Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Canada has become the

first institution to bring ORAD video technology into the classroom.

Originally designed for the Israeli military's virtual reality training,

ORAD places real-time people into a virtual set. The ORAD system removes

the bluescreen behind a person and replaces it with a computer-generated

environment. Located at the Seneca York campus, students in the television

broadcasting, 3D arts and advertising programs will have the opportunity to

CARTOON NETWORK has named TIMOTHY HALL their new executive vice president.

Hall will be responsible for integrating marketing to popularize the

network's brand in the U.S. and globally, and creating new business around

the world. Prior to Cartoon Network, Hall was senior vice president of

boys' toys marketing and product development at Hasbro, Inc. Hall was

responsible for the overall strategic direction, marketing and product

development of Star Wars toys and games, among other brands. He began his

CLAIRE ROBINSON has been named senior vice president, intellectual property

law, for THE WALT DISNEY CO. Robinson will oversee Disney's intellectual

property group, which is responsible for intellectual property matters for

the company and its subsidiaries worldwide. Previously, Robinson held the

position of vice president in the same department. Before joining Disney in

1989, she was with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington,

New Visual Entertainment, Inc., a 3D production company specializing in 3D

product development and distribution for special venue theaters, home

video, broadcast, and theatrical markets, has announced its completed

acquisition of Impact Pictures, Inc., a small San Diego-based multi-media

production house specializing in Web animation, streaming media and

high-end CD-ROM corporate presentations, in a stock for stock transaction.

New Visual plans to utilize the creative hardware and staffing assets of

QUICKBAND NETWORKS, a leading distributor of short-form entertainment, has

signed KIM ADELMAN as editor of SHORT, a compilation of award-winning

live-action, animated, experimental and documentary short films distributed

exclusively on DVD. The company also promoted CRAIG WELLS to director of

acquisitions. Kim Adelman joins QuickBand Networks from fXM: Movies From

Fox. At the Fox-owned movie network, Adelman launched the short film

division, fXM Shorts. During her tenure at fXM, Adelman produced 19 films,

METV.COM, a new Internet video-on-demand company, opens its feature film

licensing drive with the arrival of veteran film-buyer JOHN REWEDA as vice

president of content acquisition. "John's (Reweda) expertise will play a

key role in establishing contact with the leading movie studios and

independents as we move toward our June 2000 consumer launch date," said

Martin French, MeTV.com senior vice president. Reweda will help the

fledgling business develop and obtain content for its MeTV.com Web site,

3D animator ANDREW SINAGRA has joined the computer graphics team at San

Francisco-based RADIUM. With specialties including modeling, particle

effects and volumetric effects, Sinagra will be involved in creating 3D

animation and visual effects for commercials and music videos. Sinagra

joins Radium from Midland Productions, a Berkeley, CA-based computer

animation house specializing in special venue films, feature films and

commercials. While at Midland, Sinagra created 3D animation for ROBOTS OF

AWN's January 2000 Millennium issue of Animation World Magazine is a

special issue packed with indepth features and essays about the people and

events that made news in 1999 and are worth our attention in the year 2000...

Tippett Studio is a unique company in the visual effects world...

ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Expo 2000 will be held at the Glendale Civic

Auditorium in Glendale, California, USA on March 3 and 4, 2000. This 7th

annual animation trade and technology show focuses on the recruitment of

animation related talent and personnel, demonstrations of computer

technology, animation related products and services, and the sale of

animation art and collectibles. In addition, the Animation Expo offers

industry seminars and workshops, digital tutorials, and a showcase of

Animha Productions, a unique association of professionals dedicated to

independent film production and animation workshops, presents: Suspended

Animation...

TAIS, the Toronto Animated Image Society, will present "Creating Appealing

Cartoon Characters" with Peter Emslie...

Visual Magic Magazine, AWN's 3D animation and digital effects online

magazine, has posted a new article:

"The Buzz About Flash 4." Flash 4

claims to be the ultimate tool for web animation...and quite frankly, it

probably is.

Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy

Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...

Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...

Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.

Worldwide sensation Pokemon was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in

Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January

and February 2000. The international distributor, Lacey Entertainment, also

announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey and Noga

Communications' Children's Channel in Israel.





The Pokemon phenomenon began in America in 1998 with the release of the

Sony's US$100 million plus grossing film STUART LITTLE couldn't hold off

the live-action comedy NEXT FRIDAY at the U.S. box office thus slipping to

second place. The mega-mouse flick, with primary visual effects by Sony

Pictures Imageworks, additional animation by CFX and Rhythm & Hues, and

miniatures by Thunderstone, grossed US$9.7 million bringing its grand total

to $106.8 million. THE GREEN MILE, with primary visual effects by ILM,

Rhythm & Hues, POP and Matte World Digital, fell to 5th place grossing $7.6

NEW!


* Friday, February 25, 2000 - Thursday, March 2, 2000. Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.



CARTOON NOIR comes to LA. This multi-technique film is a feature-length

compilation of animated shorts from American and European artists. Featured

in CARTOON NOIR are: APE, Julie Zammarchi's darkly comic critique of

monogamy, meat eating and the daily pattern of human brutality; ALTAIR,

Lewis Klahr's collagist elegy on New York nightlife; CLUB OF THE DISCARDED,

* Wednesday, January 26, 2000. Toronto, Canada.



TAIS, the Toronto Animated Image Society, will present "Creating Appealing

Cartoon Characters" with Peter Emslie. In the evening's presentation, the

long-time Disney animator will explain his personal theory on what makes

for good cartoon character design, by referring to videotape and sketching

on the spot to illustrate various points. Since 1979, Emslie has spent much

of his time drawing for the Walt Disney Company. On staff for 10 years and

NATPE is one of the leading television markets and conferences in the

world. The event in New Orleans offers animation and special effects

companies a rare opportunity to showcase their work to a global audience.

NATPE 2000 will offer a vast array of exhibitors gathered in pavilions such

as Animation/Licensing sponsored by KidScreen; Cable sponsored by ATVC

(Asociacion Argentia de Television por Cable); HDTV/Visual Effects

sponsored by SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers);