DreamWorks Animation announced the election of Richard Sherman to its Board of Directors.
Sherman has served as CEO of The David Geffen Company, an investment management company, since 1992. Prior to assuming this position, Mr. Sherman was a partner with Breslauer, Jacobson, Rutman and Sherman, a leading business management firm serving the entertainment industry. He previously served as a staff accountant with Peat, Marwick and Mitchell.
Crafting strong narrative in student animation is often overlooked, and Heather Kenyon makes the case for several top programs that have excelled in recent years.
According to Henry LaBounta, Chief Visual Officer for EA Black Box, Game Art Direction has three main focus areas – the look of the game, the characters and animation, and the graphic design (menus, user interface, and fonts) – and most of the unsolved problems are with the characters and animation.
Janet Hetherington digs up some secrets from creator Jay Stephens about The Secret Saturdays, the new comedy-action animated series airing on Cartoon Network.
VFXWorld talks exclusively with Bob Osher and Hannah Minghella, the new heads of Sony Pictures Digital Prods., about their artist-centric approach to vfx and animation.
Nathania Seales has been promoted to VP of production for Cartoon Network On-Air. Formerly senior director of on-air production, Seales will oversee production of on-air promotions, program production, ad-supported/sponsored promotions and branding material for Cartoon Network and Boomerang. She will continue to manage the assignment of projects and budget allocations to partnering production companies, writers, animation and live-action producers and on-air talent.
Cary Granat is leaving his post as co-CEO of Walden Media -- the company he co-founded -- but will stay as a consultant until the third CHRONICLES OF NARNIA film comes out, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Walden will not bring in a co-CEO to work with Michael Bostick. David Weil, Bostick and Anschutz Film Group CEO, will take on Granat's responsibilities. Bostick joined Walden last March.
Toronto-based distribution company, Breakthrough Ent. has promoted Nat Abraham as its Head of Distribution. Abraham will oversee daily operations including worldwide sales, pre-sales and co-production opportunities.
Jay Fukuto has been promoted to the position of head of studio for Film Roman at a time when the animation studio is working at near-full capacity with proprietary projects, as well as those produced for other companies. The announcement is effective immediately.
Image Metrics, a provider of facial animation solutions for the entertainment industry, is aligning its operations into Video Game and Film & TV divisions to address the growing demand for its services in the two industries.
Image Metrics' Kelvin Duckett has been promoted to GM of the film group. Former Havok sales exec Brian Waddle is joining Image Metrics as GM of the games organization. In these newly-created positions, Duckett and Waddle will work directly with CEO Mike Starkenburg to expand business operations in their respective markets.
Academy Award nominee Les Ekker has joined Zoic Studios as Creative Director of the commercial division. This position includes directing, on and off set visual effects supervision, visual effects design and mentoring.
Ekker, who went freelance to pursue a multi-faceted experience after his 13-year tenure at Digital Domain, was thrilled to have this ideal role specially designed for him at Zoic.
In this month's column, Martin Goodman gets a head start on Christmas by analyzing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town in mythic terms that would make Joseph Campbell proud.
Geraldine Laybourne was appointed to Electronic Arts' Board of Directors on November 5, 2008.
Hornet has signed a new directing team, Santa Maria, comprised of Josh Goodrich and David Hill. Santa Maria will be represented by Passion Pictures in Europe through Hornet's ongoing collaboration with the European production company.
Lucien Harrington has been appointed to the newly created position of VP, Branding & Communications -- Turner Entertainment Networks Asia (TENA).
Crawford Post Production, a service area of Crawford Communications, Inc. and largest post production operation in the southeast U.S., hires Carol Ashley as senior vfx designer. Ashley came to Crawford from Los Angeles, where she was involved with the creative process on feature films and TV for nearly 20 years.
She has worked with DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks and most recently for Technicolor Interactive as art director. Her career began with the California Raisin commercials as animator and character designer on the award-winning campaign.
Guerilla FX continues its expansion with the addition of Creative Director/Effects Supervisor/Director John Bair and Executive Producer Vivian Connolly.
Bair and Connolly come to GFX from Edgeworx (New York, NY), where they worked as a team, and will be concentrating their energies primarily on feature film effects and titles, medium and long format broadcast effects and titles, and broadcast design.
Alasdair MacCuish has been promoted to the position of Managing Director at LipSync Post, after five years as Head of Digital Film at the company.
Jon Diamond, Managing Director of The LipSync Group, said, "I am confident that Alasdair will bring a lot to this role. He has plenty of ideas and enthusiasm to contribute to our future, and help make the services we offer even better in terms of technical excellence and customer service."
Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks has appointed John Barbour as President of its games division. Barbour joins Real after more than 20 years of success in consumer entertainment businesses, particularly in toys and games.
Eric Berger, SVP, digital networks, will take over the reins of Crackle, Sony Pictures Entertainment's online video network.
In this role, Berger will oversee content development and programming, marketing and distribution for Crackle.
"Eric has a clear vision for the future of Crackle," said Sean Carey, senior exec VP, Sony Pictures Television. "one that takes advantage of the studio's current relationships and assets as well as looking for breakout talent. His passion for the space and for Crackle's potential are certain to take it to the next level."
Bill Desowitz gets under the hood of the new Pixar interstitial series with co-directors Rob Gibbs and Victor Navone.
VFXWorld goes deeper into Autodesk's surprising acquisition of 3D rival Softimage with Autodesk Media & Ent. SVP Marc Petit and Softimage General Manager Marc Stevens.
Visual effects veteran Steve Dellerson has joined LOOK Effects Inc. Hollywood as Exec Producer for feature film production. At LOOK, Dellerson will promote additional growth and provide guidance to the company's creation of motion picture visual effects. Dellerson's experience in vfx production, from shooting through digital post processes, will enhance client communications and support production efficiency across LOOK's simultaneous productions.
Thurop Van Orman talks about the creation of the hit animated series that started with a dream.
Tanya Van Court, who has led Nickelodeon's preschool and parents online businesses, will now expand her position in the company as SVP and GM of NOGGIN, ParentsConnect and Nick Jr.com. Van Court will report to Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group's Chief Operating Officer, Sarah Kirshbaum Levy for TV; and Exec VP, Digital Media, Steve Youngwood for digital.
