Olive Jar Opens In LA
Boston-based Olive Jar Studios, Inc., an animation, special effects andtheme park attraction production house, has opened a branch in Los Angeles,California, U.S.A. The new west coast facility will house both stage andproduction space. Olive Jar specializes in film techniques that includemixed-media, stop-motion, CGI, cel, drawn, and live-action/special effects.Executive producer Matthew Charde said, "Our presence in Los Angeles willbe a tremendous asset to the business since we will be more fully able to
Toy 2 Walks Over The Green Mile
The horse race to the box office checkered flag came down to a photo finishbetween TOY STORY 2 and THE GREEN MILE this past weekend. When the dustcleared, the toon titans of TOY STORY 2 finished #1 at the U.S. box office.The film grossed US$18.25 million in this its third week in release,bringing its cume to $140.4 million. In its opening weekend, THE GREENMILE, with primary visual effects by ILM and additional animation by Rhythm& Hues, POP and Matte World Digital, had to settle for second with a gross
Liquid Light Helps Give Birth To Goliath
Liquid Light Studios of Los Angeles helped give birth to Valencia,California's theme park Six Flags Magic Mountain's new roller coaster --"The Goliath." Liquid Light created a 3D simulation of the ride, so execscould take in the thrills before tracks were even laid. Last year, theanimation studio completed a similar 3D simulation for the park's"Riddler's Revenge." Built around an "Indiana Jones," jungle theme, themain highlights of this new coaster is that it travels up to speeds of 85
After Effects Ices Real Time SDI Video
ICE, the developers of ICE Tools for After Effects and Media Cleaner, haverecently announced shipment of BlueICE SDI Video, an add-on daughter cardto ICE's BlueICE hardware for real-time, uncompressed, frame-accurate videocapture, playback and print to tape. BlueICE SDI Video allows Adobe AfterEffects users, to digitize, preview and layoff to tape in real time - allwhile remaining in the same After Effects environment in which theycomposite and create visual effects. BlueICE is available in both PAL and
Tinker with Trnka on DVD
Six films from Czech puppet master, Jiri Trnka, will be available on a newcompilation DVD available February 29, 2000. Included on the release willbe the feature-length classic THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE based on the HansChristian Anderson fairy tale and narrated by legendary-Hollywood actorBoris Karloff. The five featured shorts will include Trnka's world famousTHE HAND, along with STORY OF THE BASS CELLO, A MERRY CIRCUS, A DROP TOOMUCH, and THE SONG OF THE PRAIRIE. Not to sound too much like a late-night
EuropaCinema's Two Toon Winners
EuropaCinema & TV, held in Viareggio, Italy, announced their two animationshort winners. FOREVER AND EVER, by Michaela Pavlatova and Pavel Koutecky(Czech Republic) and SUBURBANITES by Stefan Vermeulen (Belgium) took homethe prize. The international jury of Enzo D'Alo, Georges Wolinski, MarjutRimminen, Rastko Ciric and Sergio Staino said FOREVER AND EVER is "a filmthat gives us an unconventional interpretation of love, dramatic and at thesame time ironically surrealistic. A film that also reveals a remarkable
A Red Nose shines on DVD
Sony Wonder and Golden Books Family Entertainment Home Video will bring thebeloved children's holiday film, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, to DVD forthe first time. The adventures of the shunned reindeer will be available forUS$19.98. For the holidays, Sony Wonder will also re-release ELMO SAVESCHRISTMAS on DVD and more favorite Sesame Street titles for $19.98.
WAC Is Back
The 7th World Animation Celebration (WAC) arrives in L.A. on Tuesday, May30, 2000 - Sunday, June 4, 2000 for its festival and internationalcompetition. WAC will showcase more than 800 films, including the best inboth classic and contemporary animation. As the main attraction, WAC willpresent awards to the best new animated works from around the world. TheWorld Animation Celebration will present a trade show, an internationalbusiness conferenece, world and American film premieres, seminars,
AtomFilms Attracts $20 Million
Monday, December 13, 1999, AtomFilms, a leader in next-generationentertainment, announced that it has inked a deal with investors totalingUS$20 million in financing. This signing marks the end of a second round ofstrategic financing led by Chase Capital Entertainment Partners LLC andChase Capital Partners, and joined by Arts Alliance, Frank J. Biondi Jr.,general partner at WaterView Partners and former chairman and CEO ofUniversal Studios, Intel Corp., and Trans Cosmos USA Inc. "This round of
Brisbane Beckons!
April 6-9, 2000, The Brisbane International Animation Festival willrepresent Australia in the international animation festival alliance withOttawa, Holland, Fantoche and Anima Mundi animation festivals. It isAustralia's only festival dedicated exclusively to animation in all of itsforms. Playing host to national and international guests who will gather inBrisbane, Australia, to experience the best of world class animation, thefestival provides a local, national and international forum for the
McQuilken joins Cartoon Network
KIM MCQUILKEN has been promoted to executive vice president of CARTOONNETWORK sales and marketing. Based in Atlanta, his new responsibilitieswill include sales and marketing for Cartoon Network.com. Formerly seniorvice president and general sales manager for the unit, McQuilken joinedTurner Broadcasting System, Inc., in 1992 as director of marketing forspecial projects for the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.After the Games, he served as vice president, sports and brand licensing
Teate toons into Florida-based AARGH! Animation
The Florida-based AARGH! ANIMATION, Inc. has hired JASON TEATE as colordesigner and associate producer. Jason completed color design for AARGH!'srecent series of national spots for Cold-Eeze cold medicine, which are nowairing.
Edwards Churcher nets Birds
London-based production company AKA PIZAZZ and Internet designers EDWARDSCHURCHER have announced the arrival of the world's first fully interactiveanimated commercial for Compaq. Following on from AKA's recent animated TVcampaign for Compaq, the interactive Web version of "Bird" was created byNeil Churcher, James Stone, and Javier Garcia Flynn of EDWARDS CHURCHER.The spot is now available on the Compaq website. The commercial features afully interactive, realtime animation in which one's cursor movements
Clouds over CGI Lugz Spot
Director/designer Jerry van de Beek and co-designer Betsy de Fries ofLITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS, the San Francisco digital animation and designstudio, finished an all CGI commercial for Lugz athletic shoes entitled"Annakii." The 30-second spot features a video game like scenario, repletewith a hip-hop soundtrack, where the hero moves through a futuristic NewYork City.
Let your Toons make their Way to Norway
After 6 years, the organizers of the Oslo Animation Festival have movedoperations to Fredrikstad, Norway. Complete with a new name, the Nordic andBaltic Animation Festival invites both animators and spectators on May 3-5,2000 to take part in an event dedicated to promoting the screening andbetter understanding of animation. This year's festival presents: Nordicand Baltic films in competition, Nordic and Baltic Panorama, Internationalhighlights, a Focus on British animation, Animation as Music, a Celebration
Imagine calls for Canadian Kids
The Center for Digital Imaging and Sound has launched Imagine 2000 -- thefirst Western Canadian high school media arts competition. The event willoffer 11th and 12th graders from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba thechance to win CA$200,000 in media scholarships. Categories includeanimation, game development, Web site design, video and film production,sound and music composition, graphic design, and fine art. This festivalgives any creative student the rare chance to get his or her work out to
Wild Brain Child on the Net
Wild Brain, Inc., a leading U.S. animation studio, has brought to theever-expanding club its new child, wildbrain.com. The new Web channel willbroadcast animation from around the globe and will be the feature providerof animation on Yahoo! Broadcast. In the deal, Yahoo! will provide Websolutions for Wild Brain's video animation programming, which is availableon wildbrain.com as well as Yahoo! Broadcast. wildbrain.com will debut withGLUE, an Internet exclusive toon featuring the adventures of a town full of
New Nirvana for Nelvana & RTV
Toronto-based Nelvana Limited, an integrated family entertainment company,has formed a multi-layered partnership with German-based production houseRTV Family Entertainment AG, a leader in children's programming in Germany.The agreement includes a significant distribution deal for current andlibrary programs and a 3-year deal for future productions andco-productions. Through the deal, RTV will bring Nelvana's library of showsto TV, home video, and merchandising venues across Germany, Eastern Europe,
The Tick is Back!
Cult comic and TV franchise THE TICK is getting a new lease on life.Producers Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson (FANTASY ISLAND, MAXIMUMBOB), via their deal at Columbia TriStar Television, will bring alive-action, primetime half-hour version of the clueless hero's show to FoxBroadcasting. The series is scheduled for fall 2000.
Read more about THE TICK from creator Ben Edlund in the Animation WorldMagazine article "Tick Fever Endures" by Deborah Reber.
Can't catch all those Pokemon Cards?
Is Pikachu anti-Semitic? The answer is no, even after questions to thecontrary circled when parents complained of a swastika-like symbolappearing on the Japanese language cards for Pokemon's Golbat and Ditto.These two cards, not yet released in the U.S. card collection, include aJapanese symbol called a "manji," which is a mirror image of a swastika.The symbol, however, is a centuries-old, Japanese symbol for good fortune.Not wanting to create any bad financial karma, Nintendo has announced thatit will discontinue the questionable cards.
A New Vivid Animation Studio
Vivid Animation, a new high-end CGI animation studio specializing insophisticated digital characters and animated effects for commercials andinteractive media, has been formed by Jeff Lotman, CEO. "Vivid Animationopens its doors with a trio of world-class digital animators as itscreative nucleus," said Lotman, CEO. This nucleus, all of whom come fromsenior positions at Digital Domain, includes Animation Supervisor, StephaneCouture, Digital Effects Supervisor, Gonzalo Garramuno and Vivid
Sumatra flies through First Production Tests
SOFTIMAGE|Avid's Sumatra, which is set to redefine computer animation, hasrecently been used in a UK production for the BBC called "Everyman." Theanimation system, which is currently in beta, was used by Aldis Animationto create the 20 second title sequence of the show. Kim Aldis, the founderof Aldis Animation said that Sumatra increased the company's productivity,while at the same time giving them "more flexibility to experimentcreatively." Sumatra is due to be released at the end of the first quarter,
Trey Parker & Matt Stone get Shocked
Shockwave.com has announced that they have signed Trey Parker and MattStone, the creators of SOUTH PARK, to concoct 39 new works. The new showswill first air on shockwave.com beginning in March. Stone and Parker's newdisfunctional toons will range from 2 to 5 minutes and could be one-offshorts or pieces of an on-going series. In the L.A. Times on December 8,1999, Stone was quoted as saying that "the real allure of [the deal] isthat we get to create another TV series but on a much smaller scale. We
Interactive Effects lead Avid Customers into the Light
With Avid's recent announcement that they are effectively 'dropping' theircontinued development and support of Media Illusion and Matador,Interactive Effects has stepped in to offer customers using those productsa new solution. Interactive Effects is already an established provider ofdigital tools for visual effects artists, filmmakers and broadcasters.Their flagship product, the Piranha HD Visual Effects System, is in use bymany top studios all over the world (Pixar, Industrial Light + Magic, and
Folimage Screening
* Saturday, December 11, 1999 - Sunday, April 2, 2000. Valence, France.
Folimage, the creators of the 1995 Cartoon D'Or winner LE MOINE ET LEPOISSON (THE MONK AND THE FISH), will feature an exhibition of theirworld-famous work. The event will take place from 2 pm - 6 pm every Monday,Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. An additional screening at 9 am - 12 pm willbe held on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. For more information contact4, Place des Ormeaux, 26000 Valence, France; or Tel.: ++ 33 4 75 79 20 80.