AWN Headline News

Vinton Studios has named Mike Cachuela director of story for feature films, reports HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Cachuela has been a longtime collaborator with Vintons stop-motion master Henry Selick. Cachuela was storyboard artist on Wes Anderson's THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU for which Selick did the stop-motion animation.

"Having someone of Mike's caliber join our feature film division is testimony to our commitment to make Vinton Studios a major producer of full-length animated feature films for the global market," Vinton Studios ceo Jeff Farnath said.

Spurred by the box office success of the first animated PATORUZITO film, Jorge Rodriguez of Red Lojo Ent. has announced plans to exploit the franchise in features, television and merchandising, reports VARIETY. The story follows a boy who fights to claim the title of cacique (chief) of his tribe in Patagonia. A new studio will launch in April to handle the animation on the property.

America Online's kids KOL service, in partnership with Animation Collective, has launched an original online comicbook series and game based on its PRINCESS NATASHA animated Webisode series. Each full-length comicbook, posted each week exclusively at AOL Keyword: Princess Natasha, will follow storylines from the first PRINCESS NATASHA season and the upcoming new season featuring 10 Webisodes. The game sends Natasha on yet another secret mission as she fights for justice against the evil Lubek.

Exent has launched TumbleBooks, a collection of animated, talking picture books that teach kids the joy of reading in an easy-to-use format, through its Games-on-Demand services. The books are created by taking existing picture books licensed from leading children's book publishers, and then adding animation, sound, music and narration to produce an electronic picture book.

This week in AWN's Forums, the big question is where is 2D headed? A member wants some advice on authoring DVDs. A senior member wants to know why Santa doesnt have a pet. Another member wants peoples opinions on what masterclasses to take. A junior member wants advice on starting an independent animation studio. Additionally, theres a thread regarding the possibilities of broadcast quality Flash animation. Other thread ask software and school questions.

Friedman 3D starts its new semester of high-end, low-cost CG training on Jan. 10, 2005. The semester runs until June 24, 2005. The Maya CG course runs from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm Monday through Friday for 20 weeks. The course is taught by David Gottlieb, a Maya animator formerly with Walt Disney Co. Subjects covered will be: modeling, texturing, rigging, character animation, lighting and effects. Morning lectures will cover intro to basic subjects and occur daily from 9:00 to 11:00 am and labs from 12:00 to 2:40 pm.