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Series Headline News

The Adventures Of Marco And Gino Launched

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

International television program distributor Rai Trade has announced the launch of THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO AND GINO, a new Eurovision series produced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Budgeted for 10 million Euros, the series is co-funded by nine members of the Geneva-based EBU: BBC (UK), France Television (France), TVE (Spain), RTP (Portugal), RTBF (Belgium), SSR (Switzerland), ZDF (Germany), ORF (Austria) and Rai (Italy), as well as non-member France Animation. Rai Trade will have distribution rights to all countries except those of the other eight co-producers.

Headline News

EyeballNYC Spells Allergy Relief

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

Creative boutique EyeballNYC has completed work on a 15-second spot for allergy medication Zyrtek, sponsor of SESAME STREET, which broadcasts on PBS. Combining 3D green text animation and live-action, the company used everyday sounds to spell out Zyrtek (pronounced zur-tek) phonetically. A tent zipper, an electric mixer and a lawn mower together create the first syllable of the product name, while a skipping record, a game of checkers and a stick against a picket fence creates the second. An accompanying monochrome image and green 3D text animation reinforces each sound.

Headline News

Island Fever Creates Pesky Cockroach

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

Computer graphics house Island Fever Productions has completed two new commercials for Orkin's "fake-out" campaign. In this year's campaign, which like last years shows a pesky cockroach interrupting the viewing of two fake commercials, Island Fever Productions created the animation of the cockroach, all the additional animation and the final compositing for both commercials. The first faux commercial is for "Timmy Townsend P.I." in which Gary Coleman stars as a bumbling private eye. Island Fever created the CG logo treatment of flying streaking letters.

Black Headline News

Black Logic Loses Its Head For Coldwell Banker

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

New York animation studio Black Logic has completed two 30 second commercials for Coldwell Banker. The first spot, titled "Concierge," shows a disembodied head of a beleaguered home buyer orbited by a series of objects representing the many headaches of the house hunting process. Directed by Black Logic's Michel Suissa, the spot uses colorful, high-energy graphics, propelled by a peppy musical score, to highlight an exclusive Coldwell Banker online service that assists people in managing the details involved in buying and selling residential real-estate.

Animation Headline News

Celluloid Finishes Earth Share PSAs

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

Colorado animation studio Celluloid has just completed work on two public service announcements for Earth Share, a federation of America's leading non-profit environmental and conservation organizations. Working with advertising agency Foote, Cone and Belding, director James Wahlberg and live-action production company Visitor, Celluloid, led by executive producer Jan Johnson and director Paniagiotis Rappas, provided the animation on both sixty-second spots. The first, titled "This Is," is based on a series of 30 paintings by designer Alan Brewer.

Headline News

Gnomon Releases New Maya Training Videos

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

The Gnomon Workshop has released six new Alias|Wavefront Maya training videos on polygon modeling, cameras and dynamics. This series of six marks the third round of releases and brings the total number of titles available from The Gnomon Workshop up to 18. The new videos are currently shipping and can be ordered in NTSC or PAL from the company's Website. The videos were produced by Alex Alvarez, director of The Gnomon Workshop and Gnomon School of Visual Effects, and Darrin Krumweide, associate director of Gnomon School of Visual Effects.

Animation Headline News

Alias|Wavefront Announces Maya 4

On April 23, 2001, at NAB, the annual international conference of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Alias|Wavefront announced Maya 4, the sixth major release of its professional 3D animation and visual effects software. This major new release features enhancements and optimizations that will improve the products overall performance and efficiency, particularly in the areas of rendering, character animation, brush and paint tools and games related functionality.

Headline News

Softimage Hints At New Products, Highlights XSI

On April 23, 2001, at NAB, the annual international conference of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Softimage demonstrated version 1.5 of its SOFTIMAGE|XSI software and hinted that a new release would be ready for SIGGRAPH in July. "I can't say much more," program manager Michael Smith commented, "but this next release will be big." Softimage introduced its "INNOVATE::CREATE::COLLABORATE" tagline and displayed the power of XSI with images of Manta, a 3D character created in XSI.

Headline News

Apple Announces QuickTime 5, Streaming Server 3

On April 23, 2001, Apple announced the immediate availability of QuickTime 5 and the upcoming availability of QuickTime Streaming Server 3 at NAB, the annual international conference of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas. In addition, Apple is demonstrating a preview version of QuickTime with support for industry-standard MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 encoding and decoding. "QuickTime has been long established as the digital media standard for capturing, encoding and delivering content on the Internet," said Philip Schiller, Apple's vice president of worldwide product marketing.

Million Headline News

SGI Announces Q3 Revenue Growth, Staff Layoffs

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

SGI on April 20, 2001, announced their third consecutive quarter of increased revenue growth and improved operating performance. For the quarter ending March 31, 2001, the company posted revenue of $510 million, compared with $487 million in the quarter ended December 31, 2000, which represents a 5% increase. The company reported a net operating loss of $47 million for the quarter, excluding charges, compared with a net operating loss of $93 million in the previous quarter.

Film Headline News

Where’s My Shorts?

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

Sharon Katz, creator of HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH (Audience Choice Award, Chicks 'n Flicks Film Festival), has finished her newest animated short, THE ANGEL'S FOOT CAKE / DER FUS TORT. In the film, Drinkeleh Fresserkeh decides to make a cake in the shape of an Angel's foot. The Angels take umbrage and the fun begins in this delightfully raucous modern Yiddish animated tale. The film premiers April 29, 2001 at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.

Police Headline News

TV’s Cops And Robbers Come To PlayStation

By Dan Sarto | Friday, April 27, 2001 at 12:00am

Through an exclusive worldwide publishing and distribution agreement with Fox Interactive, Activision, Inc. will soon bring shootouts, robberies and high-speed car chases to the PlayStation with WORLDS SCARIEST POLICE CHASES. Based on the Fox television show of the same name, the game features running commentary from retired Sheriff Jon Bunnell, with an array of action-packed police missions. The game will allow players complete control as they take on the role of police officers, chasing down and apprehending law breaking criminals.

Animation Events

Animated Encounters 2001

By Guest (not verified) | Thursday, April 26, 2001 at 11:00am
Begins: April 26, 2001

Animated Encounters 2001 is in its second year and covers every angle of animation. There will be seminars and workshops led by key industry figures, which give visitors the chance to pitch ideas, plus the opportunity to meet leading studio heads and recruiting producers. Animated Encounters is supported by DreamWorks SKG, BBC Animation, BBC MediaArc, Aardman Animations, WESTEC, A for Animation, and Animation UK magazine. The festival will also feature a Pixar retrospective, a showcase on Australia and a kids' programme.

Animation Headline News

New Jobs: 2D Animators, 3D Character Animators, Background Artists And More...

Lombard, Illinois' Big Idea Productions, a family media company, ishaving an OPEN CALL for 3D ANIMATION DIRECTORS, 3D CHARACTERANIMATORS, ART DIRECTORS, ANIMATORS, CONCEPT ARTISTS and MODELERS. . .Halifax, Canada's Collideascope Digital Productions, Inc., a newmedia and convergence company, is looking for an ANIMATOR and 2DANIMATOR. . . Wiesbaden, Germany's Die Kolonie GbR, a talent andrecruiting agency, is looking for a TV-DESIGNER & ANIMATOR 2D & 3D. . .Bregenz, Austria's KE Consult is looking for a FLASH SPECIALIST to

David Headline News

Snowden And Fine's Bob And Margaret Nominated For Rose D'or

An episode of AWN Affiliates Alison Snowden and David Fine's BOB ANDMARGARET has been nominated for the prestigious Rose D'Or, an annualinternational television festival and competition held in Montreux,Switzerland, open to more than 2000 producers and broadcasters fromaround the world. This year's festival will be held April 26 - May1, 2001. Of this year's 16 nominees in the Sitcom category, twoanimated series were selected, including UPN's GARY & MIKE, producedat Will Vinton Studios, and a BOB AND MARGARET episode titled "Going

Headline News

Affiliate Site Updates: Animha Productions And SAFO

- Complete Site Redesign for Animha

Animha Productions has completely redesigned their Website on AWN. The newsite has information on the organization, workshops such as"Suspended Animation" and "Eyes of Fire," cool clips from variousprojects, and the latest news and information about activities andhappenings within the organization. Animha is an association ofartists, writers, animators and filmmakers based in the NorthernRegion of England. Animha works in partnership with schools,

Film Headline News

Where's My Shorts?

We've started compiling information about new short films for our AWNreaders, appropriately titled "Where's My Shorts?" Lest we get toojovial, each week, we'll provide a brief compilation of new shortfilms premiering during that week, either at a festival, exhibition,screening or online. They could be gems, they could be industrialeffluent, we hazard no guess. However, we can tell you that theworks are supposedly "new," which gives us hope that someone,somewhere is doing something besides lying around their den, eating

Festival Headline News

New Additions To AWN's Calendar Of Events

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events includes: ConvergenceFilm/Video/Animation Festival, September 14 - September 20, 2001,Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.; Jan Svankmajer Restrospective, June15-17, 2001, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.; Mac 3D NY Seminars, May2, 2001, New York City, New York, U.S.A.; Matita Animated FilmFestival, September 27 - September 30, 2001, Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy;Minnesota Fringe Short Film and Video Festival, August 3 - August 12,2001, Minnesota, U.S.A.; Nick Park Tribute At The Los Angeles Museum

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