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AWN Headline News

Headline News

Two Bursaries Up For Grabs From Animated Exeter

Animated Exeter has launched two new bursaries for Devon. The Honeycomb Animation 2D Bursary 2006 is set up to encourage new talent in 2D animation and the Phoenix Media Digital Animation Bursary 2006 is aimed at supporting new and existing talent and develop the overall practice of digital media in the region.

Headline News

Dargaud Distribution Makes Key Promotions & Appointments

Dargaud Distribution, home to one of Europes largest animation catalogs, has restructured its sales team, starting with appointing Leon Perahia as the new president of Dargaud Distribution with Véronique Chalandar as deputy gm. Claude de Saint Vincent, ceo of the Dargaud and Dupuis Group, announced the appointments.

Perahia has worked at Dupuis since 1986 in various positions, including finance director and producer. He oversaw production on a number of series, including the popular SPIROU, FLASH GORDON, CEDRIC and KID PADDLE.

Animation Headline News

Animation Guild Negotiates Three-Year Contract With Producers

The Animation Guild and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, has reached agreement with the animation producers on a three-year collective bargaining agreement, effective Aug. 1, 2006 to July 31, 2009. The Animation Guilds negotiating committee has unanimously recommended ratification to the Guild (TAG, animationguild.org) membership.

Animation Headline News

NaturalMotion Announces euphoria for Next-Gen Game Platforms

NaturalMotion Ltd. announced euphoria, a breakthrough in run-time animation technology for game play and development on next-gen platforms. Based on NaturalMotions DMS technology, first introduced in endorphin (the off-line character animation tool), euphoria uses the CPUs of next-generation platforms (such as Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) to synthesize interactive animations on the fly, resulting in truly unique game moments that occur during the players experience.

Autodesk Headline News

Autodesk Presents First Discreet Flame, Smoke Master Class at NAB2006

Autodesk Inc. is offering instruction in Discreet Flame and Smoke systems for the first time at Master Class sessions at NAB2006 in Las Vegas. Learn first-hand from experienced artists, working on real projects, facing real deadlines.

When: Sunday, April 23, 2006

Session 1 (Flame Tips & Tricks): 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Session 2 (Smoke Tips & Tricks): 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm.

Cost: $150 per session

Register by March 15 and benefit from early-bird registration: $115 per session.

Registration fee includes:

Creative Headline News

New Element Design Studio Formed

Looking to offer clients a more complete creative experience creative director John Yu and Paul Goldman (founder/creative director of music house Ear Goo) have launched Element, a new design studio offering clients first class motion graphics, visual effects and 2D/3D animation.

Festival Headline News

Deadline Soon for Definition 2006: HDTV Summit

Definition 2006: HDTV SummitBanff, Alberta, CanadaApril 20-22, 2006Deadline: March 15, 2006

The Definition 2006: Digital Media Festival will be held during the Accelerators Definition 2006: HD Summit from April 20-22, 2006, at The Banff Centre. The festival is a juried event bringing the best works in HD media from around the world to Banff, Alberta.

Animation Headline News

AWN Discussion Forums - What's New? for March 13, 2006

This week in AWN's Forums, the debate between Blu-ray and HD-DVD has begun. A member wants to know what others feel are requirements for any good animation DVD library. A junior member is asking for some career advice from the pros. Another member has some questions about character animation in Flash. A senior member wants to know if there is any test that can determine if your skills meet with production standards. Lots of members are sending out their congrats to Nick Park and John Canemaker on their recent Oscar wins.

Games Headline News

BAFTA’s Third Arm Goes To Games

The growing importance of videogames to entertainment culture has been recognized by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which has elevated the sector to become an equal to those for Film and Television. Champions of the moving image, BAFTA seeks to reward artistic and creative innovation within videogames, as one of the principal contemporary art forms.

Festival Headline News

Nicktoons Festival Issues 2006 Call for Shorts

The third season of THE NICKTOONS NETWORK ANIMATION FESTIVAL for 2006 has issues a call for entries. Frederator Studios and the Nicktoons Network are again producing the festival. Shorts must be received by 5:00 pm (PST) on May 31, 2006.

The Festival runs six nights (five original screenings plus the best-of) beginning on the Nicktoons Network on August 26, 2006.

This year, the festival will expand with live screenings as well as distributing the shows through a variety of digital outlets.

Headline News

Isaac Hayes Leaves South Park Over Religious Issues

Isaac Hayes, who voiced Chef since the shows inception, has left the cast of SOUTH PARK, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said. "Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

Headline News

Brad Bird Takes Over Ratatouille

Revealed at the Walt Disney shareholders meeting last week, Brad Bird will take the creative reins of Pixar Animation Studios' RATATOUILLE. Developed in-house for several years, Oscar-winning short-film director Jan Pinkava (GERI'S GAME) was long attached to the project as its helmer, but officially no director has been chosen yet.

The story follows a skinny rodent who views himself a gourmand, living in a Parisian restaurant.

A sneak peek of the film was introduced by John Lasseter and shown to attendees at Friday's meeting.

Headline News

Eyetronics Hits Home Run for Major League Baseball Players

Eyetronics has successfully completed the scanning of over 1,200 Major League baseball players and coaches for the Major League Baseball Players Assn. (MLBPA). The announcement was made by Nick Tesi, vp of operations for Eyetronics in the U.S., who helped supervise the scanning operation that rolled out in spring training camps in Florida and Arizona.

April Headline News

Humanitas Deadline April 1

Time is running out to submit scripts from TV and film productions for The Humanitas Prize, which affirms human values in entertainment. Cash prizes of $145,000 will be awarded to writers who entertain and enrich the viewing public. Over the past three decades, more than $2.5 million in prize money has been awarded to writers who challenge and inform their audiences. Prizes for animated theatricals and children's TV shows will total $50,000 this year.

Game Headline News

DreamWorks & THQ Release Let's Ride: Dreamer Videogame

THQ Inc. has released LET'S RIDE: DREAMER INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY for the Game Boy Advance. Published by THQ's ValuSoft division, LET'S RIDE: DREAMER INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY, based upon the DreamWorks movie, is rated "E" for Everyone and is available at retail outlets throughout North America for $19.99 SRP.

Studio Headline News

Failure to Launch Succeeds at Box Office

Newcomers won the weekend box office race as FAILURE TO LAUNCH (with vfx by Lola Visual Effects) netted success for Paramount, debuting in the top spot with $24.4M over the weekend ended March 12, 2006. Buena Vistas The Shaggy Dog (vfx from Tippett Studio and Stan Winston Studio) captured the second spot in its debut with $16.3M while yet another newcomer, THE HILLS HAVE EYES from Fox SearchLight Pictures (vfx by Rez-Illusion) placed third, posting $15.7M. Warner Bros. 16 BLOCKS (with vfx by LairdFX and Mr. X) slipped to fourth, taking in another $7.4M for a $22.8 cume.

Animation Headline News

Shrek Producer to Head Framestore Feature Animation

Framestore CFC has announced the formation of Framestore Feature Animation. Heading the new venture will be David Lipman, who joins the company as managing partner after eight years at DreamWorks Animation, where his roles included producer on SHREK 2 and co-exec producer on SHREK.

Headline News

George Lucas Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame

The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (SFM) announces its inductees for 2006's Hall of Fame celebration. George Lucas, DUNE author Frank Herbert, THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN writer Anne McCaffrey and book cover illustrator Frank Kelly Freas will be honored during SFM's annual induction ceremony at the museum June 17, 2006. Best-selling author and filmmaker Neil Gaiman will host the evening's events.

Headline News

Oscar-Winning Actress Maureen Stapleton Dies

Maureen Stapleton, who won an Academy Award in 1981 for her supporting role as anarchist activist Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's REDS, died March 13, 2006. She was 80. The longtime smoker died from chronic pulmonary disease in Lenox, Massachusetts, in the Berkshire hills, where she had been living, son Daniel Allentuck said.

Cartoon Headline News

Wallace & Gromit & Gebeka Win Cartoon Movie Tributes

The 8th edition of Cartoon Movie concluded in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany on March 11, 2006, with industry tributes awarded to directors Nick Park and Steve Box producing studio Aardman Animation for WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT while the distributor honor went to Gebeka Films of France. Every year the animation professionals at the Potsdam gathering offer their three tributes to producers, distributors or directors who have worked for the development and increased prestige of European animated film.

Mobile Headline News

NVIDIA Introduces First HD Integrated Graphics Processor for Notebooks

NVIDIA Corp. launched the company's first integrated graphics processor (IGP) core-logic solution for notebooks. Comprised of the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6100 graphics processing unit (GPU) and the NVIDIA nForce Go 430 media and communications processor (MCP), the new mobile IGP solution is the first with hardware accelerated H.264 high-definition (HD) video playback.

Disney Headline News

Pixar Deal Cheered at Disney Annual Shareholders’ Meeting

The mood was a lot more upbeat at The Walt Disney Co.s 2006 annual shareholders meeting today (March 10) at the Anaheim Pond, according to trade reports. The $7.4 billion Pixar deal (which will close in late April or early May) stole the show, Roy Disney was greeted with thunderous applause, John Lasseter wowed with a promise to revitalize Disney Feature animation and the introduction of new president/ceo Robert Iger was met with enthusiasm.

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