Das Werk Acquires Centropolis Effects
German post-production house Das Werk has acquired Centropolis Effects, the f/x arm of Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's Centropolis Entertainment. The deal was for stock. Centropolis Effects will still be based in Los Angeles and Centropolis Entertainment will use the F/X firm for their visual effects needs. The purchase will allow Centropolis Effects to expand into commercials and music videos. President Mark Franco, head of production Aaron Dem and CFO Amir Nasrabadi will continue on in their current posts. Emmerich and Devlin will stay on Centropolis Effects' board of directors.
Kirch Might Not Bail Out EM.TV
On Friday, rumors surrounding a breakdown in talks between EM.TV & Merchandising AG and possible buyer KirchGroup drove EM.TV's stock to an all-time low. EM.TV's stock closed Friday at 5 euros (US$4.97). Apparently, the talks have broken down over price and a conflict between Nickolaus Becker, chairman of EM.TV's supervisory board, and Dieter Hahn, deputy chief executive at Kirch. As part of the proposed deal, Kirch would purchase a 16.74% stake in the troubled EM.TV. A Kirch spokesman said, "We are still checking EM.TV's books, doing the due diligence, seeing if everything is in order.
New Jobs: Animators, Digital Artists, Directors, Visual Artists And More...
Worthington, Ohio's Big Fish Animation is looking for a 2D ANIMATOR and ANIMATION ASSIST/CLEAN UP to work on a TV pilot for a major network. . . Toronto, Ontario, Canada's Cuppa Coffee Animation, a mixed media animation house known for its organic, hands-on approach to animation, is looking for CREATIVE DIRECTORS. . . New York's Curious Pictures, a commercial animation and effects studio currently expanding into web design, is looking for experienced MAYA TD/MODELERS for freelance work. . .
Larry Lauria's Upcoming Animation Workshops
Award-winning, former Disney animator and educator Larry Lauria will start off the New Year with animation workshops in Long Beach, California, and Phoenix, Arizona...
This Week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
Ottawa Festival Calls For Gay And Lesbian Films
The 3rd International Student Animation Festival of Ottawa (SAFO), to be held October 18-21, 2001, will present a panorama on gay animation...
Quickdraw Animation Society Upcoming Courses
The Quickdraw Animation Society (QAS) Website has been updated with information on their upcoming courses...
New Career Coach: The Importance Of Setting Goals For The New Year...
The newest Career Coach, our monthly column by Pamela Thompson, is online...
New At Visual Magic Magazine
Check out the latest "behind the scenes" features and tutorials from Visual Magic Magazine...
Ask The Experts In The Discussions Forums!
Leading experts in their respective fields are here to answer your questions and give personal advice and insight...
Plympton's Comic Of The Week
Plympton's new series of comics is extracted from the comic book "Polls Apart - How To Tell A Democrat From A Republican," by Kathy Paton & Bill Plympton...
The British Academy Gives Their Year End Nods
* Sunday, February 25, 2001. London, U.K.
Australian Effects & Animation Fest Brings F/X Down Under
* Monday, February 26 Wednesday, February 28, 2001. Sydney, Australia.
Brussels Festival Highlights The Best In All Kinds Of Animation
* Tuesday, February 20 Saturday, March 3, 2001. Brussels, Belgium.
Sci-Tech Oscar Goes To Pixar
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced the recipients of awards for scientific and technical achievement for the year 2000. The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards will be presented on Saturday evening, March 3, at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. An Oscar statuette will be among 17 Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievement to be presented during the ceremony.
Third Week Atop The US BO For Cast Away
With little new flavor in the U.S. box office this past weekend, CAST AWAY remained on top for a third straight week, with a gross of US$22.22 million. The volleyball friendly film, with primary visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks, has collected $141.7 million thus far. Slipping only a slot, THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE palled around in sixth, grossing $7.46 million. The llama loving buddy flick has drummed up $62.4 million to date. Keeping its grip on seventh place, VERTICAL LIMIT landed another $5.01 million.
Imagine's The PJs Loses WBTV As Production Partner
Warner Bros. Television has backed out of its partnership to produce THE PJS with Imagine Entertainment. The decision comes after the WB Network ordered 13 episodes for next season. Apparently, WBTV felt that the short order wouldn't cover costs, in addition to worries that the series wouldn't receive large amounts of money in off-net sales. However, Imagine has a potential partner in the wings Paramount. But there's a catch. Insiders say that Paramount wants syndication rights to all 56 episodes of the series.
This Week's Web Animation Guide For Friday, January 5, 2001
AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. In this week's installment find what toon won AtomFilm's Animation Showdown 2, more holiday specials, a new installment of John K's THE GODDAMN GEORGE LIQUOR PROGRAM and much, much more!
Get your Web Animation Guide here!
Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"
Fox Renews King Of The Hill & Futurama
Fox has renewed both KING OF THE HILL and FUTURMA for the 2001-2002 season. The network ordered a complete season of HILL and 18 episodes of FUTURAMA. In addition, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were upped to executive produce HILL. Former executive producer Richard Appel is leaving to focus on developing a new live-action comedy for ABC. The new orders put HILL, produced by Film Roman, into its sixth season and FUTURAMA, produced by Rough Draft, into its fourth. Currently, Fox is in discussions to renew THE SIMPSONS for next season also.
Discover The Middle East Toon Scene At The Animation Festival Of Tehran
* Monday, February 19 Thursday, February 22, 2001. Tehran, Iran.
The Second Annual Interactive TV Games Conference
* Monday, February 19 Wednesday, February 21, 2001. London, U.K.
Kick Off The Buying & Selling Year At The Monte-Carlo Television Market
* Monday, February 19 Thursday, February 22, 2001. Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
AFX Releases SceneGenie 1.4
Autonomous Effects (AFX) recently released version 1.4 of SceneGenie for 3D Studio MAX their powerful match-moving plug-in suite for the award-winning animation package. Version 1.4 continues to enhance the no-measurement match-move capabilities of the CameraGenie portion of SceneGenie, which combines fast feature tracking with a fast computational core to produce 3D matches in minutes.
Stop Motion Pro 2 Available Now
Stop Motion Pro recently announced that version two of their popular stop-motion software is now available. Stop Motion Pro 2 is a program designed to make creating stop-motion animation easier, while giving animators the power to do things that they may previously not have been able to accomplish. The new version now features a frame looping with capture tool, onion skinning and rotoscoping with onion skinning. The real-time preview, frame toggle and frame editor tools from version 1 have also been overhauled, creating a versatile and powerful package for any stop-motion animator.
