Animation and creative solutions company, Synergy Images, has announced that it would be partnering with Australia's Edith Cowan University, to offer its employees a masters degree in interactive multimedia technologies, reports CYBERMEDIA NEWS.
Synergy president/ceo, Malini Subrahmaniam said, "This master's degree would enable us to have a world class animation team in our company."
The Original STAR TREK series continues to live long and prosper on DVD in newly remastered and complete series box sets. Paramount Home Ent. recently released the second and third season collections in time for the Holidays ($129.99 each).
Marvel Comics has brought Mark Paniccia on board as a senior editor to significantly bolster the publishers presence and success in the hot teen graphic novel category. He will also recruit a new generation of comicbook writers and artists.
Square Enix Inc., the publisher of Square Enix interactive entertainment products in North America, will ship FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST AND THE BROKEN ANGEL to retailers in the U.S. on Jan. 18, 2005 for PlayStation2.
Based on the wildly popular anime and manga series in Japan, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST has made its way to America, beginning with a TV series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and a DVD release is set for 2005.
CaféFX used its CG skills to recreate the 1935 world speed record-setting flight for THE AVIATOR, as well as additional shots of Howard Hughes reviewing a fleet of Lockheed Constellation aircraft.
CaféFX artists additionally used NewTeks LightWave 3D in the production of content and shots for FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX and BLADE: TRINITY.
Genius Products Inc. has signed of a licensing agreement with The Topps Company Inc., to create and distribute animated childrens and family oriented productions under the Bazooka logo. The first titles, acquired from Bogner Ent. Inc., are set to be released first quarter 2005, with titles such as BLACK BEAUTY, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, TOM SAWYER and TREASURE ISLAND. Each title in this new line will be hosted by Bazooka Joe and include a new Topps trading card with the box cover art on one side and a Bazooka Joe comic on the other, along with a stick of gum.
Hayao Miyazakis lastest HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE drew 1 million viewers in South Korea in its opening weekend, reports ASIA PULSE.
"Never before has any Japanese film reached such numbers in such a short period of time," Kang Eun-gyeong of Laughing Boa said.
The film opened on 237 screens in Korea on Dec. 23, 2004, becoming the first Japanese movie that ranked first in the local box office in its debut week (Dec. 23-26) with 770,000 viewers. Miyazakis last film SPIRITED AWAY was only seen by 2 million viewers in its entire run in Korean theaters.
Chinese Internet cartoonist Zhu Zhiqiang has won a court battle against the U.S. footwear and apparel maker Nike Inc. over the company's use of his "Little Match Man" illustration, reports the ASSOCIATED PRESS. Zhu had sought $240,000 in compensation, but a Beijing court only granted him $36,000 in compensation and forced Nike to issue a public apology to Zhu, the CHINA DAILY newspaper said.
"I got what I wanted - confirmation on my copyright over my stickman," Zhu said.
Design engineer Takuo Miyagishima, has been voted the Gordon E. Sawyer Award by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He will be presented with the first Oscar statuette of 2005 at the Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner on February 12 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
Established in 1981, the Sawyer Award is "presented to an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry."
![NewTek Ships VT[4] SP1](https://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/small_featured/public/image/featured/16652-newtek-ships-vt4-sp1.jpg?itok=cP71dA2N "NewTek Ships VT[4] SP1")
![NewTek Ships VT[4] SP1](https://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/tiny_featured/public/image/featured/16652-newtek-ships-vt4-sp1.jpg?itok=NRlJ1B5g "NewTek Ships VT[4] SP1")
NewTek began offering VT[4] Service Pack 1, an integrated production suite that provides a comprehensive toolset for all professional video production needs from network broadcast to Web streaming. VT[4] provides realtime layering and effects for live video and graphics in most PC file formats and operates internally in uncompressed D1 component video, with composite, Y/C, component, DV or optional SDI output. NewTek's VT[4] includes integrated timeline and storyboard editing, paint, 3D modeling and animation, titling, keying, live switching and more.
Now that I, ROBOT is in the running in the vfx bakeoff, its a good opportunity to check out this underrated action film with Will Smith on DVD (Fox Home Ent., $29.98), particularly Digital Domains first foray into 3D characters.
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS THE COMPLETE 2ND SEASON is currently available on DVD (Paramount Home Ent., $49.99). Many find it superior to the first season in Bikini Bottom, and the three-disc set includes all 40 episodes. Slight on extras, no alternate ending for Shanghaied, but commentaries are with the animation crew rather than the cast this time around.
Special features:* Storyboards* Script viewer (ROM feature)* Around the World with SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS featurette* Nick DVD game demo
Disc 1:
Framestore NY has completed work on an artful :30 spot for BBH NY: Baileys BUBBLE, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK, STRANGE DAYS) and lensed by Janusz Kaminski (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, SCHINDLER'S LIST). It's a expert example of the sort of work that Framestore NY has been creating for nearly a year now from its SoHo, New York City premises.
We close 2004 at VFXWORLD with a wide array of informative coverage: Mary Ann Skweres speaks with a number of prominent insiders about the very hot topic, Getting Respect for Invisible VFX; Andy Stout reports back with highlights from the inaugural UK CGI Festival in London; and The Digital Eye discusses The Promise & Peril of VFX Jobs b
Actor Jerry Orbach, who voiced Lumiere in Disneys BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, has died of prostate cancer at 69 in Manhattan on Dec. 28, 2004. Orbach is best known for his work on TV and the stage. He starred as veteran cop Det. Lennie Briscoe on LAW & ORDER and was the original narrator in the off-off-Broadway hit THE FANTASTICKS, which ran for more than 40 years.
Slave Labor Graphics has announced that INVADER ZIM creator Jhonen Vasquez will make his return to comics with FILLERBUNNY IN MY WORST BOOK YET!, due out in March. Fillerbunny, originally created as a one-page filler character, will continue his long-suffering existence in this 24-page black & white comic, with two pages in color, for $2.95.
SCI FI celebrates 2004, with the channels highest-rated and most-watched year yet. This is the third consecutive year SCI FI has garnered recor- breaking primetime ratings. The channel also delivered its best-ever primetime rating, with 1.0 HH rating/1.2 million P2+ average for the year. Now fully-distributed to 84 million homes, SCI FI scored with viewers in nearly every key demographic, ranking within the Top 10 of all basic cable nets for ratings among P25-54, M25-54, P18-49, M18-49 and F25-54.
The SIGGRAPH 2004 Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Presentations DVD-ROM set is now shipping. This highly anticipated six-disc box set features more than 400 presentations totaling more than 250 hours of content. Recorded sessions include: Papers, Sketches, Courses, Special Sessions, Web Graphics, Panels and Keynote and Awards. New features include: a custom search engine, links to additional online research and all live demos. For more information, visit www.siggraph.org/soma/s2004dvd/.
AIFF artistic director Buzz Schwall announced the winners of the audience awards and director Meni Tsirbas THE FREAK was presented with the best short film prize. This marks the 18th such honor for the CGI short, which also won awards at the Palm Springs Film Festival and the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
THE FREAK is in pre-production as a feature with The Hatchery. Tsirbas follow up effort, TERRA, has collected 12 awards including Best Animation at the USA Film Festival.
More information is available at www.menithings.com.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced his annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry. This group of titles brings the total number of films placed on the registry to 400.
GenArts Inc., a leading provider of digital visual effects plug-ins for the film, broadcast and video industry, announced it has permanently reduced the price of its industry renowned Sapphire Plug-ins for Apple's Shake compositing software.
The price tag for a single GUI license of Sapphire Plug-ins for Shake has been cut from $2,995 to $1,995. The price for render licenses is also being reduced from $995 to $595.
THE OFFICE creator and star Ricky Gervais is scripting an episode of THE SIMPSONS at the personal invitation of the toons creator Matt Groening, it was reported by VARIETY. Gervais will also lend his voice to the episode.
He will not reprise his role as an animated version of David Brent, the paper company regional manager who was at the center of THE OFFICE, a character retired after filming THE OFFICE Christmas specials.
iO Film, a technologically advanced, full-service digital film finishing facility specializing in film and video projects, has promoted Evan Edelist from svp/development to gm/evp. Edelist will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the facility, overseeing production, scheduling and sales.
He will also help design the companys new 26,000-square-foot Hollywood facility, slated for a summer 2005 movie-in, working closely with iO Films cto Kevin Mullican.
Mike Hackett is on board as a staff editor at Crush Editorial, a leading post-production editorial company specializing in TV commercials, motion picture trailers, promotional content for videogames and other video programming, according to Cindy Carey, Crush Editorials exec producer.
Mike Hackett has edited more than 200 TV commercials and music videos, and assistant edited some 600 TV spots, as well as assistant edited 22 episodes of fifth season of the TV series BABYLON 5 and two related TV movies.
Cartoon Network has positioned its new J-Pop inspired series, HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI, center stage for a four-hour New Years Eve event for kids that features a brand new episode on Dec. 31, 2004. Real life singers Ami and Yumi will join FRIDAYS on-air hosts Tommy and Nzinga at 11:55 pm for the countdown to midnight that then launches into the mini-marathon with special CN series airing up to the countdown.
