Animation Foundation interviews ILM's Rob Coleman
Animation Foundation interviews Rob Coleman, ILM Animation Director on
Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace...
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AWN Headline News
The spectacular January 2000 Millennium issue of Animation World Magazine
AWN's January 2000 Millennium issue of Animation World Magazine is now online...
This week's Animation Trivia Quiz, plus new Quiz Archives
We've launched the Quiz Archive last week, so now you can access all 25
quizzes from one simple pull down menu...
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New at Visual Magic Magazine
Visual Magic Magazine, AWN's 3D animation and digital effects online
magazine, has posted a new article...
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MeTV.com commissions SONALYSTS STUDIOS for original productions
MeTV.com, a new Internet video on demand company, has commissioned
Sonalysts Studios to produce original broadband promos, trailers and
interstitial material for the MeTV.com Web site. The original broadband
material will appear as full-motion video on PCs with Internet
connections of 350kps or higher running Microsoft MediaPlayer.
JOHN COOKE leaves Walt Disney for GETTY TRUST
Walt Disney's former Executive VP of Corporate Affairs JOHN COOKE was named the J. PAUL GETTY TRUST's exec VP of External Affairs. He will be responsible for establishing and maintaining all business relationships, including partnerships between the Getty and other cultural and corporate institutions around the world. . . .
SEVEN ANIMATION names new Producer
London-based SEVEN ANIMATION, a 3D computer animation and special effects company, has named JO NOBLE as Producer. Noble has done work on PADDINGTON BEAR, DIRTY BEAST, and BEANO. Noble will supervise Seven Animation's childrens programs being developed for MIPTV 2000.
RIVE GAUCHE names new VP
ANDREA-MANUELA SEIBERT has been named VP, European Sales for RIVE GAUCHE INTERNATIONAL TV. Seibert previously served as lead Acquisitions Exec and Special Project Exec at RTL Television in Munich, Germany. Based in Germany, Seibert will head European sales and marketing of Rive Gauche's programming library, handle acquisitions of European-produced specials for worldwide distribution and coordinate European co-productions.
BLUE SKY promotes ZAZZA
BLUE SKY STUDIOS, a leading animation house, has promoted LINDA ZAZZA to Operations Manager. She will oversee day-to-day operations of the facility and office, including recommending and hiring administrative staff, working with vendors, planning events and budgeting. Zazza began her tour of duty at Blue Sky as an executive administrative assistant.
MuppetWorld celebrates on-line Christmas
The Jim Henson Company's MuppetWorld Web site will celebrate its first Yuletide with Kermit the Frog lighting an on-line Christmas tree. MuppetWorld offers a compelling interactive environment, allowing fans to play with their favorite Muppet characters. Fans may purchase Muppet merchandise, take cooking lessons from the Swedish Chef who offers weekly culinary masterpieces in the "What's Cooking?" location, and be able to tune into their favorite Muppet clips.
shockwave.com unveils holiday site additions
shockwave.com, a leading Internet entertainment site, announced new holiday additions to its award-winning site. The additions include new creative applications Toonmaker and Puzzlemaker; new festive greeting cards; and an improved Shockmachine experience. These free on-line gifts can be sent to friends and family. Toonmaker enables users to create personal cards and cartoons using well known characters such as the kids from South Park. Puzzlemaker allows users to turn their own photos into puzzles, add messages and then send them to friends.
Y2K focused multimedia series launched
shockwave.com, One Infinity and Madlab Creative have produced Why2k@large which uses Flash 4 animation and MP3 streaming audio technologies to present an animated, multimedia series focusing on the approach of the year 2000. Live interviews were collected on the streets of New York City, New Orleans and San Francisco featuring what the American public thinks about the approaching Millennium.
Video game pioneer slated for ZDTV show
ZDTV, a 24-hour cable television channel about computing, technology and the Internet, will have Atari founder Nolan Bushnell on BIG THINKERS. Hosted by Mark Eddo, BIG THINKERS features in-depth discussions with the most visionary and influential men and women working in the high-tech industry today. The episode with Bushnell, the creator of PONG, will air January 5, 2000 at 10:30 pm. These interviews, plus additional footage not shown on air, will be available in streaming video on the show's companion Web site.
FINAL CUT PRO 1.2 quite a bundle
In promoting post-production on the MAC platform, Apple recently bundled a number of 3D and 2D tools with its Final Cut Pro system. MAXON, Terran Interactive, and Puffin Designs have announced that their software will be bundled in with Final Cut Pro at no extra cost. MAXON's Cinema 4D GO -- their entry level 3D package (in short, a cut down version of their very popular Cinema 4D XL package) -- will be included in the Final Cut Pro package as a full working version, allowing users to create 'flying logos' and other simple 3D imagery for use in their productions.
Macromedia completes acquisition of Andromedia
Early in December 1999, Macromedia, a leader in digital and Internet software, announced it had completed its acquisition of Andromedia Inc., a leading provider of eMarketing software solutions for e-commerce. Macromedia previously announced a definitive agreement to acquire Andromedia on October 7, 1999. As part of the merger, Macromedia will obtain all of the outstanding stock in Andromedia. The company will issue 5.2 million shares of stock in connection with the deal and will incur one-time charges from the merger of up to $5 million in its fiscal third quarter.
Stuart Little drops to third in Holiday box office
With new live-action flicks ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY taking the top two spots in the U.S. box office Sony's STUART LITTLE had to settle with third place grossing US$11.82 million bringing its grand total to $39.5 million. TOY STORY 2 finished fourth by flying in with another $10.38 million making its cume $177.5 million. THE GREEN MILE fell to fifth with a weekend pull of $9.26 million and a cume of $53.1 million. New comer GALAXY QUEST, backed by some surprisingly good reviews from the likes of Mr. Ebert, debuted at #7 with a first weekend take of $7.01 million.
DREAMWORKS brings NATHAN NEVER to the screen
DreamWorks has obtained the screen rights to Nathan Never, a comic published in Italy by Bonelli Editore and imported by Platinum Studios. The story focuses around Nathan Never, a 21st Century Dirty Harry, who, in the wake of a terrible crime, is charged to protect the lone witness. The comic was acquired by DW's Walter Parkes and Glenn Williamson. The pic will be produced by Platinum chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, co-produced by Platinum pres Ervin Rustemagic and senior VP Gregory Noveck. Parkes and Rosenberg teamed up together on MEN IN BLACK.
SimEx Digital produces animated logo for PBS' NATURE
PBS' NATURE recently received a new animated logo for its opening from digital animation and effects house, SimEx Digital Studios. The opening is a montage of snippets from nature. SimEx helped bring together the show's theme in the opening by illustrating how humans relate to nature everyday. Read more about SimEx Digital Studios and their work from Creative Director Allen Yamashita in Heather Kenyon's Animation World Magazine interview.
A split decision for Net MTV
On Monday, December 20, 1999, MTV Networks,
the music/entertainment cable television and Internet business, announced
it would split its Net company into two separate groups. MTV Networks
On-line will be divvied up into the MTVi Group, which includes VH1.com,
MTV.com and SonicNet.com, and Nickelodeon On-line, which includes nick.com,
nickjr.com, tvland.com, nick-at-night.com, gas.nick.com, teachers.nic.com
and redrocket.com. "Executives in the past have stated that both companies
Ex-Walt Disney Internet exec freed from jail
As was reported [AF 12/21/99], a federal
court jury convicted former Walt Disney Internet executive, 34-year-old
Patrick Naughton, of possessing child pornography, but deadlocked on
charges that he crossed state lines seeking sex with a "13-year-old girl"
which he arranged via the Internet. On Wednesday, December 22, 1999, U.S.
District Judge Edward Rafeedie reversed his own ruling and released
Naughton from jail, saying it was likely that he would win a new trial. On
Fantasia/2000 already filling theaters
The advanced ticket sales for
Disney's IMAX release of FANTASIA/2000 have already seen strong numbers. In
Reuters Magazine, Brian Weisfeld, senior vice president of operations for
Toronto-based IMAX Corp., said advanced ticket sales were as high as
$80,000 in some IMAX-operated theaters versus a more normal $4,000. IMAX,
the owner and franchiser of more than 180 IMAX theaters worldwide, hopes
that FANTASIA/2000 will attract other major films to their eight story
MONONOKE director Miyazaki slated to make new film
As we reported in the past [AF 7/1/97], the
world-renowned Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki had decided to
hang up his white film gloves and never make a feature film again. Well
cheer up anime fans! The master is back to work on a new feature film. This
announcement ends a 2 1/2 year hiatus after PRINCESS MONONOKE broke box
office records all over Japan. What's the follow-up to the US$150 million
hit at the Japanese B.O.? The project is titled SEN TO CHIHIRO NO
Passion Pictures Makes PBS Spots
London-based Passion Pictures has recently finished stings, bumpers, and
indents to promote PBS KIDS. The interstitials were directed by Alyson
Hamilton, who received an Emmy nomination for her work on the title
sequence for U.S.-based TV channel CBS' THE PROMISED LAND.
Daria Telefilm
DARIA fans can start gearing up for a telefilm full of fun-filled teenaged
angst. IS IT FALL YET? will be based off the DARIA series and is slated to
hit MTV in the fall. Karen Disher and Guy Moore will direct, and Glenn
Eichler and Peggy Nicoll will script.
Fablevision Creates 2 New Shows For Noggin'
Boston-based animation house Fablevision is slated to create two new shows
for Noggin, the new 24-hour educational network for kids from Nickelodeon
and the Children's Television Workshop. Fablevision will produce CECIL AND
HER VERY OWN UNIVERSE and SWAMP DOG. CECIL will feature a 12-year-old girl
and her robot dog who live in a underground society in the future. Cecil
dreams of leaving her mole-like life to see what above ground has in store.
