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Editor's Notebook
It's Show Time! The Fall TV Preview
Get ready! New TV is on its way. Amid Amidi takes a whirl through the upcoming season's highlights and also notes some trends for which we should be on the lookout.
Getting That First Voice-over Role
What are the "do's" and "don'ts" of becoming a voice actor? We asked producers, directors, and casting and voice directors for their input.
The Story Behind Fats & Moe
Screenwriter Annabelle Perrichon and director Jean-Louis Bompoint explain how a couple of zoot suited Jazz players, escaping Big Apple mobsters were brought to life by a French creative team.
SIGGRAPH '99: Where's the Rest of the Zoo?
Jennifer Champagne enjoyed the exhibition booths, the screenings, the TechnOasis and more, but thought the floor seemed a little more sparse than in years gone by...
The Pride of the Pioneers
Kellie-Bea Cooper asks everyone from pioneers to students just what they thought about the new, highly regarded SIGGRAPH documentary. Also features Quicktime video interviews by Diana Cracknell.
Sony formalizes Family Entertainment Group
Sony Pictures Entertainmenthas formalized the name of its newest business unit, Sony Pictures FamilyEntertainment Group (SPFE), and appointed Gary Hirsch as senior vicepresident and general manager of the division. Reporting to SanderSchwartz, president of the relatively new division, Hirsch will oversee newbusiness development opportunities for the division and its day-to-dayoperations, including business affairs, human resources, studio operations,production and marketing. Hirsch comes to Sony's SPFE from Columbia
Hearing From the Hercules Celebrities
Disney's Hercules is the record holder for the largest single-season voice cast in the history of TV animation. Let's hear from Kathie Lee Gifford, Jon Favreau, Diedrich Bader, French Stewart, Linda Hamilton and James Woods, why animation really is a whole new world...
Cartoon Network promotes James Porges to V.P. of Off-Channel Commerce
Cartoon Network has promoted James Porges to vice president of off-channel commerce. Porges will manage the businessdevelopment of consumer products and off-channel presence of all CartoonNetwork-branded multi-character efforts, including publishing, music, homevideo, and theme parks. He will also manage all original Cartoon Networkcharacters such as The Powerpuff Girls and Johnny Bravo. Prior to becomingdirector of brand management, Porges was director of Cartoon Network Clubsat Turner Home Entertainment.
San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum
Rod Gilchrist profiles San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum, which is dedicated to conserving and presenting cartoon art, as well as nurturing art appreciation.
PHANTOM MENACE continues to score at the boxoffice
Lucasfilm's STAR WARS EPISODE ONE:THE PHANTOM MENACE passed the $300 million mark in overseas boxoffice,making it the eleventh most successful film of all time outside of NorthAmerica. It opened last week in Switzerland with $1.1 million, thefourth-biggest opening there. In three regions where it was in its secondweek of release, it took in $7.5 million in Germany for a total of $24.7million; $2.7 million in Spain for a total of $10.9 million; and $893,000in Sweden for a total of $3.1 million. The film's total gross from 27
An Interview With Kris Zimmerman On Voice Directing & Timing
Laura Schiff interviews voice director Kris Zimmerman about her approach to nailing down the best performance time after time.
Stepping Backwards to Move Ahead
Some days it seems that there isn't an original idea on TV. The same characters are rehashed and rewarmed repeatedly. However, Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman, takes a look at how sometimes what's old can become what is new.
Kino releases Brothers Quay
New York-based Kino on Video is releasingtwo Brothers Quay videos. THE BROTHERS QUAY COLLECTION: TEN ASTONISHINGSHORT FILMS 1984-1993 includes THE CABINET OF JAN SVANKMAJER, THE EPIC OFGILGAMESH OR THIS UNNAMEABLE LITTLE BROOM, STREET OF CROCODILES, REHEARSALSFOR EXTINCT ANATOMIES, DRAMOLET (STILLE NACHT I), THE COMB (FROM THEMUSEUMS OF SLEEP), DE ARTIFICALI PERSPECTIVA OR ANAMORPHOSIS, ARE WE STILLMARRIED? (STILLE NACHT II), TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS (STILLE NACHT III),
Hearing From The Hercules Celebrities
Disney's Hercules is the record holder for the largest single-season voice cast in the history of TV animation. Let's hear from Kathie Lee Gifford, Jon Favreau, Diedrich Bader, French Stewart, Linda Hamilton and James Woods, why animation really is a whole new world...
On a Desert Island With.... Cartoon Network Creative Executives
A survey of development executives at Cartoon Network, Linda Simensky, Michael Ouweleen, Khaki Jones and Jay Bastian answering the question, "What ten films would you want to have with you if stranded on a desert island?
Macromedia releases Flash Writer for Adobe Illustrator users
San Francisco, California-based Macromedia, Inc. has announced Macromedia FlashWriter, a free downloadable plug-in for Adobe Illustrator, which willenable Illustrator users to save their artwork natively to the Flash Playerfile format (SWF). Illustrator users will now be able to deploy theirartwork to the Web immediately without having to reformat it as a bitmappedfile. Flash is the industry standard for high-impact, vector-based Websites that deliver motion, sound, interactivity and graphics. Flash Writer
Building A New British Empire - A Tribute to Clare Kitson
When Clare Kitson announced that she was resigning from her post as Commissioning Editor of Animation for the UK's Channel 4, the news moved like wild fire, bringing with it tremendous sadness. Animation World Magazine is proud to host this forum for the many who wanted to thank Clare for her support, inspiration and contributions to the animation industry.
MTV forms MTV Interactive (MTVi)
New York-based MTV Networks Online, a unit of ViacomInc., has formed MTV Interactive (MTVi), a new Internet-only music company,which will include music super-brands vh1.com, mtv.com and sonicnet.com.Nicholas Butterworth, former president of SonicNet, was named president andCEO of MTVi, and will report directly to Fred Seibert, president of MTVNetworks Online and Chairman of MTVi. "We think there is great value informing a company that includes three of the Internet's best music sites,"
The History of Channel 4 and The Future of British Animation
Rene Kotlarz puts the status of animation at Channel 4 in perspective by insightfully looking to the Channel's origins and the current animation market in the UK.
Penn & Teller guest star on WHIRLGIRL
Magicians Penn & Teller willguest star on the September 10th episode of SHO.com's WHIRLGIRL, Showtime'sanimated online series about a sexy, 21st century cyber-heroine. "We sawPenn & Teller's wise-guy approach to magic and their cult-like appeal as aperfect fit for the WhirlGirl audience," says WHIRLGIRL creator DavidWilliams of New York-based Visionary Media, producer of the series."Besides, who else but Penn & Teller could pull off the'Throwing-Knives-at-a-Super-Heroine-On-A-Roulette-Wheel' stunt?" The
Interactive Television: Are We There Yet?
Interactive television with its animated real-time games has been a hit across the globe but not here in the States. Sharon Schatz profiles the first venture in the US arena Throut & Neck, and probes why there aren't more.
NPAR 2000 calls for entries
NPAR 2000 is the first internationalsymposium dedicated to non-photorealistic animation and rendering,including cartoon animation systems and techniques. It takes place at theInternational Animated Film Festival of Annecy, France, July 5-9, 2000 inconjunction with ACM/SIGGRAPH and Eurographics. The symposium will bringtogether researchers and practitioners from academia and industry, showcasecutting-edge research in non-photorealistic animation and rendering systemsand techniques, and present examples of these techniques in original