Gil Zimmerman speaks about Digital and Traditional Animation in TARZAN.Zimmerman, currently Model Development Supervisor on TREASURE PLANET, washired by Disney to be the liaison between traditional animators and digitalartists on TARZAN. Cost: $10. To make reservations Tel. (323) 466-6663. Theevent takes place at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvdon Thursday, October 14, 7 pm in Hollywood, California, USA.
Nickelodeon hosts a screening of new animated student films made at theUniversity of Southern California. The screening takes place on Wednesday,October 13, 6:30 pm at the Directors Guild of America at 7920 Sunset Blvd.in . Los Angeles, California, USA. For more information Tel. (213)740-2804.
North Hollywood-based Film Roman's Board of Directors has decided thatDAVID PRITCHARD will no longer be president and CEO of FILM ROMAN. Thecompany is not yet ready to provide details on the circumstances ofPritchard's leaving. Chief operating officer BILL SHPALL and senior vicepresident JON VEIN will take over Pritchard's responsibilities until a newpresident is named. David Pritchard was named President and CEO of FilmRoman in August 1997. Pritchard had been CEO and partner of
AWN is extremely pleased to present the works of Raoul Servais in "RaoulServais, A Painter-Filmmaker's Journey."
Bill Plympton has updated his appearances page. This month, his films willbe appearing in various festivals and other events in the US, UK, France,Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Taiwan. "I Married A Strange Person"will have its U.S. cable premiere on Cinemax on October 22, 1999. Billwill also be attending some of the events in the US, Italy and Germany.
Check out Bill's appearance schedule.
This week starts a new series of comics for ADULTS ONLY, extracted from thecomic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton"...
This week's AWN Animation Trivia Quiz features questions about Hanna-Barbera...
Raoul Servais' book & video, in honor of his gallery opening on AWN.
- Book: "Raoul Servais, A Painter-Filmmaker's Journey." Written by PhilippeMoins, this first monograph of Raoul Servais describes the making of hisfilms, his first activities as a painter and illustrator, his co-operationwith Magritte, his teaching years and his various artistic collaborations,but it mainly presents a critical analysis of his work. It ends with a textwritten by Jan Temmerman on the relationship between Servais and the city
One year ago, the Ottawa International Animation Festival awarded its grandprize to the new Estonian film, "Night of the Carrots," by Priit Pärn.Since making his first film, "Is the Earth Round" in 1977, animator,illustrator, and artist Priit Pärn has evolved into one of the mostinfluential animation artists in the world. His films are routinely invitedto animation festivals where they have won several major awards. PriitPärn's countrymen, Rein Raamat, Rao Heidmats and Mati Kutt, among others,
This week's update to the Calendar of Events features 11 new events,including the Tampere Short Film Festival in Finland, and a call forentries for the Milia 2000 New Talent Competition (competition ofinteractive projects) in France. The Calendar of Upcoming Events is aconstantly changing reference source for what's happening around the Worldof Animation. Use it to stay abreast of animation related activities acrossthe globe. If you know of animation related events that we don't have
Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by DreamQuest,finished sixth at the US weekend boxoffice, grossing $6,123,967 for a totalof $242,710,195. Other animation-related films in the top 40 include: TheWalt Disney Company's INSPECTOR GADGET, with digital effects by DreamQuest,finished 15th with $566,409 for a total of $94,888,759; Lucasfilm's STARWARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE finished 16th with $538,206 for a totalof $426,141,814; DreamWorks SKG's THE HAUNTING, with digital effects by
New Line Cinema's THE LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy, based on the classic fantasy trilogy by J.R. R. Tolkien, began principal photography in Wellington, New Zealand, onOctober 11, 1999. Peter Jackson (DEAD ALIVE aka BRAIN DEAD, MEET THEFEEBLES, HEAVENLY CREATURES) is directing from his own script. The threefilms that will make up the trilogy - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE TWOTOWERS and THE RETURN OF THE KING - are being filmed at the same time, atactic that worked for the first two SUPERMAN films with Christopher Reeve.
Whoever wants to know how the cliffhanger ending of the October 15, 1999 episode of SPACE GHOST:COAST TO COAST is resolved will have to win the auction that the CartoonNetwork is holding Friday, October 15 to Monday, October 18. CartoonNetwork is auctioning off the last page of that episode's script, whichwill not be part of the broadcast episode, to benefit Clowns WithoutBorders. The auction will be held at www.ebay.com. At the end of Friday'sepisode, which guest stars comedian Steve Wright, Space Ghost and cast find
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of Comedy Central's SOUTH PARK, have received permission tosample copyrighted Monty Python work for use in IT'S THE MONTY PYTHONSTORY. The animated special will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the BBCcomedy series MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS, which was created by GrahamChapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and TerryGilliam (the lone American in the group, who did the animation). Thespecial will include a spoof of the famous "Dead Parrot Sketch" entitled
Seattle, Washington-based Honkworm International has secured a content development,production, and distribution agreement with web animator, Camp Chaos, thefirst such alliance Honkworm has completed. "We are excited to work evencloser with Camp Chaos and broaden our already existing relationship," saysHonkworm COO, Dan Pepper. "As we ramp up production, we're continuing tolook for more partners like this to add to our portfolio." Theco-production structure with Camp Chaos will likely be repeated in future
The fourth edition of The Animated Castles film festival took place September 29 - October 3 in Rome,Italy. Here are this year's winners:
Grand Prize "I Castelli Animati":AU BOUT DU MONDE by Konstantin Bronzit, Russia.
Special Jury Prize:EUROPE & ITALY by Bruno Bozzetto, Italy.
Prize For The Best Debut Short Film:MIGRATIONS by Constantin Chamski, France.
Prize For The Best European Short Film:3 MISSES by Paul Driessen, Netherlands.
Special Audience Prize:
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for the 4th AnnualBAFTA Children's Awards. The Awards "honour the variety, richness andexcellence of British television for the young audience." This year'sAnimation category nominees are: THE BEAR (Channel 4/TV Cartoons Ltd.),BYBS (S4C/Griffilms), THE FIRST SNOW OF WINTER (BBC1/Hibbert RalphEntertainment), and SPOT (BBC1/King Rollo Films). Additionally, two of thefour nominees for the Children's Feature Film are animated: A BUG'S LIFE
Chicago, Illinois-based commercial production house TRICKYPICTURES has hired New York-based rep firm BLAH BLAH BLAH to represent thecompany with East coast clients. Blah, Blah, Blah's ANDY ARKIN and MIKEEASTWOOD will serve as Tricky Pictures' sales and marketing representatives.
Hollywood, California-based SILICON GRAIL, developer of the 2D compositingsoftware Chalice, has hired CRAIG ZEROUNI as product manager. Zerouni grewup in California, but began his career in London where he co-founded CFX &Associates, a visual effects house. In 1997, he returned to the US andjoined Hollywood-based Side Effects as product manager for its Prismsoftware.
Macromedia, the industry leader in web design and web graphics tooldevelopment, announced several moves and agreements which gear thecompany toward taking e-commerce to a new level, and making Macromedia acentral part of this growing sector's evolution. The company unveiled itseBusiness Infrastructure strategy, i.e. plans to provide 'solutions' forcontent creation, management, personalisation and management of Extranetand Internet sites.
The company also made several other significant announcements, most notably
Play Inc. - the producers of Snappy Video Snapshot, Trinity and GlobeCaster- recently announced Trinity Live, a live production tool based on anadvanced digital component hardware switcher. The new tool, which istightly integrated with Trinity's real-time architecture for custom 2D and3D video effects, animated graphics, character generation, and virtualsets, is geared toward taking live television to a higher level. TrinityLive contains all the familiar features of a high-end switcher, however its
Columbia TriStar Home Video is releasing Ray Harryhausen's first color andindependently produced feature, 1958's THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, on DVD inthe US on November 30, 1999. Extras include a documentary called THE RAYHARRYHAUSEN CHRONICLES; THIS IS DYNAMATION, a documentary about RayHarryhausen's animation techniques; A LOOK BEHIND THE VOYAGE and JASON ANDTHE ARGONAUTS, two interviews; and textual supplements on the cast andcrew, including Harryhausen, director Nathan Juran, Kerwin Matthews
Image Entertainment is releasing Warner Bros.' THE IRON GIANT, thecritically acclaimed film directed by Brad Bird, on laser disc on December7, 1999. The laser disc will be letterboxed at 1.85:1 (the film was about2.35:1), and retail for US$29.98. There will not be any extras. Laser discssell out quickly these days, and are less likely than ever to bere-pressed, so you may want to pre-order this one. THE IRON GIANT, based ona children's book by Ted Hughes, is about a boy who befriends an alienrobot in 1950s America.
On December 7, 1999, Disney is releasing MICKEY'S ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS onDVD. This all-new, full-length video features three tales starring Mickey,Donald and Goofy, each one about Christmas. In the first story, Mickey andMinnie recall the year they both gave up what was most important to themfor the sake of the other, making for one unforgettable Christmas. In thesecond story, Goofy and Max remember when they experienced a series ofhilarious, but faith-shaking events - and a visit from the real Santa made
New York City-based THE ATTIK created the visual style and animation for"Sailing the Globe" and "Getting Ready," two :30 spots designed to showcasethe John Player Goldleaf Voyage of Discovery, during which a sailboattraveled to 17 countries in 170 days. The Attik added animated nauticalimagery to live-action footage, shot by Los Angeles-based Robert Steadman,of the real John Player Goldleaf cigarettes sailboat.
