Jedor releases Viscosity
Waterloo, Ontario-based Jedor Inc. has released Viscosity 1.0, a newsoftware package that puts the process of 2D image editing and animationinto one application, and enables both novice and advanced graphicdesigners to create, edit, and view animated graphics for web sites, videoclips, and multimedia presentations. Viscosity differs from traditionalimage editing software by totally integrating highly visual animationtools, animated effects, and real-time playback directly into Viscosity's
Lipsinc offers free Ventriloquist download
Cary, North Carolina-based LIPSinc. is offering a free beta version ofVentriloquist for MAX, a new lip-synching plug-in for 3D Studio MAX R3.0.Ventriloquist for MAX automates the process of synchronizing correct mouthmovements to dialogue for animated characters. For more information visitwww.lipsinc.com.
AARGH! co-produces Cold-Eeze spots
Orlando, Florida-based AARGH! ANIMATION, INC. (not related to the abovecompany) is co-producing a series of :10 and :30 spots for Cold-Eeze coldmedicine that combines live-action with cel animation. Mark Simon and DaveKallaher directed the animation. The three :10 spots consist of a celanimated plane that swoops into frame over a six layer multi-plane ofmoving clouds. The computer generated product packages fly out of the planeand are presented close to camera. In the :30 spots, live-action passengers
Rhode Island School of Design is looking for an Animation Professor
The Rhode Island School Of Design is looking for an Assistant Professor for its Film/Animation/Video Department...
Brand new "Career Coach" column now on-line in the Student Corner!
The 5th installment of Career Coach, our monthly column by Pamela Thompson,a noted authority on jobs and recruiting within the animation and visualeffects industries, is now on-line...
CINANIMA '99 announces their nominees!
The Cinanima International Animated Film Festival (held November 8-14,1999, in Espinho, Portugal), announced their '99 nominees. The selectionjury consisted of Menno De Nooijer (Netherlands), Manuel Matos Barbosa(Portugal), Antonio Melo (Portugal), Rodolfo Pastor (Spain) and PedroSerrazina (Portugal). Discover this year's official competition program, aswell as the retrospectives, exhibitions, and more. All is included on theFestival's official web site!
A Closer Look: Cartoon Forum, A Success Story
The "Cartoon d'Or" 1999 was announced at the Cartoon Forum this pastSunday. The winning film is "Migrations" by Constantin Chamski (France), a4-minute CGI film. The director received 25,000 ECU (approximately U.S.$25,000) to spend on a new animation project. This year the forum welcomeda record attendance of 620 participants, which included producers,distributors and broadcasters. Sixty-nine projects seeking partners wereoffered to potential investors and producers. Since its start ten years
TOY STORY 2 trailer debuts on web
The new trailer for TOY STORY 2 will play online for one week beginningFriday, October 1 at www.toystory2.com before it screens in theaters. Thesequel, which features Buzz, Woody and the gang, plus new characters suchas Mrs. Potato Head and Emperor Zorg, debuts in US theaters on November 24,1999. The eagerly awaited sequel to the 1995 Pixar/Disney groundbreakingCGI feature, TOY STORY, continues the story of pull-string cowboy doll,Woody, and his action figure Space Ranger friend, Buzz Lightyear. The new
Sony Wonder Technology Lab hosts ALL EYES ON CGI
Sony Wonder Technology Lab, a center for high-tech entertainment andeducation, will host ALL EYES ON CGI. The presentation will feature arepresentative from Sony Pictures Imageworks, whose talent and technologycontributed to the upcoming feature film STUART LITTLE in which for thefirst time ever, audiences are introduced to a three-dimensional,photo-realistic, performance based, computer generated movie star.Admission is $10. The events takes place Thursday, September 30, 6:30 pm in
October's Animation World Magazine now on-line!
This month: Licensing And Merchandising.
As the holidays approach our minds turn to licensing and merchandising andwhat is going to be on the shelves this winter. In this issue TarletonGillespie takes us on a trip through Toys R Us to determine the meaning oftoys to kids. The French licensing and merchandising market is detailed byValerie Rivoallon. Sharon Schatz profiles toon loving Rhino Records andKaren Raugust looks at how "Sesame Street's" content changes as the popular
Plympton's Comic of the Week: "Romantic Relationships"
This week's comic is about the natural progression of romantic relationships...
This week's Animation Trivia Quiz: Forgotten Films
This week's AWN Animation Trivia Quiz features questions about forgotten films...
Store Special: Must Have Books for Beginning Animators
Now available in the AWN Store are four must have books for anybody interested in breaking into animation....
Studio B moves to new facility
Studio B Productions has moved to a custom designed studio at 190 AlexanderStreet in Vancouver, British Columbia. The three-floor, 27,000 sq. ft.facility is home to Studio B's animation studio and production house aswell as Mercury Filmworks, a fully equipped digital animation facility, andDick and Roger's, a fully equipped sound studio which means that thefacility now has the ability to produce an animated show or series in itsentirety from script to post-production. The move to larger, custom
NETTER DIGITAL hires JAY FUKUTO
North Hollywood, California-based NETTER DIGITAL, which provides 3D andspecial effects animation services, has named JAY FUKUTO to the newposition of senior vice president of animation. Fukuto has been senior vicepresident at MGM Animation since 1997, where he oversaw the development andproduction of MGM's animated theatrical features and direct-to-video moviesincluding THE SECRET OF NIMH II, AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS CAROL and TOM SAWYER.
Rhino Records releases Stan Freberg collection
Los Angeles-based Rhino Records has released TIP OF THE FREBERG, a four CDbox set that also includes a video and a booklet. Stan Freberg is probablybest known to animation fans as the voice of Junyer Bear, Bertie the mouse,and Pete Puma in various Warner Bros. shorts, as well as the beaver in LADYAND THE TRAMP, but Freberg, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,has also won many awards for his comedy records and commercials. This greatcollection spans Freberg's entire career, 1950 to 1998, and includes many
Disney plans second Paris theme park
Euro Disney has announced plans to open THE DISNEY STUDIOS, a second themepark in 2002 near the existing Disneyland Paris theme park inMarne-La-Vallee, east of Paris. The park will include attractions based oncinema, animation and television, similar to the Disney-MGM Studios at WaltDisney World in Orlando, Florida. Visitors to the park will be able toobserve animators working, special effects demonstrations and the filmingof TV programs. "The goal is that visitors pass through the movie screen
J.J. Sedelmaier's final TV FUNHOUSE aired on SNL season premiere
HESTON, animation director J.J. Sedelmaier's final TV FUNHOUSE segment forSATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, aired Saturday, October 2 on the comedy show's seasonpremier, which was hosted by comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Sedelmaier's finalvignette, which concludes his three-year collaboration with writer RobertSmigel, lampooned the NRA's pro-gun position by using real audio of NRApresident, actor Charlton Heston, addressing Congress combined withdialogue from his PLANET OF THE APES movies and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, in
Mary Kocol's MY FATHER'S STORY screens in New York
Mary Kocol's MY FATHER'S STORY screens with the documentary featureUNCOMMON FRIENDS. The screenings take place October 1 - 7 in New York atthe Cinema Village Theatre at 22 East 12th Street. Tel. (212) 924-3363. Formore information visit www.KocoMotion.com.
IMCA hosts PEANUTS creator exhibit
The International Museum of Comic Art presents The Art of Charles M.Schulz, creator of the comic strip, PEANUTS. The exhibit displaysartifacts, photos, magazine covers, Broadway and movie posters, toys,dolls, blow-ups of historic strips and more tracing the decade-by-decadeevolution of Schulz' creation in the context of American history. Theexhibition takes place Saturday, October 2 - Sunday, January 30, 2000 inBoca Raton, Florida, USA. IMCA is located at 201 Plaza Real in Boca Raton's
Don't miss SITGES!
This year's SITGES Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya featuresseveral animation related events including a short film competition, thepresentation of Hayao Miyasaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE, and tributes to OsamuTezuka and Will Vinton. The festival takes place Wednesday, October 6 -Saturday, October 16 in Barcelona, Spain. For more information Tel. 34 93419 3635, or visit www.sitges.com/cinema.
Don't miss these Ray Harryhausen appearances!
Ray Harryhausen will appear at the REZNHEDZ Model and Toy Show at theHillside Holiday Inn just outside Chicago on October 9 and 10. The ChicagoInternational Film Festival is also sponsoring two events in conjunctionwith the REZNHEDZ show. On Thursday, October 7 the festival will show JASONAND THE ARGONAUTS and GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, and on Sunday, October 10they will have a tribute to Ray Harryhausen. The tribute will include clipsfrom the movies, and culminate in Ray receiving an Award from the Film
Speed Racer dream car becomes real
Every fan who dreamed of building a car like Speed Racer's Mach 5 will beinterested to know that Speed's ultra-cool car is finally being built byLong Beach, California-based Focus on Cars, an automotive fabricationcompany that caters to the entertainment and advertising industry. The carwill be used to promote a nation-wide safety tour conducted by The ChildSafety Network (CSN) called CHILD SAFETY DAY AT THE RACES. The Mach 5 willprivately debut at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show -
DOONESBURY creator creates animated internet video for NETAID
San Francisco-based Protozoa, with DotComix, the animation portal atwww.dotcomix.com, has produced a 3D animated rock video for Internetbroadcast with Garry Trudeau and his JT Thudpucker character from theDOONESBURY comic strip for NetAid, a UN sponsored global crusade againstpoverty. The video features JT singing a NetAid anthem, and debuts onWednesday, September 29 at www.doonesbury.com. Trudeau has integrated thepremiere of the Internet video within the plot of his daily Doonesbury
Oxygen Media names online executive team
New York City-based Oxygen Media, Geraldine Laybourne's media companyfounded to provide content for women, has named eight executive producers,seven of whom are new to Oxygen's team, to guide the development ofOxygen's growing online network, including building five new sites - Style,Sports, Teens, O2 Simplify, and womenshands - as well as expanding thepopular existing parenting site, Moms Online and Oprah.com. The new andexpanded sites will be rolled out this winter. Oxygen's online executive
