With sharks, manta rays and seahorses on all sides, the Barcelona Aquarium was the setting chosen by Neptuno Films to celebrate 15 years of animation production. Almost 200 guests attended a spectacular "Fiesta" for a company that began its career with a mischievous mouse called Balin, and whose characters Connie the Cow, Dougie in Disguise, The Ugly Duckling, Tork and many more can now be seen on TV all over the world.
Richard Fleischer, who directed almost 50 movies, died of natural causes on March 25, 2006, at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, said his son Mark. He was 89.
Son of famed animator Max Fleischer, he would direct 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA for Walt Disney, whose named was not spoken in their home. Max told his son that the opportunity was too important to pass up.
The lavishly produced 1954 live-action adaptation of the Jules Verne adventure was a box office hit and moved Fleischer from B-movies to the big time
Nancy Cartwright wipes the slate clean for 2006 and tells us how we can all start over again.
In keeping with the Museum of Modern Art
All the short and feature films on competition have now been screened at Annecy 2005 and the judges are off to make their final deliberations for the awards ceremony tomorrow night, June 11 in Annecy, France. The week started off a bit cold and dreary, in both the weather and the film selection. But there have certainly been better selections than the previous year, offering a remarkably varied amount of styles, techniques and storytelling.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) joined the American Cinema Editor (ACE) in filing letters of protest last week to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, objecting to this years new time saving Academy Awards telecast for select craftspeople, according to the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
A number of Oscars were handed out to winners seated in the audience or assembled onstage with other nominees, including SPIDER-MAN 2 vfx winners John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier.
The Animation Guild is holding a Golden Awards Banquet on April 9, 2005 at Pickwick Gardens in Burbank, California. This event honors animation veterans with 50 years in the industry of screen cartooning and related fields. This year's honorees began their careers between 1943 and 1955. The list of honorees includes:
John C. Ahern, Frank Andrina, Gerard Baldwin, Robert Balser, Carole J. Barnes, Kathy Barrows, Vincent Bassols, Howard Beckerman, Oliver
Nancy Cartwright discusses the most important issue in voice acting finding your voice.
CUPBOARDS, a commercial honoring 75 years of PG Tips tea in the U.K., was created by Aardman Animations through DDB London and included a series of vignettes through the last three quarters of a century. Animators included Richard Webber, Kim Keukeliere and Martin Davies. Post-production was done at Rushes under the production of Joe West. Rushes had to make sure that in each vignette the room was comped and graded to give it the unique feel of sepia tone, heavy grain and scratches or black-and-white.
Mary Ann Skweres visits Park City and reports on what animation the upstart Slamdance Film Festival featured this year.
Actor John Vernon passed away in his sleep on Feb. 1, 2005, at his Los Angeles home. He was 72 years old. The death is attributed to complications from heart surgery he had on Jan. 16. His animation work included Rupert Thorne on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, and Major Glenn Talbot, Sub-Mariner and Iron Man on THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES SHOW as well as WILDFIRE (1986), THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1996-97), PINKY AND THE BRAIN (1995-98) and HEAVY METAL (1981). Vernon is best known for his role as Dean Wormer in 1978's ANIMAL HOUSE.
Flash Competition 05 Faculty of Information TechnologyMonash University.
This years Flash Competition is directed towards year 10 and 11 students currently enrolled in High School in the State of Victoria Australia (Students in other secondary years are also welcome to apply).
This years competition has many major prizes.
Entries close June 6th 2005
please refer to this website for more information
Robert Harper, vice chairman of Twentieth Century Fox, has been promoted to vice chairman, Fox Filmed Ent. With his promotion, Harper assumes new global strategic, creative and managerial responsibilities for all of Fox Filmed Ent., concentrating particularly on interdivisional synergy.
Harper's promotion reflects the studio's success, growth and management stability. Fox has had three consecutive, record-breaking years, with over $2 billion in worldwide box office in 2004.
An upturn in the German vfx industry along with the perception that eDIT | VES is now the most important European forum for digital film production, made for a noteworthy 2004 Festival, reports Tulay Tetiker.
DreamWorks coo Helene Hahn is resigning her post after 10 years with the company, reports VARIETY. She long been considered one of the top female execs and has been a partner with DreamWorks principal Jeffrey Katzenberg for more than 30 years. She will remain coo until a replacement can be found and will act as a consultant for a year following her departure.
The Pixel Priestess recaps the SIGGRAPH conversation, a summer camp for the visual effects professional.
Six new Maya Masters have been selected by Alias for 2004: Andrew Daffy, CGI supervisor formerly with Framestore CFC; Jeremy Gordon, president/ceo of San Francisco-based game development company Secret Level; Lee Griggs, product specialist at ART VPS; Derald Hunt, digital effects artist; Tom Kluyskens, CG supervisor; and Rene Morel, character modeler and texturer.
If this "what if?" piece, Dr. Toon ponders what it would be like if the vintage kings of cartoons were revived.
Philippe Moins and Don Duga give us two varying looks at Annecy 2004. Moins interviews the festivals artistic director Serge Bromberg and Duga presents us with his pictorial diary of the event.
Ann Mather will step down as evp and cfo of Pixar Animation Studios in May to devote more time to her family. She will be replaced by Simon Bax, 45, who has more than 20 years of financial operations experience, including more than seven years as cfo of Fox Filmed Ent.
Starting the new year off with a big bang, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim annual New Year's Eve Bash (Wednesday, 11:00 pm 2:00 am) out-scored last year's time period by double and triple digits, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Sunday-Thursday night Adult Swim telecasts also continued to climb in delivery and ratings for targeted young adults.
Highlights of Adult Swim's performance vs. the same time period last year include the following:Adult Swim New Year's Eve Bash* Adults 18-24 delivery (171,000) increased by 34% and ratings (0.6) by 20%.
For 37 years, the New York Expo has celebrated the art of independent short film and video. As the longest-running festival of its kind in the United States, the Expo has a rich history of showcasing the work of independent filmmakers from all across the globe. Last year's Expo featured 90 films from 30 countries!
Submissions are now being accepted, so please do not miss this opportunity to be a part of our continuing tradition of excellence. Our early deadline is May 30, 2003, Our final deadline is July 15. Discounts on entry fees are available to animators.
TV Industry vet Linda Mancuso, svp, head of programming, ABC Family Channel, died Dec. 7, 2003 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles after a seven-year battle with cancer at the age of 44.
Linda made so many contributions to our industry. Her love of the creative process, talent and her team, were inspiring to everyone who came in contact with her, said Anne Sweeney, president, ABC Cable Networks Group and Disney Channel Worldwide. We will remember her warmth, humor and generosity of spirit forever.
Brian Henson, who led the Henson familys recent acquisition of Jim Henson Co. from EM.TV & Merchandising AG, and his sister Lisa Henson, two of the late Jim Hensons five children, have been named co-chairs and co-ceos of the company. Peter Schube, formerly evp of business and legal affairs, has been named president/coo. In their new roles, Brian and Lisa Henson and Schube have assumed responsibilities previously held by Charles H.
