Bert Smets has chosen Telescreen to handle all commercial rights to his animated HOPLA series (104x5) so he can focus on the creative process.
Smets commends Telescreen for its, all round knowledge with regard to animation productions and licensing forms, making it the perfect combination with my own creative perspective. I am sure that we can mean a lot for each other.
Mt. Sierra College, a leading media arts and design, business and technology college in the San Gabriel Valley, California has been selected to participate in the Howard Schaefer Pasadena Angels BTC Business Competition along with nine other Southern California colleges and universities. The competition, co-sponsored by the Business Technology Center of Los Angeles (BTC) and the Pasadena Angels, challenges teams of Southland students to develop a business plan, feasibility study or marketing plan to raise funds for an early-stage technology company.
With Blue Sky Studios wrapping production on ROBOTS (which parent company Twentieth Century Fox will release March 11, 2005), director Chris Wedge took time out to talk to VFXWORLD about his eagerly-awaited follow-up to ICE AGE. The 3D-animated feature will open day-and-date in IMAX DMR on IMAX screens around the globe.
Move over Naomi Campbell, digital beauty divas are here to stay. DAZ Prods., a technology leader in high-quality digital 3D models, is teaming up with the Miss Digital World Contest to invite 3D artists from around the world -- professional and amateur alike -- to create and submit their perfect digital woman to the second annual Miss Digital World Contest. Entries and information about the contest can be found at www.missdigitalworld.com.
InterActual has supplied an embedded virtual key that unlocks a special Website filled with exclusive online features THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING Special Extended DVD Edition (New Line Home Ent., $39.99). Called DVDKey, the technology from InterActual grants viewers access to content online when the DVD is placed in a PC and played back using an InterActual-compatible DVD player.
The online bonus features include:
da Vinci Systems is now accepting entries for the second annual Master Colorist Awards competition. The contest will judge work in four distinct categories: TV and long-form, theatrical release, commercials and music videos. All entries must be received by Feb. 28. The 2005 Master Colorist Award winners will be announced at NAB2005 in Las Vegas on April 19 at 5:00 pm at da Vinci's booth (C6207).
With the help of The Mill, VCCP developed a strong, simple strategy to show off Hyundais broad range of cars: a car first, a badge second. The campaign comprises seven executions, each showcasing a different car and a different brand message. The cars zip around abstract black-and-white landscapes until it is revealed, through large scale camera zoom-outs, that the cars are in fact tackling terrain provided by giant type spelling out brand messages.
Universals MEET THE FOCKERS was a no brainer in its box office debut for the yuletide period ended Dec. 26, 2005. It took in a hefty $46.1M for the weekend and $70.5M for the five days, including a record-breaking $19.1M for Christmas Day.
However, the rest of the field was less impressive and overall box office for 2004 was barely ahead of last year, with attendance down for the comparable period.
Cartoon Network has acquired 26 episodes of the brand new animated adventure series, D.I.C.E., created by Bandai and animated by renowned animation studio, Xebec (a subsidiary of Production I.G.), to premiere in January 2005. The series features cutting-edge CG/cel animation for boys 6-11.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ and SCi have secured key stars for the talent lineup for the CONSTANTINE videogame, based on the upcoming film from Warner Bros. Pictures, set for release in February 2005, and the DC Comics/Vertigo HELLBLAZER graphic novels.
POW! Entertainment and Stan Lee, the legendary creator of superheroes, has created a new superhero who, unlike all the others, is actually based on a living, breathing human being, performing his fantastic deeds in the real world. Its based on Jay J. Armes, possibly the world's most successful and colorful crimefighter, who possesses steel-clawed prosthetic hands and a lie-detecting tiger.
Santa may be wearing a red suit but hes got anything but a red attitude in the latest animation Bent Image Lab did for a TV Funhouse segment on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (Dec. 18, 2004). The studio did an incredible looking stop-motion five-minute 'Rudolph'-type bit (written by Robert Smigel) poking fun at racial and political bias and intolerance.
The amazingly rich production took the studio just two weeks to complete.You may view the short at www.bentimagelab.com/video/qt/SNL-04smaller.mov and find it relevant for before and after Christmas sentiments.
THE SIMPSONS -- THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON came to DVD this week just in time for Christmas (Fox Home Ent., $49.98). The four-disc set includes all 22 episodes from '93 (when the series was firmly established as a cultural icon) along with the usual stellar commentaries and other mandatory extras: "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," "Cape Feare," "Homer Goes to College," "Rosebud," "Treehouse of Horror IV," "Marge on the Lam," "Bart's Inner Child," "Boy-Scoutz N the Hood," "The Last Temptation of Homer," "Springfield," "Homer the Vigilante," "Bart Gets Famous," "Homer and Apu," "Lisa vs.
Avid Technology announced the SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool -- a free version of its award-winning 3D animation software designed for gamers who are interested in modifying the content of popular video games.
As part of the company's 3-Democracy plan -- to make the most advanced 3D content creation software accessible to all levels of CG professionals -- the SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool is available immediately from the Softimage Website (www.softimage.com), and enables users to generate material for HALF-LIFE 2, the recently released action video game by Valve.
On Jan. 13, 2005, Sony Pictures will present the first-ever showing of a major studio movie using Sony's new 4K digital projection system at a screening of Columbia Pictures' blockbuster SPIDER-MAN 2. The uncompressed 4K digital cinema content for the projection system will be powered by advanced visualization and shared storage systems from Silicon Graphics.
Its moving day at VFXWorld and AWN. To celebrate, we have some great articles for you to check out. Ellen Wolff explores how ILMs Stefen Fangmeier mixed cutting edge technology with a bit of old cinema magic to help conjure the retro look of LEMONY SNICKETS A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS. Youll be amazed by the big steps forward ILM has made in photoreal human characters. Mary Ann Skweres takes a look at the f/x that went into bringing the mega-hit stage play THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA to the silver screen.
Warner Bros. Pictures' THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE surpassed $20 million in total box office receipts in only six weeks to continue its record-setting pace for a commercial IMAX release.
Left Lane Cartoons Holiday Art ContestWorld Wide WebJanuary 31, 2004Deadline: December 23, 2004
Left Lane Cartoons is sponsoring a Holiday Art Contest. All children, ages 5 to 13, are invited to submit an illustrated book report of their favorite novel. Six winners will receive art books. Entries may be sent to: Left Lane Cartoons, Box 53074 - 10 Royal Orchard Blvd., Thornhill, Ontario, Canada L3T 7R4. For more information, visit www.leftlanecartoons.com.
AsoloArtFilmFestival 2005Asolo, Treviso, Italy November 1-6, 2005Deadline: May 20, 2005
Nickelodeon has ordered two new animated series, THE XS, a stylish series about a crime-fighting family who must thwart the forces of evil while still functioning as an average suburban family, and CATSCRATCH, featuring three fumbling felines who carry on in a world of humans. In addition, hit Nicktoon DANNY PHANTOM has been picked up for a second season of 20 episodes, bringing the total episode order to 40 and tween favorite MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT has been picked up for an additional 14 episodes, bringing its total number of episodes picked up to 40.
ATI Technologies and Avid Technology/Softimage Co. unveiled a complete graphics hardware and software solution for 3D artists and students. Both companies are now offering SOFTIMAGE|XSI Foundation software with the FireGL T2-128 AGP 8X workstation graphics accelerator in a single cost-effective package for $599.
KING ARTHUR: THE EXTENDED UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT bowed on DVD (Buena Vista Home Ent., $24.99) Dec. 21, 2005. From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Antoine Fuqua, KING ARTHUR has been called BRAVEHEART light, with reluctant Roman leader (Clive Owen) having to go against the invading Saxons in England before he can peacefully return to Rome. A red-hot Guinevere (Keira Knightley), stripped down to S&M leather garb, adds to the revisionist fun. VFX were done by Cinesite (Europe).
Blur Studio has produced two new 3D-animated shorts, IN THE ROUGH and GOPHER BROKE, that are currently short-listed for Academy Award consideration as Best Animated Short Film and are being submitted to leading international film and animation festivals.
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.
Intuition and S2 Intl. have struck a project-by-project production alliance, reports VARIETY. The duo will first team on KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS director Michel Ocelots new animated feature, AZUR ET ASMAR.
