This week on the Forum, Joel attempts to summon the wisdom of ghosts while Alan has an identity crisis of historical proportions and unwittingly reveals one of Hollywood's best-kept summer blockbuster secrets. Then, Dave "David B." Levy stops by to talk about how to juggle animation multitasking, authoring books on pitching and job-getting, Ben Franklin, industry infestation, Mad Men, and popping one's bubble. And, you actually can rewind a clock, not that hard.

TEAK VFX Artist Mark Everson, working with @radical.media Director Steve Miller via Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners, handled the post and FX for the latest in Priceline's well-regarded faux-superhero Priceline Negotiator campaign.

When I was a kid, I loved going to visit my cousins in Seattle. They were avid comic collectors and I would spend hours carefully thumbing through issues of Spiderman, Fantastic Four and other plastic-sleeved titles. Perhaps this is why I enjoy the trend of motion comics as promotion. It speaks to childhood nostalgia while cutting through the clutter. Clever marketing campaigns engage audiences in unexpected ways that connect, often with a nod and a wink, to the property’s intrinsic nature. Or to poorly paraphrase Marshall McLuhen; the medium can be a major part of the message. Motion comics are a great way of exciting prospective viewers about an upcoming film or television show, even if the property is not animated. And they provide increased opportunities for graphic designers, artists to collaborate with studios and directors.

Superfad has named Chris Volckmann Executive Producer of the Seattle office. Volckmann has been a senior producer with the company since 2008 and has been instrumental in numerous projects including the recent Sony "Make.Believe" film series, Voila featuring Wyclef Jean and the award-winning Sprint campaign for Goodby, Silverstein and Partners.

Rushes were recently given the task of creating the opening title sequence for the new Michael Vaughn film, Kick Ass.

The 2010 AICE Awards competition has expanded its categories for eligibility to include a new Design category, open to work created by editors, digital artists and other professionals involved in design work for TV commercials, virals, web videos, music videos, spec spots, and PSAs.

The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film was founded in 1982 and is one of the biggest and most important festivals of animation film worldwide. More than 50.000 spectators and 1.500 professionals are attending the festival. Over 50,000 euros prize money in total is awarded in seven competition categories. The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film works in close relation with fmx 2010, Europe’s biggest conference on animation, effects, games and interactive media.

The 17th International Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart / Germany (4.-9. May 2010) invites international advertising agencies, filmmakers and production companies to submit their films to our international competition Under Commission until January 29th 2010. Under Commission is the competition for commissioned animations. Prizes are awarded in the categories animated music video, commercials and TV trailer. Any animated commissioned film of the categories commercial spot, music video and TV ident including computer generated animation and combinations of life action and animation completed after October 01, 2008 may participate. There is no entry fee.

Four films will be nominated in each category. The award ceremony will be taking place during the festival (4.-9. May 2010). The Art Directors Club of Germany ADC, the Art Directors Club of Europe ADC*E and the Art Directors Club New York are cooperation partners.

More information is available at our homepage. There you can also download the submission form, rules & regulations as well as the call for entries. Online submissions can be made at Reelport.

Joe Strike takes a look at the tax implications for freelancing on both employers and contractors and how companies like MBO Partners can help.

For AVATAR, PLF (Pixel Liberation Front) was charged with designing and animating the monitors and HUDs for the fleet of military aircraft, a handful of shots in the shack set and some set-extension composites. In all, they delivered more than 220 shots.

As AVATAR continues to dominate the box office, The Third Floor discussed its previs with AWN.