AEAF Melbourne Short Film Festival
Melbourne, Australia
June 1, 2004
Deadline: May 21, 2003

As part of the Digital Media Festival, Melbourne, the Australian Effects & Animation Festival Short Film Festival will screen submissions alongside renowned international work from artists at Passion Pictures (U.K.), La Maison (France), Sony Pictures Imageworks (U.S.) and Vinton Studios (U.S.). The event will take place at the Melbourne Convention Centre, corner of Spencer & Flinders Streets.

Continuing a collaboration that has lasted eight years, director Joss Whedon and Zoic Studios' vfx supervisor Loni Peristere are reunited for the upcoming Universal feature SERENITY. The move marks the most ambitious feature to date for Los Angeles-based Zoic.

For 10 days, starting May 6, 2004, The El Capitan Theatre will screen an archival 70 mm print of Walt Disney Pictures' 1982 landmark computer animated feature, TRON, featuring six-track Dolby SR Stereo. As part of the salute, original costumes and memorabilia will be on display.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) will present VES 2004, its sixth annual Festival of Visual Effects, June 18-20 in San Rafael, California. The three-day event at The Rafael Film Center features presentations and panels headed by visual effects supervisors and their teams, which focus on vfx and how they enhance the storytelling process.

Starting in May, Animation World Magazine and VFXWorld will feature a monthly gallery of new content from around the world. We're looking for visual effects and animated:

* Music Videos
* Shorts
* Titles
* IDs/Promos
* Interstitials
* Commercials
* Webisodes
* Games
* Training & Presentations
* Wireless Content

We conclude our April gaming focus with the Pixel Priestess' assessment of how vfx fits into the high-octane universe of games, and a discussion Mary Ann Skweres had with the Climax development team behind the upcoming Xbox role-playing title from Microsoft, SUDEKI. Meanwhile, later in the week Mark Ramshaw gives us a glimpse of what's hot in the U.K.

In response to growing demand from industry, Game Art and Design and Visual Effects have been added to broaden the mix of accredited diploma programs offered at Vancouver Institute of Media Arts. “The addition of Game Art & Design in 2003 and now Visual FX allows our students the ability to focus their training in more specific areas of the industry” says Alan Phillips, President of VanArts.

Two new Spacecraft Film treasures, THE MIGHTY SATURNS: SATURN V (EXTENDED COLLECTOR'S EDITION) and APOLLO 15: MAN MUST EXPLORE (EXTENDED COLLECTOR'S EDITION), are now available in separate three-disc and six-disc sets (Fox Home Ent., $49.98 and $89.98). They are the latest in the most comprehensive collection every assembled to chronicle NASA's early space missions. Developed and produced by film historian Mark Gray, they contain full-length TV transmissions and complete inventories of onboard film.

Tim Burton's underrated BIG FISH, the imaginative and heartfelt father-son drama starring Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney, is sure to find renewed life on DVD (Columbia TriStar Home Ent., $28.95) when it's released on April 27, 2004. The Alabama-based yarn about reality and fantasy and the nature of storytelling features some slight yet effective vfx from Sony Imageworks, and represents the director's first foray into the world of Digital Intermediate, which is used marvelously during the fantasy sequences.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has appointed Eric Roth as the organization's new exec director to replace founding exec director Tom Atkin. Roth brings more than 15 years of strategic management, communications and public affairs experience to his new position. Through his work as the former executive director of L.A. Works, Los Angeles' premier volunteer action center, Roth also gained critical working knowledge of the non-profit sector.

da Vinci Systems named the winners of the inaugural Master Colorist Awards competition, comprised of four categories, including TV and long form, theatrical release, commercial and music video reels. The awards recognize colorists' innovative and skillful use of da Vinci's film enhancement and restoration tools.

On May 2, 2004 at 10:00 pm, Sci Fi Channel delves deep into the legend of vampire hunter Van Helsing in the one-hour original special VAN HELSING: THE MAN AND THE MONSTERS. In addition to a behind-the-scenes look at Universal's upcoming feature VAN HELSING, the special will also explore the myths that surround vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein that inspired the story. VAN HELSING: THE MAN AND THE MONSTERS also features an exclusive interview with the film's star Hugh Jackman and a first look at one of the movie's scenes.

Angstrom Microsystems will be deploying Titan64 SuperBlade rendering servers at Industrial Light & Magic. These blade servers are powered by AMD Opteron processors to provide maximum performance and scalability of the rendering server farm. ILM is using the Titan64 SuperBlade servers to enable a significantly more complex and faster generation of movie vfx.

Shuffle Inc., an international television commercial production company with offices in Venice, California, and Tokyo, Japan, has named David Bando as its new exec producer.

In his new position, Bando will work with advertising agencies and Shuffle directors on the production of TV commercials worldwide. He will oversee all aspects of television show and TV commercial production, as well as post-production, and will also be responsible for the company’s expansion and development of its TV commercial division and overall growth.

MASTERSFX has promoted Dan Rebert to the new position of FX producer. The company is involved in the production of special effects for KINGDOM HOSPITAL, SIX FEET UNDER, STARGATE SG-1 and STARGATE ATLANTIS, among several others.

Rebert originally joined MASTERSFX in 2000 as art director and shop supervisor. Since joining MASTERSFX, he has worked on numerous projects and continues to explore and develop new effects technology.

Joe Hartwick, Twentieth Century Fox's president of physical production, has been upped to oversee a new vfx department at the studio, given the high volume of effects-laden event films and the need to shift priorities and streamline costs. Hartwick will not only coordinate the visual effects needs of all Fox films, but also serve as liaison for the effects houses collaborating with them.

After KING KONG, Peter Jackson and partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens are eyeing Alice Sebold's bestselling novel, THE LOVELY BONES, reports VARIETY. Closer in tone to Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES than LORD OF THE RINGS, BONES tells the story of a deceased 14-year-old girl who looks down from heaven to watch her grieving family and find the person who raped and murdered her.

David Hayter (X-MEN, X2: X-MEN UNITED) has been hired to rewrite IRON MAN for New Line Cinema, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (TV's SMALLVILLE) wrote the previous draft. The Marvel comic told the story of billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who creates an armored suit allowing him to fly and shoot repulsor rays. The comic began in the 1960s and brought Iron Man up against the Viet Cong, however the film will take place in a modern setting.

Darren Aronfosky is being named as the director of WATCHMEN, reports AIN'T IT COOL NEWS. The site says that Aronfosky will tackle the classic graphic novel after he finishes THE FOUNTAIN. David Hayter (X-MEN, X2: X-MEN UNITED) has written the screenplay for the film.

Caught in the tight web of SPIDER-MAN 2, which has been pushed up to June 30, 2004, Paramount Pictures has decided to postpone the release of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW from June 25 to Sept. 17, which gives the experimental CG adventure more time to find its audience, according to the studio.