The Next Big Drive: Gaming Transforms Itself Again
Jacquie Kubin delves into gaming. From its history to its future, she discusses the brink that gaming is getting ready to leap, and yes, film industry, you should be looking over your shoulder...
Jacquie Kubin delves into gaming. From its history to its future, she discusses the brink that gaming is getting ready to leap, and yes, film industry, you should be looking over your shoulder...
Project:messiah 1.5 is about to expand into messiah:studio, a new modular and innovative approach to animation. Mike Amron investigates. Includes QuickTime movie clips!
Dark Horse Entertainment and Slovenia-based Strip Art Features (SAF) have teamed up to create a new company, Venture, which will publish graphic novels and comic books with the intent to launch them onto film and television. The first graphic novel to be produced by the firm will be BLOOD TIES by Belgian artist Hermann and writer Yves H. The story is described as a Faustian tale that journeys into a rotten big city with a junior detective from the suburbs named Sam Leighton.
Upon seeing Joan Van Tassel's title, Heather Kenyon decides to investigate just what a digital media futurist is and what she has to say about this supposed digital future of ours.
DreamWorks is backing out of GameWorks, a string of location-based entertainment centers, which it helped found five years ago. DreamWorks' spokeswoman Vivian Mayer said, "Our commitment was a creative input. We fulfilled our commitment." Steven Spielberg was one of the original initiators of the company and oversaw the design of many of the coin-operated arcade versions of his films, like JURASSIC PARK. GameWorks has reported that same store sales are up an average of 10% in the past six months and overall revenue is up US$10 million from last year.
Sega Corp. has announced that it will cease production of its next-generation gaming console Dreamcast and will focus on game creation for Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and GameCube. "It's becoming harder and harder to be profitable with a hardware platform. It's the games that matter," said Peter Moore, president of Sega's U.S. operations. Very low holiday sales are attributed to this decision. As a result, the company will cut prices on the remaining consoles from US$149 to $99.95 beginning Sunday, February 4, 2001.
Paul Younghusband visits Data Design Interactive and Artworld UK to reveal how they are going beyond gaming by leveraging their digital assets across many outlets.
How could one of the most promising Internet animation companies come to such a crashing defeat? Brett D. Rogers investigates the unraveling of Stan Lee Media and the growing chorus crying foul.
While Turner Broadcasting System's Boomerang is titled to draw the Baby Boom generation is seems that maybe they've missed the spot marked X. Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman explains.
What's wrong with Ring of Fire and Night of the Carrots? The Animation Pimp sees nothing offensive here; when this month Chris Robinson takes on a few feminist nay-sayers.
Renowned drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu continues with his fifth installment discussing how to use texture to create depth and perspective while sketching on location.
SilverTech isn't just eKIDS. Forging into the realm of secure Web transactions, the company is just beginning by conquering the sensitive kids online issue that has foiled many others. Gregory Singer reports. Includes sample Flash animations!
Will Ryan pays a visit to the super-kinetic Charlie Adler, one of the industry's foremost voice actors and directors.
Jerry Beck presents a lost Japanese animated feature from the 1960s. LITTLE PRINCE AND THE8 HEADED DRAGON. Based on Japanese mythology, a spoiled to his brother at the ocean floor, his sister in the sun and ultimately he rescues a princess from an eight-headed dragon. The film's design, by Yasuji Mori, is unique and angular with full animation. The film was originally released theatrically in Japan in 1963 (under the title WANPAKUOOJI NO OROCHITAIJI) and in the U.S. in 1964. The picture was directed by Yugo Serikawa (CYBORG 009). The screening will be an English dubbed 16mm print.
Plagued TV producer Cinar has filed a CA$28.6 million (US$19 million) civil suit against company founders Ronald Weinberg and Micheline Charest and former senior executive VP and CFO Hasanain Panju.
* Thursday, March 1, 2001. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
ASIFA-Hollywood is presenting a "Best of Ottawa Festival" screening. Ottawa Festival director Chris Robinson will present some of the highlights of the festival. For more information contact ASIFA-Hollywood at: 725 South Victory Blvd., Burbank, California 91502, U.S.A.; Tel.: (818) 842-8330; Fax: (818) 842-5645; E-mail: info@asifa-hollywood.org; or Web: www.asifa-hollywood.org.
R!OT has provided visual effects for a new 30-second spot introducing the Escape, Ford's sporty, new SUV. The commercial opens with a simple black on white graphic reading "consumer affairs director." Several letters pull out of the graphic and reform as part of a logo on the back of a surfboard hitched to the top of an Escape driving along an animated beach.
Quiet Man has created the visual effects for the spots "Turkey" and "China," from the new four spot Fox Sports campaign via agency Cliff Freeman & Partners (NYC). "To convincingly create the effect of diving off a 50-meter cliff onto dry ground, I needed footage of a stuntman diving into an airbag, and a shot of a dummy falling onto the ground from an elevation of about 12 feet," said Johnnie Semerad, Quiet Man founder and lead visual effects artist. "With that we could then create a composite effect, using Discreet Logic Inferno, of the free-fall.
Web4's new Internet production and post-production tool for animation and digital video and film premiered at NAPTE. eReview Producer provides real-time streaming, keyframe and office document view, markup, collaboration and archiving, audio and music support, integrated real-time video conferencing and chat features all accessible from multiple global locations. "eReview is the only production/post-production software tool of its kind for use with digital based film, video and animation," said Charles Sleichter, vice president of marketing for Web4.
DigiCel, Inc. recently released FlipBook PT, their new pencil test software for Windows. The new software follows the classical approach to cel animation letting animators scan and shoot or draw their artwork directly into a traditional exposure sheet and play it back instantly. The user can then adjust the playback rate, synchronize the soundtrack and even edit the exposure sheet while the scene is playing, then see and hear those changes immediately. This is also useful for storyboarding, animatics and track reading to improve lip synch.
The British Academy of Film & Television Artists have announced the nominations for the 2001 Orange British Academy Film Awards. Visual spectacle ruled the list with GLADIATOR and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON receiving 14 nominations each. Both films garnered nominations in the outstanding film, screenplay, music and visual effects categories. Joining the Roman romp and romantic fantasy for best special effects are THE PERFECT STORM, VERTICAL LIMIT and CHICKEN RUN.
Pierre Lambert's new book BLANCHE NEIGE (SNOW WHITE) delves into the art behind Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. It serves as a showcase for story sketches, inspirational paintings, rough and finished animation drawings, cels and background paintings drawn from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library and private collections around the world, including many never-before-published images.
Audience numbers for top toon THE SIMPSONS were hurt this past week due to the Super Bowl, NFL football's championship game, airing in the same time slot. Bart and the family scored a 4.1 rating/6 share in 81st place. At #91, FUTURAMA and KING OF THE HILL scrapped up a meager 2.5 rating/4 share. UPN's animation Friday block of CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH and GARY & MIKE drummed up a 1.6 rating/3 share tied in 106th place. In a three-way tie for #118, WB's THE PJS scored the lowest numbers of the week for the network a 1.1 rating/2 share.