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Film Events

Frank Gladstone Presents "What Makes A Great Film Great"

By Guest (not verified) | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: October 25, 2000

Glendale Community College is presenting an evening with Frank Gladstone, who has worked as a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher for more than 25 years. Currently, he is head of artistic development at DreamWorks, SKG Animation. Gladstone will go through a step by step critique of the Charlie Chaplin film CITY LIGHTS to determine "what makes a great film great." He will look into the effects of lighting, intensity, background interest, etc., along with a good story.

Festival Events

The Sixth Annual Toronto Digital Image Festival

By Guest (not verified) | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: October 25, 2000

The sixth annual Toronto Digital Image Festival (TDIF) celebrates works in 3D animation, compositing and experimental technique. Toronto artists already involved include Marcus Moore (HOVERBOY) and Rick Dolishny (JUNGLE LOVE). TDIF's special guest will be Phil McNally, creator of the award-winning cult short PUMP-ACTION MAN. The event will feature workshops and seminars run by industry insiders.

Events

Unsold Japanese Anime Pilots Of The 1960s Screening

By Guest (not verified) | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: October 25, 2000

An evening of rare English-dubbed Japanese animated TV series of the 1960s that DIDN'T make it to America! Osamu Tezuka's BIG X, Toei's KEN THE WOLF BOY and Tatsunoko's SPACE ACE (aka RING-O) will be screened. Jerry Beck, Fred Patten and Fred Ladd (producer of the English language SPACE ACE) will introduce the screening. The event takes place at 7:30 pm. Admission for ASIFA members is US$2, non-members $5 and seating is limited.

Headline News

Disney Celebrates Christmas With Two Holiday Releases

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 12:00am

In celebration of the upcoming holidays, Walt Disney Home Video will be releasing MICKEY'S ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS and ROLIE POLIE OLIE: A ROLIE POLIE CHRISTMAS. ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS will be available on both VHS and DVD, while A ROLIE POLIE CHRISTMAS will be on VHS. ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS will feature holiday tunes, Christmas themed cartoons starring Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck and Goofy, all linked together by narration from FRASIER's Kelsey Grammer. A ROLIE POLIE CHRISTMAS features three holiday themed episodes of the popular 3D animated children's series.

Headline News

Hair and Fur For The Masses

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 12:00am

Spurred on by overwhelming high-end interest, Joe Alter, Inc. will release Shave EXTREME, a high-end version of "Shave and a Haircut," the hair and fur software that has true integrated dynamic hair simulation, inverse kinematics and collision integrated into the modeling environment. Currently, the program works with LightWave and Messiah. Shave EXTREME will endeavor to replace/augment cumbersome in-house hair creation and rendering pipelines. Amongst an ambitious list of planned enhancements is direct and efficient support of Pixar's Renderman rendering software.

Headline News

InSpeck Makes Scanning & Morphing Easier

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 12:00am

Montreal 3D digitizing firm, InSpeck, Inc., announced the official launch of its new Multi-Head 3D digitizing system, FAPS. The product is a single-unit, modular solution that uses multiple digitizers to acquire data of a complete 3D surface within a few seconds. The company's software has also been updated, offering a new, intuitive user interface and the ability to handle acquisition data from the Multi-Head system. InSpeck's new Multi-Head System is designed to digitize/compile up to six different views of a 3D model, and automatically merge them into a composite 3D image.

Entertainment Headline News

Icebox Names Entertainment Veterans As COO & CMO

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 12:00am

Icebox.com, an Internet animation content creator, has named entertainment industry veterans Cheryl Parnell as chief operating officer and Christos Garkinos as senior VP and chief marketing officer. Previously, Parnell served as executive VP and chief operating officer for Roger Corman's production company, Concorde-New Horizons, where she oversaw shows such as Showtime's ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS. "Cheryl is a passionate and talented entertainment executive who has a tremendous breadth of experience," said Icebox CEO Steve Stanford.

Version Headline News

Angel Cop Collection Arrives On DVD

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 12:00am

From Manga Video, the ANGEL COP COLLECTION is coming to DVD. Violent terrorists called the Red May have started a wave of bombings and murders across Tokyo and the Special Security Force has been called in to restore order before the entire country comes tumbling down. The compilation contains six episodes of the popular series, in an English dubbed version, English subtitled version and Japanese version, plus there are Manga previews, links, fan club info and a DVD catalog. The DVD will sell for US$29.95 and hits stores October 31, 2000.

Events

Yuri Norstein Discussion

By Guest (not verified) | Tuesday, October 24, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: October 24, 2000

Yuri Norstein will be presenting videos of his work, discussing his current projects and answering questions from the audience. The event will be in Russian and admission is US$10. The proceeds will go toward the completion of his work-in-progress THE OVERCOAT. The event will take place from 7 - 9 pm.

Headline News

Animation Stock Ticker For Tuesday, October 24, 2000

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN, Inc. makes available certain financial information from third party information providers. AWN does not give advice in any such fields, and has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. This information is provided solely as a means to keep our readers informed of the market performance and trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional regarding any investment or financial issues.

Million Headline News

Hollow Man Debuts Strong At IBO, What Lies & X-Men Hold On

With HOLLOW MAN claiming strong debuts in Germany and Italy, WHAT LIES BENEATH and X-MEN hold on tight to other tops spots around the world. In first place, HOLLOW MAN scored big in its German premiere with a gross of US$3.78 million. SCARY MOVIE came in right behind with a gross of $3.47 million, raising its German cume to $8.84 million. WHAT LIES BENEATH sunk to third with a gross of $1.37 million, lifting its German cume to $7.11 million. In seventh, FINAL DESTINATION piled up $487,846, bringing its German cume to $6.66 million.

Cartoon Headline News

Two Senior Appointments At Cartoon Network Netherlands

Cartoon Network Netherlands has promoted Bas van Putte to senior marketing manager and hired Erma van Lamoen as senior programme manager. Van Putte has been with Cartoon Network Netherlands for three years. He will continue to oversee all marketing and brand development in the Netherlands, in addition to directing the administration and marketing the channel's multimedia activities. Van Lamoen will work closely with the programming team in London and will oversee the on-air look of the channel.

Animation Headline News

KliK Animation Names Ethier Director Of Business Development

Montréal-based KliK Animation, a worldwide leader in motion-capture and 3D animation, has appointed Vincent Ethier as director of business development. Previously, Ethier served as Canadian sales manager for Softimage. He will oversee sales in the services and production segment.

Animation Headline News

DMA Hits A Home Run With Salty IDs

DMA has completed new IDs for Hearst-Argyle stations featuring Salty the Parrot. Tony Caio of DMA Animation directed the animated shorts, which promote local broadcasts from sports to holiday greetings. DMA's design approach is a mix of CGI and traditional Warner Bros. style of animation. The Salty character is owned by King Features. DMA has worked with clients such as Nickelodeon, The Food Network, Noggin, Grey Advertising, Kidvertisers, Sesame Workshop, ABC, CBS and WGBH/Boston. To view the Salty spots, go to http://www.dma-animation.com.

Series Headline News

Sideshow Spotlights New TV Series Arrest & Trial

Sideshow, a New York post-production and visual design studio, has finished a series of promo spots for the new syndicated TV crime series ARREST & TRIAL. Sideshow delivered two 15-second and 10-second teasers, three 30-second promotional spots and 4 15-second versions of the same. In addition, the company is working on a 30-second Jumbo-tron spot for use in Times Square and other outdoor viewing venues. The show is a reality-based crime series from LAW AND ORDER creator Dick Wolfe and produced by Studios USA.

Short Headline News

Flash Animated Theatrical Short Nears Completion

Director Richard Bazley is finishing up on a 7-minute theatrical short entitled THE JOURNAL OF EDWIN CARP, which was animated using Macromedia's Flash. Produced by Ray Bengston, the film is based on the book of the same name by Richard Haydn (voice of the caterpillar in Disney's original animated ALICE IN WONDERLAND). The short features the voice talents of British actor Hugh Laurie (STUART LITTLE, live-action 101 DALMATIONS). Richard Bazley was a lead animator at Disney and later at Warner Bros. on THE IRON GIANT.

Story Headline News

Toy Story 2 DVD Has High Fidelity Cursing

Walt Disney is recalling copies of the new TOY STORY 2 DVD because it contains footage from Touchstone's R-rated HIGH FIDELITY. Costco stores received copies of the TOY STORY 2 DVD three-pack, which featured an F-word filled clip from FIDELITY in the middle of the movie. The glitch only effects the TOY STORY three-pack in less than 1% of the discs. "We are confident that the defective product has been isolated and removed from store shelves," Disney said in a statement.

Film Headline News

India's Pentamedia Buys 51% Of Film Roman

Chennai, India-based Pentamedia Graphics, Ltd., formerly known as Pentafour Software and Exports, Ltd., and Film Roman, Inc. have announced a letter of intent pursuant to which Pentamedia will purchase a 51% stake in Film Roman. The deal was a US$15 million cash deal, which is aimed to close by January after regulatory and board approvals. In regards to the deal, Film Roman CEO and president John Hyde told AWN, "I think it allows us to execute our very specific five-year plan.

Events

Yuri Norstein's Overcoat Screening

By Guest (not verified) | Monday, October 23, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: October 23, 2000

Yuri Norstein is coming to America and presenting his work-in-progress THE OVERCOAT. Following the screening, Norstein will discuss his work and answer questions from the audience. The event is sponsored by ASIFA Washington, D.C. and admission is US$10. The screening will start at 7 pm and run until 8:30. The proceeds will go toward the completion of the film. After the ASIFA screening Norstein will be at Borders Books, Music & Caf

Company Headline News

EM.TV Names Rickmeyer CFO

German children's production company EM.TV & Merchandising AG has named Rolf Rickmeyer chief financial officer. This move comes in light of deputy chairman Florian Haffa's stepping down from the position. EM.TV's stock has lost more than two-thirds of its value since an accounting error in the acquisition of the Jim Henson Co. and Formula One cut earnings for the first quarter. Previously, Rickmeyer served as CFO for Lahmeyer AG, a German utility and machinery company.

Motion Headline News

Dominating Motion Capture

By Mike Amron | Monday, October 23, 2000 at 12:00am

House of Moves (HOM), a world-leader in motion capture services and technology, has released its custom software plug-in Dominatrix for Maya 3.0 on Windows NT, with Win2k and Irix shipping soon. The Dominatrix plug-in addresses several problems by allowing animators to use traditional Inverse Kinematic "key-frame" animation techniques in conjunction with all of the nuances of motion-captured performance and allowing animators to compensate for differences in proportion between live performers and CG characters.

Headline News

3D Models Up On 3Dup

By Mike Amron | Monday, October 23, 2000 at 12:00am

3Dup.com and DeEspona Infografica have started distributing free 3D models over the Internet. The agreement between the Web portal for 3D artists, 3Dup.com, and DeEspona Infografica, a 3D modeling company, has started the free distribution of quality three-dimensional models for special effects in movies and advertising spots. DeEspona Infografica, a European company whose 3D models are used by DreamWorks (GLADIATOR) and RezN8 (spots on CBS, NBC and ABC), are among the best in the market due to the realism and finish. The models are available at http://3dup.com/highmodels.

Toon Headline News

WB Rocks Holidays With Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer Toon

To celebrate the holidays, Warner Bros. will release the direct-to-video title GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER. Produced by Phil Roman Entertainment, GRANDMA is based on the popular song of the same name and follows the misadventures of young Jake Spankenheimer on his journey to discover what happened to his missing grandmother. The original song was written by Randy Brooks and was recorded by Elmo Shropshire in 1979. Shropshire will provide the narration for the new cartoon. The new toon will arrive in video stores on October 31, 2000 and will sell for US$14.95.

Million Headline News

Comedy With Devilish F/X Bedazzles US Auds At #2

With the Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller comedy, MEET THE PARENTS, taking the top stop for the third straight week, the new devilish comedy, BEDAZZLED, debuted in #2. The sell-your-soul side-splitter, with primary visual effects by Rhythm & Hues, seduced US$13.11 million out of U.S. moviegoers' pockets. Losing 59% at the ticket window, New Line's LOST SOULS scored only $3.24 million in seventh. The evil enchanter, with primary visual effects by Cinesite and yU + Co, has scared up $12.88 million in total in 10 days. Coming in 8th, the reissue of THE EXORCIST spun another $2.91 million.

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