Leigh Godfrey's Recent Posts

Animation supervisors and or directors take note! The deadline for entries for the First Boards Awards has been extended to Thursday, January 16, 2003. Every year, thousands of freshman around the world are forced to do unspeakable things in order to get a break in advertising. That's why each year 'BOARDS magazine puts on the First Boards Awards, a showcase for emerging international talent that aims to encourage up and comers and help them get on in the business, without having to suck up to their bosses and generally debase themselves.

Latin American distribution specialist Salsa Entertainment returns to NATPE 2003 with the exclusive Latin American distribution rights to three new animation series: SOMETHING ELSE (26 x 11-minutes), OLLIVERS ADVENTURES (13 x 21-minutes) and METALHEADS (26 x 11-minutes). Based on the award-winning childrens illustrated book of the same title by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddell, SOMETHING ELSE targets 5 to 8 year-old kids with the unpredictable adventures of long-nosed, orange and furry Something and small, blue and furry Something Else.

Middle-Earth and the Men in Black made the short list, as did the clone army and the Quidditch team. The nominees for 2002's Best Visual Effects will be culled from a short list of feature films with primary visual effects from Digital Domain, ILM, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Weta Digital. Worthy of noting all the films on the short list made over $100 million in U.S. theatrical release, with four of the films topping $200 million. Fifteen-minute clip reels from each of the seven films will be screened for the Visual Effects Award Nominating Committee on February 5, 2003.

Ever wonder what you would do if you won the lottery? Well, in a new campaign for the Washington Lottery and its new Mega Millions campaign, visual effects company Radium helped a lucky multi-million dollar lottery winner take possession of the biggest prize of all: Seattle's famous Space Needle. The three 30-second spots are styled as news reports about a local man named Steve who has apparently purchased the Space Needle.

Vancouver-based computer animation studio Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. is bringing two new animated projects to this year's NATPE: ALIEN LEGION and MAXINE 5. ALIEN LEGION, based on the cult comic book series created by Carl Potts, follows the futuristic exploits of the Legion's Force Nomad and its multi-species ranks of alien legionnaires. Culled from the unwanted of three galaxies, legionnaires are the expendable shock troops and peacekeepers of the new intergalactic realm.

The winners of the Academy Awards for Scientific and Technical achievements for the year 2002 have been announced and Alias|Wavefront will receive an Oscar for Maya, its 3D animation, modeling and rendering production tool. Maya is widely used in feature films that incorporate 3D visual effects and animation, and was employed extensively in such films as SPIDER-MAN, ICE AGE, HOLLOW MAN and THE PERFECT STORM.

Here is the full list of the nominees for the 30th Annual Annie Awards.

Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Video Production

LAND BEFORE TIME: JOURNEY TO BIG WATER Universal Cartoon Studios

ROLIE POLIE OLIE: THE GREAT DEFENDER OF FUN A Nelvana Limited/Sparkling* Co-Production

VEGGIETALES: THE STAR OF CHRISTMAS Big Idea Productions

Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short Subject

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DOO Cartoon Network

THE GROOVENIANS Cartoon Network Studios

ILM animation director Tom Bertino and senior VP Patty Blau head a roster of presenters at Expression Center for New Media's "Insider Day," January 10, 2003. Ex'pression hosts ten Insider Days a year and each includes workshops and seminars featuring technology movers and shakers, famous producers and engineers, musical and digital artists, and other resources to keep students on the new media front lines. The Insider Day experience provides a valuable networking arsenal for students after graduation.

In an effort to strategically streamline and organize its children's television animation programming, production and distribution under one business unit, Disney has moved Television Animation into the Disney Channel Worldwide division with former Television Animation executive vice president Barry Blumberg replacing David Stainton as president, Walt Disney Television Animation.