Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week:
- TV Review: "Welcome To Eltingville"
Jerry Beck finds his rightful place in "Welcome to Eltingville," one of Cartoon Network's latest additions to their Adult Swim block.
3Dquest is looking for an ART DIRECTOR . . . China's Amazing Animation Productions is looking for an AGENT/REPRESENTATIVE . . . Ottawa, Ontario's Amberwood Productions is looking for an OVERSEAS ANIMATION SUPERVISOR . . . Mumbai, India's Comptech Computer is looking for a CARTOON ANIMATOR . . . London, UK's Delfin Studio is looking for a SALES REPRESENTATIVE . . . Santa Monica, California's DH Institute of Media Arts (DHIMA) is looking for a LECTURER . . . Glendale, California's DreamWorks is looking for a SOFTWARE DEVELOPER (PERCS). . .
Buzzco Associates latest Flash-animated political cartoon is now featured on their Website. "Sing a Song of Six Pence" is a reaction to the on-going Enron scandal. This latest short is...
AWNs Discussion Forums give you direct access to an unparalleled group of animation industry experts. Don't be shy! Visit the Forums!
Women In Animation International's 2002 Annual Meeting: Saturday, March 09, 2002, Glendale, California USA . . . Women In Animation Writers' Seminar Group: Thursday, March 14, 2002, West Los Angeles, California USA . . . NAB 2002: The Convergence Marketplace: Saturday, April 06 - Thursday, April 11, 2002, Las Vegas, Nevada USA . . . DreamWorks and Storyopolis -- Kid's Animation Workshop: Saturday, May 18, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . Warner Bros. and Storyopolis Present a Scooby Doo Celebration: Saturday, June 15, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . .
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. This week...
Gullane Entertainment has joined forces with independent animation company Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment to create a new animated preschool series called YOKO! JAKAMOKO! TOTO! UK broadcaster CiTV commissioned 52 five-minute episodes of the series. YOKO! JAKAMOKO! TOTO! is inspired by traditional Spanish, Latin American and African art and music and tells the tale of the friendship between Yoko (a bird), Jakamoko (an armadillo) and Toto (a monkey) solely through music and action.
R!OT Design has appointed Jeremy Hollister to the post of creative director of broadcast design. Hollister will provide creative supervision for all design-related projects undertaken by the studio. An influential member of R!OT's design team since 1996, Hollister has won numerous Promax and BDA awards, as well as other design industry honors for his work for the Sci Fi Channel, ESPN, MTV and other accounts. Most recently he has been signed by London-based production company SKUNK for worldwide representation in commercial and music video direction.
Game developer The Collective, Inc. is working with LucasArts to develop and create the next INDIANA JONES game. The game is expected to release in fall 2002 and will be available on a variety of next generation console platforms and PC. The Collective's work on the recently released BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER game for Xbox sealed the deal for LucasArts said president Simon Jeffrey. "The Collective brings considerable technological and development expertise that will greatly benefit Indiana Jones, one of our most important brands," Jeffrey stated.
Jon Hofferman reviews five short films fresh from the festival circuit: Aria by Pjotr Sapegin, Hubert's Brain directed by Wild Brain's Phil Robinson, Oscar Grillo's Shadow Cycle, The Snowman, directed by Lane Nakamura of Duck Soup Studios, and Dave Unwin's War Game, produced by The Illuminated Film Company. Includes QuickTime movie clips!
Want to get started creating animation on your own computer? John Edgar Park tells you how to start from scratch. Let's find out how to select and assemble the correct components and then get them working!
Visual effects, broadcast design and animation studio Click 3x has brought on Jim Collins to head the studios animation department. Formerly with the design boutique TZ, Collins has experience in animation, illustration and compositing, and has credits across a variety of media. His experience is particularly strong in broadcast graphics, having recently completed projects for NBC, CBS News, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox, ESPN, Sci Fi Channel and CNNSI. He also has numerous credits in commercials.
4Kids Entertainment's first original animated television series, CUBIX - ROBOTS FOR EVERYONE!, has been renewed for a second season on Kids' WB! Under the terms of the renewal agreement, 4Kids will bring thirteen new episodes of the CGI animated series to Kids' WB! during the 2002-2003 season. CUBIX follows the adventures of 13-year-old Andy, a robot whiz, who brings to life a robot named Cubix that has been discarded as useless. The series was created by 4Kids in partnership with Korean animation house Cinepix and Korean broadcaster Daiwon.
With a brief from client B Sky B to create a composite of classic British rock icons, London-based Uli Meyer Studios has delivered Li'l Red Button Man, a rockin' 3D character who embodies the new interactive features of the network's digital broadcasting. The commercial begins with a track into a remote control on a coffee table in front of a wide screen television. The red button on the remote becomes the hair of the character Li'l Red, as he levitates out of the remote while the coffee table and wide-screen television become a rock stage. The music kicks in and Li'l Red comes to life.
Barcelona-based animation house Neptuno Films and Megatrix, a Spanish kids' content multi-platform provider, have sealed a co-production deal to produce the animated series 2020. Aimed at 8 to 12 year-olds, the series focuses on the everyday life of a middle-class family in the year 2020, but the series' creators say it is an ironic reflection on what is happening now. 2020 will consist of 26 half-hours animated in Flash for broadcast on television and the Internet. The first episode will be launched in April 2002 at MipTV, and the remaining episodes are scheduled for delivery in fall 2003.
Attention John K. fans! Adult Swim, Cartoon Networks programming block for adults, is presenting two classic John Kricfalusi shorts and one brand new one, based on the Hanna-Barbera series YOGI BEAR and THE JETSONS. In "Ranger Smith," the intrepid park ranger rules Jellystone Park with an iron fist. "Boo Boo Runs Wild" finds Yogi's sidekick shedding his bow-tie to get back to his ursine roots, much to Yogi's dismay.
The DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) and Market works to fuse the production community by hosting filmmakers, distributors and sponsors and others from the film and telecommunication community in a yearly festival for the categories of features, documentaries and shorts. Hosted in Washington, DC, the DC Independent Film Festival & Market is an opportunity for local and national filmmakers to showcase their work.
Independent animation producer Delaney and Friends is planning to merge with 3D and interactive content providers Brainchild Studios and Furious Entertainment to create the new, publicly traded entity SecondSun Entertainment. Combining the strengths of the three Vancouver-based companies, the new venture will focus on the development, financing and production of animated TV series, direct-to-video features, TV commercials, special effects, movies and interactive games.
BUTT UGLY MARTIANS producer Mike Young Productions is bringing a new series to the small screen. THE CURLY TALES OF PIGGLEY WINKS, 26 half-hour episodes aimed at pre-schoolers, is based on original stories by Irish writer Denise Fitzpatrick and is being produced with London-based Entara Limited. The CGI animated PIGGLEY WINKS features the voice of Irish actor Colm Meaney as Grandpa Piggley, whose comic stories of childhood adventures in rural Ireland form the basis of the series.
From a boy whose love is real, even if he is not, to a singing, bell-ringing hunchback, March video releases have something for everyone.
March 5, 2002
A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Special Edition.
Jerry Beck finds his rightful place in Welcome to Eltingville, one of Cartoon Network's latest additions to their Adult Swim block.
Running to and fro, Ed, Edd n Eddy failed to impress Terrence Briggs.
Macromedia has unveiled Flash MX, the latest version of its Macromedia Flash development environment. Available March 15, 2002, this upgrade to Flash 5 has over 45 new and enhanced features including new graphic design, pre-built components and templates, a customizable ActionScript editor, timeline enhancements and video support. The integration of video support in Flash MX and Macromedia Flash Player 6 uses the Sorenson Spark codec, which enables designers and developers to deliver compressed video as part of Macromedia Flash content and applications.
Tampere International Short Film Festival offers the best short films from the past two years in International Competition and the best of Finnish short films in Finnish Competition. Fiction, documentary and animation are accepted. Besides the competition screenings and around 70 special screenings Tampere Film Festival organizes film market, seminars, exhibitions and discussions for filmmakers and other professionals at film industry.
TokyoPop, an international distributor of character-based entertainment, has acquired the rights to the Japanese TV series' MARMALADE BOY and BRIGADOON. Both shows will be available on DVD in the U.S. in summer 2002. BRIGADOON is a comedy sci-fi series animated by Japanese animation studio Sunrise, which is responsible for animating the series' GUNDAM WING, COWBOY BEBOP and OUTLAW STAR. MARMALADE BOY tells the story of teenage girl Miki, whose dysfunctional family gets her caught up in strange love triangles and situations.
