKTION is a studio located in
Berlin-Potsdam, Germany, specializing in computer animation (3D) and visual
effects. The CGI studio is equipped with the most advanced wireless
motion-capture system by Motion Analysis. In addition to its staff of 50
CGI professionals from 15 different countries, currently based at the
studio in Germany, Stardust Entertainment is cooperating with CGI studios
in Romania, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Asia. Currently in production on a 26
The 19th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival will take place
February 28-March 11, 2000. 128 films have been selected for the official
competition, 119 shorts and 9 features, representing 22 countries. The list
of all selected films is available on-line. In addition to the feature
program, the festival will present six international programs of short
films, two international programs of student films, and two programs of
Belgian films. The retrospectives include: "Humour? Humour!," an anthology
The newest Career Coach, our monthly column by Pamela Thompson, is online...
* Saturday, February 12, 2000. Ontario, Canada.
Cinematheque Ontario will present Lotte Reiniger's timeless silhouette
animation, THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (DIE ABENTEUER DES PRINZEN
ACHMED). The story is adapted from the "Tales of the Arabian Nights." The
film, that took Reiniger two years to make, captures fantasy, romance,
adventure, and humor. The screening will begin at 2 pm. The Jackman Hall
Box Office opens 30 minutes prior to the first screening of the day. Ticket
* Wednesday, February 16, 2000. Westwood, California, U.S.A.
For the tenth consecutive year Clifford Cohen's AnimAction will be
presenting the TEAM (Tobacco Education Awareness Message) Awards.
Twenty-seven middle schools have participated in AnimAction's filmmaking
program this year. Students work together in creating animated Public
Service Announcements (PSAs). The award winning PSAs will be aired on
network and cable TV. Previous PSAs have been distributed by UNICEF and
* Sunday, February 20 - Wednesday, February 23, 2000. Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
Created in 1979, the Monte-Carlo Television Market was established as a
companion to the world renowned Monte-Carlo International Television
Festival. Today, the Television Market ranks as one of the top program
markets in the world. In 1999, the Market had 487 registered buyers and
1,920 participants on hand. For 2000, two new events have been added to the
* Thursday, February 24 - Sunday, March 5, 2000. San Jose, California, U.S.A.
Cinequest San Jose Film Festival showcases features and short films (16mm &
35mm all genres) of artistic, social or stylistic merit. This year, the
festival is celebrating Maverick Films, Filmmakers and Technologies. For
more information contact Cinequest 2000 at: P.O Box 720040, San Jose, CA
95172-0040; Tel.: (408) 995-5033; Fax: (408) 995-5713; E-mail:
cineqst@wenet.net; or Web: http://www.cinequest.org.
* Monday, February 28 - Saturday, March 11, 2000. Brussels, Belgium.
Each year the Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival programs the
"crème de la crème" in international animation. It is one of the top
festivals on the international cartoon and computer generated images
circuit. It features 150 to 200 films, plus premieres, original
retrospectives, exhibitions, "making of" programs and invites a host of
