AWN Headline News

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Japanese Animation: Anime And Its Influences: Wednesday, November 14, 2001, Los Angeles, California USA and eDIT 2001: Sunday, November 11 - Tuesday, November 13, 2001, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen Germany.

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:

- Speaking For Zimself: A Conversation With Jhonen Vasquez Martin"Dr. Toon" Goodman invades the mind of Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of Invader Zim, to discuss Zim, Jhonen's ideas and inspirations, and the ups and downs of producing his first animated series.

Gaffney, South Carolina's Animink Incorporated is looking for a WEB DESIGNER . . . Toronto, Ontario's Chuck Gammage Animation is looking for a COMPOSITOR . . . Chertsey, Surrey's Electronic Arts, an entertainment software company, is looking for a CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . Glendale, California's Excel Media Group is looking for an AGENT/REPRESENTATIVE . . . Sydney, Nova Scotia's Helix Digital Inc. is looking for a PRODUCTION ASSISTANT . . . Moorpark, California's Paradox Development is looking for ANIMATORS proficient in 3DS MAX . . .

Thirteen is the lucky number for Oscar hopefuls in the Animated Feature category. The November 1, 2001 deadline has come and gone, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokesperson John Pavlik told AWN thirteen applications for the Animated Feature Film Award were received. While Pavlik admitted that a couple of the films might have some eligibility problems, the Academy has enough applications to begin the screening process for qualification.

MoCap systems manufacturer Motion Analysis Corporation has hired Jeff Thingvold as VP of application engineering and Napoleon Hambrick as VP of new media sales for North America, South America and Japan. Focusing on the new media animation sector of the motion-capture industry, Jeff Thingvold will coordinate the development of all software tools and incorporate customers' current and future needs into software technology designs. Prior to joining Motion Analysis Corporation, Jeff was the chief technology officer at Lambsoft.

STVDIO Media, an American-run animation house based in Hong Kong and specializing in 2D character animation, has been awarded a grant by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to develop THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE. Based on characters from author Nury Vittachi's book, a bestseller in Australia and Hong Kong, the animated version has already generated interest from regional media companies. The FENG SHUI DETECTIVE follows the adventures of a Chinese feng shui expert and his Australian teenage girl assistant who travel across Asia assisting the police with their investigations.

On Monday, October 29, 2001, MTV Networks announced a worldwide restructuring plan resulting in 450 lay-offs, approximately 9% of its full-time staff. The departments most significantly affected are the online divisions and MTV Animation. The once separate online operations will be integrated with the television businesses meaning staffers for the online division will be moved out of their current location at 770 Broadway and merged with the television operation in midtown Manhattan. This move represents the majority of the staff cuts.

The Walt Disney Company has completed its previously announced acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide, Inc. from Haim Saban and Fox Broadcasting Company. The acquisition closed on October 21, 2001 with a final purchase price of $5.2 billion, including approximately $2.9 billion in cash and the assumption of $2.3 billion in Fox Family. Michael D.

Orlando animation production company A&S Animation, Inc., has produced a series of animated bible story shorts called A MESSAGE FROM GOD. Created by Emmy Award winning producers J&B DiFrancesco, the shorts will be included in Raven Moon Entertainment's new video release called GINA D'S KIDS CLUB. Based on the DiFrancescos concept of having two animated kids telling bible stories, Mark Simon of A&S Animation, Inc. developed and produced the three one-minute shorts telling the stories of Moses and the Ten Commandments, David and Goliath, and Adam and Eve.

J.J. Sedelmaier Productions has created three new spots for DDB New York client Georgia-Pacific Corp. In the latest installment of the Quilted Northern bathroom tissue television campaign, Sedelmaier revisited the Quilted Northern quilters, created by artist Bonnie Timmons. These animated craftswomen have been featured in numerous Northern commercials over the past four years. In one of the spots entitled "Squeak" (:30), the trio is revealed at work with needle and thread. Each time the quilters make a stitch, a small audible squeak resonates.

BOXX Technologies, provider of digital content creation systems for the entertainment and digital film industries, has included the new AMD Athlon MP processor in their 3DBOXX R1 series of high-performance workstations and the RenderBOXX R1 series of rendering systems. The new AMD Athlon MP processor features QuantiSpeed architecture and Smart MP technology and is designed to provide the optimal performance needed for computation-intensive applications while providing IT managers with the highest standard in platform stability and reliability.