Director John Adams has signed to be represented by Santa Monica,California-based AREA 51 Films. Prior to launching his commercial directingcareer last year, Adams was director of broadcast production at DDBNeedham, Dallas.
The Attik/San Francisco has also named Ian Renton Studio Manager. Rentonwill oversee the day to day operation of the studio. He is also responsiblefor insuring that all equipment works correctly, handling briefings withclients, and shepherding design projects from inception to completion. Hecomes from The Attik's Huddersfield, UK office where he was Digital ArtworkManager/Studio Manager.
Cartoon Network, the 24 hour all-cartoon cable service, has announcedseveral highlights on its fall schedule. These include: a TINY TOONMARATHON on Sunday, September 19, 12-8 pm; the premiere of new series MIKE,LU & OG, created by Chuck Swenson, Mikhail Aldashin, and Mikhail Shindel,on November 12; the premiere of new series COURAGE, THE COWARDLY DOG,created by John R. Dilworth, on November 12; the television premiere of thefeature-length SCOOBY-DOO AND THE WITCH'S GHOST on November 27 at 8 pm.
The Annual Society for Animation Studies (SAS) Conference will be hosted byGriffith University and will feature papers by Maureen Furniss on motioncapture, Chris Robinson on Estonian animation, Richard Leskosky onanimating between the lines, Jean-Paul Goergen on hand-drawn sound inGermany in the 1930s, Suzanne R. Williams on the aesthetics of computergames, Marilyn Carney on Australian women animators, Bryan Barker on theimpact of CinemaScope on animation production, Cathyrn Vasseleu on "Time
MTV: Music Television will premiere its newest animated series, MTVDOWNTOWN, which was created by New York-based School of Visual Arts alumnusChris Prynoski, on Tuesday, August 3, 1999 at 10:30 pm ET/PT, 9:30 pm CT.The 13-episode series will air regularly on Tuesday nights. MTV DOWNTOWNfocuses on the shy and thoughtful Alex, and his wild and crazy sister,Chaka. Many of the characters and situations are based on interviews withpeople around Manhattan.
Hollywood-based Super 78 used Adobe After Effects 4.0 to design the 2Dgraphics for a :30 spot, "Wanna Bet?," for YouBet.com, a new thoroughbredhorseracing on-line wagering service.
Cartoon Network is forming Cartoon Network Studios, an independentproduction facility to develop and produce original animated programmingfor the 24-hour, all-cartoon cable channel. The new, Los Angeles-basedfacility, due to begin operation by the end of the year, will give CartoonNetwork more control over series development, production, andadministration procedures. Among the series that the new studio willproduce are the currently airing THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, JOHNNY BRAVO, and
In 1992, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS) first launched its 24 hourall-cartoon cable service, Cartoon Network. Next spring, Turner will launcha second all-toon service, Boomerang. When Cartoon Network debuted sevenyears ago, it could have been called the Hanna-Barbera Network because itsprogramming consisted almost exclusively of the classic Hanna-Barberalibrary, which was also owned by Turner. But recently new shows such as THEPOWERPUFF GIRLS and DEXTER'S LABORATORY, produced by Cartoon Network
ASIFA-Hollywood's ANIFEST '99 is a free 2-day festival of animation. Eventsinclude a hands-on animation experience for kids; a stage show by voiceartist Lucille Bliss and others; SIMPSONS comic book artist Phil Ortiz,Warner Bros. Feature Animation director Tom Sito, storyboard artist BobMiller, plus other professionals will also offer individual animationindustry insight through engaging stage presentations; demonstrations fromanimators, storyboard artists and character layout artists; and a silent
Disney's TARZAN finished seventh in the US weekend boxoffice race, grossingan estimated $7.4 million for a total of $143 million; Warner's THE WILDWILD WEST, with digital effects by ILM, finished fifth, grossing anestimated $10 million for a total of $94 million; Lucasfilm's STAR WARS I:THE PHANTOM MENACE finished eighth, grossing an estimated $5.3 million fora total of $394.9 million; Buena Vista's MUPPETS FROM SPACE finished tenth,grossing $5.1 million for a total of $7 million; and Trey Parker's SOUTH
A.D.V. Films is releasing the following titles in the US. CITY HUNTER: BAYCITY WARS, and SORCERER HUNTERS VOLUME 5 - FORBIDDEN DESIRES, are beingreleased on October 12, while SAKURA WARS 2, SAKURA WARS DVD, and VARIABLEGEO, are being released on October 26. All of these titles will be releasedin both English dubbed and Japanese with English subtitles. A.D.V.'sSoftcel division, which specializes in titles with nudity, sex, and adultsituations, is releasing CAN CAN BUNNY and COUNTDOWN: AKIRA on September
Torrance, California-based Expanded Entertainment, which produced theTournee of Animation and Animation Celebration in recent years, andcompiled and distributed tapes of award-winning animated shorts, has soldits inventory to Chicago-based Facets Video, which also handles The WholeToon Catalog. The titles include four Animation Celebration volumes,British Animation Invasion, six International Tournee of Animation volumes,The World's Greatest Animation, and several other titles. Once Facets'
San Franciso-based Macromedia, Inc. has announced an agreement under whichMacromedia will acquire Elemental Software for $24 million in a stock forstock transaction. Elemental Software is a privately held company thatdevelops and markets software that enables corporate users to build Webapplications for e-business solutions. Elemental's products includeDrumbeat 2000, Drumbeat 2000 JavaServer Pages Edition, and eStore Builderfor Drumbeat 2000. Upon completion of the acquisition, the Elemental
Burbank, California-based Renegade Animation has animated a cute catcharacter as one of the office assistants for the newly released MicrosoftOffice 2000. The assistant is the intelligence center of the Office helpsystem. Users can ask it questions in their own words and it provides help.The cat was rendered with cel animation, and Darrell Van Citters directed.FunArts Software, a company that creates and produces office assistants forMicrosoft, commissioned the animation from Renegade.
In October 1999, Disney publishing house Hyperion will publish PAPER DREAMS- THE ART AND ARTISTS OF DISNEY STORYBOARDS by John Canemaker. The bookprovides a behind-the-scenes look at the development of stories,situations, and personalities for many of Disney's animated films, fromPLANE CRAZY through TARZAN. It also includes information about many littleknown story artists and writers. Artists covered include Bill Peet, TedSears, Pinto Colvig, Earl Hurd, Webb Smith, Carl Barks, Harry Reeves, Homer
Vienna, Virginia-based ITS (The Association of Imaging Technology andSound) has named Katy O'Grady Marketing and Communications Manager. O'Gradywill be responsible for producing the ITS monthly newsletter, managing thewebsite/e-mail list, membership and conference marketing, coordinatingpress trade agreements and advertising, and compiling the ITS annualreport. She comes from The American Association for Marriage and FamilyTherapy in Washington, D.C. where she was Marketing Specialist.
The Attik/San Francisco has named Joe Gallegos Director of StrategicPlanning. He comes to The Attik from Saatchi & Saatchi where in Miami,Florida he was Regional Account Supervisor for the Latin American marketfor both Eastman Kodak Company's Professional Division and Nortel Networks;and in Rochester, New York where he was Senior Account Executive.
Vancouver-based Mercury Filmworks has promoted Michael O'Brien to theposition of Production Manager for Mercury's Digital Animation Group.O'Brien has been with the company as co-ordinator since July of 1998,shortly after Mercury Filmworks opened its doors. Prior to joining Mercury,O'Brien worked at Marv Newland's animation studio Rocketship International.
Santa Monica, California-based Mixin Pixls completed the computer animationfor "Mouse," a spot for DiTech.com in which a computer comes to life andtells its owner about DiTech.com. Live-action was directed by Ken Robertsfor Laguna Beach, California-based Ken Roberts Productions.
To celebrate their move to a new location, as well as the opening of Pooh'sCorner, an exhibit of Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh artwork, AnimazingGallery will hold a cocktail reception on Thursday, July 29 from 4-8 pm.John Fiedler, who has been the voice of Piglet since Disney's first Winniethe Pooh short, will be on hand, and an original production cel featuringPooh and Piglet will be signed by Fiedler and raffled off, as will otherDisney items. The gallery is located in New York City at 474 Broome Street
Hollywood-based Ring of Fire has completed the visual effects for two spotsfor the Nissan Infiniti Q45 SUV sedan. "Monoframe" shows the solid, steelchassis of the Infiniti Q45 SUV sedan falling toward the Mojave Desert,then transforming into a shining Infiniti Q45 when it hits the ground."Flower" uses time-lapse photography to show a flower blooming in the glowof the head lamps of a new Infiniti Q45. Live-action was directed by NicoBeyer for New York-based Compass Films, and TBWA Chiat/Day was the agency.
Animation filmmaker, teacher, and author John Canemaker has been awarded aRockefeller Foundation residency grant in Bellagio, Italy. From July 27through August 25, he will stay at the 16th century Villa Serbelloni onLake Como, where he will work on a storyboard for a personal animated film.From August 31 through September 5, he will be a guest of FANTOCHE, theSwiss Animation Festival in Baden, where he will present twolecture/screenings on Animated Surrealism and Jazztoons: Jazz and Animation.
Taking advantage of the buzz around the upcoming release of the Englishversion of PRINCESS MONONOKE directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which is due to bereleased on October 29, 1999, Stone Bridge Press and Miramax Press are bothreleasing tie-in books. Stone Bridge Press is publishing HAYAO MIYAZAKI:MASTER OF JAPANESE ANIMATION by Helen McCarthy. The book mixes film-by-filmsummaries with insider interviews and discussions of art, plot, productionqualities, and themes. It is a 216 page, 7x9" paperback with more than 70
Activision, Inc. has acquired Elsinore Multimedia, a software developmentcompany that designed the Cabela's Big Game Hunter series for Activision'sHead Games Publishing unit. As a result of the acquisition, which wascompleted on June 29, 1999, Elsinore has become a wholly owned subsidiaryof Activision. Based in Hollywood, Florida, Elsinore Multimedia is asoftware development company that produces products for the Windowsplatform. In addition to the Cabela's Big Game Hunter titles, the company
Glen Cove, New York-based Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. has announced resultsfor its fiscal 1999 third quarter ended May 31, 1999. The Company reportedthird quarter net revenues of $80.0 million, an increase of 9% comparedwith $73.2 million in the third quarter of the prior year. During thequarter, Acclaim shipped All Star Baseball 2000 for the Nintendo 64 andGame Boy Color, Bust-A-Move '99 for Nintendo 64 and PlayStation,Bust-A-Move 4 and WWF Attitude for Game Boy Color, and Machines and South
