CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO, the commercial division of Klasky Csupo, produced two

animated spots for Hasbro's "Together TV" and Tiger Electronics' "Find

Furby" game. Both spots were directed by Steven Dovas and were produced for

New York-based ad agency Posnick & Koklaer. The "Together TV" spot features

live-action heads placed atop animated bodies. The spot highlights parents

spending time with their children. The "Find Furby" spot brings animated

versions of the Furby dolls to life as they bounce around the sky from

RENEGADE ANIMATION created their third in a series of 30-second Trix Yogurt

spots for New York-based ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The spot starts out

with a group of sad kids in a black & white colored world until they taste

Trix Yogurt. They use their spoons as magic wands to paint the world in

bright colors. The cel animated spot was directed by Darrell Van Citters

and produced by Jeff Poehlmann of Johnson Burnett Productions.

RADIUM's Inferno artist Alaina Goetz created effects for two Mervyn's

California commercials. In "Yo-yo," Goetz takes live-action footage of a

dancer and puts them into a yo-yo that spins and jerks off the screen. In

"Kung-fu," Goetz creates the transitions between scenes by creating

rice-paper doors that slide in front of the camera. Radium's Andrea Mansour

produced the project for Minneapolis ad agency Martin/Williams.

yU + CO, in collaboration with Digital Domain, provided the motion graphics

design for seven new American Express "Blue" commercials. The titles appear

at the close of the spots as a grouping of light and dark squares, as in a

highly pixilated image, before coming into focus as letters. The titles

where designed to comment on the physical flexibility and the holographic

blue box center of the new card. Garson Yu was designer and director for yU

DIGITAL DOMAIN helped Plum Productions create a virtual jungle/city for the

new Fiat Punto spots. Plum Productions' director Eric Saarinen worked with

Digital Domain's visual effects supervisor Paul Kirsch to create a city

full of people riding around on lion, tigers, and bears. The Punto drives

in showing how different it is compared to the other animals on the street.

Digital Domain had the complex job of combining five-days of greenscreen

shooting on the Paramount backlot into a coherent flow. "We made the

Toronto-based TOPIX/MAD DOG provided the CG images for "Flying Ball" for

Sears' new Poke-Mart. The 30 and 20 spots were produced for Young &

Rubicam. POKEMON hero, Ash, throws the famous Poke-ball which leads

children like lemmings to Sears' Poke-Mart section to catch all the new

Pokemon products. Diana D'Amelio produced and Patrick Coffey animated the

tags for TOPIX/Mad Dog.

Kellogg's Froot Loops spokesman Toucan Sam comes to life with help from

Santa Monica-based SIMEX STUDIOS for a new spot entitled "Time Flies." The

spot highlights the new 2000 Marshmallow Blasted Froot Loops by blasting

Toucan Sam through the air with an explosion of marshmallow "2s". SimEx

produced the spot for ad agency Leo Burnett of Chicago. The SimEx team on

the commercial was animation producer Christina Cox, animation director

Jean Perramon, live-action producer Bob McGinness and live-action director

New York-based SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION produced the 3D animation and visual

FXs for the newest Proctor & Gamble's Millstone Coffee spots. The 30 second

and two 15 second commercials entitled "Own the Mug" features a ceramic

coffee cup morphing into a boat. The spots were produced for New York ad

agency D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles. Tony Robins directed and Simone

Pillinger produced the commercials for Spontaneous Combustion. The spots

will continue to air through April 2000.

RING OF FIRE provided the fx for the newest Ericsson T-28 mobile phone ad

entitled "Aliens." Ring of Fire produced the spot for Stockholm ad agency

Hall & Cederquist. The international 30 second spot beams down aliens to a

man deserted on an island. The aliens mistake the phone for intelligent

life (like most humans do in Los Angeles) and wonder whether or not the

device will taste like chicken. Jerry Spivack was Creative Director for

Ring of Fire and Kevin Prendiville served as Visual Effects Supervisor.

New York-based IXL DIGITAL VIDEO GROUP, a subsidiary of the Internet and

video solutions company iXL, Inc., produced four distinct openings for the

new 20/20 weekly line-up. Each version of the news show is on four separate

nights and features different hosts. The openings mirror the style of each

version of the show and feature different takes on the 20/20 and ABC News

logos. iXL's veteran Designer and Animator Ron Wissing worked closely with

ABC'S Art Director Kelly Clauson on the concept for the openings.

New York-based EYEBALL created 10 second ID tags for seven USA Network

shows including: BAYWATCH, LA FEMME NIKITA, XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS and LAW

AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT. A circular frame opens around footage from

the USA program as the tag line "You Are Here" appears amidst flag stripes

and flashes. Brighter colors were used for the more light-hearted shows,

while a grittier mood was created for the more serious dramas. Daniel Fries

was the Creative Director at Eyeball.

Popeye the Sailor makes his newest appearance in the Toronto-based

TOPIX/MAD DOG, Chuck Gammage Animation and Generator Film produced spot for

Campbell's Soup. The 30 second spot for new Chunky Prime Rib features

integrated 3D animation, live-action and cel animation. Our hero Popeye

opts for a can of Chunky soup over his standard spinach to save the lovely

Olive Oyl. The spot was produced for Toronto-based ad agency Young &

Rubicam. TOPIX/Mad Dog producer Anne Deslauriers oversaw the 3D animation

Florida, U.S.-based AARGH! ANIMATION, Inc., one of the largest independent
cel animation houses, has produced a series of national spots for Cold-Eeze
cold medicine that combine live-action with cel animation. The cel
animation was directed by Mark Simon and Dave Kallaher of AARGH! Now
running and continuing through the cold season, these spots, three :10
spots and two :30 spots, are running in heavy rotation on major U.S.
networks. The spots feature live-action actors whose sneezes morph them
into animated characters.

Director/designer Jerry van de Beek and co-designer Betsy de Fries of
LITTLE FLUFFY CLOUDS, the San Francisco digital animation and design
studio, finished an all CGI commercial for Lugz athletic shoes entitled
"Annakii." The 30-second spot features a video game like scenario, replete
with a hip-hop soundtrack, where the hero moves through a futuristic New
York City.

London-based production company AKA PIZAZZ and Internet designers EDWARDS
CHURCHER have announced the arrival of the world's first fully interactive
animated commercial for Compaq. Following on from AKA's recent animated TV
campaign for Compaq, the interactive Web version of "Bird" was created by
Neil Churcher, James Stone, and Javier Garcia Flynn of EDWARDS CHURCHER.
The spot is now available on the Compaq website. The commercial features a
fully interactive, realtime animation in which one's cursor movements

TROLLBACK & CO., a newly formed visual effects and design studio, finished
a new spot for ROWECOM, a start-up internet service company. The commercial
features a fast-paced mix of books, maps and other layered images in conjunction with
live action footage by director Elena Colombo. The spot was produced for the
creative team at Boston-based McKay Communications. The spot started airing October
18 on CNBC North America and Europe (including the United Kingdom).

INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC just finished up the new Will Smith video WILL2K for
Columbia Records and Sony Pictures. Robert Caruso directed the vid that sends
mega-star Will Smith on a Millenium eve time traveling spree. The futuristic
effects were created with ILM's newest motion capture software.



Read Heather Kenyon's interview with ILM's Seth Rosenthal in Animation
World Magazine.

To introduce KELLOGG's new Cereal & Milk Bars for Leo Burnett
International-London, England, TOPIX/MAD DOG completed the 3D animated
product demo and box sequences, and integrated them within 2D animation for
a vibrant :30 spot. The commercial began its global run in the UK, France,
and Ireland in October. The spot will make its debut in Germany, Mexico,
Iceland, Belgium, and possibly Canada in the new year.

New York animation studio, DMA with director Tony Caio finished up two
'60s-style spots for Zowie Intertainment, Inc. new fantasy game ELLIE'S
ENCHANTED GARDEN. The commercial, featuring psychedelic-spinning wallpaper
flowers and highly stylized gardens appearing around live-action actors, is
aimed at attracting young girls to computer games. The spot started airing
on Nickelodeon and other kid-friendly networks in early November.

THE MILL, a London-based post house, recently finished up a new Daewoo car
spot. The 30-second commercial, entitled "Aerial Fantasy," is directed by
Daniel Barber of Rose Hackney Barber and produced by Duckworth Finn Grubb
Waters. The Mill's Flame artist Jason Watts set the piece to a base-booming
mix of rock and rap music. The spot features the new Daewoo "Lanos"
thrashing the world's largest skateboarding half pipe. The spot will air
around Europe in November and arrive in England come January 2000.