Nickelodeon Movies 3D-animated BARNYARD, made by Omation Animation Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, features complex computer-generated animation that required unique and creative solutions from Sun Microsystems Inc.
Dan May has been hired as president of Blackmagic Design Inc. May joins Blackmagic as the company begins the re-location of its U.S. corporate headquarters to Milpitas, California. All operations currently handled by the Las Vegas, Nevada, office will be transferred to the Milpitas office. Blackmagic Design manufactures the highest quality video cards and converters for the post-production and television broadcast industries.
AJA Video, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, announced support for Apple's new Mac Pro line of Intel-based professional desktop computers.
Rockstar, the maker of best-selling videogame series GRANT THEFT AUTO, announced that it would launch its controversial new game, BULLY, in October.
Set in a U.S. boarding school, the game follows 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins as he violently defends himself against school bullies ranging from nerds to jocks to authoritarian prefects.
"Finally BULLY can speak for itself. People can look at the game and see what it is and what it's not," company spokesman Rodney Walker said.
The inaugural Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts (CAEAA 2006) has announced the nominees for its first awards, which will take place on Sept. 14, 2006, in Vancouver.
The first annual CAEAA will be hosted by William Shatner and take place at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. The awards will honor Canadian achievements in three sectors of the electronic and animated arts industry: talent development (new media and animation art schools), animation, and videogame development.
The nominees are:
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival, which showcases the work of some of the U.K.s most talented young filmmakers, has announced its winner. The winners are
The Ascent Media Short Film AwardWinner CUBS Director: Tom Harper @ Free Range Films
Runners up: HIBERNATION Director: John Williams @ Sound Films THIS IS ME Director: Sam Arthur @ Academy
The Vue Animation AwardWinner RABBIT Director: Run Wrake @ Sclah Films
Runners up:
A tribute to an animation Master. Rare uncensored 16mm prints. For info on Walter Lantz go to: http://lantz.goldenagecartoons.com/
iHollywoodForum is hosting a free webinar titled,
After receiving Best of Show honors, ONE RAT SHORT by Alex Weil of Charlex was the winner of the SIGGRAPH 2006 People's Choice Award. This short film follows a New York City rat from his own gritty world to the interior of a futuristic laboratory. Along his journey, the main character experiences love, danger and his fate.
For the second year, attendees were able to vote for their favorite selection from the Electronic and Animation Theaters within the Computer Animation Festival.
Award-winning visual effects house Zoic Studios has opened Zoic BC. The Canadian-based company is being launched to service Zoic Studios' ever-diversifying client base, and has proven to be a natural step in the company's evolution. Zoic BC has already completed the feature film PATHFINDER for Twentieth Century Fox and is working on two episodics: EUREKA for SCI-FI Channel and BLADE for Spike TV, both of which have proved to be successful for their respective networks.
VFXWORLD begins its new excerpt series this week with THE MAGIC OF HOUDINI by Will Cunningham from Thompson Course Technology.
Lucasfilm Ent. Co. Ltd. plans to create a single IT platform for all of its worldwide digital assets, reports TECHWEB TECHNOLOGY NEWS. The system will consolidate everything from California to the Singapore animation studio.
Acclaimed commercial and shorts director Neill Blomkamp will make his feature debut with HALO, to be produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh under their WingNut Films banner for Universal Pictures (domestically) and Twentieth Century Fox (internationally). Visual effects, miniatures and creature design and creation will all be handled by Weta Digital Ltd. and Weta Workshop Ltd.
Legendary television performer, satirist, radio, advertising innovator Stan Freberg will receive the prestigious 2006 Los Angeles Area Governors Award, which take place on Saturday, Aug. 12 at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at 5:00 pm. The live-to-tape show will air as a one-hour special on KTLA on Aug. 26, from 9:00-10:00 pm in Los Angeles. The Governors Award honors a lifetime of broadcasting achievement.
Gradient Effects, a new visual effects studio with international expertise specializing in feature work, has set up shop in Venice, California, founded by vfx supervisor/producer Thomas Tannenberger. He will be joined by Olcun Tan as head of R&D, a former lead effects developer at DreamWorks.
Sony Pictures Ent. has surpassed the $1 billion mark in box office receipts for calendar year 2006, making it the fifth year in a row the studio has reached that milestone at the box office, a feat matched only by Warner Bros.
In 2006 KROK International Animated Film Festival is the animation festival at sea, following the route from Nizhniy Novgorod through Chistopol, Perm, Chaikovskiy, Elabuga, Uliyanovsk, Kazan. KROK is the Ukrainian for "STEP." It is movement, the movement forward. Symbolically enough, the festival never stands still even in the literal sense of these words: by tradition it is celebrated aboard a comfortable ship, cruising in Ukraine and Russia by turns.
NVIDIA Corp., a worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, announced the recipients of the prestigious NVIDIA Fellowship award for the 2006-2007 academic year. The students were selected by a review committee headed by NVIDIA chief scientist David Kirk. Each winner receives a $25,000 grant.
Exodus Film Group has promoted Delbert A. Whetter from svp of business affairs to coo, announced John D. Eraklis, president/ceo. In addition to directing the operating activities of Exodus, Whetter will continue to oversee all aspects of business affairs.
Vivendi Games' Sierra Ent. has secured top Hollywood talent to provide voices for the characters featured in the videogame, TIMESHIFT, scheduled to release for the Xbox 360 and PC this September. Dennis Quaid, Nick Chinlund and Michael Ironside will add their voices to the original first-person shooter videogame offering unprecedented time-control technology that allows players to slow, stop or reverse time in order to overcome difficult scenarios and defeat challenging enemies.
VFXWorld begins its new excerpt series from Will Cunninghams book, The Magic of Houdini.
The first feature-length CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR movie, titled OPERATION Z.E.R.O., set to debut on Cartoon Network on Aug. 11, 2006 at 7:30 pm on Cartoon Network. The series and feature are produced by New York-based animation production company, Curious Pictures.
Disney/Pixars CARS, the summers second biggest hit thus far at $237.5M, debuts Nov. 7 on DVD (Buena Vista Home Ent., $29.99). Unlike the fully loaded two-disc extravaganzas for past Pixar animated features, though, CARS will be a single-disc release available in both anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen versions.
Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis is in negotiations, according to TMZ, to move his ImageMovers production company from DreamWorks Pictures to The Walt Disney Co., where his preferred performance capture format (created by Sony Pictures Imageworks) will expand the 3D slate for Pixar/Disney Animation studios under John Lasseters leadership. Disney would not confirm.
Zemeckis followed THE POLAR EXPRESS with MONSTER HOUSE (which he exec produced) and is currently directing BEOWULF for release on Nov. 16, 2007.
Fox Filmed Ent. and Walden Media have joined forces with the mandate of marketing and releasing family films.
Walden Media, whose recent success includes the worldwide blockbuster THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, is bringing its future feature development slate to the joint venture. Fox will also contribute a number of current and newly developed projects. Walden Media's previously announced films at other studios would remain in place.
