FRANK T. CARUSO has been promoted to VP, Creative, at KING FEATURESSYNDICATE, a world leader in distributing comics to newpapers and merchandising licensing. The former Creative Director, Licensing will oversee new King Features licensing properties and all creative aspects of the company's Internet, animation and promotional activities. He will continue to supervise the creative aspects of BETTY BOOP, POPEYE, and other classic King Feature comic properties.
WILD BRAIN, INC. signed Oscar-winning producer NINA RAPPAPORT to head theproduction company's computer graphics endeavors. After joining Wild Brainin May of this year as a freelance producer, Rappaport helped bringtogether the talent needed to produce the company's slate of CG projects.Before coming to Wild Brain, Rappaport was Executive Producer at Blue SkyStudios in New York. Her feature film credits include producing the effectson JOE'S APARTMENT and A SIMPLE WISH and executive producing STAR TREK:INSURRECTION.
Director/animator Mike Dietz, founder of Orange County, CA-based MikeDietz Studios, has signed on to direct an episode of THE PJ'S, thestop-motion animated show starring movie-star Eddie Murphy, for Portland,OR-based Will Vinton Studios. Mike Dietz was one of the founding partnersof The Neverhood, the stop motion animation studio that produced severalprojects for Steven Spielberg's interactive division of DreamWorks SKG.Since leaving The Neverhood to start his own animation studio, Mike has
Sega Dreamcast, the most advanced videogame system to date, has gone platinum.Sega of America, Inc. announced that the 128-bit, Internet-ready videogamesystem has sold one million units in North America since its launch onSeptember9, 1999. This milestone came six weeks ahead of corporate predictions andbeforethe after-Thanksgiving holiday shopping frenzy. The platinum mark forDreamcast has broken sales records by other high-profile consumer andelectronic products.
The Reed Midem Organization, organizers of Milia 2000, have entered into afar-reaching agreement with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe(ISFE)-- who include members from interactive industry organizations like AISI inItaly, ELSPA in the UK, NVPI in the Netherlands, SELL in France and VUD inGermany -- to co-produce the Interactive Entertainment and Online Gamesconference for the THINK.TANK Summit. THINK.TANK will be a new two-dayconference and networking event for the interactive content industry held in
BLUE SKY STUDIOS adds DR. MICHAEL REED as a new member to its research anddevelopment team. He comes to Blue Sky after receiving his Ph.D. inComputer Science from Columbia University and positions at the laboratoriesof IBM, Philips, and Bell Atlantic Corporations. Reed will continue hiswork with geometric surface construction techniques to create new solutionsin rendering and geometry for Blue Sky.
BARRY SCHULER, President of America Online, Inc.'s Interactive Services Group,has joined the Board of Directors of OXYGEN MEDIA. At AOL, Schuler oversees thecompany's online services unit that includes the flagship AOL service,CompuServe, Netscape and AOL Devices. Schuler joins Oxygen's CEO GeraldineLaybourne, Oprah Winfrey, Marcy Carsey, and others on the board of theprivately-held company.
MARVEL ENTERPRISES INC. announced two new Directors have been appointed to the Board. PETER CUNEO, President and CEO, Marvel Enterprises, Inc., andproducer SID GANIS, former Vice Chairman of Columbia Pictures and Presidentof Worldwide Marketing for Columbia/TriStar Motion Pictures Companies, wereeach appointed to the Board of Directors.
This weekend, Film Roman, Inc., producers of THE SIMPSONS and KING OF THEHILL, launched Level 13.net, an innovative multi-channel animation networkto be delivered via the Internet. Level 13 is the industry's firstregularly scheduled, animated television-like network made directly for theWeb. William Shpall, Chief Operating Officer of Film Roman, and architectof the company's Internet strategy, said, "While many of today'sentertainment and Internet leaders are still testing enhanced television
When a small Italian village hosted the Matita International Animation Film Festival, they presented a lot of big ideas for all who participated. Animation World's Annick Teninge was there.
Charles Solomon introduces us to Eric and Susan Goldberg, a rare husband and wife team who are integral to the "Rhapsody in Blue" segment of Disney's Fantasia 2000.
On Monday, November 29, 1999, Time Warner launched its new Internetentertainment network, Entertaindom. The new channel is the first on-lineentertainment network produced from a major media company. The channel willoffer a smorgasbord of on-line entertainment, news, and services from Warner'svast vault of branded material. Entertaindom will include entertainmentnews andinformation from "Entertainment Weekly," CNN, Reuters, "Variety" and othersources, including music and TV stories, movie reviews, hit lists and critics'
Charles Solomon takes a closer look at the "Rhapsody in Blue" sequence of Fantasia 2000.
On December 10, 1999, Cartoon Network will debut the one-hour milleniumspecial DEXTER'S LABORATORY'S EGO TRIP. The special will center around Dexter's over-zealous reaction to receiving a message from the future which informs him that he will one day save the planet. The show will air at 7pm on December 10 and repeat at 12am on Janurary 1, 2000.
Shifting from a communist to capitalist market system has not been easy on the great studios of Eastern Europe. Adam Snyder reports on their survival techniques.
Famous Technologies has announced that version 1.5 of its stand-alone facialanimation system FAMOUSfaces is now shipping. The program, which is aimed atfilm, broadcast, games and location-based entertainment developers now boastssome amazing new features. The software allows character animators to createrealistic facial animation using one of, or a combination of any of thefollowing input devices: motion-capture, video, puppetry devices, voicerecognition or cluster targetting. New in version 1.5, animators can use the
Pixar does it again! In a sequel many are calling better than the first (is this possible?!), the Toy Story gang is back in theaters. Karl Cohen paid a visit to the studio and spoke with the film's directors and producers. A real treat.
Four lucky staffers from Blue Sky Studios visited Japan to give presentations, meet and greet, and uncover some of the secrets behind the beautiful and often mysterious tradition of Japanese animation. AndrMazzone recounts.
The popular Knoll Light Factory plug-in from Puffin Designs was recentlyreleased for Avid Xpress, Media Composer, and Symphony -- the trimmedversion ofKnoll Lens Flare Pro is titled Knoll Lens Flare AVX. The software allows usersto create lens flares with an unprecedented level of precision and control.Based on the Lens Primitives in Knoll Lens Flare Pro, the plug-in consistsof anumber of filters which include elements modeled on professional camera lenses
Rick DeMott traveled to the Universal Studios Hollywood Terminator 2 3D attraction and reveals that the thrill factor is high.
Forging a career in the midst of war, Tadahito Mochinaga lived and worked in both China and Japan, completing many cel and puppet animation firsts. Kosei Ono relates this amazing man's life story.
We are about to be rescued! In this our final month of "On A Desert Island With..." we heard from executives at both Fox Kids Network and Sony Pictures Family Entertainment Group. They all answered the question, "What ten films would you want to have with you if stranded on a desert island?" David McDermott is one of Fox Kids Network key development executives. His recent projects include Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot and ...
Discreet's 3D Studio MAX 3 is currently being used by more than 116,000artistsworld-wide, a number signifying the major upgrades rising to an industrystandard package in film, broadcast, games, multimedia, and design industries.The new upgrade boasts many new features, but the ones that have brought theproduct into this popular position so soon after its release are mostdefinatelythe new 'world-class' renderer, and the infinitely extensible productionenvironment. Many of these 100,000+ customers are taking advantage of 3D
Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman urges us to look to Asia to find new opportunities and stories from a region well versed and experienced in animation. From festivals to new South Korean productions...he has a plan.
While many will say that anime is not storming the U.S. mainstream, Andrew Osmond points out a number of ways this art form is entering and influencing the animation we see every day.
