Surrey Institute Screening
* Friday, December 12, 1999. London, England.
The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College will behighlighting the unique graduate work done in their film, video, andanimation department since 1995. One can share in the rare chance of seeingthe cream of the crop from the school's library of productions. Thereception starts at 6pm to be followed by themed screenings at 6:30 pm,7:30 pm, 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm. Due to limited seating the college requests a
"Art & Animation" Exhibit
* Sunday, December 19 - Monday, December 20, 1999. Turin, Italy.
ASIFA Italia, with the help of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, theRegione Piemonte and the Comune di Torino, together with the support ofYoung Artists Circle and the British Council and Pro-Helvetia, isorganizing a meeting with a series of films on the subject of "Art &Animation". The meeting aims to heighten awareness of animation as an artform with a particular stress on independent short films of research,
"Animation Dreams: Millenium Nightmares" Exhibit
* Monday, January 10, 2000 - Saturday 29, 2000. New York, New York, USA.
After the crimson dust clears from the apocolyptic Armegedeon of Y2K, goenjoy some animation at the School of Visual Arts' "Animation Dreams:Millenium Nightmares" exhibit. Films presented at the screening centeraround the theme of the students' most horrific nightmares. The exhibitionwill also feature 3D character models, storyboards, animation cels,background drawings, murals, video tests of films, and a reel of
LIPSinc releases Ventriloquist for MAX 3
LIPSinc. recently announced that they have released a version ofVentriloquist, their lip-synchronization plug-in, for 3D Studio MAX version3. Ventriloquist is a voice-recognition lip-synching system which drivesthe animation based on the input of audio files. Timing and keyframe datawithin Ventriloquist for MAX are linked together automatically, providingeasy access and manipulation for animators who feel the need to 'tweak'Ventriloquist's work. The voice recognition system is based on LIPSinc.'s
Digital Video SLR releases Toonz Linetest
Digital Video SLR recently announced the release of Toonz Linetest, apencil test tool that is designed to preserve the animator's originalconcept. Linetest, which relies heavily on the Toonz exposure sheettechnology, offers a wide range of editing tools to manipulate frames,levels and sequences. One can insert new drawings, change the step of theanimation, and replace already grabbed images. One can also enlarge, reduceand rotate images, or create complex movements with ease thanks to the
Disney gets yield on stopping Go Logo
As we reported previously [AF 11/16], U.S. District Court Judge Terry J.Hatter Jr. had ordered Disney to stop using its Go Network logo until aftera trial on the matter next year, agreeing with the plaintiff GoTo.com thatDisney's logo was confusingly similar to its own. Now however, it looks asif the green and yellow traffic light logo of Disney's Go.com has gotten astay of sentence at least until December 19, 1999. Soon after the initialruling, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the
Toy Story stays steady at #1
TOY STORY 2 has repeated its performance in the top spot at the U.S. boxoffice. The film took in approximately US$28.3 million over the weekend tobring its two week total to $117.3 million. The remaining three films inthe top four also stayed the same from Thanksgiving with: THE WORLD IS NOTENOUGH, with primary visual effects by Digital Film, Cinesite London, andMagic Camera, coming in second with a gross of $10.6 million and a cume of$90.4 million; END OF DAYS, with primary visual-effects by Rhythm & Hues,
CGI Casper haunts from Harvey
The Harvey Entertainment Company has announced an agreement with Canada'sMainframe Entertainment, Inc. to produce the first all-CGI direct-to-videofilm based on Harvey's Casper, the Friendly Ghost franchise. Production,which has already started, will be funded by Harvey Entertainment, with arelease to the home video market scheduled for Christmas 2000. A previouslive-action/CGI Casper direct-to-video feature, CASPER, A SPIRITEDBEGINNING, sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Alisha Serold, Executive
Toy Story battles with Burgers & Toys
The war between TOY STORY and POKEMON over kids' piggy bank change hasmoved to a new battle field -- the local burger joint! McDonald's Corp.,the U.S.-based, world-wide burger chain, has released TOY STORY 2 toys inconnection with the recently released film. The McDonald's promotion,featuring a collection of 20 different characters from the TOY STORY 2movie, will be distributed with each Happy Meal purchase. The chain willalso offer six TOY STORY 2-themed candy dispensers for $1.99 each with the
Bandai set to battle Pokemon
In continued coverage of the war to empty the pockets of the POKEMONpeople, Bandai America Incorporated, the company responsible for the PowerRangers and Tamogotchi virtual pets, unveiled a new line of toys based onthe POKEMON-like DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS, at an event held at FAO Schwarzin New York. Since the debut of the TV series in August on Fox Kids,DIGIMON has become the #1 ranked show in its time period among allcompetition with Boys 6-11. Kids can also visit the DIGIMON Web site which
Trollback rap on Rowecom Spot
TROLLBACK & CO., a newly formed visual effects and design studio, finisheda new spot for ROWECOM, a start-up internet service company. The commercialfeatures a fast-paced mix of books, maps and other layered images in conjunction withlive action footage by director Elena Colombo. The spot was produced for thecreative team at Boston-based McKay Communications. The spot started airing October18 on CNBC North America and Europe (including the United Kingdom).
TOPIX/Mad Dog munches on Kellogg
To introduce KELLOGG's new Cereal & Milk Bars for Leo BurnettInternational-London, England, TOPIX/MAD DOG completed the 3D animatedproduct demo and box sequences, and integrated them within 2D animation fora vibrant :30 spot. The commercial began its global run in the UK, France,and Ireland in October. The spot will make its debut in Germany, Mexico,Iceland, Belgium, and possibly Canada in the new year.
ILM gets jiggy with Will2K
INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC just finished up the new Will Smith video WILL2K forColumbia Records and Sony Pictures. Robert Caruso directed the vid that sendsmega-star Will Smith on a Millenium eve time traveling spree. The futuristiceffects were created with ILM's newest motion capture software.
Read Heather Kenyon's interview with ILM's Seth Rosenthal in AnimationWorld Magazine.
Games to be Played at Milia 2000
The Reed Midem Organization, organizers of Milia 2000, have entered into afar-reaching agreement with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe(ISFE)-- who include members from interactive industry organizations like AISI inItaly, ELSPA in the UK, NVPI in the Netherlands, SELL in France and VUD inGermany -- to co-produce the Interactive Entertainment and Online Gamesconference for the THINK.TANK Summit. THINK.TANK will be a new two-dayconference and networking event for the interactive content industry held in
Dr. Michael Reed joins Blue Sky's research & development
BLUE SKY STUDIOS adds DR. MICHAEL REED as a new member to its research anddevelopment team. He comes to Blue Sky after receiving his Ph.D. inComputer Science from Columbia University and positions at the laboratoriesof IBM, Philips, and Bell Atlantic Corporations. Reed will continue hiswork with geometric surface construction techniques to create new solutionsin rendering and geometry for Blue Sky.
Barry Schuler joins Oxygen Media Board
BARRY SCHULER, President of America Online, Inc.'s Interactive Services Group,has joined the Board of Directors of OXYGEN MEDIA. At AOL, Schuler oversees thecompany's online services unit that includes the flagship AOL service,CompuServe, Netscape and AOL Devices. Schuler joins Oxygen's CEO GeraldineLaybourne, Oprah Winfrey, Marcy Carsey, and others on the board of theprivately-held company.
Marvel appoints 2 New Directors
MARVEL ENTERPRISES INC. announced two new Directors have been appointed to the Board. PETER CUNEO, President and CEO, Marvel Enterprises, Inc., andproducer SID GANIS, former Vice Chairman of Columbia Pictures and Presidentof Worldwide Marketing for Columbia/TriStar Motion Pictures Companies, wereeach appointed to the Board of Directors.
Jarrod Phillips New VP at House of Moves
HOUSE OF MOVES MOTION CAPTURE STUDIOS, the leader in motion capture services, has promoted JARROD PHILLIPS to Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Phillips also serves as Executive Producer.
Frank Caruso VP at King Features
FRANK T. CARUSO has been promoted to VP, Creative, at KING FEATURESSYNDICATE, a world leader in distributing comics to newpapers and merchandising licensing. The former Creative Director, Licensing will oversee new King Features licensing properties and all creative aspects of the company's Internet, animation and promotional activities. He will continue to supervise the creative aspects of BETTY BOOP, POPEYE, and other classic King Feature comic properties.
Wild Brain signs Nina Rappaport
WILD BRAIN, INC. signed Oscar-winning producer NINA RAPPAPORT to head theproduction company's computer graphics endeavors. After joining Wild Brainin May of this year as a freelance producer, Rappaport helped bringtogether the talent needed to produce the company's slate of CG projects.Before coming to Wild Brain, Rappaport was Executive Producer at Blue SkyStudios in New York. Her feature film credits include producing the effectson JOE'S APARTMENT and A SIMPLE WISH and executive producing STAR TREK:INSURRECTION.
Mike Dietz signed to direct PJ's episode
Director/animator Mike Dietz, founder of Orange County, CA-based MikeDietz Studios, has signed on to direct an episode of THE PJ'S, thestop-motion animated show starring movie-star Eddie Murphy, for Portland,OR-based Will Vinton Studios. Mike Dietz was one of the founding partnersof The Neverhood, the stop motion animation studio that produced severalprojects for Steven Spielberg's interactive division of DreamWorks SKG.Since leaving The Neverhood to start his own animation studio, Mike has
Dreamcast goes Platinum
Sega Dreamcast, the most advanced videogame system to date, has gone platinum.Sega of America, Inc. announced that the 128-bit, Internet-ready videogamesystem has sold one million units in North America since its launch onSeptember9, 1999. This milestone came six weeks ahead of corporate predictions andbeforethe after-Thanksgiving holiday shopping frenzy. The platinum mark forDreamcast has broken sales records by other high-profile consumer andelectronic products.
Film Roman Launches Level 13
This weekend, Film Roman, Inc., producers of THE SIMPSONS and KING OF THEHILL, launched Level 13.net, an innovative multi-channel animation networkto be delivered via the Internet. Level 13 is the industry's firstregularly scheduled, animated television-like network made directly for theWeb. William Shpall, Chief Operating Officer of Film Roman, and architectof the company's Internet strategy, said, "While many of today'sentertainment and Internet leaders are still testing enhanced television
Knoll Light Factory now available for Avid
The popular Knoll Light Factory plug-in from Puffin Designs was recentlyreleased for Avid Xpress, Media Composer, and Symphony -- the trimmedversion ofKnoll Lens Flare Pro is titled Knoll Lens Flare AVX. The software allows usersto create lens flares with an unprecedented level of precision and control.Based on the Lens Primitives in Knoll Lens Flare Pro, the plug-in consistsof anumber of filters which include elements modeled on professional camera lenses
3D Studio MAX 3 shipped to over 100,000 Users
Discreet's 3D Studio MAX 3 is currently being used by more than 116,000artistsworld-wide, a number signifying the major upgrades rising to an industrystandard package in film, broadcast, games, multimedia, and design industries.The new upgrade boasts many new features, but the ones that have brought theproduct into this popular position so soon after its release are mostdefinatelythe new 'world-class' renderer, and the infinitely extensible productionenvironment. Many of these 100,000+ customers are taking advantage of 3D