Visual effects and design company A52 has recently completed visual effects work for the latest Gatorade Ice spot via agency Element 79 Partners and director Phil Joanou. "Defining Mia," a 30-second spot that began airing on April 1, 2002, shows U.S. soccer star Mia Hamm on the field with Gatorade Ice in her veins. While she shoots for the winning goal, a sequence of X-ray shots shows the Ice at work inside her.
Mike and Liz Young of Mike Young Productions (MYP) and Bill Schultz, former nine-year veteran executive vice president of Film Roman, have formalized their current working relationship by announcing the formation of a new partnership. "Although the name on the door says Mike Young Productions at the moment, the studio has for the past four years been the mind-meld of three experienced producers -- all of whom are passionate about the business and the art of animated programming," said Mike Young.
LEGO Media, the entertainment division of the LEGO Company, has selected animation studio Creative Capers Entertainment to produce BIONICLE: THE MASK OF LIGHT, a 70-minute, CGI-animated direct-to-video feature scheduled to debut in September 2003. The project is LEGO Medias first production based on original characters and story lines created by the LEGO Company. The story of BIONICLE: THE MASK OF LIGHT takes its inspiration from the folklore of many cultures and features six bio-mechanical heroes, called the Toa, who come from the island of Mata Nui.
The National Network (TNN) has announced plans to launch an adult animation block of programming in the 2003 season. Headlining the block is GARY THE RAT, a half-hour original animated series starring Kelsey Grammer as the voice of the title character. Gary is a New York attorney who is so unscrupulous and immoral that he wakes up one morning to discover that he's turned into a rat. Rob and Mark Cullen are the writers and creators of the series and serve as co-executive producers, along with Grammer. The series is produced by Grammnet Productions.
At MIP-TV 2002, TV-Loonland has struck a first time deal with Italian state broadcaster RAI for several shows. RAIs free TV channels RAI 2 and RAI 3 will air CRAMP TWINS (26 x 30 minutes) in 2002 while LITTLE GHOSTS (39 x 7 minutes), PETTSON AND FINDUS (13 x 13 minutes) and CLIFFORD (40 x 30 minutes) are expected to air in 2003. Additionally, RAIs pay-TV channel RAISAT will broadcast CLIFFORD, LITTLE GHOSTS and CONNIE THE COW (52 x 7 minutes) in 2002.
Fox Kids Europe (FKE) is at MIP-TV this week and has already acquired 26 half-hour episodes of the new animated series ROBOROACH and 52 episodes of the animated series HAMTARO. ROBOROACH, starring a cockroach superhero named Rube who can morph into almost anything, and Reg, Rube's street-smart big brother, is a co-production between RTV Family Entertainment AG and Canadian producer-distributor Portfolio Entertainment.
The three animation divisions that make up the newly formed Vancouver-based SecondSun Entertainment, are merging under one roof. As of May 1, 2002 3D division Brainchild Studios, 2D division Delaney & Friends Productions and Interactive Game Division Furious Entertainment will begin operation in a combined production and administration facility. SecondSun's new office will be in the heart of British Columbia's film and TV studio district, 15 minutes from Vancouver, in the city of Burnaby.
Digital Production Management (DPM) systems provider NXN Software has begun shipping an upgrade to the NXN alienbrain plug-in for the Softimage|XSI v.2.0 nonlinear animation system (NLA). Using the advanced NetView technology of the XSI system, users can access many of the asset and workflow management features found in NXN alienbrain 5.0 directly from a pop-up window in the Softimage|XSI interface. This will enable users to access, edit, rollback and version control their scenes, textures and animations using NXN alienbrain's secure client/server environment.
Tenerife International Animation Festival, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Wednesday, November 06 - Sunday, November 10, 2002.
Entry Deadline: Wednesday, July 31, 2002.
Creative editorial and post-production boutique Flipside has just completed a major Clorox campaign via DDB/SF, after the addition of lead animator Nathaniel Hunter. Nathaniel brings a broad background in games, multimedia, television and film production to his new role as lead animator at Flipside Editorial. Nathaniel was co-founder of Lumens Studios where he spent three years before going freelance. During that time, he began consulting for Matteworld Digital on the film ARMAGEDDON.
Adobe Systems has announced a new Plug-In Power Pack for Adobe After Effects 5.5 incorporating 16 new effects and Advanced Windows Media support. The After Effects 5.5 Plug-In Power Pack works with Adobe After Effects 5.5 software to produce motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the Web. The new Windows Media output module offers a comprehensive set of controls to create Windows Media streaming video content. Users can customize settings, embed metadata, create multi-stream movies and independently optimize audio and video.
Kids animation producer-distributor TV-Loonland will present a new slate of animation programming at MIP-TV 2002. Leading the Loonland catalogue is the launch of REBOOT - SEASON IV. Animated by Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. REBOOT was the first ever half-hour computer animated TV series produced. Originally seen on North American television in September 1994 on YTV (Canada) and on ABC Television (USA), the series remains one of YTV's top-rated programs and can be seen in the daily Toonami block on the Cartoon Network.
The new psychological thriller CHANGING LANES topped the box office this week, despite a strong performance from PANIC ROOM, which fell to second in its third week. CHANGING LANES debuted with $17.5M, while PANIC ROOM, with visual effects by ComputerCafe, scared up $11.3M for a three-week total of $74.1M. The girl buddy comedy THE SWEETEST THING took the third spot with $10M. Showing that family-friendly films are holding their own at the box office, ICE AGE is in fourth place after five weeks in release.
Los Angeles, California's ANIMAX Interactive is looking for a CHARACTER DESIGNER . . . Calgary, Alberta's Applied Multimedia Training Centers is looking for a 3D ANIMATION INSTRUCTOR and a CLASSICAL ANIMATION INSTRUCTOR . . . Laguna Beach, California's Art Institute of Southern California is looking for a CHAIR OF ANIMATION . . . Chilliwack, British Columbia's Beauwest Productions is looking for a 3D ANIMATOR . . . Lombard, Illinois' Big Idea Productions is looking for an ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, an OUTSOURCE PRODUCER and a TD/SOFTWARE DEVELOPER . . .
Don't miss your chance to see this award-winning feature film, which recently picked up another prize at the 11th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film...
Affiliate animator Aaron Augenblick has had his short film DRUNKY accepted by Annecy 2002, which takes place June 3 - 7, 2002 in Annecy, France. DRUNKY is in competition for this year's Annecy awards. Films chosen for the competition will be accessible on the Festival Website at www.annecy.org from May 10 to June 7, 2002. Visitors to the site can cast their votes online during this period.
Visit all of AWN's Discussion Forums to stay in touch with the animation community!
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:
Capilano College Grad Show - 2D & 3D: Saturday, April 27, 2002, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. . . School of Visual Arts Dustys Film Festival & Awards: Monday, May 13 - Thursday, May 16, 2002, New York, New York USA. . . L!CENSING 2002: Tuesday, June 11 - Thursday, June 13, 2002, New York, New York USA . . . National Lum & Abner Society Convention: Friday, June 14 - Saturday, June 15, 2002, Mena, Arkansas USA.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. This week, we're asking questions about anime. Who has often been referred to as the "Walt Disney of Japan"? Which film outperfomed Return of the Jedi in 1988? What is Ghibli Studio's latest Japanese box office success? Good luck...you'll need it!
Production and distribution company France Animation is attending MIP-TV with a slate of new animated series for children of all ages. Heading the slate is new animated sitcom DR. DOG. Aimed at children aged 6 to 10 years old, this 52 x 13-minute series, co-produced with Silver Lining Productions, is based on the irreverent book by British author Babette Cole. Their documentary series INSECTOSCOPE makes its international debut at MIP-TV as well. Geared toward 6 to 12 year-olds, INSECTOSCOPE (52 x 6-minutes) is a co-production with France's MC4 and TF1 and RAI Italy.
Independent animation house Alphanim has partnered with Canadian production company Nelvana on THE DELTA STATE (26 x 30-minutes). The show, which focuses on four 20-something East Berliners with supernatural powers, was originally announced in 2001 as a co-production with Cinar, but fell through when Cinar Europe closed its doors in February 2002. With Nelvana now on board, the series is scheduled to deliver in fall 2003. Alphanim has also committed to CREEP SCHOOL (26 x 26-minutes) a co-production with Sweden's Happy Life and France 3. The series is also scheduled for 2003.
Universal Interactive, Inc. has shipped THE SCORPION KING: SWORD OF OSIRIS, an action-adventure game for Game Boy Advance. The game is based on Universal Pictures' THE SCORPION KING starring The Rock, and will be in stores to coincide with the film's theatrical release on April 19, 2002. Developed for the Game Boy Advance by southern California-based WayForward Technologies, THE SCORPION KING: SWORD OF OSIRIS is an action-adventure game where players step into The Rock's role as the Scorpion King to defeat more than 30 new enemies on a quest to retrieve the Sword of Osiris.
At the 2002 NAB show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Discreet announced details of inferno 5, flame 8 and flint 8, the most powerful versions of the company's visual effects software to date. Offering enhanced feature sets, such as mixed resolution support, extended editing capabilities and support for background rendering on Linux, the new releases will also support the FBX file format from Kaydara, creating improved integration of 2D and 3D workflow and extending the 3D model support across different vendors writing with this industry standard.
The first two episodes of the BRB Internacional and Telecinco (Spain) co-production GLADIATOR ACADEMY (26 x 30 minutes) will be available at MIP-TV 2002. The show is targeted to 6 to 10 year-olds and follows the adventures of a family of young gladiators living on a Mediterranean island during the Roman Empire. Another BRB animated series making its debut at MIP-TV is THE INVISIBLE MAN (26 x 30 minutes), which is currently in pre-production. This series combines 2D and 3D animation and is geared to 8 to 12 year-olds.
Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week:
Tom & Jerry: Produced in Prague
Not all Tom & Jerry cartoons were produced in Hollywood, U.S.A. Gene Deitch tells how a full dozen were made in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
