Digital studio Spontaneous Combustion has created the title design and end logo animation for a pool of 30-second spots, with 15-second lifts, for T.J. MAXXs Maxximum Stories campaign, which rolled out nationwide on March 18, 2001. The ads, tagged You should go, show women talking about why they love T.J. MAXX. According to design director Dana Yee, "Because the tag is You should go, we wanted to parlay a sense of motion with the typography.
The anime classic AKIRA, fresh from a $1 million restoration, has been released on the big screen in a few select theatres in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. With digital projection, this is the cleanest, crispest print ever seen to date. AWN was invited to a special pre-release screening and was very impressed by the quality of the print and restoration. First released theatrically in Japan in 1988, AKIRA has garnered legions of fans around the world and is still considered a masterpiece of cel animation.
Creating what is arguably both the biggest project and greatest success in its eight years of operation, New York's The Diecks Group recently delivered a complete redesign of Discovery Kids Network, a three-hour block of programming aired on weekends on the Discovery Channel. Creative director Brian Diecks and The Diecks Group team were the exclusive creators of 122 on-air design elements, including block opens, next-ons, bumpers, interstitials and promo elements. The project required extensive live-action, 3D animation, effects compositing and 2D graphics.
Computer graphics house Island Fever Productions has completed two new commercials for Orkin's "fake-out" campaign. In this year's campaign, which like last years shows a pesky cockroach interrupting the viewing of two fake commercials, Island Fever Productions created the animation of the cockroach, all the additional animation and the final compositing for both commercials. The first faux commercial is for "Timmy Townsend P.I." in which Gary Coleman stars as a bumbling private eye. Island Fever created the CG logo treatment of flying streaking letters.
Venice, California's Digital Domain is looking for a VFX SUPERVISORto work in the company's commercial division. . . Winter Park, Florida'sFull Sail Real World Education is looking for an ASSOCIATE COURSEDIRECTOR OF COMPUTER SPECIAL EFFECTS in the Computer Animation DegreeProgram. . . Stony Brook, New York's Inky Dinky Animation Studios islooking for 2D, 3D and STOP-MOTION ANIMATORS for their new studio. . .London, UK's ITS is looking for a 3D ANIMATOR to design graphics for
Bandai Entertainment has announced a series of June, 2001 VHSand DVD releases for their ANGEL LINKS, SABER MARIONETTE J andESCAFLOWNE series. On June 5, the company will release an ANGELLINKS - FALLEN ANGEL DVD, which will include both English andJapanese language tracks, English subtitles, trailers and bonusclips, retailing for $29.98. Also scheduled for a June 5 release isESCAFLOWNE - LIGHT AND SHADOW and FOREVER AND EVER on VHS and DVD,which marks the final installment of the ESCAFLOWNE television
* Monday, June 11, 2001. Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
Entry Deadline: May 19, 2001
In this issue, Animation World Magazine kicks off Catherine Winder andZahra Dowlatabadi's new book "Producing Animation" with a specialindepth look at how animation is produced. From feature films totelevision from Europe to the U.S. we detail how schedules andbudgets are put together. Sylvia Edwards compares traditionalanimation television show schedules and budgets to CGI TV series, arapidly growing trend. Feature film producer Steve Walsh takes usinside putting together a European feature film, while Evan Backus
Cartoon Network scored the highest first-quarter prime time ratings and delivery performance of its history, landing in fourth place among all ad-supported cable networks, with a 1.7 prime household rating. The January-March '01 quarter also saw the largest net gain (177,000) in total day delivery among all ad-supported cable networks. Additionally, the network charted double-digit increases among households and all key demographics for total day rating and delivery, earning fourth place for the quarter, with a 1.1 total day rating.
Fox Kids Network announced on March 28 their lineup of new and returning series to their Saturday morning and weekday afternoon programming schedule.
Production, acquisition and distribution company, Harmony Gold has promoted Alan Letz to the newly created position of executive vice president, business development, and hired Judy Gold as vice president, sales and acquisitions. Letz has been with the company since 1985 and moves from his most recent post of senior vice president, sales and acquisitions to concentrate on pioneering Harmony Gold's emergence into the business aspects of new media, Internet, e-commerce, licensing, merchandising and sponsorships tied to Harmony Gold programming.
On March 26, CartoonNetwork.com launched TOONAMI REACTOR, a 12-week offering of popular TOONAMI anime programming on-demand. The introduction of TOONAMI REACTOR is designed to showcase the full potential of interactive entertainment using broadband technology. In addition to the anime video content, exclusive information about the characters and storyline is displayed simultaneously on a split screen for Reactor participants using a broadband connection.
In April, Animation World Magazine kicks off Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi's new book "Producing Animation" with a special indepth look at how animation is produced. From feature films to television from Europe to the U.S. we detail how schedules and budgets are put together. Sylvia Edwards compares traditional animation television show schedules and budgets to CGI TV series, a rapidly growing trend. Feature film producer Steve Walsh takes us inside putting together a European feature film, while Evan Backus outlines the recent production timelines of several large U.S. releases.
ADV Films released two new volumes of the anime series FLINT: THE TIME DETECTIVE. Hitting stores March 27, 2001, the time-traveling adventures of the little caveman return in "The Sands of Time" and "Can't We All Get Along?" The series currently airs on Fox Kids and is produced by Sanrio, the creators of HELLO KITTY. Both volumes will sell on VHS and DVD for US$14.98.
Apple introduced artists to the new version of their award-winning video editing software, Final Cut Pro, late last week. Final Cut Pro 2 is an all-in-one editing solution, featuring real-time editing, breakthrough Power Mac G4 performance and a scalable architecture that allows users to output content into any video format. With Final Cut Pro 2, real-time editing and compositing functions are integrated into the video production workflow seamlessly.
* Friday, April 27 Sunday, April 29, 2001. Everett, Washington, U.S.A.
* Wednesday, April 25, 2001. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
HANNIBAL held strong at the international box office with debuts of TRAFFIC topping charts in Australia and Italy. In France, however, HANNIBAL fended off the premiere of TRAFFIC, taking the top slot with a gross of US$3.17 million and raising its cume to $9.4 million. In second, TRAFFIC smuggled in $2.48 million. VERTICAL LIMIT climbed into the sixth spot, grossing $807,368, thus lifting its French total to $5.15 million. In the U.K., HANNIBAL hatched another $2.52 million in first, elevating its cume to $26.1 million.
* Thursday, March 29 - April 5, 2001. Newport Beach, California, U.S.A.
In this issue we are looking at a few current topics in the technology realm. What does the future hold for the high-end computer software/hardware companies? Have their glory days passed? Are all these new software versions really necessary? With the help of industry veteran Richard Taylor, Bruce Manning tackles a few of these topics and more. Mark Winstanley is outlining how software packages are becoming Web-export capable and John Edgar Park profiles and offers advice on low cost software/hardware systems which offer high-end results.
* Friday, March 30 Sunday, April 1, 2001. Stonybrook, New York, U.S.A.
I-CON is a science-fiction, fantasy and comics show. The anime program will feature dubbing workshops, guest speakers and panel discussions. This event is a student run festival and one of the largest in the northeast United States. For more information contact the convention at: Web: http://www.iconsf.org/.
Anime 18 is set to release MYSTERY OF THE NECRONOMICON on home video, March 13, 2001. The erotic horror series was created by the director of UROTSUKIDOJI: LEGEND OF THE OVERFIEND, Takao Nakano. In the film, an evil presence plagues the women of Japan. Volume one, "Book of the Dead," will feature two episodes. Volume two, "Black Chapter" on VHS, featuring two more episodes, and the NECRONOMICON DVD, containing all four episodes, will be released on May 8, 2001. Both the DVD and dubbed VHS versions of the series will sell for US$29.99 each.
Thousand Oaks, California's Big Idea Productions, a family media company now branching out into feature films, is looking for an ANIMATION ART DIRECTOR, MODELER, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER, SUPERVISOR OF MODELING and SUPERVISOR OF POST PRODUCTION. . . Irvine, California's Blizzard Entertainment, producers of video games, including online games, is looking for PAINTERS/ ILLUSTRATORS who are adept at creating texture maps for environments and the interiors of structures. . .
* Tuesday, March 13 Wednesday, March 14, 2001. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
Visual effects/live-action director Simon D. Holden has signed with The Flux Group, a motion graphics, visual effects and live-action production house. Holden will focus on commercial work for Flux. His previous commercial work includes spots for Dodge, Pontiac, Bally Total Fitness and Warner Bros. Home Video. Recently, Holden has done F/X work on film and TV projects such as MOULIN ROUGE, CONTACT, DANTE'S PEAK, FACE/OFF, THE X-FILES and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. Flux president Maggie Magee said, "Simon is an exceptional effects director and supervisor.
