The Digital Eye: Previs Wizardry
Peter Plantec contributes to the Digital Eye column this month with a riff on the wizardry of previs.
Peter Plantec contributes to the Digital Eye column this month with a riff on the wizardry of previs.
Curious Pictures announced that it has joined forces with Grand Large, the Paris-based commercial production company, and will be working with Grand Larges new award-winning French director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director and writer of AMELIE and A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT.
Grand Large has a compelling group of feature directors, and I am really excited about them and their work, said David Starr, exec producer/marketing director for Curious Pictures. If there is one director that I have always wanted to work with, it is Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Existing for 27 years, CINANIMA's purpose is the promotion of the animation art worldwide. Every year CINANIMA helds an Internaitonal Competitive Programme, Panorama Screenings, retrospectives, Special programmes, exhibits, seminars and workshops, besides promoting the gathering of directors, animators, producers and the audience in general ina friendly atmosphere.
In celebration of the career of production designer Dean Mitzner, The Art Directors Guild (ADG) Film Society will screen TRON (1982) as part two of the Film Society's "Art of Production Design for the Animated Film" series at the Directors Guild Theater, 7920 Sunset Blvd. The program, co-sponsored by Below the Line, will begin at 2:00 pm with the screening of TRON followed by a Q&A and reception. TRON was re-released by Disney for a 10-day run at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, starting May 6, 2004.
Warner Bros. Pictures has signed Swedish directors Simon Sandquist and Joel Bergvall for the film adaptation of DC Comics' BOOKS OF MAGIC, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. First published as a mini-series in 1990, the comic follows a teenager who studies magic in contemporary London. Neil Gaiman, the author of the original story and the novel, will serve as exec producer.
Washington, DC International Film Festival will celebrate its 18th year with an eclectic mix of more than 100 new features, documentaries and short films from around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Peru, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. The 12-day film festival will include opening and closing night events, discussions with directors, and movie premieres from several major categories including culture, politics and music.
MJ Prods. is offering a new Intermediate Commercial VO Class. The workshop will help voice actors to work with industry directors into improve their skills. Attendees will learn techniques like voice stretching, note placement for different types of commercial reads and 10 ways of expression in delivery. MJ Lallo will be teaching three classes with casting directors and voice over directors Leslie Johnson and Sam Wren, and Amy Mc Inerney teaching the other two. The workshop will take place five consecutive Wednesdays from 7:00
Tuesday at 9pm:
April 6: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) Robert Weine.
April 13: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) Charles Laughton. Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish, Shelly Winters.
April 20: DR.JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1921) John S. Roberston. John Barrymore.
April 27: QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1967) Roy Ward Baker.
May 4: BLADE RUNNER (1982) Ridley Scott (Director's cut).
May 11: THE LOST WORLD (1925) Harry O. Hoyt
May 18: THE OMEN (1976) Richard Donner. Gregory Peck.
May 25: HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES (1920) Benjamin Christensen.
Shuffle Inc., an international television commercial production company with offices in Venice, California, and Tokyo, Japan, has launched Shuffle USA as a new operating unit.
M.J. Lallo is holding a five-week pro commercial workshop for VO artists who have had previous classes in commercial VO and feel ready to work out with professional directors and agents. The class is a good opportunity to work with guest directors and make contacts. All guests directors will accept your demos at the class that night. The classes will run from 7:00 pm
Following is the text of Roy Disney's Letter sent to Michael Eisner, asking him to resign:
Mr. Michael D. Eisner, ChairmanThe Walt Disney Company500 South Buena Vista StreetBurbank, CA 91521
Dear Michael,
It is with deep sadness and regret that I send you this letter of resignation from the Walt Disney Company, both as Chairman of the Feature Animation Division and as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Rick Baumgartner spoke with various effects artists about how previsualization is being used by directors as an important design and approval tool.
This week, in honor of the WIA Website launch, AWN is proud to highlight the works of various women as animation directors.
- Sally Cruikshank: Cels and videos are available from some of her popular works, such as "Quasi at the Quackadero" and "Face Like a Frog."
In the continuing drama that is Cinar Corp., company founders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg have refused to honor the request of a special board committee to resign as directors.
- Volume 8 features award-winning works by Khrjanovsky and Schnittke. Titles include: "Armoire," "There Lived Kozyavin," "Pencil and Eraser," "King's Sandwich," "Glass Harmonica," "Ballerina on the Boat" and Butterfly.
- Here's your chance to own Volume 9: Women Directors Collection.
MARVEL ENTERPRISES INC. announced two new Directors have been appointed to the Board. PETER CUNEO, President and CEO, Marvel Enterprises, Inc., andproducer SID GANIS, former Vice Chairman of Columbia Pictures and Presidentof Worldwide Marketing for Columbia/TriStar Motion Pictures Companies, wereeach appointed to the Board of Directors.
What are the "do's" and "don'ts" of becoming a voice actor? We asked producers, directors, and casting and voice directors for their input.
San Francisco-based animation studio (Colossal) Pictures has signed two new directors to its roster: Jim Matison and Flavio (Kampah). Matison, based in San Francisco, has been a freelance director for the past five years, working with SGI, Mondo Media, Protozoa, Wild Brain and Nickelodeon. He previously worked with (Colossal) starting in 1989 as a staff production artist, and went on to direct Crazy Daisy Ed, a stop-motion segment on Liquid TV, as well as several music videos and commercials.