San Francisco, California-based WILD BRAIN, INC. has added GEORGE EVELYN totheir directorial staff. Evelyn joins Wild Brain after 17 years at ColossalPictures where he worked with the Trix Rabbit, Betty Boop, and GaryLarson's Cavemen.
Burnaby, British Columbia-based CDIS is offering a one-day industryintroduction to Macromedia's Flash 4.0 on October 23 from 9 am-4:30 pm.Cost is $225, which includes lunch. By the end of the seminar, you'll knowhow to prepare graphics for Flash, use the interface, sketch and draftideas for animation and interactivity, create symbols and manipulateinstances for actions, combine the final pieces into your own 30-secondanimated banner with sound, and post the final product to the web with FTP.
Buena Vista'ssupernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by DreamQuest,finished fifth at the US weekend boxoffice, grossing $7,025,098 for a totalof $234,547,781. Other animation-related films in the top 40 include:Lucasfilm's STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE finished 15th with$697,097 for a total of $425,360,285; DreamWorks SKG's THE HAUNTING, withdigital effects by ILM, finished 17th with $350,352 for a total of$90,114,112; The Walt Disney Company's INSPECTOR GADGET, with digital
NIGHT OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN, an hour-long animated special, will air onFox on Thursday, October 28, at 8 pm. Featuring the voices of Luke Perry(BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), William H. Macy (FARGO), and Tia Carrere(WAYNE'S WORLD), the special was produced by Dallas, Texas-based ComputedAnimation Technology (CAT) and Wimberley, Texas-based Locomotion Studiosusing performance (motion-capture) 3D animation. It was written by JohnShirley (THE CROW). The special, like the upcoming Tim Burton film, SLEEPY
Columbia-Tri Star Home Video is releasing a collector's edition DVD ofHEAVY METAL which was supervised by Gerald Potterton and released in 1981.Those who bought the laser rot-prone laserdisc that was released threeyears ago will want to purchase this new release even if their LD remainsin pristine condition. The movie is digitally remastered and in widescreen,with anamorphic video. Hopefully, that means it has a new transfer that,unlike the previous widescreen release, does not cut off the top and bottom
Toronto, Canada-based IMAX CORPORATION, which operates a chain of largeformat film theaters, has appointed MARY PAT RYAN to the new post ofExecutive Vice President of IMAX Ltd. and Network Group President. Ryanwill oversee the ongoing development of the Network Group, which is chargedwith ensuring the success of all theatres in the worldwide network of IMAXtheatres and the development of the IMAX brand. Based in New York, Ryanwill have responsibility for all areas of the Network Group including brand
Los Angeles-based CHEQUEMATE INTERNATIONAL INC., doing business as C-3DDigital Inc., a 3D media company that provides broadcasting andentertainment companies with the technology to deliver 3D entertainment toany standard television 24 hours a day, has appointed media marketingexpert DANIEL R. THOMPSON to the C-3D Digital Board. Thompson is thefounder and head of Hollywood entertainment agency A Creative Group (ACG)which specializes in product placement, promotional advertising, programsponsorships, and distribution.
Vancouver-based BARDEL ANIMATION has added executive producer CAROLEDUCHARME and business affairs executive DEBORAH REES-LEE to its businessaffairs department. DUCHARME began her career in the film industry as alawyer specializing in film financing and as a legal advisor fororganizations such as the Quebec Film Classification Board. She moved intothe role of producer with the Paris, France-based company Les ProductionLazennec, negotiating and drafting agreements for international
SANFORD M. (SANDY) LITVACK has been named vice chairman of the board of THEWALT DISNEY COMPANY. Litvack joined Disney in April, 1991, as senior vicepresident and general counsel, and was promoted to executive vice presidentthe following December. In May, 1992, he assumed the additional duties ofexecutive in charge of human resources. Before joining The Walt DisneyCompany, Litvack was a member of the executive committee and chairman ofthe litigation department of the international law firm Dewey Ballantine.
On November 2, 1999 Rhino Records will release GO SIMPSONIC WITH THESIMPSONS, musical selections from the often very musical THE SIMPSONS.Consisting of more than 50 tracks of songs, themes, and underscore music,GO SIMPSONIC not only picks up where its predecessor, SONGS IN THE KEY OFSPRINGFIELD, left off, but also digs deep into the first nine seasons,capturing selections that didn't make it onto the first collection. GOSIMPSONIC also makes available for the first time four never-before-heard
Waterloo, Ontario-based Jedor Inc. has released Viscosity 1.0, a newsoftware package that puts the process of 2D image editing and animationinto one application, and enables both novice and advanced graphicdesigners to create, edit, and view animated graphics for web sites, videoclips, and multimedia presentations. Viscosity differs from traditionalimage editing software by totally integrating highly visual animationtools, animated effects, and real-time playback directly into Viscosity's
Cary, North Carolina-based LIPSinc. is offering a free beta version ofVentriloquist for MAX, a new lip-synching plug-in for 3D Studio MAX R3.0.Ventriloquist for MAX automates the process of synchronizing correct mouthmovements to dialogue for animated characters. For more information visitwww.lipsinc.com.
Orlando, Florida-based AARGH! ANIMATION, INC. (not related to the abovecompany) is co-producing a series of :10 and :30 spots for Cold-Eeze coldmedicine that combines live-action with cel animation. Mark Simon and DaveKallaher directed the animation. The three :10 spots consist of a celanimated plane that swoops into frame over a six layer multi-plane ofmoving clouds. The computer generated product packages fly out of the planeand are presented close to camera. In the :30 spots, live-action passengers
The Rhode Island School Of Design is looking for an Assistant Professor for its Film/Animation/Video Department...
The 5th installment of Career Coach, our monthly column by Pamela Thompson,a noted authority on jobs and recruiting within the animation and visualeffects industries, is now on-line...
The Cinanima International Animated Film Festival (held November 8-14,1999, in Espinho, Portugal), announced their '99 nominees. The selectionjury consisted of Menno De Nooijer (Netherlands), Manuel Matos Barbosa(Portugal), Antonio Melo (Portugal), Rodolfo Pastor (Spain) and PedroSerrazina (Portugal). Discover this year's official competition program, aswell as the retrospectives, exhibitions, and more. All is included on theFestival's official web site!
The "Cartoon d'Or" 1999 was announced at the Cartoon Forum this pastSunday. The winning film is "Migrations" by Constantin Chamski (France), a4-minute CGI film. The director received 25,000 ECU (approximately U.S.$25,000) to spend on a new animation project. This year the forum welcomeda record attendance of 620 participants, which included producers,distributors and broadcasters. Sixty-nine projects seeking partners wereoffered to potential investors and producers. Since its start ten years
The new trailer for TOY STORY 2 will play online for one week beginningFriday, October 1 at www.toystory2.com before it screens in theaters. Thesequel, which features Buzz, Woody and the gang, plus new characters suchas Mrs. Potato Head and Emperor Zorg, debuts in US theaters on November 24,1999. The eagerly awaited sequel to the 1995 Pixar/Disney groundbreakingCGI feature, TOY STORY, continues the story of pull-string cowboy doll,Woody, and his action figure Space Ranger friend, Buzz Lightyear. The new
Sony Wonder Technology Lab, a center for high-tech entertainment andeducation, will host ALL EYES ON CGI. The presentation will feature arepresentative from Sony Pictures Imageworks, whose talent and technologycontributed to the upcoming feature film STUART LITTLE in which for thefirst time ever, audiences are introduced to a three-dimensional,photo-realistic, performance based, computer generated movie star.Admission is $10. The events takes place Thursday, September 30, 6:30 pm in
This month: Licensing And Merchandising.
As the holidays approach our minds turn to licensing and merchandising andwhat is going to be on the shelves this winter. In this issue TarletonGillespie takes us on a trip through Toys R Us to determine the meaning oftoys to kids. The French licensing and merchandising market is detailed byValerie Rivoallon. Sharon Schatz profiles toon loving Rhino Records andKaren Raugust looks at how "Sesame Street's" content changes as the popular
This week's comic is about the natural progression of romantic relationships...
This week's AWN Animation Trivia Quiz features questions about forgotten films...
Now available in the AWN Store are four must have books for anybody interested in breaking into animation....
Studio B Productions has moved to a custom designed studio at 190 AlexanderStreet in Vancouver, British Columbia. The three-floor, 27,000 sq. ft.facility is home to Studio B's animation studio and production house aswell as Mercury Filmworks, a fully equipped digital animation facility, andDick and Roger's, a fully equipped sound studio which means that thefacility now has the ability to produce an animated show or series in itsentirety from script to post-production. The move to larger, custom
North Hollywood, California-based NETTER DIGITAL, which provides 3D andspecial effects animation services, has named JAY FUKUTO to the newposition of senior vice president of animation. Fukuto has been senior vicepresident at MGM Animation since 1997, where he oversaw the development andproduction of MGM's animated theatrical features and direct-to-video moviesincluding THE SECRET OF NIMH II, AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS CAROL and TOM SAWYER.
