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Monday, September 25, 2000
New Animation DVD Releases
Here is a list of animation related DVDs being released tomorrow.
* * *
Multimedia 2000 Announces New Bubblegum Crisis DVDs
Multimedia 2000 has announced the revamping of its Bubblegum Crisis
DVD line with the release of two new titles: Bubblegum Crisis Volume
Four: Hurricane Live! and the Bubblegum Crisis MegaSeries.
These new releases extend the adventures of the Knight Sabers;
four high-tech mercenaries fighting a battle against corporate evil
in post-apocalyptic MegaTokyo. The DVD remaster of this animated
series has been a consistent best-seller, according to Multimedia
2000.
"We have always been proud of our close relationship with Bubblegum
Crisis' avid fans, and it was their many letters and phone calls
which brought about these new titles," said Greg Hutcheson, VP New
Business/Marketing of Multimedia 2000. "Right from our initial release
the questions started coming in: 'Where was Hurricane Live?' 'When
will you release the series in standard Amaray packaging?' 'Where
was the leader of the team, Sylia Stingray?' These two new titles
will answer all of those questions and more."
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
Mainframe Signs Agreement for Wubbies World
Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. has announced an exclusive agreement
with Wubbies World International, Inc. to develop a pre-school television
series and merchandising and licensing program for international
distribution.
Mainframe will develop 26 half-hours of computer animated
programming for the series based on the Wubbies characters, and
will also participate in all merchandising and licensing of the
property.
Wubbies, developed by John Martin Mokrenko and Christine
Usvaltas of Toronto, Canada, features a boy named Wilbur Wiggins
and a cast of furry characters called Wubbies. The world they inhabit
is safe, soft and warm, and designed to entertain and educate young
audiences by inviting them into a whimsical world of pretend and
play, where imagination and learning are part of the adventure.
* * *
Animators Are Artists First
According to the Seattle Times:
"When self-described traditional artist Roby Gilbert was hired
to draw "The Adventures of Ranger Rick," it was his hard-earned
computer skills that landed him the job.
Gilbert, who teaches at The Art Institute of Seattle, took over
the comic strip in the environmentally conscious National Wildlife
Federation magazine for children last year.
'The magazine wanted it submitted in the computer-format file,
and (the former artist) wasn't as versed in the computer as I've
become, I guess,' said Gilbert, 34. 'And because I'm an animator,
I'm able to churn out art fairly quickly because I'm used to doing
tons and tons of drawing.'
Even as a traditional animator who has eschewed the corporate world
for free-lance drawing and teaching, the Bainbridge Island man still
partially depends on computers for his livelihood…
Click
here for the full story.
* * *
New Animation Events Section
Animation Artist has just completed the redesign of the Animation
Events section. No longer just a calendar of events, upon entering
the newly created section of the website the visitor may now view
events in a month-by-month layout starting with the nearest dated
event coming up first. For example, events happening in October
are listed first at the top of the page, then November's, December's,
etc. Currently, the list includes events up through February 2001.
Animation Artist covers animation events, festivals, workshops,
competitions and expos around the world. Companies and organizations
may send these announcements via mail, email
or by fax.
Animation Artist Magazine
Animation Events
1072 Casitas Pass Rd, PMB 190
Carpinteria, CA 93013
Fax: 805-566-2994
Click here to go to Animation
Events.
Wednesday, September 27,
2000
Rainbow Studio Acquires Motional Realms
Rainbow Studios has announced the acquisition of Motional Realms,
developers of the ReelMotion real-time simulator that uses physics
and collision detection to realistically animate vehicles and objects.
Currently in use at many special effects facilities throughout the
world, including Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues, Midway Games and
NASA, ReelMotion supports leading animation programs such as Maya,
3D Studio Max and LightWave.
"Adding Motional Realms' technology to the Rainbow Studios brand
is a strategic extension of our company," says Tony Stutterheim,
president of animation at Rainbow Studios. "We are fortunate and
delighted that the software's creator and company President Rick
Baltman has joined our team to continue development of the software
and help us focus on meeting the needs of both real-time and high-end
animation."
By simulating the underlying physics, ReelMotion allows animators
to quickly create high quality animation. The product can be used
to easily animate any type of two or four- wheeled vehicle, a variety
of aircraft and other objects. It costs $795.
* * *
Animator Paul Fierlinger Wins Grand Prize
 Drawn
From Life, Paul Fierlinger’s series created for Oxygen Media’s
"X-Chromosome," won the Grand Prize for Best Commissioned Film at
the Ottawa International Animation Festival 2000, it was announced
on Sunday, September 24. In addition, Fierlinger was honored during
the Festival with a special lifetime retrospective, "Dads, Drinks,
Dogs and Dante: The Life and Art of Paul Fierlinger." The Festival
celebrates individuals who have made a significant contribution
to the international animation landscape.
In addition, two other "X-Chromosome" series were nominated for
awards in this year’s competition. Avenue Amy, an animated look
at the life of twenty-something hipsters looking for love and happiness
in the big city, was nominated for Best Television Series. The Ruth
Truth, an animated interactive detective serial created specifically
to live in both the online world and on television was nominated
for Best Animation Produced for the Internet.
A fresh form of portraiture, Drawn from Life communicates
that the ordinary can be illustrated -- literally and figuratively
-- in an extraordinary manner. Every woman has a story to tell,
and in each 2-minute episode of Drawn From Life, an everyday
woman relates hers. Drawn From Life showcases the real-life
stories of women like Melodie, who grew up working next to her grandmother
on her father's farm; Patty Ann, whose life was changed by her childhood
relationship with her friend's deaf and mute father; and Jane, who
longs to travel the country with her truck-driver boyfriend.
Fierlinger, creator and animator, was born in Japan before World
War II to Czechoslovak diplomat parents and spent his early years
in the U.S. He lived for 20 years in communist Czechoslovakia, then
escaped back to the U.S. in 1967. In his 40-year career as an independent
film animator, Fierlinger has created over 800 films, which have
garnered him more than a hundred major awards, including an Oscar
nomination for It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House.
He is the creator of Drawn from Memory, an American Playhouse
TV feature, which premiered at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival.
Currently, Fierlinger works in his Philadelphia home, where he and
his wife have just completed a series of children's films for the
Children's Book of the Month Club and Still Life with Animated Dogs,
a half-hour special for PBS and funded by ITVS.
Thursday, September 28, 2000
Academy Awards Finally to "Reconize"
Animated Films
The Academy Awards ignorance in acknowledging animated films has
made a baby step to being rectified. According to the Daily Variety,
"In the first new Oscar category in two decades, the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences board of governors have created
a separate category for animated features, which could be handed
out as early as March 2002."
However, it's not all good news because the article
suggests:
1) The award only singles out an individual, recognizing
"the creative talent most clearly responsible for the overall
achievement." A much better category should have simply been
"Best Animated Feature."
2) The award requires there to be at least eight animated
features for that year or the award will not be given. So if seven
animated films are released, with several creative talents standing
out, none will be recognized.
The controversial Annie Awards have gained in popularity
the past several years because it focuses on animated films, which
are neglected by the better known Academy Awards and Golden Globes.
Friday, September 29, 2000
"Best Animated Feature" to be Academy
Award Category
New information published by The Hollywood Reporter and a
press release by the Academy Awards state that the new Academy Award
animation category will officially honor the "Best Animated
Feature". A Daily Variety article mentioned yesterday
suggested that the solo new category was to honor an individual
("the creative talent most clearly responsible for the overall
achievement") versus a film.
Here is the official press release by the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
An Academy Award category for feature-length animated
films, the first new award category since 1981, was created last
night (9/26) by the board of governors of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences. It could be presented for the first time
at the 74th Annual Academy Awards in March, 2002.
Long a dream of Hollywood's animators, the new award
for Best Animated Feature will be triggered by the release of eight
or more eligible films in a calendar year. If eight to fifteen animated
features are released, a maximum of three films may be nominated.
If sixteen or more are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.
A recommendation on whether or not to activate the
category in a given year will be made by the executive committee
of the short films and feature animation branch, which will review
all of the feature animation films released in Los Angeles County
during the year to determine their eligibility.
If eight or more are found to be eligible, the committee
may choose to recommend to the board of governors that there be
an animated feature award given for that year. If the governors
accept the committee's recommendation, the nomination process will
be set in motion.
For this award, that process will begin with the recruiting
of a screening committee of 100+ members from among Los Angeles-area
members from all branches. That committee would determine the nominated
films in the category, and then all Academy members worldwide would
be eligible to vote to select the film that would receive the Oscar.
To be eligible, an animated feature must be at least
70 minutes in length, "primarily animated," and meet the other general
requirements for feature film eligibility as published annually
in the Academy Award Rules. The overseeing committee is expected
to develop criteria for the definition of "primarily animated" in
the coming months.
Films could use cel animation, computer animation,
stop motion or other recognized animation techniques.
The Oscar for the new category would be presented
to "the key creative talent most clearly responsible for the overall
achievement," normally a single individual, on behalf of the entire
production. In no case will more than two statuettes be presented.
The short films and feature animation branch will
have the right to resolve all questions of eligibility, rules interpretation
and the designation of award recipients. As with all awards, the
board of governors will make the final determination if an award
is to be presented in the category in any given year.
Films submitted in the Best Animated Feature category
may qualify for Academy Awards in other areas, including Best Picture,
provided they meet the rules criteria governing those categories.
The last time new Academy Award categories were established
was in 1981, and that year the Academy governors voted two new categories:
Makeup and a new honorary Oscar, the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, given
for a career of technological contributions that have brought credit
to the industry.
The Hollywood Reporter quoted June Foray, a governor
of the Academy's short films and animation branch, who campaigned
for nearly a decade to get the category approved, as saying, "We're
just delighted. We've been trying for many, many years. There's
such a multiplicity of animated films now - and good ones."
(thanks to Cartoon Research for the tip).
* * *
A Look at "The Lampies"
 Behind
the passing glow of every street lamp that lights the way for thousands
of people each night, there is a world that few have ever imagined.
Not the seedy night life that is fodder for numerous novels, movies
and television shows, but that of the keepers of the light, the
Lampies.
 Their
story can now be told with the help of Uli Meyer Studios, Spider-Eye
and Cambridge Animation Systems’ Animo software. "The Lampies"
is an animated series about the creatures who live in and maintain
street lamps. But street lamp upkeep isn’t just about checking fuses
and removing burnt-out filaments. "The Lampies" have to
protect their territory, HO32, from the nefarious Roons, enemies
who often try to thwart their efforts. This conflict and a constant
stream of visitors and catastrophes to HO32 provide endless adventures
for the Lampies.
 The
series of 26 11-minute episodes was produced by Uli Meyer Studios
and composited by Spider-Eye using Animo. The London-China Connection
Characters were created with traditional 2D animation and combined
with 3D-generated backgrounds and camera moves in Animo. The software
provided the standard work format and color models that overcame
the obstacle of producing 260 minutes of animation in only 12 months
between studios in London and China.
 “If
we produce a color model here in Animo, we know that the scenes
painted in China are going to be the exact same colors every time,”
says Morgan Francis, director with Spider-Eye. “Likewise, if there
is a painting mistake made in China, we can go ahead and fix it
on-site rather than go through the re-shoot process.”
The project was produced on a limited budget that didn’t allow
for costly animated cast shadows. Instead, realistic shadowing was
achieved by having animators re-introduce the animation level, make
it black and transparent, and then place it under the character.
"The Lampies," targeted at five- to seven-year-olds,
was scheduled to begin airing on BBC1 this month.
Saturday, September 30, 2000
Journalists Interview CyberWorld 3D Star
Imax Film Distribution and Spectrum Studios for the first time mixed
live journalists and a virtual movie star at a recent television
press junket for the October 6 release of Imax's CyberWorld
3D animated film.
The event, attended by more than 30 television journalists
from the United States and Canada, was held in New York today at
the Parker Meridien Hotel. Traditionally, journalists are gathered
together at one location to conduct individual, one-on-one, live
interviews with the stars of a film. In the case of Cyberworld
3D, however, since the stars of the film are all animated characters,
the concept of a press junket posed some very unique challenges
requiring a creative and highly imaginative solution.
The animated character Wired, a blue, six-legged,
rather fleshy, spiderlike creature, was chosen as the virtual star
to re-create and to be interviewed at the press junket.
Spectrum Studios accomplished this through sophisticated,
state-of-the-art proprietary motion-capture technology by which
the Wired character from the film was digitally rebuilt and able
to respond to the TV interviewer in real time. And while the journalist
conducting the interview viewed the character on a monitor, on the
completed videotape to be broadcast it will appear as if the Wired
animated character is actually in the same studio sitting opposite
the journalist.
This is all accomplished without benefit of any post-production
process and despite the fact that the journalist conducting the
interview and the Wired character are actually on two different
stages in the same building.
To undertake the challenging task, Imax provided Spectrum
Studios with design art of the Wired character along with the actual
film to review. The 3D artists at Spectrum then began to work with
computerized modeling packages, employing Softimage 3D software
to re-create the character. Working in a totally digital environment,
the artists then sculpted the character in 3D to match the look
and feel of the character on-screen.
A skeleton was then constructed, behaviors created,
and the outer "skin" of the character attached, much the same way
as would be done in replicating the process with human skin, tendons,
muscles and skeletal bones. A broad spectrum of emotional states
-- happy, sad, angry, surprised, etc. -- were then created, attached
to the character and programmed into the system.
In connecting the behaviors of the character to the
control systems, Spectrum employed Kaydara FiLMBOX software, augmented
with proprietary software plug-ins developed by Spectrum.
Then, using a magnetic motion-capture system by Ascension
Technology Corp., sensors were placed on numerous points of articulation
on the body of the actor performing in the motion-capture apparatus.
This provides input of 90 elements of information affecting the
position and orientation of the 3D character.
A motion-capture stage was erected in a room adjacent
to the interview stage, with the actor who provided the voice performance
in the movie (Robert Smith) similarly providing the motion-capture
performance for the junket.
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