AWN Headline News

Herbert "Herb" Klynn, a pioneer in motion picture and television animation, passed away on February 3 at the age of 81. Combining graphic design and artistic talents, he worked at UPA from 1944 to 1959 on classic characters like Mr. Magoo, Madeline and Gerald McBoing-Boing, eventually rising to become the studio's Vice President and Production Chief. In 1959, he founded Format Productions with Jules Engel and was responsible for the creation of such popular animation series as THE ALVIN SHOW, THE LONE RANGER, and THE CURIOSITY SHOP, a collaboration with director Chuck Jones.

Todd MacFarlane, creator of the comic book and late-night HBO animated series, SPAWN, revealed he was the anonymous person that bought baseball star Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball at a recent auction for over $3 million dollars. MacFarlane, who has had a lifelong love of the game, said that he will have the ball mounted in a glass case and tour the country speaking to kid groups about baseball.

ASIFA-Hollywood has announced more details about their Animation Expo taking place March 5-6, 1999 at the Glendale Civic Auditorium and Glendale Community College.

UPN has renewed the animated comedy, DILBERT, for a second season of 22episodes to air in the 191999/2000 television season. In the three episodesthat have aired so far, DILBERT has been UPN's top new comedy this seasonin household ratings and all key adult and male demographics. "This pickuporder rewards the ratings' promise Dilbert has shown, with strongdemographics and a bull's-eye for our target of young male viewers," statedTom Nunan, UPN Entertainment President.

Milia '99- the International Content Market for Interactive Media will take place at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France from February 9-12. Milia is an international event that connects all facets of on-line/off-line interactive content by bringing together over 1000 on-line, gaming, multimedia, television, satellite and telecom companies from 57 countries.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced the Academy Award/Oscar nominees for films made in 1998. The nominees in the Best Animated Short Film category are:

JOLLY ROGER, an Astley Baker production directed by Mark Baker.

THE CANTERBURY TALES, an S4C production written and executive directed by Jonathan Myerson.

BUNNY, a Blue Sky Studios production written and directed by Chris Wedge.

WHEN LIFE DEPARTS, an A Films Aps production directed by Karsten Killerich and Stefan Fjeldmark.

* Sunday, February 14. Los Angeles, California, USA

Hollywood Shorts will hold their February screening on Valentine's Day at 6:00 p.m. and in honor of the holiday, the films being screened all have a heart-y theme. The sole animated short in this edition is Christine Smith's cel-animated short CHASING THE BLUES AWAY. The screening will be held at THE JOINT, 8771 West Pico Blvd, in West LA. The complete films will also be available for on-line viewing at http://www.lalive.com/hollywoodshorts.

* Wednesday, February 24. Rochester, New York, USA

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) presents their Winter MFA Animation Screening at 7:00 p.m. in the Carlson Auditorium on the RIT campus. The screening is open to all and includes screenings of the winter quarter projects and thesis films. For more information, e-mail mkspph@rit.edu or call (716) 475-2754.

Hash Inc. has released Animation Master 99 (AM99), an updated version of their popular computer animation program, which runs on Windows 95, Windows NT and the Mac OS. Many of the new features in this update revolve around a particular theme: Film, Workflow and Video Games. Among the numerous additions to AM99 are Smart Skin, Action Blending, Real-Time Blended Joints, Film Grain, Skeletal Poses, Real-Time Model and Map Export and Field Rendering. The software package still sells for $199 (U.S.). For further information, visit www.hash.com.

In the show's first outing on Monday, January 25, "Dilbert" delivered UPN's highest-rated telecast of a comedy in adults 18-49 (3.3 rating/9 share) and 18-34 (3.7/11). The show's performance among total viewers (4.2/6) more than tripled UPN's season averages in the 8:00 p.m. Monday time slot and was UPN's best household rating for a comedy since a February '97 airing of "Moesha."

Blue Sky | VIFX's Jan Carlée directed and designed a cinematic bug's-eye-view of the natural world for a series of three 30-second computer animated spots for Nature's Resource herbal products: "Echinacea," "Ginko Balboa" and "St. John Wort." All three ads, which feature a ladybug searching out the choicest flowers and herbal ingredients, "bring the camera down to the ladybug's level and stage the scenes so that we see the world from her point of view," explains Carlée.