Red Rover Raps Molson Spot
Toronto-based RED ROVER's directors Andy and Linzi Knight created the
"subliminal" message for the Molson Export "Subliminal" spot. The 30-second
spot slyly transforms the bubbles in a glass of beer into the image of
three go-go girls dancing to "And the Beat Goes On." The spot was produced
for McClaren McCann of Toronto. Linzi Knight said, "This is the kind of
commercial people look forward to seeing because they're always looking to
see if they notice anything else going. That kind of viewer attention is
Class-Key Chew-Po Closes On 2 Spots
CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO, the commercial division of Klasky Csupo, produced two
animated spots for Hasbro's "Together TV" and Tiger Electronics' "Find
Furby" game. Both spots were directed by Steven Dovas and were produced for
New York-based ad agency Posnick & Koklaer. The "Together TV" spot features
live-action heads placed atop animated bodies. The spot highlights parents
spending time with their children. The "Find Furby" spot brings animated
versions of the Furby dolls to life as they bounce around the sky from
Curious Pictures & Tomato Create RCA Spot
London-based collective, CURIOUS PICTURES and TOMATO, created the blend of
type graphics and stock footage for an RCA spot entitled "Static." Graphics
weave together images of static, distortion and color bars, until finally a
crisp picture of the two RCA Dalmatian mascots appear to illustrate the
growth of television from its early days to HDTV. The spot ends with the
tag "RCA. Changing entertainment. Again." Graham Wood directed for Curious
Pictures/Tomato and Quiche Campbell produced.
Pajama Sam 3 Arrives In April
Hitting the U.S. market April 2000, Humongous Entertainment will bring
families their new CD-ROM, PAJAMA SAM 3: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT FROM YOUR
HEAD TO YOUR FEET. Pajama Sam is back to uncover the mysterious
disappearance of four Peace Delegates who have not arrived at the Food
Pyramid for a Peace Conference. The suggested retail price will be $24.99.
Quake III Arena Shakes On Mac
On January 3, 2000, Activision, Inc. and id Software released QUAKE III
ARENA for Macintosh. The on-line multiplayer game features 26 deathmatch
and four capture-the-flag levels. The title is available at a suggested
retail price of $49.99. id Software offers such titles as Wolfenstein 3D,
DOOM, DOOM II, QUAKE and QUAKE II.
South Park Rally Skids Into Stores
On January 5, 2000, Acclaim Entertainment started shipping their SOUTH PARK
RALLY for PlayStation with Nintendo 64, PC and Sega Dreamcast to follow
shortly. Developed by Tantalus Interactive, the kart-style racing adventure
features mission-based game modes and 27 characters from the Comedy Central
series. All versions of South Park Rally will include multiplayer modes
that feature races and cooperative game modes, including the multiplayer
Hey Monie To Debut On Oxygen
Tom Snyder Productions, the creators of DR. KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST,
have been assigned to create a new animated comedy series for Oxygen,
Geraldine Laybourne's new network to launch February 2, 2000 to accompany
the Web site of the same name. The comedy series titled HEY MONIE is based
on the life and longings of a single African-American professional woman in
big city America. This is the first network animated series based on an
African-American woman and her friends. The show is scheduled to air on
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
