New Animation Lesson At The Toon Institute: Posing
The Toon Institute offers free animation lessons and tips on character design and is visited by students and instructors from all over the world...
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Plympton's Comic Of The Week
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
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This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
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Store Specials: Get Your World War II History Lesson And Some Laughs
- PRIVATE S.N.A.F.U. VOL. 1: Private Snafu was a character created by Warner Bros. during WWII for the Army-Navy Screen Magazine. These cartoons were shown only to servicemen, and were intended to convey serious messages behind the typical Warner humor. The shorts are even letterboxed, with director and release credits. Featured titles: "Coming! Snafu!," "Gripes," "Spies," "The Goldbrick," "The Infantry Blues," "Fighting Tools," "The Home Front," "Rumors," "Booby Traps," "Snafuperman," "Snafu vs.
The October Issue Of Animation World Magazine Is Coming This Sunday!
It is already October and time to start predicting which toy will be this Holiday season's Furby. Martin Goodman is here with a look at what Santa will - and will not - have in his sack this Yuletide. AWN's Rick DeMott takes a look at The Powerpuff Girls phenomenon and the building of a franchise. Who are the brains behind the marketing of Pokemon? Meet 4Kids, the company most recently called the "Fastest-Growing Company in America" by Forbes Magazine. Brett Rogers explores. So, what comes first - the successful show or the licensing and merchandising deal?
New Jobs: Animators, Digital Artists, Directors, Visual Artists And More...
Hollywood, California-based Imaginary Forces, a design studio producing groundbreaking work in all media including film, television, interactive, advertising and environment, is looking for an AFTER EFFECTS/MAYA/SOFTIMAGE ANIMATOR. . . Palo Alto, California-based PDI/Dreamworks is looking for an ANIMATION TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR for their computer animation studio. . .
Animation Toolworks Introduces New Lunchbox Sync
Hollywood, California-based Imaginary Forces, a design studio producing groundbreaking work in all media including film, television, interactive, advertising and environment, is looking for an AFTER EFFECTS/MAYA/SOFTIMAGE ANIMATOR...
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The Television World Converges On Cannes
MIPCOM, the International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable and Satellite, hits Cannes, France on October 2 - 6, 2000. MIPCOM facilitates programme sales, deals, new contacts and joint ventures on a global basis. MIPCOM includes a five-day TV industry tradeshow, including a conference progamme on Television in the New Economy called MIPCOM: The International Trading Floor. MIPCOM brings together producers, distributors, broadcasters, Webcasters, worldwide cable and satellite operators, buyers, co-producers and investors from around the globe.
Ottawa Awards Top Prize To Ring Of Fire
The 2000 edition of the Ottawa International Animation Festival took place last week with a record attendance to the action-packed week of screenings, exhibitions, workshops and, of course, parties! Many of the festival workshops centered on the topic of distribution. "Distribution And Exhibition," moderated by AWN's Dan Sarto, covered how independent animators could use the Internet to get their work purchased and promoted, and questioned whether there was a market for Web animation which doesn't necessary appeal to 16-year-old boys.
Vote For I Castelli Animati Best Web Toons
I Castelli Animati has pre-selected the animations for the official Web animation competition, which includes an audience prize. You can be part of the international cyber jury and vote for your favorites. The deadline to vote online is October 6, 2000. The 5th edition of I Castelli Animati will take place in Genzano, Italy, October 4-8, 2000. I Castelli Animati highlights animation in all its forms from commercials to features films.
Pixar's For The Birds Selected To Open Hollywood Shorts Festival
"For the Birds," Pixar's new short film, has been selected to open the 2nd Hollywood Shorts on Sunday, October 8, 2000. The film enjoyed its world premiere at the Annecy Film Festival in France in June and bowed in the U.S. at the 27th annual Siggraph conference in July. "For the Birds" director Ralph Eggleston will be in attendance and participate in the filmmakers' panel after the screening. Hollywood Shorts is an industry showcase that introduces outstanding filmmakers to L.A.'s film and television community via monthly screenings.
Cartoonists' Union Ratifies Contract
Despite a negative recommendation by the negotiating committee, the members of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement...
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Jerry Beck's Obscure TV Toons Is back By Popular Demand!
* Wednesday, September 27, 2000. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
Help Cure Ectodermal Dysplasias By Buying Animation Art!
* Saturday, October 28, 2000. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
Learn How To Animate From Don Bluth at TOON-UP 2000!
* Saturday, November 4 Sunday, November 5, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
German Helkon Media Buys Dutch Rubinstein Media
German production/rights buyer Helkon Media has acquired a 51% share in Dutch animation and merchandising house Rubinstein Media. Rubinstein founder and CEO Maurits Rubinstein will remain as head of the company. This move comes on the heels of Rubinstein and Helkon subsidiary Peppermints formation of a 50-50 joint children's television animation house entitled, Pepperkids.
Pixar Pieces
At Pixar, Renderman NT is shipping, making the popular rendering software used in most visual effects films available to a much larger user base. However, Larry Gritz, developer of BMRT (available for download at www.bmrt.org/), the shareware rendering software most recently utilized in HOLLOW MAN and THE CELL, and co-author of ADVANCED RENDERMAN: CREATING CGI FOR MOTION PICTURES, is no longer with Pixar, though the hope is BMRT development will continue.
Animation Toolworks Ships The LunchBox Sync
At the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Animation Toolworks introduced a completely new electronic audio-video device for animators, the LunchBox Sync. The LunchBox Sync is a successor to their Video LunchBox, which enables animators to test their work in progress instantly and eliminate time-consuming errors by monitoring pacing, lighting, audio synchronization and registration. The LunchBox Sync captures still images from a video camera and plays back this sequence of images at the same rate as film or television.
Sony Cuts Holiday PlayStation 2 Orders By Half
Due to microchip shortages, Sony has decided to cut its October 26, 2000 U.S. shipment of PlayStation 2 next generation gaming consoles by half. However, Sony states that this delivery change will not affect the projected amount of units in North America by the holiday season. 500,000 consoles will ship to 20,000 stores in North America then Sony will roll out 100,000 units each week thereafter. "We will be able to supply a flow of products, instead of a huge initial spike," said Kaz Hirai, COO of Sony.
Portuguese Short A Suspeita Wins Cartoon d’Or
Taking place from September 20-24, 2000 in Visby, on the island of Gotland, Sweden, the 11th Cartoon Forum awarded its coveted Cartoon dOr prize to Portuguese director José Miguel Ribeiros A SUSPEITA (THE SUSPECT). An international jury comprised of Stefan Fjeldmark (Denmark), Jacques-Rémy Girerd (France) and Thilo Rothkirch (Germany) determined the award.
Aardman Delinquent Breaks Net
ANGRY KID, the love-or-loathe-him ginger-haired horror from the home of WALLACE AND GROMIT, has proved so popular even the Internet isn't big enough for him. The SUNDAY TELEGRAPH paper reports that the Aardman Animations character is to make the move to television. At present, there are twenty-five different Webisodes, each about a minute long, available on the AtomFilms Website. The character is played by an actor shot frame-by-frame (pixelation), wearing one of Angry Kid's four hundred masks. The series was launched exclusively online on May 8, 2000.
Foresight Marketing Forms New Animation Studio
Foresight Marketing & Design Ltd., a marketing and consulting firm in Eastern Canada, has recently created a new division, Foresight Animation Studio. The toon house offers traditional animation and graphics as well as other creative services like Website design. Animation director Roger Foucault (also the creative director of Foresight's marketing firm) brings full traditional and classical animation training skills to the studio and hopes to see their company establish long-term business relationships with others. For more information contact Foresight at: P.O.
ZDF Enterprises Launches New Media Subsidiary
ZDF Enterprises has announced the creation of a new subsidiary, ZDF.new media. Based in Mainz, Germany, ZDF.new media will be run by recently appointed Peter Lang, president of marketing and sales, and Dirk Max Johns, president of content and multimedia products. The duo, with a staff of ten, will develop and grow the companys Websites www.zdf.msnbc.de and www.adf.de. "The foundation of ZDF.new media marks an important milestone for the future development of the ZDF-Group," said Alexander Coridass, president of ZDF Enterprises.
Will SGI Rebound?
SGI, once the forefront graphic workstation provider, is trying to regain past success, by recently acquiring Intergraph, releasing Open Source Inventor and embracing Linux. The company is hopeful this approach to open source will lead to more interest in SGI's software portfolio. The Intergraph acquisition will allow SGI a more competitive stance in the PC workstation arena. The hope is these moves will lead to a viable turnaround path for further success and profitability. To learn more about SGIs products visit their Website.
Oscar For Animated Feature To Be Given In 2002
On Tuesday, September 26, 2000, the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established a new Oscar awards category for best animated feature. The first award could be presented as early as the 74th Annual Academy Awards in March 2002. The category will exist only in years that have eight or more films deemed eligible for the category. To be eligible, an animated feature must be at least 70 minutes in length, "primarily animated" and meet the other general requirements for feature film eligibility.
