AWN Headline News

TOPIX/Mad Dog has completed the animation for "Stick People," a :30 spot,with a :15 lift. The colorful, playful spot, which promotes Crayola ColorWipeoffs, removable water-based magic markers, for TBWA/Chiat Day (Toronto,ON) and Binney & Smith Canada (Markham, ON), rolled out throughout CanadaMarch 15th and will continue to air through the end of the year. In it, aboy's stick figure drawings come to life. "With Photoshop I drew thefigures, frame by frame, so that it's a bit like cel animation, but not

Yale University's Child Study Center, a division of Yale Medical School,has chosen New York's School of Visual Arts' Animation Department to createan animated film for use in autism research studies. The animation willtest the brain systems involved in social understanding, allowinginvestigators to test specific hypotheses about autism. The animatedexperiments will portray human interaction with geometric shapes. ReevesLehmann, Chair of the School's Film Video and Animation Department, is the

* Tuesday, April 27, 7:30 pm. San Francisco, California, USA.

ASIFA-San Franciso presents "Basic Principles of Traditional CharacterAnimation" with Mark West at the Exploratorium's McBean. Admission is free.This evening's event is the first in a proposed educational series byASIFA-SF, designed for people with a limited knowledge of animationtechniques. Mark West will present an illustrated lecture demonstration,using film clips to illustrate his points. West has been working as an

* Friday, May 7th, 7:30 pm. Los Angeles, California, USA.

The Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present "ATaste of Tashlin: Early Hollywood Cartoons," cartoons by Frank Tashlinwhich he made before turning to live-action and going on to direct severalof Jerry Lewis' best films. The program includes PORKY'S POULTRY PLANT,PORKY IN THE NORTH WOODS, PORKY'S ROMANCE, THE MAJOR LIED TIL DAWN, THE FOXAND THE GRAPES, SCRAP HAPPY DAFFY, PORKY PIG'S FEAT, A CORNY CONCERTO,

* Sunday, May 23rd, 2 pm. Rochester, New York, USA.

The RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) Film/Video/Animation HonorsShow will take place at the Cinema Theatre. For more information contactMarla Schweppe at mkspph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu

Silicon Graphics, Inc., the 17-year-old high-tech company known forbreakthrough graphics in movies such as JURASSIC PARK, is changing its nameto SGI. The change is part of a major branding shift, which also includes anew logo, national advertising and consolidation of hundreds of separateproduct brands. SGI decided to change its name after a branding consultantfound that while the company's products were perceived as innovative andvisionary, the company was viewed as a niche-oriented, high-performance 3D

David McCall, creator of Schoohouse Rock, died April 18th in a car accidentnear Kukes, Albania, along with his wife, Penny, and RefugeesInternational's European representative Yvette Pierpaoli and the car'sAlbanian driver. The McCalls were en route from Tirana to Kukes, theprimary reception point for Kosovar refugees. They were on a mission forRefugees International, the Washington, D.C.-based organization on whoseboard Mr. and Mrs. McCall served. Part of the mission was to explore

The families of Jessica James, Kayce Steger and Nicole Hadley, who were killed during a morningprayer meeting at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, USA during ashooting on Dec. 1, 1997 by Michael Carneal, a 14-year-old boy, filed a$130 million damage suit against several entertainment companies on Monday,saying they influenced his behavior. The suit claims that the boy was anavid user of the computer, playing computer games such as "Doom," "Quake,"and "Mortal Kombat," which it said are known for their graphic violence.

Will Vinton Studios has promoted Zilpha Yost to executive producer, a new position in the advertising divsion which is headed by president David Altschul. Yost has been a senior producer at Vinton Studios since 1992, taking a leave of absence in 1995 to run the stop-motion studio in Los Angeles for Tim Burton's MARS ATTACKS. When Burton chose to complete the film in CGI, Yost returned to Vinton, bringing some of the creative artists who had been doing stop-motion animation on MARS ATTACKS with her. Yost will work very closely with Rich Durkin, executive producer in Vinton's New York office.