InBetweening America, Candy Kugel's short film based on a Saul Steinberg New Yorker magazine cover illustration of 20 American faces was screened at the New York Film Festival on October 5 and 6, 2001. Although the film was completed and accepted into the festival before the events on September 11th, the American flag motif and the variety of American faces seemed particularly relevant in light of recent events.
Animation World Network's Winter 2001-2002 Animation School Directory is almost ready to launch. We invite all animation-related programs to...
Terrytoons. Here was my locale that most interests the animation historians. So now I finally have the chance to tell it like it really was. I name names -- all the names, and print the pix. I tell you what I did and what I tried to do -- a "renaissance" -- a total make over... and I tell you why it failed.
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:* Animation Workout, Guest Director Herb Tannen: Tuesday, November 13, 2001, Burbank, California USA.* Webproducteurs World Tour 2001: Wednesday, November 28, 2001, Los Angeles, California USA.* Animazing Holiday Event: Thursday, December 13, 2001 - Tuesday, January 15, 2002, New York, New York USA.* KidScreen Summit: Monday, February 25 - Wednesday, February 27, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA.
The RICA (Rencontres Internationales du Cinema d'Animation) is a competitive festival promoting animated film and filmmakers. For its 4th edition the festival will present 250 short and feature films. The official competition will include several feature films and about forty shorts. Five prizes will be awarded, including: the International Jury Prize, Children's Jury Prize and Best Feature Film Prize. Film formats for submissions are: 35 mm (preferably), 16 mm and BetaSP (No Digital Beta). There is no entry fee.
Triple Oscar winner Richard Williams has won over 250 international awards including numerous Hollywood and British Academy Awards. His films include WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, THE CHRISTMAS CAROL and the original THIEF AND THE COBBLER animated feature. After his presentation, The Animator's Survival Kit-Why This Book?, Richard Williams will show the opening of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, discuss his work and his new book and run other video clips.
This month the Career Coach gives thanks and advocates thanks! A little appreciation can go a long way...
Brian Camp compares the adaptive processes of Sanctuary and Ghost in the Shell.
The BroadCast WorldWide (BCWW) 2001 Market and Conference is an opportunity for the world to witness the expanding media market in Korea and all throughout Asia. The projected numbers for the event are 600 participating companies and over 10,000 visitors. BroadCast WorldWide Net Co., Ltd. is a company created by a consortium of the leading companies in Korea to empower the Asian media industry to buy and sell TV programs and films effectively by providing an online and offline marketplace.
This tribute to the Japanese animated feature film will examine the origins, history, and influences of this prolific art and industry. Clips from such seminal films as AKIRA, GHOST IN THE SHELL, PRINCESS MONONOKE, PERFECT BLUE, LAPUTA: CASTLE IN THE SKY and PON POKO, plus some special surprises, will receive rare U.S. big screen presentation.
Creative Bubble has completed a four spot campaign for Wow Wee, a divison of Hasbro, Inc. by way of ad agency Posnick & Kolcker (NY). The spots all feature B.I.O.-(Bio-mechanical Integrated Organism) Bugs, Wow Wees new "artificial-intelligence" toy. "When Posnick & Kolcker called, they knew what they wanted," says Doug Dimon, senior effects artist at Creative Bubble. "First, they wanted a truly threatening sky. Second, they wanted two product shots to emphasize the dual mechanical-organic nature of these bugs.
On Level13.net, check out CalArts alum Charles Allen-Ecks award-winning short ONION JOHN. This musical tale of a misunderstood vegetable will leave you in tears.On Darkhorse.com, home to Darkhorse Comics, you find a growing variety of shorts including Tony Millionaires SOCK MONKEYand if youd like to see the day in the life of one unemployed man, check out LAID OFF at oddtodd.com (warning: contains some explicit language!).
Toon Boom Technologies has released the LightTable module upgrade, which is compatible with USAnimation V5 and runs on Windows 2000. The LightTable module allows animators to work remotely and send their drawings electronically to their partner studio anywhere in the world. With the LightTable module, animators can hand-draw animation with a pressure-sensitive pen and graphic tablet based on the classical light table approach and use these vector drawings with all of the other USAnimation modules.
The 18th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF) handed out its awards for this years festival at a gala celebration held at the Chicago Cultural Center on Sunday, November 4, 2001. The 10-day festival is the largest competitive festival of films for children in North America. Awards were handed out by two juries, the Adult Jury, whose members include media professionals from the film and video, animation, television, radio and print industries, and the 70 member Childrens Jury, comprised of children ages 7-13.
The British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the winners of its fourth annual interactive entertainment awards. Peppers Ghost Productions TINY PLANETS ONLINE (Publisher: Sesame Workshop) took home the award for Best Entertainment Website. The Website features the characters Bing and Bong and provides a range of animation, activities and interaction for young children. Disney Interactives TIGGERS HONEY HUNT CD-ROM (Developer: Doki Denki) won in the Childrens category.
Saturday, February 23 - Sunday, February 24, 2002. York, UK.
Entry Deadline: Saturday, January 12, 2002
Thursday, April 11 - Sunday, April 14, 2002. Taos, New Mexico, USA.
Entry Deadline: Tuesday, January 15, 2002.
In further developments of the MTV restructuring that has so far resulted in layoffs and the closing of MTV Animation production, Abby Terkuhle is no longer president of MTV Animation. However, according to an MTV spokesperson, Terkuhle will continue his relationship with the company, although the nature of this relationship could not be discussed at press time. Sources suggest that Terkuhle will have a first look producing deal or some similar arrangement.
Blue Sky Studios, currently at work on the upcoming CG animation feature ICE AGE, has laid off a significant number of their animators. Sources say approximately 100 people have been let go, which could not be confirmed by Fox as of press time. However, a Fox rep did concur that animators have been laid off because the studio is ramping down as principle animation on ICE AGE is nearing completion. The Fox corporate representative also said that Blue Sky has a project in development that has not yet been announced.
In a follow up to a story about the Secret Lab closing that was written in VARIETY and subsequently reported in AWN and numerous other media outlets, AWN was told that the layoffs were part of an overall restructuring of Disney, including the feature animation department, that was announced in April 2001.
Pixar Animation Studios, which currently has the United States top motion picture for a second week in a row, recently reported a 30 percent decline in third quarter earnings. Pixar said earnings fell to $6.2 million or 12 cents per diluted share in the third quarter, which concluded at the end of September 2001, a month before MONSTERS, INC. hit theaters. This figure is down from $8.8 million or 18 cents per share in the period a year ago. Pixar also announced that it is raising projections for 2001 EPS from the previous range of $0.50 to $0.58, to a new estimate of about $0.60.
THE SIMPSONS season premiere, which aired in its regular time slot of Sunday at 8:00 pm, scored high ratings it its 13th season kick-off. Although the show was delayed by 11 minutes in some time zones due to the NFL game wrap-up, it landed in 28th place with an excellent 8.8 rating/13 share. THE SIMPSONS lead-in KING OF THE HILL, also delayed, did not receive such stellar ratings, finishing in 53rd place with a 6.6 rating/10 share. The number two toon was THE SIMPSONS Halloween Special, which had been postponed from its original air date of October 31 due to the World Series.
Susana M. Halpine explores the underrated areas of science visualization and educational animation, which were hot topics at this year's SIGGRAPH.
NY Visual Effects studio Liquid Light, a division of Version2 Editing, has added Smoke artist Nathan Hurlburt to their roster. Initially an Avid editor, Nathan now includes visual effects design, compositing and online finishing among his talents. "Nathan is considered a whiz kid Smoke artist that I knew would impress our advertising and editorial clients," said Liquid Light executive producer Frank Devlin.
U.K.-based animation producers Cosgrove Hall have been given the go ahead by U.K. channel CiTV for 26 x 10 episodes of their new stop-motion/CGI series ENGIE BENJY, scheduled to debut on the channel in 2002. The show is geared toward pre-schoolers and follows the escapades of Engie Benjy the mechanic and his friends Dan the van and Jollop the dog. No distribution deals have been announced, but the show will be available internationally in 2002.
