A highlight of the holiday hit film CATCH ME
IF YOU CAN, which opened in theaters nationwide on December 25, 2002, is the distinctive opening credits created by
London's Nexus Productions. Nexus was called upon by DreamWorks to
create an opening sequence for the film, which stars Leonardo
DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and is directed by Steven Spielberg. In CATCH
ME IF YOU CAN, DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., who at the age of
17 became the most successful bank robber in the history of the

Los Angeles-based Tigar Hare Studios has delivered a character animation driven ID package for TBS Superstation’s new "Non-Stop Comedy Block" afternoon sitcom lineup. Working with the design group TAG, more than 90 seconds of motion graphics were choreographed with the animation of the letters T, B and S of the TBS Superstation logo. After coming to life, the three letters move through a stylized city where they encounter the stars of SEINFELD, FRIENDS, HOME IMPROVEMENT and THE DREW CAREY SHOW. The letters then finally join the word Superstation to form the logo of the network.

Atlanta-based broadcast design company Primal Screen has created an animated show open for the new TNT program LISTEN UP! The live, half-hour show features basketball legend Charles Barkley and host Ernie Johnson in conversation with guests from the worlds of sports, entertainment and news. Drawing on a style heavily influenced by graffiti art, the open features Barkley and Johnson rushing through city streets to the studio where the show takes place. Animation director and graffiti artist Ward Jenkins styled the piece to give a glimpse into the character of the show.

Santa Monica, California-based Goodspot Design recently completed an extensive package of original broadcast design and animation work for Fox Sports' 2002 NFL on-air promotions graphics. The 30-, 20- and 10-second promos debuted on Fox in September 2002.

Ex'pression, a digital arts school located in California's Bay Area, has given several of its Digital Graphics Design students the chance to apply the knowledge gained in classes to a real world situation when they were selected by Tech TV to create a station ID for the technology channel. Using applications including Maya and After Effects, the students created the 10-second long bumper, called "Marble Madness," which shows the Tech TV logo elements (silver and red balls) becoming marbles.

Curious Pictures has once again teamed up with Nickelodeon, this time to create the packaging for the new cartoon block "Nicktoons," currently running every Friday night from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. The project includes the opening for the hour program, along with 19 bumpers, 5 intros and 5 credit crunches that will rotate during the block each week. The spots feature Nick’s cartoon personalities goofing around in the production studio, while reminding the viewers that they’re watching Nicktoons.

The crew at guru animation studio in Toronto was recently presented a Silver Promax/BDA award for their work on 3 of 15 "very, very short films" for Canada's YTV network. Begun in July 2001, the spots were commissioned for YTV's 2001 fall branding campaign. The 3 1/2 second spots feature various characters, each of whom convey an abstract emotion, a weird concept or just a simple visceral pleasure.

Hollywood,
California-based production company Super 78 recently completed an
extensive graphics and animation package for the pilot of
reality-based show TAKE 2: LIVING THE MOVIES, airing on the USA
Network. The premise of the show is to assemble a cast of ordinary
people to recreate some of the most life-threatening,
adrenaline-pumping and outrageous scenes from well-known movies. For
this unique program, Super 78 designed and created animation that
illustrates the action for the benefit of the viewing audience.

MTV Animation alum Chris Prynoski went back to his roots by once again creating a stylish opening sequence for the 2002 MTV Movie Awards. The show was produced by Austin Reading and executive produced by Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet. MTV commissioned Prynoski and his company, Titmouse Inc., to produce this year's Awards Show open after Titmouse delivered a successful graphics package for last year's show.

If you visited the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) in Los Angeles May 22-24, 2002, you may have come upon ComputerCafé's CGI cinematic presentations created for the debut of two of Electronic Arts' (EA) new videogames, COMMAND AND CONQUER GENERALS and EARTH AND BEYOND. For the massively multiplayer online adventure game EARTH AND BEYOND, ComputerCafé created 18 realistic CGI scenes of planetary exploration as seen through the eyes of the character Dewinter.