Plympton's Comic of the Week: "Cigarette Addiction"
This week's comic is about one of Bill's favorite subjects to ridicule,cigarette addiction...
New Additions To AWN's Calendar Of Events
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events includes the 11th International Children's Film Festival in India, and the 27th International Emmy Awards in New York.
AWN Launches New Student Corner Exclusive: Pamela Thompson's "Career Coach"
AWN is pleased to announce the launch of a new monthly column by Pamela Thompson, a noted authority on jobs and recruiting within the animation and visual effects industries.
Level 13 wants your animated shorts!
Level 13, a division of Film Roman, is currently acquiring short animated films...
Exclusive Offer On Star Wars Limited Edition "Lighted" 70mm Film Cels
70mm film cels on framed original production paintings, exclusively licensed by George Lucas!
More U.S. Disney videos are on the way
Disney is releasing three original made-for-video titles. MADELINE: LOST IN PARIS will appear on August 3. Featuring the voice talents of Jason Alexander, Lauren Bacall, and Christopher Plummer, the story is based on characters that first appeared in the Madeline book series by Ludwig Bemelmans. In LOST IN PARIS, Madeline and her eleven school friends get immersed in an evil plot to steal Madeline's inheritance. BELLE'S TALES OF FRIENDSHIP and HERCULES: ZERO TO HERO will both be released on August 17.
Kid Rhino celebrates Halloween with Scooby-Doo
On September 14, Kid Rhino will release the soundtrack album for the upcoming feature length Scooby-Doo video, SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE WITCH'S GHOST, which is scheduled for release on October 5. In SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE WITCH'S GHOST, Scooby and Mystery Inc. travel to a small New England town to learn why it's being spooked by witches' ghosts. Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Machine will appear in the flesh at the Rhino Retrofest, August 13 to 15, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, USA. Suggested retail price for the CD is US$13.98 and US$9.98 for the cassette.
SGI ships flat panel monitor for Macintosh
SGI has begun volume shipments of the Silicon Graphics 1600SW digital flat panel monitor for Apple Macintosh computers. The monitor is bundled with the new Macintosh version of the Number Nine Revolution IV-FP graphics accelerator in the Apple Macintosh version of the Digital Flat Panel Solution Pack. The graphics card provides the digital display interface, and features 32MB of graphics memory. The monitor features a 19-inch CRT-equivalent, 17.3 inch 1600 x 1024 pixel screen. It offers three times the brightness and five times the contrast of a comparably-sized CRT, with no flicker.
Welsh animation group launches newsletter
The Welsh Animation Group, an association of Welsh animators created to develop an international animated film festival in Wales, has published the first issue of their newsletter, WAG NEWSLETTER. This new group centered in Cardiff has emerged for a number of reasons. Siriols Robin Lyons first discussed, The need for a lobbying pressure group and, just as importantly a forum for animators, as stated in the publications editorial written by Dave Berry.
IMAX invests in Mainframe
IMAX Corporation, owner of the large format film theater chain, hasannounced the closing of its strategic investment in Vancouver,Canada-based Mainframe Entertainment Inc., a producer of CGI animation.Under the terms of the agreement, IMAX invested CDN$8 million to acquire a19% equity stake in Mainframe and CDN$8 million to acquire convertiblesenior debt which, if converted, could bring IMAX's ownership up to 30% ofMainframe. Simultaneously, Mainframe announced that two leading Canadian
Disney earnings decline
The Walt Disney Co. has reported its earnings for the third quarter, andthe nine months ended June 30, 1999. Net income for the fiscal thirdquarter ended in June fell to $367 million from last year's $415 million.The figure includes a pretax loss of $87 million from the November purchaseof a 43% interest in Internet search engine Infoseek Corp. Net income forthe nine month period ended June 30, 1999 fell to $1.215 billion from lastyear's $1.554 billion. "While we are not satisfied with our current
STAR WARS lights up the international boxoffice
Lucasfilm's STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE took in $16.5 millionin 24 territories over the weekend, bringing its foreign total to $154.3million. In its second weekend in the UK, it finished first and grossed$8.1 million, which was 70% of the market, for a total of $32.7 million in11 days alone! It finished first for the third straight weekend in Japan,as it grossed $4.5 million, for a total of $39.1 million. DreamWorks' THEPRINCE OF EGYPT grossed $758,000 to bring its foreign total to $118.2
Mainframe will develop SCARY GODMOTHER
Vancouver, Canada-based Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. has announced anoption agreement with Sirius Entertainment to develop a computer animatedtelevision and direct-to-video series based on comic book artist/writerJill Thompson's SCARY GODMOTHER comic books. SCARY GODMOTHER was firstpublished by Sirius Entertainment for Hallowe'en, 1997 as a hardcovergraphic novel. Since then Sirius has published a new graphic novel everyHallowe'en in addition to black and white one-shot comic books at other
Southern Star hires Teleri Roberts and Katherine Kaufman
Sydney, Australia-based SOUTHERN STAR SALES has appointed TELERI ROBERTS asthe first General Manager of its business unit Southern Star Kids, andKATHERINE KAUFMAN to the position of Sales Executive for Latin America.Roberts has most recently been working as Sales Head of Cascade, theinternational sales division of Scottish Television Enterprises based inGlasgow, and prior to that worked in several sales positions at Channel 4Wales. As General Manager of Southern Star Kids, she will be based in the
Class-Key Chew-Po signs Volaire
Los Angeles-based CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO COMMERCIALS has signed VOLTAIRE as itsnewest director. Voltaire's style includes a combination of stop-motionanimation and live-action. He has done spots for British Nights, CrunchFitness, Cartoon Network, MTV, and The Sci-Fi Channel.
Read what Voltaire has to say about his unique techniques in "How'd They DoThat? - Stop-Motion Secrets Revealed" in the February 1998 issue ofAnimation World Magazine.
TOPIX/MAD DOG does spot for Russell Stover
Toronto-based TOPIX/MAD DOG has completed the computer animated :15 RussellStover Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups "Oil Well" for Russell Stover andBerstein-Rein. For the spot, TOPIX/Mad Dog developed proprietary fluiddynamics software that can be customized to replicate jelly spurting out ofan "oil" derrick. Done in Softimage, the spot features little chocolateconstruction workers who become excited when their derrick hits jelly. SeanMontgomery directed.
Passion Pictures completes Nouvelle tissue spot
London-based PASSION PICTURES' CG animation director Chris Knott and postproduction house RUSHES' Paul Wratten have finished "Very Boggy," a :40spot for Nouvelle toilet tissue. In the spot a variety of toilets open andshut in time to the music of Handel's "Water Music." CG animator ChrisKnott reproduced the toilet seats which were first shot as live-actionreference. Mark Wilson completed all the builds, surfacing, lighting, andcompositing in Lightwave 5.6.
The Action Young Independent Talent calls for entries
The Action Young Independent Talent Award is an annual contest organized byFilms Action Inc., in partnership with Ina-Imagina. This 3D contest's goalis to promote new 3D computer artists talents. Prizes include hardware andsoftware packages. The best animation will be transferred to 35 mm. Entrydeadline is October 10, 1999. The festival takes place in Paris, FranceJanuary 28-February 3, 2000. For more information contact Films Action,Laurent Rodon, 25 rue Le Peletier, 75009 Paris, France; Tel: +33 1 47 70 45
THE HAUNTING beats out INSPECTOR GADGET for first at the boxoffice
Newly released DreamWorks SKG's THE HAUNTING, with digital effects by ILM,finished first in the U.S. weekend boxoffice race, grossing an estimated$33 million. Also newly released, The Walt Disney Company's INSPECTORGADGET, with digital effects by DreamQuest, finished second, grossing anestimated $22 million. Warner's WILD WILD WEST, with digital effects byILM, finished seventh, grossing an estimated $5.4 million for a total of$104.2 million; Disney's TARZAN finished ninth, grossing $4.8 million for a
San Francisco Indiefest calls for entries
The San Francisco Independent Film Festival (aka SF IndieFest) seeksfeature length film and video and short animation films for its secondannual festival to take place December 9-12, 1999. All films in thefestival will compete for the Audience Awards for best feature and bestanimated short and for a prize (new this year) which will be awarded to theIndieFest Staff Favorite. Early deadline with no entry fee is September 1.Late deadline with $20 entry fee is September 17. For an entry form contact
Graphiti Multimedia completes Pepsodent spot
Mumbai, India-based GRAPHITI MULTIMEDIA has completed "The Case of theMissing Tooth" for Pepsodent, a 7-minute infomercial in which detectivesSqeezy, a tube of toothpaste, and Bristles, a toothbrush, work their waythrough a tooth maze, battle germs in a haunted house, peer into a foodcave, and are lectured by a dentist who explains to them the benefits ofgood oral hygiene. Traditional line drawings were used to create thecharacters, but environments were produced in 3D Studio Max. Cambridge
Special screening of "Jason and the Argonauts"
* Friday, July 23, 8 am. Hollwyood, California, USA.
Ray Harryhausen will appear at a screening of JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS.Tickets (donations) are $20, which includes a souvenir booklet. Location:Mann's Chinese Theatre. For more information contact The ArgonautFoundation, 10153 1/2 Riverside Dr. #290, No. Hollywood, CA 91602. Tel:818-890-4492; fax: 818-896-6613; e-mail: argonautfound@webtv.net; or visitwww.zwebb.com/7thvoyageprod/argonaut/index.html.
BAFTA calls for entries
The British Academy of Film and Television Art's (BAFTA) InteractiveEntertainment Awards are open to entries from all parts of the world on allinteractive platforms. Categories include: Entertainment Website,Innovative Game, Moving Images, Sound, Interactivity, Design, ComputerProgramming, and more. Entry deadline is August 6, 1999. Awards will beannounced October 20, 1999. For more information contact BAFTA,195 Piccadilly, London, W1V 0LN, UK; Tel: + 44 171-7340022; Fax: + 44171-341792; e-mail: helenw@bafta.org; or visit www.bafta.org.
The Deep End Puppet Theatre Happenings calls for entries
DEPTH is a project of Village Arts (Animha Productions). DEPTH is lookingfor challenging contemporary Puppet or 3D Model animation of any genre.DEPTH accepts films from around the world in any of the followingcategories: Experimental, Professional, and Student & Non-Professional. Allfilms submitted will be considered equally for screening. Provisional entrydeadline is July 30, 1999. For more information contact DEPTH, VillageArts, Stable House, Water Lane, Loftus, Saltburn, TS13 4JT, England; Tel:
EMMA calls for entries
The International EMMA Awards are prestigious European-based interactivemedia awards. In 1999, there will again be an online announcement ofnominations and winners. In the months following the announcement, anotherseries of winners' celebration events will be organized to coincide with anumber of new media related events such as Invision in San Francisco andMilia in Cannes. Categories include: Business, Entertainment, GeneralInterest, Technology, Education, Games, Interactive, and Digital City.
