LIPSinc Releases Echo
LIPSinc., the producer of Ventriloquist for 3D Studio MAX, recentlyannounced that they had launched a new lip-synching program called Echo.Whereas Ventriloquist is a plug-in for 3D Studio MAX, Echo is a standaloneprogram which outputs in flipbook, dope sheet and function curve animationdata for animation platforms, interactive 3D game engines, and multimediaapplications. Timeline Studios, a company founded by best-selling authorMichael Crichton, is using Echo in the company's first title, slated for
Cinanima Cites Best
Cinanima '99 finished its week-long run on November 14, 1999. The Espinho,Portugal festival highlights the best in animation from around the globe.This year, the International Jury gave their Grand Prize to AlexanderPetrov's film THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. The Canadian and Japanese producedfilm also won the RTP Prize, an award given by the Portuguese StateChannel's special jury, and the Best Soundtrack Prize. TheCanadian-produced film by Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove entitled
The LEAF Falls On Phantom Menace
On November 18, 1999, LEAF, the London Effects & Animation Festival,bestowed their award for best effects in a feature film on STAR WARS:PHANTOM MENACE. Over 700 industry personalities watched LEAF's finale, anhour long visual effects smorgasbord from around the world. Rob Coleman wason hand to except the award for Industrial Light & Magic's work on thePHANTOM MENACE. Other winners included: AKA Pizazz's "Megalomaniac" forbest commercial animation; Jason Shulman's HOLLOW for best student film;
Girls Inc. Honors Cartoon Net's Simensky
Linda Simensky, Cartoon Network's VP of original animation, received one ofGirls Inc.'s four 1999 honors. With over 50 years of service, Girls Inc.has been dedicated to helping American girls become strong, smart and boldthrough educational programs. Each year the organization honors industryexecs who have helped challenge and inspire young girls across America.Along with CBS pres. Nancy Tellem, Lifetime VP Kelly Goode Abugov, andEntertainment VP at WB Jordan Levin, Simensky was recognized for her work
Charles Schulz Retires
Charles Schulz, the creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the entirePEANUTS gang, has decided that he will retire in order to concentrate onbeating his newly diagnosed cancer. This desicion will end almost fivedecades of Schulz's world-famous comic. Schulz, who has always refused tolet another artist draw PEANUTS, said he would stop producing new dailypanels as of January 3, 2000 but allow his syndicators to recycle comicstrips from 1974 if newspapers still wanted to run the strip. On a daily
Job Opportunity for an Assistant Professor of Design.
The Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning is lookingfor an Assistant Professor of Design, Digital Design for September 2000...
Imagina 2000, the rendez-vous for all Digital A/V Professionals.
The Imagina computer conference and festival is often referred to as theEuropean equivalent to SIGGRAPH. For its 19th edition, in keeping withtradition, the event will start in Monaco, January 31-February 2, 2000, butwill then continue in Paris February 2-4, 2000 with the exhibition of newindustrial developments and technologies. The events in Monaco include the"Prix Pixel-INA" awards competition, the Innovation Space, and variousconferences and panel discussions such as "2D/3D Animation," a discussion
Vanarts' Open House
The Classical and Computer Animation Graduating Class of Vancouver-basedVanArt School is holding an Open House on Thursday, December 9, from 6:00 -7:30 pm. VanArts is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at 837Beatty St. Please RSVP to Leslie Bishko: Tel.: (604) 682-2787; Email:bishko@vanarts.bc.ca. For more information on the school, visit the VanArts website.
New at Visual Magic Magazine.
Visual Magic Magazine, AWN's 3D animation and digital effects onlinemagazine, has posted five new articles...
What's New in the Student Corner?
If you are an artist, it is essential that you have an outstandingportfolio and demo reel...
Store Specials - Latest Copies of Yuri Nortsein's prints.
These limited edition autographed prints from Yuri Norstein's "Tales ofTales" and "Hedgehog in the Fog," made in Russia from the drawings Norsteinused to develop his characters, are hand signed by Norstein. Most of theproceeds from sales will go to help finance the ongoing production of"Overcoat," Yuri Norstein's famous work in progress, which he began aftercompleting "Tale of Tales" in 1978, and is based on a famous story byNikolai Gogol. This is a very limited offer, with the print value at
A Closer Look: French animation sets out to conquer the world
A year ago, French and other European animation professionals gathered atthe third "Crossroads of the Image of the Indian Ocean" to discuss Europeancartoons. At this event, financing is always a hot topic of discussion.France is the third largest producer of animation worldwide, after the U.S.and Japan. Production itself has greatly developed in recent years with theproliferation of television channels. In 1988 there weren't any 26half-hour episode series being done in Europe, now there are dozens every
Acme Filmworks is looking for an After Effects Artist
Hollywood-based animation production company Acme Filmworks is looking for
an After Effects Artist/Manager of Digital Department...
Last call for AWN's Winter 2000 Animation School Directory.
With the tremendous response of new schools, the publication of AWN'sAnimation School Directory Winter 2000 edition has been extended to January20, 2000. Educators and School Administrators, don't miss out! If youhaven't responded yet, you've got a few extra weeks to act. Every schoolgets a free basic listing, plus a profile in AWN's on-line Animation SchoolDatabase, where students and future students can search through the mostcomprehensively indexed and categorized list of animation schools on the
Indian Kids Make Toon In 2 Days
As part of the International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad, Indiaon November 17 - 18, 1999, 45 children ages 5 - 15 years old came togetherto create a wildly imaginative, 5 minute animated short titled TOONED IN 2DAYS. The feat was done at a 2 day workshop on animation conducted by Dr.Neeraj's Animation Studios, the digital animation production facility ofSriven Multi-Tech Limited. Twenty of the studio's top animators, led byDhimant Vyas and Rajsekhar took on the responsibility of guiding the
ASIFA Italy presents Art and Animation meetings.
December 19-20, 1999, ASIFA Italia, with the help of the Ministry ofCultural Affairs, the Regione Piemonte and the Comune di Torino, togetherwith the support of Young Artists Circle and the British Council andPro-Helvetia, is organizing a meeting and a series of films on the subjectof "Art & Animation" in Turin, Italy. The meeting aims to heightenawareness of animation as an art form with a particular stress onindependent research, experimental and artistic short films. The event is
Annecy 2000 call for entries.
The 24th International Festival of animated film will be held in Annecy,France, June 5-10, 2000. The festival is now accepting entries for animatedshort films, television series, commissioned films and student films. Thedeadline to register your film for competition is January 15, 2000. Entryforms are now available on the festival web site. The three selectioncommittees will gather in Annecy March 2-12, 2000 in order to choose the 5features and 10 programs of shorts which will compose the official
Correction: Annecy Festival at NATPE.
In last week's edition of the Spotlight, we mentioned that theInternational Festival of Animated Film will be present at NATPE, in NewOrleans, January 24-28, 2000, booth #2276. The festival booth will be #2976(and not 2276) located in the Animation Pavilion. For more information onAnnecy 2000, visit http://www.annecy.org or call (+33.4).50.10.09.00 (phone); (+33.4).50.10.09.70 (fax).
New additions to AWN's Calendar of Events.
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events includes ten new events for2000, including the Nordic and Baltic Animation Festival Fredrikstad(former Oslo Festival - in May); Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films(June); as well as the L!censing (June) and SIGGRAPH (July) shows. TheCalendar of Upcoming Events is a constantly changing reference source forwhat's happening around the World of Animation. Use it to stay abreast of
Plympton's Comic of the Week.
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "SleazyCartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
A Closer Look: The brave new world of Internet entertainment.
During the past few weeks, it seems like everyday there is an announcementregarding a company beginning to broadcast animation over the 'net. WithLevel 13 and Wild Brain recently throwing their hats into the ring withtheir new Internet entertainment web sites, web surfers are starting to seethe beginning of a boom in Internet animation. Level13.net andWildBrain.com join Harvey Entertainment, which launched realcartoons.netjust over a week ago, and Time-Warner, which launched Entertaindom.com last
This week's Animation Trivia Quiz
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz:In which other Pixar short did the old character who repairs Woody in "ToyStory 2," first appear? The recent release of "Pokemon: The First Movie" isa slightly revamped version of which feature that opened in Japan in 1998?Warner Bros.' recent release "The Iron Giant" followed on the heels of aprevious box office failure. The name of this earlier medieval fable?
John Canemaker Signing
* Saturday, December 18, 1999. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
John Canemaker, animator/author/director of the animation program at NYUTisch School of the Arts, will be in Los Angeles this month to sign copiesof his latest book on animation history: "Paper Dreams: The Art And ArtistsOf Disney Storyboards." Canemaker will be available at 2 pm at the HowardLowery Gallery, 3812 W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank, where he will sign"Paper Dreams" and copies of any and all of his many books on animation.
Worldfest Winners
The 2nd Annual Worldfest-Flagstaff International Film Festival announcedtheir 1999 winners on Sunday, November 14. The festival's focus is onindependent works that have not yet been picked up for distribution. Theanimation winners were MUSIC FOR AN OWL directed by Hans Van Westerlaak atCinema Avant, BILLY'S BALLOON directed by Don Hertzfeldt for Bitter Films,THE MONKEYMAN RULES directed by James Dean Conklin for Greenhead Media, andTHE INDESCRIBABLE NTH by Oscar Moore at Character Builders.
Monte-Carlo Names Jury
The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has announced the members of theirinternational jury for the 2nd European Television Producer Award. GuyFournier, the Canadian writer/producer, will preside over the seven memberjury. Guy Fournier has written some 2000 hours of television drama forFrench and Canadian productions, over 150 hours of films and series fortelevision, plays for the theater, feature length films (FANTASTICA, UNEAMIE D'ENFANCE) and has also published a number of books. Other jury
