Ottawa International Animation Festival 2005
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 21-25, 2005
Deadline: June 1, 2005

Ellen Wolff explores how ILM’s Stefen Fangmeier mixed cutting edge technology with a bit of “old cinema magic” to help conjure the retro look of Lemony Snicket.

Well, we kick off a new year at VFXWORLD with the topic of previsualization. The first in the series this month is Alain Bielik’s look at the previz work that went into brining Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s WWI set romance epic, A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, to the screen.

G4techTV celebrates one of the biggest days of the year for videogame fans and viewers alike with “HALO 2 Day,” in honor of the release of HALO 2, the sequel to the best-selling Xbox game of all time from 9:00 am Nov. 9 to 4:30 pm, Nov. 10, 2004 on the only 24-hour television network plugged into games, gear, gadgets and gigabytes,

The entire day dedicated to this blockbuster release includes shows such as X-PLAY, CINEMATECH, G4TV.COM, THE SCREEN SAVERS and UNSCREWED WITH MARTIN SARGENT devoting programming entirely to HALO 2.

The 2004 Ottawa International Animation Festival announced the winners of the official competition during its closing ceremonies held Sept. 26, 2004 at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Taking the top prize was Chris Landreth’s groundbreaking short RYAN, an animated documentary about the famed NFB animator Ryan Larkin.

Ellen Wolff talks with Oddworld Inhabitants’ Lorne Lanning as he considers the realtime CG technologies that will change gaming along with movies and TV.

Bitfilm Festival 2004
Hamburg, Germany
November 3 - 7, 2004
Deadline: July 15, 2004

The Bitfilm Festival for digital film and new media shows films that use digital technology in a creative and innovative way. There are six categories:

* 3D Space: Computer generated 3D animations.
* FX Mix: Digitally composed hybrids, mixing live-action, effects and animation.
* 64K Demos: Audiovisual programs that work with a PC's processor and videocard.
* Flash: Linear films and interactive works made with Macromedia Flash.

CGI meets sexy sci-fi in Tripping the Rift, Sci Fi Channel’s first adult-oriented cartoon.

Ottawa International Animation Festival
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
September 22 – 26, 2004
Deadline: July 2, 2004

Spike TV (a division of MTV Networks) will be airing animation created using ILL Clan Inc.’s proprietary 3D animation technique called machinima. By modifying off-the-shelf computer game technology, the New York animation studio produces machinima in a fraction of the time it would take using typical computer animation techniques.