Marvel Enterprises, Inc. has named Steve Milo president of Marvel New Media. In his new role, he will oversee development, organization and implementation of Marvel.com's strategic direction. Previously, Milo spent 5 years in senior management positions at Fandom and AnotherUniverse.com, a leading e-commerce and content site for toys and collectibles, which he founded.
J.J. Sedelmaier Productions animated its fifth 30-second spot for Old Navy. In the commercial "Tons of Ts," the animated Old Navy kids cut loose to the Jackson Five tune "ABC," as they model dozens of new T-shirts. The spot ends with an animated version of Old Navy's spokesdog Magic jumping into a T-shirt hanging on a clothesline.
Paris-based animators Mac Guff Ligne have created seven new Pillsbury Doughboy spots. According to Mac Guff Ligne executive Niko Trout, the main challenge faced by his company's designers and animators was learning proper respect for the character. "The only thing we had as reference was our own Michelin man," Trout said. "We had to be careful to understand the permutations of what we were dealing with." Working on the spots for Mac Guff Ligne were executive producer/CG and special effects wizard Nicolas Trout, visual effects supervisor Frank Baradat and executive producer/U.S.
* Monday, November 27 Friday, December 1, 2000. Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
* Tuesday, November 28 Sunday, December 3, 2000. Viareggio, Italy.
The 17th EuropaCinema & TV Film Festival highlights European film and television projects. The festival has a European animation shorts category. All films must be 15 minutes or less. For more information contact Thomas Martinelli at: Tel.: ++39 (0)6 42011184 or ++39 (0)6 4200021; Fax ++39 (0)6 42010599; E-mail: lthomasm@yahoo.it; or Web: http://www.europacinema.net.
* Thursday, November 30 Sunday, December 10, 2000. Belfast, U.K.
AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. This week's installment features a Distant Corners' Halloween horror marathon, AtomFilms' Animation Showdown and much, much more.
Get your Web Animation Guide here!
Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"
Earlier this week, Film Roman, Inc. and Chennai, India-based Pentamedia Graphics, Ltd., formerly known as Pentafour Software and Exports, Ltd., have announced a letter of intent pursuant to which Pentamedia will purchase a 51% stake in Film Roman. The deal was a US$15 million cash deal, which is aimed to close by January after regulatory and board approvals. The deal was concluded by Film Roman's president and CEO John Hyde, who joined the company in December 1999, after a tumultuous three year period. Since the company went public in 1996, Film Roman has teetered in the red.
* Thursday, November 23 Sunday, November 26, 2000. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
November 14-16, 2000 the 7th annual London Effects & Animation Festival (LEAF) will once again showcase some of the best achievements of the past year in computer-generated animation and special effects...
* Thursday, November 23 Saturday, November 25, 2000. Perugia, Italy.
Mainframe Entertainment and Studio B Productions have announced that the two Vancouver animation studios are entering into a co-production agreement to develop an original series utilizing both traditional and computer animation. Mainframe CEO Ian Pearson said, "We've admired Studio B's work for some time and were looking for a partner in the traditional animation realm to co-produce projects that combine 2D and 3D animation techniques.
* Monday, November 27 Friday, December 15, 2000. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
This month we are talking about everyone's pal - television. We are featuring a profile of veteran animation director and producer Eric Radomski. We are also taking a long hard look at primetime animation and trying to figure out what went wrong this year. In addition, we will showcase five shows that are extra special for many reasons. They include France's "Belphégor," Oxygen's "X-Chromosome," the U.K.'s "Butt-Ugly Martians," Tom Snyder Productions and Disney's "Teacher's Pet."
West Virginia 3D animation house Destiny Images has wrapped on two 3D animated educational series entitled LETTER TV and MATH MONSTERS. Twenty-six 5-minute episodes of LETTER TV were produced for The Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT). Destiny wrote, directed and produced each episode, which is based on a separate letter in the English alphabet. The second season of LETTER TV is in production and will include letter combinations like "sh" and "th." For Math Monsters Inc., Destiny animated and designed 13 episodes of MATH MONSTERS.
London, UK's Downboy Entertainment, a new entertainment company working on cutting-edge projects, is looking for a 2D ANIMATOR to develop and co-direct an animation pilot. . . KE Consultants is looking for a 2D ARTIST, 3D ARTIST, FLASH GAMING ARTIST, SOUND SPECIALIST and MAYA TRAINER. . . Fremont, California's EStudio, a new media content house, is looking for 2D FLASH CHARACTER ANIMATORS and LEAD COLORISTS to work on original content for entertainment sites such as Shockwave.com and Mediatrip.com. . . Chantilly, Virginia's Legend Entertainment, a studio of Infogrames, Inc.
Denmark's A. Film has a hit animated feature on their hands. HELP! I'M A FISH opened in its home country at the end of September and held the top spot for two weeks. In addition to its success in theaters, a song from the film has topped the Danish pop charts. A. Film partner Stefan Fjeldmark wrote and co-directed the film with Michael Hegner. Fjeldmark was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the short WHEN LIFE DEPARTS and served as an animator on such feature films as FERNGULLY, A TROLL IN CENTRAL PARK and THE PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN.
Crater Software and industry-ally ChromaColour International, a leading developer and provider of digital and traditional animation software and equipment, now offer the complete ChromaColour palette with Crater's CTP, the company's total 2D production system...
Mattel Media has begun shipping THE WILD THORNBERRYS RAMBLER game for Game Boy Color. The new game, based on the popular Nickelodeon animated series, is comprised of 6 different games featuring the series' characters. In addition, players can challenge each other in a special two-player mode. "Mattel Media seeks to bring entertainment to children in all of their favorite ways," said Amy Boylan, executive vice president of Mattel Media.
Based in Sydney, Australia, The Mad Cow Picture Company offers a mix of digital and traditional animation experience. The studio specializes in Flash animation and pre-production services including storyboarding and character design. They are currently creating pilot episodes for "Stupidheroes.Com" and "00steven-Playground Private Eye." For more information about what's on offer from Down Under, visit the Mad Cow Picture Company Web site at http://www.madcowpictures.com.
Luxembourgs audiovisual production group, Oniria, is continuing its expansion with a new subsidiary studio in Berlin. The studio will be called Oniria Film and will handle pre-production (graphic design, scripts, storyboards, etc.), production management and post-production for the company's TV series. Thierry Schiel and Sophia Kolokouri have set up the new arm and Oniria Production administrator Nina Kolokouri will serve as general manager. Currently, Oniria Film is working on 52 15-minute episodes of the TV series BOBS BEACH.
On Wednesday, November 22, 2000, TAIS is hosting two different shows of films from the Short Attention Span Film Festival. At 7:00 PM: a screening comprised of independent films under 2 min. in length, includes films by TAIS animators Mike Constable and Jonathan Amitay. At 9:00 PM: a screening featuring the greatest hits of the festival's eight-year run, also includes three of Mike Constable's animated shorts. Please note: mature content; admission restricted to ages 18+; each program contains about 40% animation.
The British Academy of Film & Television Arts has announced the winners of its third annual interactive entertainment awards. Lego & Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set, which gives kids a virtual production studio in a box, took home two prizes in the learning and childrens categories. Cartoon Network U.K. Online won the entertainment Website award over Netherlands-based toon site ExtraTainment.com.
Colombian animator Edwing Solzano and his group of associated animators, Juan Fernando Vez, Sergio Ceballos and Walther Solzano, have just finished a 5 minute 3D animated short...
Tiger Aspect, the producers of the international hit live-action series MR. BEAN, have awarded Varga Holdings the job of animating the new MR. BEAN cartoon series. Varga will create 52 eleven-minute episodes with London-based Richard Purdum Studios handling the design. Robin Driscoll, who served as the original writer on the live-action series, will be scribing the new toon version and Rowan Atkinson, who plays the live-action Bean, is involved closely with the production and will voice the animated character. The series is scheduled to air on ITB.
