NY Visual Effects studio Liquid Light, a division of Version2 Editing, has added Smoke artist Nathan Hurlburt to their roster. Initially an Avid editor, Nathan now includes visual effects design, compositing and online finishing among his talents. "Nathan is considered a whiz kid Smoke artist that I knew would impress our advertising and editorial clients," said Liquid Light executive producer Frank Devlin.
U.K.-based animation producers Cosgrove Hall have been given the go ahead by U.K. channel CiTV for 26 x 10 episodes of their new stop-motion/CGI series ENGIE BENJY, scheduled to debut on the channel in 2002. The show is geared toward pre-schoolers and follows the escapades of Engie Benjy the mechanic and his friends Dan the van and Jollop the dog. No distribution deals have been announced, but the show will be available internationally in 2002.
Creative Bubble has completed a four spot campaign for Wow Wee, a divison of Hasbro, Inc. by way of ad agency Posnick & Kolcker (NY). The spots all feature B.I.O.-(Bio-mechanical Integrated Organism) Bugs, Wow Wees new "artificial-intelligence" toy. "When Posnick & Kolcker called, they knew what they wanted," says Doug Dimon, senior effects artist at Creative Bubble. "First, they wanted a truly threatening sky. Second, they wanted two product shots to emphasize the dual mechanical-organic nature of these bugs.
On Level13.net, check out CalArts alum Charles Allen-Ecks award-winning short ONION JOHN. This musical tale of a misunderstood vegetable will leave you in tears.On Darkhorse.com, home to Darkhorse Comics, you find a growing variety of shorts including Tony Millionaires SOCK MONKEYand if youd like to see the day in the life of one unemployed man, check out LAID OFF at oddtodd.com (warning: contains some explicit language!).
Toon Boom Technologies has released the LightTable module upgrade, which is compatible with USAnimation V5 and runs on Windows 2000. The LightTable module allows animators to work remotely and send their drawings electronically to their partner studio anywhere in the world. With the LightTable module, animators can hand-draw animation with a pressure-sensitive pen and graphic tablet based on the classical light table approach and use these vector drawings with all of the other USAnimation modules.
The 18th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF) handed out its awards for this years festival at a gala celebration held at the Chicago Cultural Center on Sunday, November 4, 2001. The 10-day festival is the largest competitive festival of films for children in North America. Awards were handed out by two juries, the Adult Jury, whose members include media professionals from the film and video, animation, television, radio and print industries, and the 70 member Childrens Jury, comprised of children ages 7-13.
The British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the winners of its fourth annual interactive entertainment awards. Peppers Ghost Productions TINY PLANETS ONLINE (Publisher: Sesame Workshop) took home the award for Best Entertainment Website. The Website features the characters Bing and Bong and provides a range of animation, activities and interaction for young children. Disney Interactives TIGGERS HONEY HUNT CD-ROM (Developer: Doki Denki) won in the Childrens category.
Saturday, February 23 - Sunday, February 24, 2002. York, UK.
Entry Deadline: Saturday, January 12, 2002
Thursday, April 11 - Sunday, April 14, 2002. Taos, New Mexico, USA.
Entry Deadline: Tuesday, January 15, 2002.
In further developments of the MTV restructuring that has so far resulted in layoffs and the closing of MTV Animation production, Abby Terkuhle is no longer president of MTV Animation. However, according to an MTV spokesperson, Terkuhle will continue his relationship with the company, although the nature of this relationship could not be discussed at press time. Sources suggest that Terkuhle will have a first look producing deal or some similar arrangement.
Blue Sky Studios, currently at work on the upcoming CG animation feature ICE AGE, has laid off a significant number of their animators. Sources say approximately 100 people have been let go, which could not be confirmed by Fox as of press time. However, a Fox rep did concur that animators have been laid off because the studio is ramping down as principle animation on ICE AGE is nearing completion. The Fox corporate representative also said that Blue Sky has a project in development that has not yet been announced.
In a follow up to a story about the Secret Lab closing that was written in VARIETY and subsequently reported in AWN and numerous other media outlets, AWN was told that the layoffs were part of an overall restructuring of Disney, including the feature animation department, that was announced in April 2001.
The terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11th touched people worldwide, and many cartoonists have turned to art to express their grief. 9-11: EMERGENCY RELIEF is a comic book project to benefit the American Red Cross featuring some of the comic world's leading talents from legendary creators such as Will Eisner to hot new talents such as artist Frank Cho, whos original artwork for the cover of the book recently sold at Baltimore Comic-Con's benefit auction for $5,000, with the money going to the American Red Cross.
U.K. animation company Peppers Ghost Productions (PGP) has aligned with U.S.-based Beckett Entertainment to develop animation properties and have announced their first project. Entitled GENE-FUSION, the concept is pitched as an adventure property designed for multiple formats including TV series, gaming, feature film and Web entertainment. PGP is currently involved in all aspects of design and modeling for the GENE-FUSION concept plus scripting for the TV series.
The LEGO Company has partnered with Canadian entertainment company CinéGroupe and secured full global merchandising rights to the television show GALIDOR: DEFENDERS OF THE OUTER DIMENSION. The show is scheduled to premiere in February 2002 on the Fox Kids Network in the U.S. and on YTV in Canada. The series GALIDOR: DEFENDERS OF THE OUTER DIMENSION is inspired by Web characters created by writer-creator-producer Tom Lynch, and combines live-action with computer-generated animation, 3D backgrounds and special effects.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Team Soho has been hard at work creating THE GETAWAY, a highly anticipated game for Sony's Playstation 2 console. In THE GETAWAY the player takes on the role of Mark Hammond, a retired bank robber who is forced back into the world he left to save his son from an evil mobster. To animate the games characters, Team Soho used five motion-capture performers at once, in real-time. Each motion-capture performer wore an Ascension CyberSuit outfitted with 11 sensors and had a separate backpack and receiving base station.
Once again, those CG beasties dominated the box office. MONSTERS, INC. collected a whopping $46.2M in its second weekend bring its cume to $122.8M after 10 days. But expect Sulley and Mike to feel the effects of a young wizard named Harry when HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERERS STONE bows on Friday. The Farelly Brothers latest comedy SHALLOW HAL, with visual effects by Alterian Studios & Artist's Asylum Inc. had a big weekend, collecting $23.3M in its debut.
Liberty Livewire Pictures Group member R!OT Santa Monica will be integrating both artists and support staff from sister company 525 Studios. As a result, 525 Studios will curtail operations, effective by year's end.
Douglas Greiff has left his position as VP of program development at Nickelodeon to join Hip TV as partner and head of production. Specializing in Latin-themed programming, Hip TV has produced original programming in English, Spanish and Portuguese for USA Networks, E! Entertainment Television, The Discovery Channel and Fox Sports World, among others. Hip TV founder Beatriz Acevado said, Im delighted to have Doug as a partner in Hip TV.
Award-winning producer Dan Balaam has been promoted to creative director of Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the U.K. and is now in charge of all on air promotions and packaging for the channels. Having been with the channel since its launch, Dan has had a huge influence on the fun and irreverent look and style of the channel. While at Cartoon Network U.K.
On November 10, 2001 at a gala ceremony hosted by voice actor BillyWest, the 29th Annual Annie Awards were presented. The big winnerwas SHREK, which took home eight Annie's including outstandingtheatrical feature and outstanding directing for an animated feature.THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE nabbed three awards, for femaleperformer in an animated feature (Eartha Kitt as Yzma), best song andoutstanding individual character animation. In television, once againTHE SIMPSONS took home the award for outstanding primetime show.
Women In Animation's Website is experiencing some additions and updates...
AWN's Dan Sarto will be chairing a forum on Web Animation at thisyear's London Effects and Animation Festival (LEAF)...
Acting For Animation with Ellen Besen and Eric J. Rose. Wednesday,November 14, 2001 at 7:00 pm. Bloor St. United Church in The MusicRoom, 300 Bloor St. W., Toronto. Filmmaker/professor Ellen Besen has directed several award-winning films both independently and for the NFB...
- The Cinanima International Animation Festival is celebrating its25th Anniversary. Competition and special animation screenings arehappening now through November 11, 2001 in Espinho, Portugal. For more information visit http://www.awn.com/cinanima/.
