CLAIRE ROBINSON has been named senior vice president, intellectual property
law, for THE WALT DISNEY CO. Robinson will oversee Disney's intellectual
property group, which is responsible for intellectual property matters for
the company and its subsidiaries worldwide. Previously, Robinson held the
position of vice president in the same department. Before joining Disney in
1989, she was with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington,
New Visual Entertainment, Inc., a 3D production company specializing in 3D
product development and distribution for special venue theaters, home
video, broadcast, and theatrical markets, has announced its completed
acquisition of Impact Pictures, Inc., a small San Diego-based multi-media
production house specializing in Web animation, streaming media and
high-end CD-ROM corporate presentations, in a stock for stock transaction.
New Visual plans to utilize the creative hardware and staffing assets of
QUICKBAND NETWORKS, a leading distributor of short-form entertainment, has
signed KIM ADELMAN as editor of SHORT, a compilation of award-winning
live-action, animated, experimental and documentary short films distributed
exclusively on DVD. The company also promoted CRAIG WELLS to director of
acquisitions. Kim Adelman joins QuickBand Networks from fXM: Movies From
Fox. At the Fox-owned movie network, Adelman launched the short film
division, fXM Shorts. During her tenure at fXM, Adelman produced 19 films,
METV.COM, a new Internet video-on-demand company, opens its feature film
licensing drive with the arrival of veteran film-buyer JOHN REWEDA as vice
president of content acquisition. "John's (Reweda) expertise will play a
key role in establishing contact with the leading movie studios and
independents as we move toward our June 2000 consumer launch date," said
Martin French, MeTV.com senior vice president. Reweda will help the
fledgling business develop and obtain content for its MeTV.com Web site,
3D animator ANDREW SINAGRA has joined the computer graphics team at San
Francisco-based RADIUM. With specialties including modeling, particle
effects and volumetric effects, Sinagra will be involved in creating 3D
animation and visual effects for commercials and music videos. Sinagra
joins Radium from Midland Productions, a Berkeley, CA-based computer
animation house specializing in special venue films, feature films and
commercials. While at Midland, Sinagra created 3D animation for ROBOTS OF
Animha Productions, a unique association of professionals dedicated to
independent film production and animation workshops, presents: Suspended
Animation...
TAIS, the Toronto Animated Image Society, will present "Creating Appealing
Cartoon Characters" with Peter Emslie...
Visual Magic Magazine, AWN's 3D animation and digital effects online
magazine, has posted a new article:
"The Buzz About Flash 4." Flash 4
claims to be the ultimate tool for web animation...and quite frankly, it
probably is.
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...
Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.
Worldwide sensation Pokemon was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in
Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January
and February 2000. The international distributor, Lacey Entertainment, also
announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey and Noga
Communications' Children's Channel in Israel.
The Pokemon phenomenon began in America in 1998 with the release of the
Tippett Studio is a unique company in the visual effects world...
AWN's January 2000 Millennium issue of Animation World Magazine is a
special issue packed with indepth features and essays about the people and
events that made news in 1999 and are worth our attention in the year 2000...
ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Expo 2000 will be held at the Glendale Civic
Auditorium in Glendale, California, USA on March 3 and 4, 2000. This 7th
annual animation trade and technology show focuses on the recruitment of
animation related talent and personnel, demonstrations of computer
technology, animation related products and services, and the sale of
animation art and collectibles. In addition, the Animation Expo offers
industry seminars and workshops, digital tutorials, and a showcase of
Sony's US$100 million plus grossing film STUART LITTLE couldn't hold off
the live-action comedy NEXT FRIDAY at the U.S. box office thus slipping to
second place. The mega-mouse flick, with primary visual effects by Sony
Pictures Imageworks, additional animation by CFX and Rhythm & Hues, and
miniatures by Thunderstone, grossed US$9.7 million bringing its grand total
to $106.8 million. THE GREEN MILE, with primary visual effects by ILM,
Rhythm & Hues, POP and Matte World Digital, fell to 5th place grossing $7.6
NEW! * Friday, February 25, 2000 - Thursday, March 2, 2000. Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
CARTOON NOIR comes to LA. This multi-technique film is a feature-length
compilation of animated shorts from American and European artists. Featured
in CARTOON NOIR are: APE, Julie Zammarchi's darkly comic critique of
monogamy, meat eating and the daily pattern of human brutality; ALTAIR,
Lewis Klahr's collagist elegy on New York nightlife; CLUB OF THE DISCARDED,
* Wednesday, January 26, 2000. Toronto, Canada.
TAIS, the Toronto Animated Image Society, will present "Creating Appealing
Cartoon Characters" with Peter Emslie. In the evening's presentation, the
long-time Disney animator will explain his personal theory on what makes
for good cartoon character design, by referring to videotape and sketching
on the spot to illustrate various points. Since 1979, Emslie has spent much
of his time drawing for the Walt Disney Company. On staff for 10 years and
NATPE is one of the leading television markets and conferences in the
world. The event in New Orleans offers animation and special effects
companies a rare opportunity to showcase their work to a global audience.
NATPE 2000 will offer a vast array of exhibitors gathered in pavilions such
as Animation/Licensing sponsored by KidScreen; Cable sponsored by ATVC
(Asociacion Argentia de Television por Cable); HDTV/Visual Effects
sponsored by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers);
Imagine Television, the makers of THE PJS, is leaving Disney for its new
home at Fox. The three-year collaboration between the small screen arm of
production house Imagine Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Television will
take effect at the end of April 2000. Worth up to $30 million, the deal
also includes a two-year option extension. Imagine TV had been based at
Walt Disney Television since it was formed in 1997 by Imagine Entertainment
On Friday, January 14, 2000, Walt Disney International-Latin America
announced the launch of the Disney Channel Latin America and an exclusive
satellite television distribution agreement with Galaxy Latin America, LLC
for DIRECTV service in Spanish-speaking Latin America. "Launching the
Disney Channel in Latin America in 2000 is an exciting initiative for the
Walt Disney Company," said Diego Lerner, president and managing director,
WDI-Latin America. "As we have in other parts of the world, we will now
V12's director David Hwang created a "'50s sitcom spoof" commercial for
Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Produced for the Detroit ad agency DP + Company,
the 30-second spot features blue-tinted footage of a classic LEAVE IT TO
BEAVER-like family. As the family reads about the Selectcare program, the
commercial washes over in bright Technicolor hues. The voice-over
concludes, "Sometimes the answer can come right out of the blue." Jennifer
Lucero produced for V12.
Toronto-based RED ROVER's directors Andy and Linzi Knight created the
"subliminal" message for the Molson Export "Subliminal" spot. The 30-second
spot slyly transforms the bubbles in a glass of beer into the image of
three go-go girls dancing to "And the Beat Goes On." The spot was produced
for McClaren McCann of Toronto. Linzi Knight said, "This is the kind of
commercial people look forward to seeing because they're always looking to
see if they notice anything else going. That kind of viewer attention is
CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO, the commercial division of Klasky Csupo, produced two
animated spots for Hasbro's "Together TV" and Tiger Electronics' "Find
Furby" game. Both spots were directed by Steven Dovas and were produced for
New York-based ad agency Posnick & Koklaer. The "Together TV" spot features
live-action heads placed atop animated bodies. The spot highlights parents
spending time with their children. The "Find Furby" spot brings animated
versions of the Furby dolls to life as they bounce around the sky from
London-based collective, CURIOUS PICTURES and TOMATO, created the blend of
type graphics and stock footage for an RCA spot entitled "Static." Graphics
weave together images of static, distortion and color bars, until finally a
crisp picture of the two RCA Dalmatian mascots appear to illustrate the
growth of television from its early days to HDTV. The spot ends with the
tag "RCA. Changing entertainment. Again." Graham Wood directed for Curious
Pictures/Tomato and Quiche Campbell produced.
Hitting the U.S. market April 2000, Humongous Entertainment will bring
families their new CD-ROM, PAJAMA SAM 3: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT FROM YOUR
HEAD TO YOUR FEET. Pajama Sam is back to uncover the mysterious
disappearance of four Peace Delegates who have not arrived at the Food
Pyramid for a Peace Conference. The suggested retail price will be $24.99.
