Fox Kids Gets Psycho
Fox Kids has started developing a series based on the comic book/Internet
toon JOE PSYCHO & MOOFROG CARTOONSHOW. Set in the fictional town of Spleen,
Oregon, JOE PSYCHO revolves around humorous mishaps of the local TV station
where crazy Joe and mind-mannered MooFrog work.
Renegade Creates Trix Yogurt Spot
RENEGADE ANIMATION created their third in a series of 30-second Trix Yogurt
spots for New York-based ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The spot starts out
with a group of sad kids in a black & white colored world until they taste
Trix Yogurt. They use their spoons as magic wands to paint the world in
bright colors. The cel animated spot was directed by Darrell Van Citters
and produced by Jeff Poehlmann of Johnson Burnett Productions.
yU + Co Designs Graphics for AmEx Spot
yU + CO, in collaboration with Digital Domain, provided the motion graphics
design for seven new American Express "Blue" commercials. The titles appear
at the close of the spots as a grouping of light and dark squares, as in a
highly pixilated image, before coming into focus as letters. The titles
where designed to comment on the physical flexibility and the holographic
blue box center of the new card. Garson Yu was designer and director for yU
Radium Raps Mervyn's Spot
RADIUM's Inferno artist Alaina Goetz created effects for two Mervyn's
California commercials. In "Yo-yo," Goetz takes live-action footage of a
dancer and puts them into a yo-yo that spins and jerks off the screen. In
"Kung-fu," Goetz creates the transitions between scenes by creating
rice-paper doors that slide in front of the camera. Radium's Andrea Mansour
produced the project for Minneapolis ad agency Martin/Williams.
Vigilante 8: Second Offense Rides Onto Dreamcast
On December 27, 1999, Activision, Inc. shipped VIGILANTE 8: SECOND OFFENSE
for the Sega Dreamcast. In this new adventure, players must stop the Coyote
terrorist gang that has traveled back through time in an attempt to change
the course of events that will allow evil to dominate the world. Developed
by Luxoflux Corp., the game features multiple modes of play -- single
player quest, arcade and survival mode, two-player versus, cooperative and
New at Visual Magic Magazine
Visual Magic Magazine, AWN's 3D animation and digital effects
online magazine, has posted a new article: "Masters of Visual
Effects Videos Reviewed"...
What's New in the Student Corner?
Pam Thompson has a new Career Coach column - Setting And
Achieving Goals...
Plympton's Comic of the Week
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book,
"Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
A Closer Look: As a Safe Investment for Families, Disney Has to Overdo It
On January 8, 1999 the Walt Disney Company recalled 3.4
million copies of "The Rescuers" video release due to two
objectionable non-consecutive frames in the 110,000-frame
movie...
Mill Film & Magic Camera Morph Into One
In December 1999, Mill Film announced that they united operations with
sister company Magic Camera. The combination will create a formidable
start-to-finish London-based feature film facility mixing Mill's visual
effects talent and technical strengths with the digital effects, miniature
construction and photography of Magic Camera and Magic Models. Antony Hunt
will serve as managing director of Mill Film and will take charge of day to
day operations of the combined companies. Hunt has been at the helm of
Santiago Studios In Search Of U.S. Co-Prod.
Several animation studios in Santiago, Chile, including Arce Studios, EMU
Ltd., ROOS Film S.A., and Trimedia S.A. have formed a partnership to
promote the animation business in Santiago. The partners are looking for
co-producers and/or investors for their products. Alvaro Arce, President of
Arce Studios, worked in the animation industry in the United States for
many years at Hanna-Barbera, The Walt Disney Company, and others. Alvaro
has several original series currently in development. Arce Studios is now
Triggerfish Animates South African Sesame Street
South Africa-based Triggerfish Animation, a leading stop-frame animation
company in South Africa, is currently shooting animation sequences for the
South African SESAME STREET, using an assortment of different materials
including local contemporary art work, creating a unique African feel to
the production. In addition, Triggerfish is shooting a 30-second commercial
using 7 plasticine characters for a new product being launched in South
Africa and Australia called Slo Jo -- a fruit smoothie.
Clifford Comes To PBS
CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG will come to life on PBS' fall 2000 schedule. The
show will be based on the 39-year-old CLIFFORD Scholastic book series
written by Norman Bridwell. John Ritter will provide the voice of Clifford;
while Kel Mitchell (KEENAN & KEL) will voice the dog's buddy, T-Bone; Grey
DeLisle (RUGRATS) will voice Clifford's best friend, Emily Elizabeth; and
Cree Summer will voice Cleo.
Digital Domain Finishes Fiat Spot
DIGITAL DOMAIN helped Plum Productions create a virtual jungle/city for the
new Fiat Punto spots. Plum Productions' director Eric Saarinen worked with
Digital Domain's visual effects supervisor Paul Kirsch to create a city
full of people riding around on lion, tigers, and bears. The Punto drives
in showing how different it is compared to the other animals on the street.
Digital Domain had the complex job of combining five-days of greenscreen
shooting on the Paramount backlot into a coherent flow. "We made the
Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue On Dreamcast
Disney/Pixar's TOY STORY 2 is coming to Sega Dreamcast. In March 2000,
Activision, Inc., in collaboration with Disney Interactive, will release
Disney/Pixar's TOY STORY 2: BUZZ LIGHTYEAR TO THE RESCUE for Sega
Dreamcast. The new release will be a third-person free-roaming adventure
game that uses 3D animation to deliver a unique mix of gameplay elements.
As Buzz Lightyear, players take on five big bosses in a quest to save Woody
from a toy collector over 15 levels.
Special NATPE Issue of the Flash Is Coming!
Animation World Network will be publishing a special NATPE
edition of our weekly E-mail newsletter, Animation Flash,
on January 18, 2000. To insure all your NATPE-related news
is printed in the Flash please submit press releases to
rick@awn.com by January 14, 2000. Please put "NATPE News"
in the subject area of your e-mail.
One Week Left for Imagina 2000 Early Birds
Send your registration form before January 20, 2000 and
save 50% on your entry fee. The Imagina computer conference
and festival is the rendez-vous for all digital
audio-visual professionals. For its 19th edition, in
keeping with tradition, the event will start in Monaco,
January 31-February 2, 2000, but will then continue in
Paris, February 2-4, 2000 with the exhibition of new
industrial developments and technologies. The events in
Brussels Festival Launches Anima 2000
The 19th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival takes
place February 28-March 11, 2000. This year, in addition to
its regular program, the festival presents Anima 2000, a
4-day event with various conferences, screenings and panel
discussions. The program includes: "Be Realistic, Demand
The Impossible: Creatives' Dreams," on interactive
animation; "Lucas Arts," on how video game developers see
the role of animators; "Animated Feature Film Day," on
ASIFA-Canada Comes On Board!
AWN is pleased to welcome ASIFA-Canada to the AWN family.
ASIFA (International Animated Film Association) was
founded in 1957 in France by a group of professional
animators to promote the art of animation. Today, there are
ASIFA chapters in nearly thirty countries worldwide, but
Canada was one of the first countries to form its own
national chapter, ASIFA-Canada. Through its publications and
activities, the organization seeks to foster communication
More Bill Plympton
Bill Plympton has updated his
page. This month, "Surprise Cinema" will be appearing in
various festivals and other events in the US, Canada, France,
Belgium and Germany. Bill will be appearing at the Comics Festival
in Angouleme, France, January 26-31, and at the Zagreb World
Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Croatia, June 12-25, 2000.
Art In Motion Exhibit
* Friday, January 28, 2000. Los Angeles, California, USA.
Art In Motion focuses on innovative content and diversity. The criteria for
entry is time rather than medium based, and therefore video, film and
digital projects, animations, Websites, CD-Roms etc. are all eligible.
Hybrids are particularly welcome. There will be a $1000 "Best of Show"
award and "first place" allocations in each exhibition category. For more
information contact Jim Keller or Janet Owen, festival organizers at:
22nd International Short Film Festival of San Roque
* Monday, January 31 - Saturday, February 5, 2000. San Roque, Cadiz, Spain.
22nd International Short Film Festival of San Roque is open to all films
under 30 minutes made after January 1, 1997. Categories will include
fiction, animation and documentary. Cash prizes range from Euros 3,000 to
900. For more information contact Ilusre Ayuntamiento de San Roque, Semana
Internacional del Cortometraje, Cine-Teatro Alameda Alameda de Alfonso,
11360 San Roque (Cadiz) Espana; Tel.: ++ 34 (9)56-781074; Fax: ++ 34
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
* Friday, February 4 - Saturday, February 12, 2000. Clermont-Ferrand, France.
This year, Clermont-Ferrand Short Films Festival will be featuring its 12th
international competition and 22nd French competition. The festival will
highlight animated films based off of comic strips. Filmmakers and buyers
can take advantage of the short film market, which attracted more than 50
TV channels, 50 distributors, and 60 international festival organizers last
Mobius Advertising Awards
* Thursday, February 10, 2000. Chicago, Illinois, USA.
The 29th Mobius Advertising Awards is a yearly event recognizing
outstanding television and radio commercials, as well as print advertising
and package designs. The competition is open to television commercials and
campaigns which have been produced, screened or aired in the past 12
months. The animation-related categories include: Animation-Computer,
Animation-Non-Computer, and Animation-Computer & Non-Computer. For more
Disney's Legendary Marc Davis Dies
On Wednesday, January 12, 2000, Walt Disney's legendary animator Marc Davis
passed away at Glendale Memorial Hospital shortly following a stroke. He
was 86 years old. Davis was a member of Disney's inner circle known as the
"nine old men." During his 43-year tenure at the studio, Davis brought to
life such classic characters as Bambi, Cinderella, Alice, Briar Rose,
Maleficent and Cruella DeVil. In addition to creating many of Disney's
female characters, he served as a key player in the development of many of
