AWN Headline News

Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, specialfeatures and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry ofanimation. New this week:

- Find the Right School for YouWe are always asked, "What's the best animation school to attend?" And the answer is..."It depends on you." Dan Sarto offers a checklist of advice to find the right school for you.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Animation Dreams VII: Awake to an Exhibition: Monday, February 04 - Wednesday, February 13, 2002, New York, New York USA . . . Creative Career Symposium 4: Saturday, February 09, 2002, Portland, Oregon USA . . . LA SIGGRAPH Presents: Small Shops, Big Punch: Tuesday, February 12, 2002, North Hollywood, California USA . . . An Evening with PIXAR: The Making of Monsters, Inc.: Monday, February 25, 2002, San Francisco, California USA . . .

SD Entertainment, a content creator and property builder, has formed two new divisions, interactive and licensing. The divisions will be headed by Michele Martell, SDs senior vice president and general counsel. In its first licensing venture, SD will become the domestic master toy licensing agent and television representative for MAKE WAY FOR NODDY. SD has produced 100 episodes of the new CGI animated series, which is an update of the Emmy Award-winning preschool series, NODDY, based on characters created by author Enid Blyton.

Digital artist/designer Ben Orisich has joined New York-based design, production and VFX company Cyclotron. The 25 year-old Orisich comes to Cyclotron from four years at Click 3X in Atlanta where he was senior Inferno artist. Prior to joining Click 3X, he was a freelance artist specializing in compositing, digital effects and editing. Orisich began his career as an intern at WHOA! Films, pursuing interests in compositing, animation and editing. Orisichs work has won numerous awards, including the Gold BDA International Design Award (2000), an Emmy (1998) and an Addy Gold Award.

New York-based director and designer Jeremy Hollister has signed with London-based creative agency Skunk for worldwide representation. Hollisters recent projects include creating a show package for the 2001 MTV Movie Awards, idents for MTV2 and ESPN and commissioned work for companies in Hong Kong and Japan. Jeremy has also been recently appointed creative director at design and visual effects house R!OT Design in New York.

The innovative studio that brought the synthespians of FINAL FANTASY to life, is planning to close up shop. Pressure from parent company Square Co., Ltd. of Tokyo is forcing Honolulu-based Square USA into closure, if they cannot find investors between now and March 31, 2002. Square Co. ceased funding of the studio in September, and although Square USA attempted to find partners in major U.S. studios, they have not been able to procure outside funding. Although the studio hopes an investor will appear in the 11th hour, a March 31st shut down seems inevitable.

Despite a lackluster weekend box office due to the Super Bowl, the action of BLACK HAWK DOWN, with visual effects by The Mill and Asylum, kept the film at number one for a third week in a row. The film earned $11.1M for a total of $75.1M. The rest of the box office is almost a repeat of last week, with Disneys SNOW DOGS still in second, with $10.2M for a cume of $51.1M. In its second week of release THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO jumped up a spot to fourth, earning $8.8M for $23.4M to date.

TV-Loonland subsidiary Loonland Animation in Budapest has created and donated a short film in support of UNICEF. "Cartoons for Children's Rights" is a UNICEF broadcast initiative that aims to inform people around the world about child rights. So far, the effort has forged partnerships with nearly 70 animation studios in 32 countries that have developed 30-second non-verbal public service announcements (PSAs). UNICEF distributes the PSAs to broadcasters for the cost of the tape.

Animation producer Millimages is expanding into German territory with the acquisition of 51% of the Hamburg-based animation company, Toons n Tales. This latest acquisition follows the companys announcements in 2001 of the launch of Millimages USA, headed by Dorian Langdon, and the international distribution center, Millimages London. Toons n Tales managing director and co-founder Sunita Struck, will continue to oversee the company in partnership with Millimages.