Garfield celebrates his 25th birthday with a book signing and exhibit with his creator, Jim Davis, at Animazing Gallery from 6-9:00 pm on June 18, 2003, in New York City. Comic creator and animation producer Davis will sign copies of IN DOG YEARS I'D BE DEAD, his just released book celebrating Garfields 25th anniversary ($35.00). Original paintings, classic GARFIELD cartoon strips and original animation cels and drawings will be on exhibit and for sale.
Film director Ridley Scott, whose BLADE RUNNER and ALIEN were acclaimed for their ground-breaking VFX, has launched The Ridley Scott Awards to find Britain's best new creative talent in the field. They are open to anyone not employed in the business who dreams of a career in film, television or computer games.
The awards have been set up by London-based VFX school Escape Studios, Alias|Wavefront and Apple. The competition is comprised of four categories:
The Moving Picture Company (MPC) Awardfor Visual Effects
The Aardman Award
Bravo! NewStyleArtsChannel got animated with the world premiere of the new sitcom HEY JOEL on June 3, 2003 at 10:30 pm. Produced by Blueprint Entertainment and Curious Pictures in association with CHUM Television, this half-hour, 13-part adult-themed cartoon series depicts the adventures of Joel Stein, the host of a daily three-minute rock star interview show on the music channel VH1, and offers an irreverent behind-the-scenes look at the recording industry.
Only two days after its North American TV broadcast, WALKING WITH CAVEMEN hits the DVD shelves on June 17, 2003 (BBC Video, $19.99). The Discovery Channel/BBC co-production breaks the mold of DINOSAURS and PREHISTORIC BEASTS by combining CGI, animatronics and actors dressed in prosthetics in recreating our earliest ancestors.
Established storyboard artists will discuss how their art makes animation possible at the Women In Animation Los Angeles Chapter general meeting on June 26, 2003 from 6:30-9:30 pm at Klasky Csupo, 6353 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California. Characters, staging, pace, mood storyboard artists create the movie before it even gets made. The vision and blueprint for every aspect of production are set down in the storyboard, to be followed by everyone up through the final frame. "Storyboard: The Essential Art" panelists include Paul DeMeyer, director at Klasky Csupo; John Fountain, director at Nickelodeon; Llyn Hunter, storyboard artist at Walt Disney TV Animation and Linda Miller, director/writer/story artist for various studios. Christa Percival, story artist, will serve as moderator.
Discreet has teamed up with Criterion Software to deliver new solutions specifically aimed at improving the game development pipeline between Discreet's 3ds max and Criterion's RenderWare software.
Both companies will collaborate on integrating the 3D content creation process with "on-target viewing" capabilities, allowing game developers to preview content on multiple game console platforms. Artists and developers should benefit from improved efficiencies in the development pipeline for console and mobile games.
KirchMedia, the once mighty German media giant, shut down on June 16, 2003 after a flurry of attempts to buy it. It looked like the cash-strapped company was going to be owned by American entrepreneur Haim Saban, until the parties couldn't agree on final terms and nullified the deal after the contract expired on May 31. Management and creditors had hoped to restructure the company to maintain it until the market climate improved to sell it, but shareholders voted to sell off its main assets into separate companies.
Need cel preservation and animation art market advice? Then check out Ron Barbagallo's newly launched Website, www.animationartconservation.com. As director of Animation Art Conservation, Barbagallo is one of the leading authorities on the materials used in the production of animation art. Barbagallo operates a conservation practice located near the animation studios in Toluca Lake, California, devoted to the ethical repair and preservation of classic animation art. His site is the first to have authorized use of copyrighted Disney images and displays category-by-category his efforts in animation art repair.
During his career, Barbagallo has repaired art work for Walt Disney Feature Animation, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, United Productions of American (UPA), Christie's East, Linda Jones Enterprises, museums, galleries, private collectors worldwide and the personal collections of Stephen Ison and Roy E. Disney.
Don't look now, but Frostbite Falls will be getting closer than you think with the DVD debut of Rocky and Bullwinkle on Aug. 12, 2003. ROCKY & BULLWINKLE & FRIENDS: COMPLETE SEASON 1, a 4-disc set featuring 26 episodes of the classic Jay Ward series, will retail for $39.98 and be distributed by Sony Music. It's the first release from Bullwinkle Studios, a joint venture formed last year between New York-based Classic Media and Jay Ward Prods. (headed by Tiffany Ward).
FINDING NEMO, the Disney/Pixar computer-animated smash, was back atop the box office chart, reeling in $28.3M in its third week. That puts it near the $200M plateau with $191.4M. The other animated opener, Paramount/Nickelodeon/Klasky Csupo's RUGRATS GO WILD, made an impressive debut in the fourth spot with $11.5M.
THE ORLANDO JONES SHOW debuted June 16, 2003 at 11:00 pm on the FX cable network, featuring the popular former 7-Up TV spokesman and writer for MAD-TV, promising to offer an alternative to late night talk shows. This alternative show's slogan is "No white guy, no desk, no band." It does feature sketches, fake commercials and animated shorts in sort of a one-man MAD-TV or SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE meets DENNIS MILLER LIVE. Half-hour episodes will air Monday through Thursday with a rerun on Fridays.
The bravura freeway chase and all the rest of those mind-bending action stunts in THE MATRIX RELOADED were planned with help of 3D animatics and other services provided by Pixel Liberation Front (PLF). The Venice, California-based company also contributed pre-production and on-set pre-visualization to the upcoming MATRIX REVOLUTIONS.
The animation unit responsible for Disney's DVD-premiere movies such as THE LION KING 2: SIMBA'S PRIDE has been renamed DisneyToon Studios. The new name and logo were officially unveiled on June 5, 2003, at an internal event held at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. The new division, which split from Walt Disney Television Animation in January, is overseen by evp Sharon Morrill, in charge of all aspects of production and development for the Disney Video Premieres and MovieToons produced by DisneyToon Studios. She reports to David Stainton, president, Walt Disney Feature Animation.
Macromedia has launched Macromedia Authorware 7, the dedicated solution for creating highly interactive rich media e-learning content. Macromedia Authorware 7 enables e-learning developers to import Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, play back content on Mac OS X, use industry standard JavaScript scripting and easily integrate content with learning management systems. Macromedia Authorware 7 is available for immediate download from the Macromedia Online Store at www.macromedia.com/go/buyaw7/.
The World of Comedy International Film Festival has put out a call for feature film and shorts entries for its second annual event in Toronto February 11-15, 2004. In addition to the film competition, the 2004 festival will host a series of workshops and panels to foster the further development of those interested in comedy filmmaking.
Spike Lee has temporarily prevented Viacom from relaunching its TNN channel as Spike TV in a branding campaign that was supposed to roll out June 16, 2003. The New York Supreme Court in Manhattan granted the filmmaker a preliminary injunction to stop the name change. Lee and his lawyer, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., argued that the network is trying to capitalize on his celebrity status and that he does not wish to be associated with male-oriented programming, which includes the upcoming adult animated series STRIPPERELLA and GARY THE RAT. Viacom is seeking an immediate stay of the injunction.
Will fathers want to watch hours of cartoons or are Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon scheduling Father's Day programming marathons to keep the kids busy while dad relaxes in his easy chair? Nick plans to give dads their due on June 15, 2003 from 2-6:00 pm with a new special show of THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON, BOY GENIUS titled "Make Room for Daddy-O." Jimmy invents a device that alters Hugh's personality, making him the coolest dad in Retroville.
Kimberly Miner from Rochester Institute of Technology won the Gold Medal for her film, PERPETUAL MOTION, in the animation category in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 30th Annual Student Academy Awards competition June 8, 2003. She was among 11 winning film students from nine U.S. universities participated in several days of industry-related activities and social events prior to the awards presentation ceremony at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Due to the popular response for Rhythm & Hues' June 12 presentation of THE MAKING OF X-MEN 2 AND OTHER EFFECTS at its Los Angeles studios, the award-winning VFX house has added a second presentation on June 26, 2003.
Jude Adamson, a senior lighting technical director, and Anjelica Casillas, character development/producer, r&d, will explore the pipeline and procedures used by the artists at Rhythm & Hues Studios to produce a wide range of recent Hollywood films, including SCOOBY-DOO, DAREDEVIL and X-MEN 2.
RenderMan Pro Server, a new software package featuring an upgraded version of Pixar Animation Studios' RenderMan 3D rendering software (version 11.5), will be released in July, 2003 and repriced at $3,500. The new release showcases increased rendering performance indicative of the studio's recent work with FINDING NEMO. Complex scenes using subtle lighting effects should see significant gains, and a new rendering mode boosts throughput by automatically harnessing the full power of modern multi-processor systems.
Pixar's RenderMan Pro Server Components:
Disney's new branded service, Disney Channel on Demand, will be offered to Cablevision's 400,000 digital TV subscribers across the nation for an additional $4.95 per month. As part of a pact with ABC Cable Networks Group, this video-on-demand package consists of original series programming for preschoolers from Playhouse Disney and original movies and series for older kids.
The Rugrats meet The Thornberrys and get into all kinds of island mischief on the big screen in RUGRATS GO WILD, opening nationwide June 13, 2003. Produced by Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon Pictures and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the movie marks the fourth theatrical feature from Klasky based on its smash Nick TV series, RUGRATS and WILD THORNBERRYS.
John Eng (sequence director on RUGRATS IN PARIS and JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS) and Norton Virgien (director of THE RUGRATS MOVIE) co-direct from Kate Boutilier's script.
The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) decided to push back its 2004 annual Conference and Exhibition one week to January 18-20, 2004, at the adjoined Venetian Hotel and Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, according to Rick Feldman, NATPE president/ceo. The decision to change the event's dates and shorten its length by one day was made after the association determined that the requirements it held for hotel facilities and exhibition floor space for the original dates of January 13-16 could not be fulfilled.
Atomic Cartoons has retooled its original all Flash Website, www.atomiccartoons.com. "We figured it was time to update our already extremely successful Website, so we went for a total redo. I think it is a cleaner, easier to navigate site now," said Atomic ceo Trevor Bentley.
Bringing a theatrical quality to a slate of USA Network movie premiere trailers, Broadway Video's DesignLab has finished its animated work for the channel's rollout of eight movies.
