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AWN Headline News

Animation Headline News

Hatchling Studios Expands Into 2D Animation

Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based CG animation studio Hatchling Studios announced the development of MODREDS ISLE and STORE 118, two animated short series targeted exclusively at mobile media distribution.

Hatchling Studios has always looked towards the cutting-edge when providing animation for our clients. Now, we can use this vast new arena of mobile technology to bring digital animation to the next level, said Hatchling Studios ceo/producer Marc Dole.

Animation Headline News

Animation Block Party Announces Event Details

Animation Block Party is now closed for submissions. The summer festival received more than 400 submissions this season and the shorts lineup will be announced on the www.animationblock.com website on July 3, 2006.

Opening night, July 22, at Rooftop Films will feature a special performance by the uber-hip Vic Thrill and the Saturn Missle. Doors open at Automotive High School (AHS) at 50 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with giveaways from ABP sponsors and food followed by two hours of animation exclusives, NY and world premieres from artists of all nationalities.

Animation Headline News

Assistant Animator Kimie Calvert Dies

Assistant animator Kimie Calvert, the wife of director and producer Fred Calvert, has passed away. The Animation Guild Local 839 just reported her passing, which was on Dec. 23, 2005.

With a career spanning from 1956 until 2003, Calvert worked for Filmfair, Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Fred Calvert, Rich Animation, Baer Animation, Warner Bros., Amblimation, Hyperion and Calvert-Cobbler.

She was an animator for the Disney feature THE TIGGER MOVIE (2000).

Watch Headline News

Night Watch Creeps on DVD

The first in the blockbuster vampire trilogy from Russia, NIGHT WATCH, bows on DVD (Fox Home Ent., $27.98) June 20, 2006. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, NIGHT WATCH is a present-day struggle in Moscow between the forces of light and darkness. Included in the two-disc set are both Russian-language and English-language widescreen versions. In fact, the subtitles are graphically inserted for creative effect.

Disney Headline News

Brittany Murphy to Tone in as Tinker Bell

Disney opened Licensing International 2006 in New York City by revealing Brittany Murphy as the voice of Tinker Bell in an all new CG-animated feature featuring the spunky fairy in 2007. This will be the first time audiences hear Tinker Bell speak, as the movie brings to life enchanting tale of Pixie Hollow and Tink's new fairy friends voiced by some of Hollywood's most talented actors.

International Headline News

Alexander Coridass Renewed to Head ZDF Enterprises

Alexander Coridass, president/ceo of ZDF Enterprises, will remain in charge of the ZDF licensing subsidiary for another five years, according to Markus Schächter, gm of the German pubcaster ZDF, who said Coridass' contract has been renewed. The 51-year-old media manager has been in charge of the ZDF subsidiary since 1998.

Animation Headline News

Milkshake to Serve Up Another Season of Honeycomb's Funky Valley

FIVEs Milkshake has ordered a second season of FUNKY VALLEY from British award-winning animation studio Honeycomb Animation.

The successful preschool show was first aired in May 2004 on FIVEs preschool strand Milkshake!, and has been sold to more than 30 territories worldwide, including Italy, South Africa, Canada and Australia. (A spin-off series, FUNKY TOWN, is currently in production.)

Online Headline News

EA to Transform Mythic Ent. Into EA Mythic

Electronic Arts Inc. announced today (June 20, 2006) it has entered into an agreement to acquire Mythic Ent. Upon completion of the acquisition, Mythic Ent. will become EA Mythic, a wholly-owned studio dedicated to developing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Mythic has revolutionized the online gaming space with the award-winning DARK AGE OF CAMELOT and is currently developing WARHAMMER ONLINE: AGE OF RECKONING, under license agreement with Games Workshop.

Festival Headline News

VES Festival to Dovetail into eDIT 9.

The 8th Festival of Visual Effects presented by the Visual Effects Society (VES), to be held July 6-8, 2006, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, will include presentations of SUPERMAN RETURNS, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, CARS and SMALLVILLE. Workshops and panels dealing with the future dimensions of digital film processing will be lead by eight-times Oscar winner and VFX legend Dennis Muren and other celebrities, such as Robert Skotak, John Myhre and Mark Stetson.

Headline News

Rhythm & Hues Revs Up Tokyo Drift With Massive

Rhythm & Hues utilized the Massive AI-based 3D animation system as part of its vfx arsenal for Universals THE FAST & THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT.

The work follows on the heels of Rhythm & Hues' epic visual effects for THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, and saw the facility extending its command of Massive to meet such diverse new challenges as digitally creating Tokyo street scenes.

Studios Headline News

Maya Master Scot Brew Joins PipelineFX

PipelineFX, makers of Qube!, a leading render farm management system for film production and game development, has hired Scot Brew, former technical art director for LucasArts, as senior pipeline consultant. Brew will assist with film and game studios on pipeline workflow and tools issues and the deployment of Qube! for render farm management and distributed game build functions. Brew will also lead product development and user interface design for Qubic, the GUI by which artists submit jobs into Qube!.

Studio Headline News

FrameFree Studio Offers Digital Imaging From Stills

FrameFree Technologies has launched FrameFree Studio, the first digital imaging software that allows for the creation of compelling movies from still photographs without a steep learning curve or compromising quality at any bandwidth. FrameFree Studio is available in four different versions: FrameFree Studio HD, FrameFree Studio SD, FrameFree Studio Pro and FrameFree Studio Express, all of which are available now from the companys website.

Grading Headline News

Autodesk Introduces New HD Color Grading System

Autodesk Inc. launched Autodesk Lustre HD, a new digital color grading system designed for working on high-definition television (HDTV) commercials and programming, as well as HDTV film projects. Lustre HD is the latest addition to the Autodesk Lustre family of nonlinear digital color grading products, which have been used to grade Academy Award-winning films such as THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and KING KONG.

Awards Headline News

Architectural 3D Awards Deadline Soon!

2006 Architectural 3D Awards Competition Boston, Massachusetts, USAAugust 4, 2006Deadline: June 23, 2006

Following up on last year's huge success, CGarchitect.com is hosting the 3rd annual Architectural 3D Awards to be awarded at this year's VisMasters Design Visualization Conference. The Awards Competition is open to everyone in the Architectural Visualization industry to highlight the best imagery and animations done in 2005/2006.

Imax Headline News

Going Deeper Inside Superman Returns in IMAX 3-D

Last year at Comic-Con, director Bryan Singer said he was open to the notion of converting SUPERMAN RETURNS to IMAX 3-D, but wouldve preferred shooting it in true 3-D with multiple cameras. However, after seeing a test of the trailer this year by IMAX, Singer became a quick convert. Although there wasnt sufficient time to convert the entire live-action feature, IMAX has still managed to convert 20 minutes using a proprietary 2-D to 3-D system, which includes technology licensed from Three-Dimensional Media Group Ltd. and invented by David M. Geshwind.

Headline News

Intel, Activision & Machinima.com Team on New Contest!

Make Your Movie in Hollywood Contest World Wide Web August 10, 2006 Deadline: July 26, 2006

This summer, two talented people will win the opportunity to make their short movies in Hollywood. The winning duo will each use THE MOVIES PC game and THE MOVIES STUNTS & EFFECTS expansion pack to fulfill their movie-making dreams. They won't be locked in a studiothey'll be writing, recording and editing their movie in all the hot Hollywood spots, because creativity has no restrictions when combined with Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology.

Headline News

Pez Goes CG

Orange, Connecticut-based Pez Candy Inc. is branching out to less proven characters in a line of candy dispensers based on ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, OVER THE HEDGE and CARS, reports VARIETY. The strategy is to produce a limited number and allow the popular of the films increase the value to collectors.

"We're doing a lot more licenses, and people seem to like it," says Peter Vandall, vp of sales and marketing for Pez. "We're putting out an event almost every other month."

Mickey Mouse was the first licensed character.

Festival Headline News

First Time Filmmakers Flock to Asian Festival of 1st Films

Asian Festival of 1st FilmsSingapore, SingaporeNovember 30 December 7, 2006 Deadline: August 31, 2006

Asian Festival of 1st Films is an annual film and documentary festival to celebrate excellence for first-time producers, directors, cinematographers, writers, actors and documentary makers from the Asian Diaspora. For more information, visit asianfirstfilms.com.

Animation Headline News

Handelsman Skewers Ann Coulter in Editorial Animation

Walt Handelsman has created a new editorial animation skewering recent comments made by right-wing pundit Ann Coulter about a group of 9/11 widows enjoying their husbands deaths.

In the animation, Coulter sings new lyrics to "My Favorite Things," including "I write evil stuff ... for the money it brings."

Television Headline News

DISCOP 2006 To Open With Record Numbers In All Categories

DISCOP 06, the only television content & formats market strictly targeted at central & eastern European marketplaces, will open to record numbers in all categories this week, it was announced by Patrick Jucaud, gm, DISCOP; and Rick Feldman, president/ceo, National Assoc. of Television Program Executives (NATPE), DISCOPs joint partner.

Now in its 15th year, the market will open in Budapest on June 22 at noon in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution.

Documentary Headline News

SILVERDOCS Gives Mention to McLaren Doc

SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival announced its award winners, culminating the weeklong festival activities that included screening 100 films from 22 countries, free outdoor screenings and live performances, and a four-day concurrent International Documentary Conference attended by more than 500 filmmakers, film and television execs and media professionals exploring The Future of Real. Winning filmmakers received more than $42,000 in cash, goods and in-kind services.

Comics Headline News

Alex Toth Dies at 77

Comicbook and animation maverick Alex Toth died May 27 at his drawing table at home in Burbank, reported THE L.A. TIMES. He was 77.

"For 50 years he did what he wanted to do smoke cigarettes, sit on the couch and draw," his daughter Dana Palmer said. "But in his final year there was such a great spirit in him, and he had made peace with everybody on Earth that he needed to make peace with."

Toth is best known for his character designs for such Hanna-Barbera productions as SUPERFRIENDS, SPACE GHOST and HERCULOIDS.

Headline News

Aardman Founders Become Commanders of the British Empire

As part of the Queens 80th birthday celebration, Aardman Animations founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton have been made Commanders of the British Empire, or CBEs.

Commander of the British Empire is the third ranking title of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire the British order of chivalry established on June 4, 1917, by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions. Commander class does not accord the recipient the title of sir or dame.

Studios Headline News

Apple Wants to Bite into Feature Film Downloads

After conquering the digital music business, Apple is now in talks with the movie studios to make feature films available through its iTunes Music Store, reports various news outlets.

However, the main issue is price. Apple ceo Steve Jobs, who is personally involved in the talks, proposed selling all films at a flat price of $9.99, which the studios flatly rejected.

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