Planet Comicon, a four-year-old comic/sci-fi convention, is one of the fastest growing in the country. This year's event features THE HULK's Lou Ferrigno and BATMAN's Julie Newmar.
The California SUN International Animation Festival contains animations ranging from student works to studio productions. The event is set up to bring attention to the world of international animation. A special private screening of the films will be held on March 23 at the Museum of Radio & Television inBeverly Hills.
The Otis College of Art & Design and the Webisode Academy are presenting a panel discussion on "Women On The Web." The panelists will be Michele Martell, Vice President of Business Affairs and Interactive Business Development, Jim Henson Interactive; Jodi Resnick, Head of Entertainment at Disney.com; Diane Holland, SVP Production Operations, Magnet West; Michelle Romaine, Producer, Flinch Studio; and Amanda Veith, AtomFilms. Director of the Webisode Academy Kellie-Bea Cooper will serve as the moderator.
The Art Institute of Phoenix is holding an exhibition of its winter 2001 graduate portfolios. Artwork presented will be from students in the computer animation, graphic design, multimedia, video production and Website administration departments. The event will be held at the Sheraton Crescent Hotel from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.
The 3rd World Summit On Media For Children aims to create an audiovisual policy supporting the rights of children around the world. Organized by the European Children's Television Centre, the event strives to bring many people, including teachers, researchers and academics, together to investigate the relationship of children's television and new media. The conferences will feature topics such as: going global; media for all; new technologies; and children have a say.
AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. In this week's installment a humorous short by Steve Martin, a new Bill Plympton Webtoon and the winners of the Thugs on Film Tosser Awards. Plus, much, much more.
Get your Web Animation Guide here!
Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"
iXL Digital Video Group provided visual effects for Tide's new "Angel" commercial. In the spot, a woman in a white ski suit makes snow angels, however she reaches the ground below getting dirt all over her clothes. The dirt in the live-action footage was not prominent enough, so senior visual effects artist Doug Dimon was assigned to "bring out the dirt," in addition to multiplying the angel mark five times for the final scene. "While the finished spot appears natural, we did a lot digitally to enhance the dirt," said Dimon, who sampled dirt from several plates in flame*.
Curious Pictures has wrapped on a new CGI spot for Lugz athletic shoes entitled "Pirate Radio." In the 30-second commercial, after the Lugz's Blue Man subverts the city power, the hero must avoid the electric company's thugs in order to run a pirate radio station for rooftop parties across the city. "In the Lugz spot, we created characters with a lot of personality surrounded by computer-animated environments that are rich and beautiful," said Chel White, Curious Pictures' director.
Alliance Atlantis has promoted Jennifer Bennett to vice president, merchandising and licensing. Bennett will oversee the licensing of all Alliance Atlantis' television properties, including children's label, AAC KIDSTM. She has been with the company for the past seven years, most recently as director, merchandising and licensing. "Jennifer has been invaluable to Alliance Atlantis' merchandising and licensing initiatives over the past three years since joining the M&L team," said Ted Riley, president, Alliance Atlantis Television Distribution.
Blur Studio has hired Tim Brown as their new co-creative director of the design division. Prior to Blur, Brown served as creative director of the design and animation house, RezN8. Brown's work on CBS's coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics helped the project earn two Sports Emmy Awards for graphic design and technical innovation. Brown said, "Here, we have a design engine that is integrated with a production engine. Very few design firms have direct access to 3D animation and visual effects production, or to artists of the caliber we have at Blur.
Apple introduced artists to the new version of their award-winning video editing software, Final Cut Pro, late last week. Final Cut Pro 2 is an all-in-one editing solution, featuring real-time editing, breakthrough Power Mac G4 performance and a scalable architecture that allows users to output content into any video format. With Final Cut Pro 2, real-time editing and compositing functions are integrated into the video production workflow seamlessly.
Dosch Design has just released several new products, including version 2.0 products from its state-of-the-art Dosch Textures line. Rust & Metal, Stone & Concrete, Skin, Industrial Design, Broadcast-Design and Special-Effects now include many additional textures, plus a large number of textures which are provided in even higher resolution than in the previous version. The products have been expanded for a wider variety of contents and will soon be supported by the new Dosch Design InfoBase, which will be established on the Dosch Design Website.
Lions Gate Home Entertainment has gained the home video rights for the MR. BILL collection of shorts. In addition, CinemaNow.com has obtained the Internet video-on-demand rights. Lions Gate plans to release several MR. BILL shorts on VHS late this summer with a DVD featuring 2 hours of content following sometime after. Special features on the DVD will be behind-the-scenes commentary by Mr. Bill about his time on SNL, never-before-seen footage and the short MR. BILL 2013: A BILL ODYSSEY. The collections obtained in the deal were: "The Mr.
Rainbow Studios has opened a new office in Phoenix and a new satellite office in San Francisco. "At a time where many studios are downsizing or restructuring to remain competitive, Rainbow Studios is experiencing tremendous growth in all aspects of our business -- from digital cinema to game development," said Scott Novis, vice president of engineering at Rainbow Studios.
* Thursday, October 25 Sunday, November 4, 2001. Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Entry Deadline: May 15, 2001.
* Friday, April 20 - Saturday, April 21, 2001. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Jade Ohlhauser takes a look at Discreet's Character Studio 3 and discovers that it's more than just a 3DS max plug-in.
* Friday, April 27 Sunday, April 29, 2001. Everett, Washington, U.S.A.
* Monday, April 30, 2001. Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.
On Thursday, March 22, 2001, one of the fathers of TV animation, William Hanna, died at his home in North Hollywood, California. He was 90 years old. Born in Melrose, New Mexico, on July 14, 1910, Hanna and his partner, Joseph Barbera created such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and Scooby-Doo. Hanna, a trained engineer, began his animation career during the Depression when he took an ink and paint position at Harman-Ising Studios.
Apple Computer is coming to the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro User Group's monthly meeting to demo their non-linear editing software, Final Cut Pro 2.0. The meeting begins at 6:45 pm and the doors will open at 6 pm. The meeting will be held at the LA Film School located at 6363 Sunset Blvd. There are no reservations and seating is on a first come, first served basis. In addition, Tim Wilson from Borisfx will show the brand new Boris Red 2.0.
ASIFA-Hollywood is holding their monthly membership meeting. The event will screen new animations, sneak previews, members' commercials and personal films. Refreshments will be provided and admission is free for members. The event will begin at 7:30 pm.
* Thursday, April 26 Sunday, April 29 2001. Bristol, U.K.
* Friday, April 27, 2001. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
* Friday, September 14 Thursday, September 20, 2001. New York, New York, U.S.A.
Entry Deadline: May 15, 2001
