Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. Check out the latest installment from quizmaster Karl Staven, an accomplished independent animator and head of the Animation Department at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Peter Jackson's remake of the classic film KING KONG is set to open on screens shortly. This quiz looks back to the original film for its questions.
This week in AWN's Forums, the holidays are gearing up and members are posting their holiday-themed work.
DreamWorks Animation announced two new hires and a promotion, to support the company's strategy of producing two CG films a year plus direct-to-video movies.
John Batter rejoins DreamWorks Animation as a senior production executive; Jane Hartwell, a nine-year veteran with the company, has been promoted to head of global production and Nancy Bernstein joins as head of production for the studio's Glendale, California campus.
Rhythm & Hues took advantage of Massive Software's autonomous agent 3D animation and digital stunts system on The CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, filling the screen with fantastical CG armies that interact via artificial life. The film breaks ground for the variety of characters and animals bought to life using Massive crowds. It also for the first time demonstrates that Massive-generated performances are realistic enough to appear in close proximity to the camera and to hero characters in the scene.
Rhythm & Hues chose BlueArc's Titan Storage System as the storage foundation for the company's visual effects work on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.
For the film, Rhythm & Hues provided 400 shots, using a production pipeline that included motion capture, modeling, rigging, animating, technical animation/fur, lighting, rendering and compositing.
Disney is marking Winnie the Pooh's 80th anniversary in 2005/2006 with an 18-month celebration to be commemorated with new Winnie the Pooh entertainment from Disney Live!, Buena Vista Home Ent. and Walt Disney Records; special edition product from Disney Consumer Products; and international support in all major regions leading to the 2007 premiere of Disney Channel's learning-focused 3D-animated series for preschoolers, MY FRIENDS TIGGER AND POOH. Winnie the Pooh's 80th Anniversary kicked off this week with the New York premiere of DISNEY LIVE!
The government of the U.K. announced a new tax credit system this week designed to support the British film industry, which was applauded by the UK Film Council. In the Pre-Budget report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed the new rate of tax relief for low budget films (films budgeted up to £20 million) would be a net 20%. For big budget films (£20 million and above), the rate will be a net 16%. Both rates apply to the U.K. spend of a films budget, capped at 80%.
NaturalMotion Ltd. announced the immediate availability of the endorphin 2.5 Student Edition. The endorphin Student Edition contains all the same powerful features found in the endorphin 2.5 commercial version, including fully enabled export functionality; however, it is only available to students and teachers and is not to be used for commercial production. A single license retails at $995 and is available for immediate purchase from NaturalMotions online store at www.naturalmotion.com.
3D software developer MAXON has launched the first completely integrated professional CINEMA 4D module for the creation of hair, fur and feathers. Known simply as HAIR," this new module lets users quickly and easily add realistic-looking hair to objects. The hair can be styled using HAIR's extensive tool palette, and a custom 3D shader gives artists complete control over the appearance of the hair. HAIR is not only easy to use, it's very fast, offers excellent rendering quality, and requires very little memory. An average configuration can easily render millions of hairs.
Disney Feature Animation has set its sights on a 3D-animated adaptation of PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS, the bestselling Peter Pan prequel penned by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, published by Disney Editions/Hyperion Books, THE GUARDIAN reports.
The movie will be scripted by Jay Wolpert (THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL) and will focus on the origins of Pan, an orphan who flees a life of servitude by stowing aboard a merchant ship and discovering a magic substance that enables him to fly.
Toy Play has announced the retail debut of its Spring 2006 XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN toy line; the premiere collection of toys inspired by Warner Bros. Animations Emmy Award-winning television series.
SCI FI Channel has struck ratings gold with THE TRIANGLE. The six-hour original miniseries event scored an average 3.6 HH rating over its three nights (Dec. 5-7 at 9-11:00 pm), making it the highest-rated miniseries on SCI FI since the Emmy Award-winning STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS TAKEN in 2002.
THE TRIANGLE made SCI FI Channel the #1 primetime (8-11:00 pm) destination in cable among P25-54 for all three nights that it aired. And 45% of those P25-54 were women SCI FI's best delivery of F25-54 since TAKEN. The miniseries averaged 4.2 million viewers a night (P2+).
The renowned Wiesbaden Film Evaluation Board (FBW) honored the new TV-Loonland feature film HEIDI and others this week with the distinction of "valuable." The co-production of TV-Loonland, Telemagination and Nelvana directed by Alan Simpson marks its premiere in German cinemas on Dec. 22, 2005.
"We are very pleased at FBW's recognition and are convinced that HEIDI will be a very special movie experience for moviegoers, young and old alike," said Selma Käppel, ceo of TV-Loonland.
Studio Arts, in collaboration with LAUSD's Venice Skills Center, will be hosting a special, full-time computer animation training program beginning Jan. 9, 2006. This intensive, high-end, low-cost animation program will meet daily, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm and will consist of daily lectures, demonstrations, lab time and additional video support in award-winning Alias Maya. The course runs for 20 weeks and costs only $75 for the entire semester. The semester ends June 23, 2005.
In the final of four program announcements, Sundance Institute announced the short film program at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, taking place Jan. 19-29, 2006, in Park City, Utah.
Jason Lust has joined the Jim Henson Co. as svp, Feature Films. In his new role, Lust will oversee and expand the companys strong film development slate by continuing to pursue strategic creative partners as well as tap into the companys dedicated development fund for optioning existing properties, such as childrens books, comics and video games.
Twentieth Century Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios have begun prepping the 3D-animated HORTON HEARS A WHO, with ROBOTS story consultant and former Pixar animator Jimmy Hayward co-directing with ROBOTS art director Steve Martino, VARIETY reports. A spring 2008 release is set.
Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul have finished the script, and storyboarding has begun under the supervision of Fox Animation president Chris Meledandri and Blue Skys Chris Wedge, both of whom are producing.
MTV Films has acquired the feature film rights to MARC ECKO'S GETTING UP: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE, the highly anticipated videogame from Atari and Marc Ecko Enterprises. The videogame is scheduled for a February 2006 release for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, for the Xbox videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and for Windows.
Sir Sean Connery will come out of his retirement from films to supply the voice of a vet in a low-budget animated Scottish short from Glasgow Animation, reports BBC NEWS.
The former 007 star will play the title role in SIR BILLI THE VET, which will be set in the Highlands.
Connery agreed to take part despite having recently said he would make no more movies because he was "fed up with the idiots" in Hollywood.
Actor Alan Cumming will voice his faithful companion Gordon the Goat.
In AWNs new Showcase, Pixar has provide special images from its new short film, ONE MAN BAND.
Continuing our special event specific Flash Newsletters, we will be publishing special editions for both NATPE and MIP-TV. The NATPE market is fast approaching and our editorial and advertising staff are gearing up for the NATPE-specific Flash Newsletter series. Here are the dates for the publications. Please send your news two week prior to the publication date.
NATPE Flash NewslettersJanuary 10January 17
MIP-TV Flash NewslettersMarch 14March 21March 28
This week in AWN's Forums, a thread brings together members thoughts on meaningful animation and activist filmmakers.
Last night (Dec. 6, 2005), the Science and Technology Council of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Animation Invades Live Action in the Academys Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The presentation was billed as an animated performance and dealt with issues brought on by the digital revolution the technical and artistic advances that have impacted not only animation, but also live action.
Production on James Camerons live-action adaptation of the 12-part, futuristic manga series, BATTLE ANGEL, is scheduled to commence in February for Twentieth Century Fox, with casting underway for the young lead to play the teenage cyborg, Alita, reports HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Mali Finn Casting has placed an online ad seeking women aged 16 to mid-20s who are athletic and agile with graceful movement and have an ear for languages and dialects. Submissions are reportedly due Dec. 19.
