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AWN Headline News

Games Headline News

TDK And Activision Bet On Shrek

TDK Mediactive, Inc. and Activision, Inc. have announced a strategic agreement to co-develop and co-publish video games. The companies have agreed that their initial collaboration will be based on TDK Mediactive's existing license to the sequel to DreamWorks Pictures' feature film SHREK. The first SHREK title to be released under this agreement is expected to launch on multiple platforms simultaneously with the theatrical debut of the SHREK sequel (currently scheduled for summer 2004).

Animation Headline News

Anzovin Studio Releases New 3d Animation Training Video

Anzovin Studio has released a new title in its training video series for Hash Inc.'s Animation:Master 3D animation software. SECRETS OF A:M 2002 provides more than 100 minutes of instruction for the newest version of Animation:Master. The training video covers topics including: getting familiar with the new interface; applying nonlinear animation tools to characters; creating and working with relationships; constraint tricks using delay and lag; animating with deformation cages; and building an explosion with spriticles.

Award Headline News

National Cartoonists Society Honors Jerry Scott

Jerry Scott, co-creator of the ZITS and BABY BLUES comic strips, has won the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) 2001 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. The "Oscar of cartooning" was presented at a black tie gala during the 56th Annual Reuben Awards Weekend, held this year in Cancun, Mexico. The Reuben Award, given by the NCS each year for exemplary cartoon work created in the previous year, was designed by and named after the NCS' first president, Rube Goldberg. In addition, cartoonists in various professional divisions were also honored with special plaques for excellence.

Super Headline News

Super 78 Creates Flashy Characters For Cousins

For a new campaign for submarine sandwich company Cousins, agency BVK/McDonald went to Hollywood-based production company Super 78 to create animated characters that could dance around Cousins' submarine sandwiches. "We had seven commercials to produce and, of course, limited resources," explained BVK/McDonald art director Scott Krahn. "Super 78 proposed the idea of using Flash animation for broadcast instead of 3D to stay consistent with the retro feel of the characters and to minimize costs.

Television Headline News

Poland Picks Up Disney's Classic Treasures

Buena Vista International Television (BVI-TV) has licensed the Classic Treasures package to Telewizja Polska S.A (TVP). The collection of Disney and Disney/Pixar animated features includes A BUG'S LIFE, POCAHONTAS, HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2. This is the first time these titles have been available on Polish television.

Headline News

ComputerCafé Creates Cinematics For EA's E3Expo Extravaganza

If you visited the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) in Los Angeles May 22-24, 2002, you may have come upon ComputerCafé's CGI cinematic presentations created for the debut of two of Electronic Arts' (EA) new videogames, COMMAND AND CONQUER GENERALS and EARTH AND BEYOND. For the massively multiplayer online adventure game EARTH AND BEYOND, ComputerCafé created 18 realistic CGI scenes of planetary exploration as seen through the eyes of the character Dewinter.

Visual Headline News

Sum Of All Fears Adds Up To Number One

Comic book and outer space heroes lost to a CIA operative in this weekend's box office, with action-thriller THE SUM OF ALL FEARS taking the top box office spot. Based on a novel by Tom Clancy with visual effects by Rhythm & Hues, the film took in $31.2M. SUM's number one debut added up to second place for STAR WARS: EPISODE II, with the attacking clones earning $20.6M this weekend, representing nearly a 60% drop from last weekend's 3-day box office. Ouch. This gives the space saga, with visual effects by ILM, $232M after three weeks in theaters.

Film Headline News

What's Buzzing At Buzzco?

"InBetweening America" was recently screened at the Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville, New York as part of "Selected Shorts from the New York Film Festival," and again as part of a special screening by the Checkerboard Film Foundation in Manhattan and the Buzzco short film "Fast Food Matador" will be featured as part of "Reel New York," a presentation of WNET New York...

Headline News

Independent Spirits: The Faith & John Hubley Story Debuts On PBS In June

Check your local listings for the one-hour documentary INDEPENDENT SPIRITS: THE FAITH & JOHN HUBLEY STORY produced by the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and scheduled to air on PBS in June 2002. Directed by Sybil DelGaudio, INDEPENDENT SPIRITS looks at the careers of Academy Award-winning animators John and Faith Hubley, at their contributions to the development of animation as an art form and at their effort to remain independent in a field that is largely commercial.

Series Headline News

TV-Loonland Completes Central And Eastern European Sales

TV-Loonland has recently completed the sale of several animation titles in Central and Eastern Europe on the eve of DISCOP, the television market held annually each June in Budapest, Hungary. One of TV-Loonlands most popular childrens series PETTSON AND FINDUS (13 x 13 minutes or 2 x 75 minutes) has been sold to Duna TV (Hungary), Czech TV (Czech Republic) and RTV Slo (Slovenia). The series is a co-production between TV-Loonland, Happy Life Animation and Svensk Filmindustri with the participation of ZDF. RTV Slo also picked up the pre-school series CONNIE THE COW (52 x 7 minutes).

Headline News

DIC Educates Fox

As reported in VARIETY, DIC Entertainment is to provide the Fox network with 2 1/2 hours of animated programming every week. The FCC requires local stations broadcast three hours of educational/informational programming per week. To fulfill the requirement, Fox will now provide its affiliates episodes of DIC produced shows SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE 22ND CENTURY, ARCHIE'S WEIRD MYSTERIES and STARGATE INFINITY. Margaret Loesch and Stanford University's Donald Roberts will serve as consultants to DIC in this endeavor.

Studio Headline News

Blur Uses Spidey Sense For Toy Biz

Blur Studio has created computer animation showing Spider-Man pursuing his nemesis the Green Goblin in a wild chase through New York City for a new commercial for Toy Biz. Conceived by New York agency Berenter Greenhouse & Webster, the commercial promotes a new Spider-Man Web Shooter toy and mixes live action sequences with computer animation. The opening shot reveals Spider-Man swinging by a strand of web between the high-rises of a cityscape.

Festival Headline News

2002 Dusty Film Festival Winners

Beginning May 13, 2002 the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City hosted its 13th Annual Dusty Film Festival and Awards, a three-day event featuring short films, videos and animation where graduating students from SVA were recognized for their outstanding achievements. The festival ended on May 16th with an evening awards ceremony and gala reception at New York's Beekman Theater. Jae Young Lee won Outstanding Achievement in Stop-Motion Animation for THE LETTER FROM HEAVEN while Outstanding Achievement in Traditional Animation went to Ryan Smith for STITCH.

Headline News

June Bugs This Weekend on Cartoon Network

"June Bugs," Cartoon Network's annual tribute to Bugs Bunny, begins June 1, 2002 at 8:00 am and continues until 10:00 pm on Sunday, June 2. For this 10th edition of the marathon, CN is airing more than 160 Bugs Bunny cartoons in alphabetical order beginning with "The Abominable Snow Rabbit" and ending with "Yankee Doodle Bugs." Over on Boomerang, CN's cab-sat network devoted to classic cartoons, Daffy Duck will be quacking up viewers during his own counter-programming stunt.

Animation Headline News

Job Opportunities For Animators, Directors, Producers, Instructors And More

Bangalore, India's Acropetal is looking for an AGENT/REPRESENTATIVE, an ANIMATION CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT INSTRUCTOR and an INSTRUCTOR . . . Animationelements is looking for an ANIMATION WRITER . . . London, Ontario's Armstrong-Douglas & Associates is looking for ARTISTS . . . Beebeard, LLC is looking for a CHARACTER ARTIST/ANIMATOR . . . Blaze Paint Digital Ltd. is looking for a 2D/3D ARTIST/ANIMATOR . . . Clay Pixel Studios is looking for a GAMES TRACK LEAD, a HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER and a PUBLIC RELATIONS SPECIALIST . . . London, UK's Datascope Recruitment is looking for a SENIOR ANIMATOR .

Disney Headline News

Disney Channel Asia Launches In Korea

ABC Cable Networks Group will be launching its Disney Channel Asia service in Korea on June 1, 2002. Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting (KDB), Korea's first direct-to-home service provider, will carry Disney Channel's Asia service on channel 654 under its Skylife brand name. The Korean Broadcasting Commission granted Disney Channel approval as a foreign re-transmission channel early in 2002. Negotiations between KDB and Disney began in the middle of 2001 and culminated in the recent agreement.

Production Headline News

In-House Promotion And New Appointment At Telemagination

U.K.-based animation producer Telemagination has promoted Denise Green to the position of producer and hired Claire Watson as production manager. In her new capacity as Telemaginations only in-house producer, Denise Green will have full responsibility for all productions running through the studio. Current projects include SOMETHING ELSE (26 x 11 minutes) and PONGWIFFY (26 x 11 minutes). She originally joined Telemagination as production manager in January 2001. Claire Watson has joined Telemagination as production manager and oversees all of Telemaginations production work.

Game Headline News

Ed, Edd N Eddy New For Game Boy Advance

Neighborhood friends ED, EDD N EDDY will soon be searching for jawbreakers on Game Boy Advance. Los Angeles-based videogame publisher Crave Entertainment has signed a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to develop a Game Boy Advance title based on the Cartoon Network series. The title is anticipated to ship in Fall 2002. The game will mirror the three friends' television quest to make money to buy jawbreakers. The object of the game is to help the Ed's win a contest whose grand prize is, of course, a lifetime supply of jawbreakers.

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