The town of Wisconsin Rapids -- population 18,435 -- is playing host to the inaugural Betty Boop Festival Wisconsin, set for August 5 to 8.And for good reason: it's the home town of Grim Natwick (1890-1990), creator of the Fleischer Studios heartthrob. The festival includes a Grim Natwick Festival of Animated Films.
"Grim Natwick was undoubtedly one of the most influential animators who ever lived," said Stephen Worth, director of the International Animated Film Society in Hollywood.
Natwick started working in animation in 1917; his career spanned seven decades.
He was the lead animator on the character of Snow White while working on the 1937 Walt Disney Studios feature film Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.
However, Natwick never forgot his home town. He kept in contact with old friends and family from Wisconsin Rapids through his lifetime. He returned to visit the Historical Museum of South Wood County, where he made fast sketches of Betty Boop for local kids.
One highlight of Betty Boop Festival Wisconsin will be screenings of 2008 feature film Sita Sings The Blues. Animation director Nina Paley will be in town to present the award-winning movie.
Festival organizers are looking for Wisconsin animators show up for screenings of their films, as well as for panel discussions and informal meetings.
The festival invites submissions in two categories: a Local Animators section, open to artists from central Wisconsin, and a Wisconsin Animators section, open to those from or working in the state.
June 1 is the submission deadline. General guidelines and application forms are available on the Betty Boop Festival Wisconsin's Web site, www.bettyboopfestivalwi.com.
Rainmaker announces original animation projects
Rainmaker, the Vancouver-based animation and visual effects studio formerly known as Mainframe Entertainment, has revealed its first slate of original animated feature films.
The studio has mainly been known for servicing other companies. It produced animation and visual effects for Mattel's series of animated films starring Barbie.
Company president and executive producer Catherine Winder says that Rainmaker hopes to release its first feature in two to three years, with a feature coming out every 12 to 18 months. The company is now trying to sell its forthcoming features to distributors.
Winder, a former Lucasfilm executive, was hired by Rainmaker last year to transform the company into a producer of original feature films.
Two projects are seeking distribution and/or creative attachments, said Winger.
In Ogo, a little girl learns that there's really such a thing as the legendary Ogopogo, a monster in British Columbia's Lake Okanagan. Former DreamWorks animator and independet filmmaker Jacob Medjuck has been attached as its director-writer.
Another would-be film, Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, is based on the 1939 children's book by DuBose Heyward (who also wrote the play that was adapted into the musical Porgy & Bess). Oscar-winners Alison Snowden and David Fine (for the short Bob's Birthday) are attached as consulting directors, while Bernice Vanderlaan (Life With Derek) is writing the script.
SpongeBob Maneuver helps girl save friend's life
Thanks to a "SpongeBob Square Pants" episode depicting the Heimlich Manuever, a 12-year-old Long Island girl was able to save her best friend's life when she choked on a piece of gum.
Long Beach Middle School music teacher Sanford Mauskopf was saying something funny when seventh-graders Allyson Golden and Miriam Starobin had just finished practicing songs. Maybe too funny... the two girls fell off their chairs.
"I was chewing gum, which I shouldn't," said Allyson. I was laughing hysterically and suddenly I realized I'm not laughing any more. I can't breathe. Then Miriam goes, 'Ally, Are you choking?'
"I can't speak. So my arms are around my neck. I'm turning purple and my legs are flailing," Allyson said.
"Miriam pulls me off the ground. She gives me the Heimlich three or four times and the gum, comes shooting out onto the ground five feet in front of me."
Miriam recalled that when she was a small girl, she saw a SpongeBob Square Pants involving neighbor Squidward. "It was like a flash right in my eyes. I saw in my head Squidward with his clarinet lodged in his throat and then SpongeBob does the Heimlich Manuever and the clarinet comes flying out of his mouth," she said.
"I had no clue what I was doing until it was done," she added.
When she realized that she couldn't breathe "it was the scariest moment of my life," Allyson said. "I was thinking 'I'm going to die. What will my parents think?'"
Mauskopf recounted that he was at the piano listening to a student perform. His view of the girls was blocked by a music stand.
Suddenly, he saw "a wad of white gum fly out of Allyson's mouth. It went about five feet.
"And I said what's going on?" he remembered. Miriam told him, and Mauskopf replied, "Do you realize what you've just done? You've saved Allyson's life. You're a hero."
The producers of SBSP said they felt flattered that Miriam took action. However, they said, she must have viewed a real Heimlich Maneuver elsewhere.
The Art of Harvey Comics, Fleischer and Famous Studios
Starting next week, the touring exhibition From Richie Rich to Wendy, The Art of Harvey Comics will make a stop in L.A. with rare comic book and animation artwork on display (and some for sale) at the Van Eaton Gallery. On view for only one week, Saturday May 8th through Saturday May 15th, Van Eaton will augment the Harvey exhibit with a wealth of rare material from Paramount’s Famous Studios (the creators of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Audrey, Baby Huey, Buzzy the Crow and Herman & Katnip) and its predessesor, Fleischer Studios. There will be rare model sheets, pencil animation art, and cel set ups from Casper, Popeye, Superman, Color Classics, Noveltoons, Little Lulu and others.
There’s an opening reception on Saturday night (May 8th, 7pm -10pm) and I wouldn’t miss it. Schedule permitting, veteran Harvey editor Sid Jacobson may be joining us. The reception is open to the public, but they would prefer you RSVP at (818) 788-2357. The Van Eaton Galleries are located at 13613 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks, CA. For more information on Harvey Comics, check the Facebook page.
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Lomax Shapes Another Short For Swarovski
Last summer, we posted one of Courtland Lomax’ animated films for Swarovski crystal. Another released this week, titled City Park. The animators on the project were Jennifer Hager, Jules Soto, Destiny Wood, Matt Pugnetti and Philip Vose.
More 2010 CalArts Animated Films
With next week’s Producer’s Show inching closer, handfuls of CalArts animated shorts are finding their way to the internet. Two of my favorites are below, with the exception of Kris Anka’s A Bear Film, which we posted last week.
Crater Face by Skyler Page
Bothered Bot by Jennifer Harlow
Foreign Horse Races in May
Iron Man Deux knocks them dead in foreign venues.
Marvel Studios' "Iron Man 2," this year's opening summer tentpole, lit up the foreign theatrical circuit with a five-day overseas launch bagging $100.2 million from 6,764 sites in 53 markets for a sparkling per-screen average of $14,814.
Distributor Paramount Pictures International says the sequel to 2008's Marvel original starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow finished No. 1 in 52 of the opening territories, beating "Iron Man's" opening overall numbers by 26% in local currencies ...
And another Paramount release ran over the $200 milion trip-wire.
Fourth was DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon," generating $6.7 million from 5,687 situations in 60 markets. Distributor Paramount says the overseas gross total has surpassed $200 million ($203 million). ...
Since Dragon will likely accumulate $200 million in the U.S. and Canada in the next few days, (it's at $192.4 million now) I think we can judge the feature a success, can we not?
Meanwhile, Tim Burton's reworking of the Lewis Carroll story (Alice in Big Bucks Land) closes in on a billion worldwide dollars. Tim has traveled a looong way from the first-floor of the Disney Animation Building ...
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Cheaper, Faster
The mainstream media picks up on the fact that Mr. Meladandri's company Illumination is trying to change the usual business model for theatrical animation:
Neither Universal nor Meledandri is interested in parroting the business of Pixar and DreamWorks, which spend more than $150 million on their productions and huge sums on screenplay development. "We needed to create a model of efficiency," Meledandri says. "We can't afford to have a lot of trial and error." ...
The idea: Develop only a handful of scripts and look for unusual (meaning cheaper) places to make them ... If money is saved by not perfectly animating every single blade of grass, Meledandri says he won't skimp on storytelling ...
As far as I know, Illumination freelances out scripts, boards and design, then finds an overseas animation company to do the production work. They've got an ambitious slate of films beyond Despicable Me, with different production facilities on different continents involved with various films. No big, fixed facility with a permanent crew, no meddlesome I.A. fringe benefits, just sub-contractors as far as the eye can see.
(Sort of an upscale version of what the Weinsteins did with Hoodwinked. In ten weeks or so we'll see how it works.)
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Thor trailer
Here’s an exclusive first look at one of the big movies of 2011: Thor.
No, not the upcoming Kenneth Branagh Marvel Comics super hero movie. This is Thor, The Edda Chronicles, a new feature from Iceland’s CAOZ animation studio, Germany’s Ulysses Films and Ireland’s Magma Films. This is also coming out in 2011. The last time I criticized a Europeon production, I was raked over the coals. So I won’t say a word this time… I’ll let you be the judge:
And if the trailer doesn’t give you enough information check this clip on You Tube.
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Funtastic Circus
Don’t deny it, you love this cartoon.
(Thanks Cartoon Brew)
Lomax Shapes Another Short For Swarovski
Last summer, we posted one of Courtland Lomax’ animated films for Swarovski crystal. Another released this week, titled City Park. The animators on the project were Jennifer Hager, Jules Soto, Destiny Wood, Matt Pugnetti and Philip Vose.
More 2010 CalArts Animated Films
With next week’s Producer’s Show inching closer, handfuls of CalArts animated shorts are finding their way to the internet. Two of my favorites are below, with the exception of Kris Anka’s A Bear Film, which we posted last week.
Crater Face by Skyler Page
Bothered Bot by Jennifer Harlow
Iron Man, X-Men and Classic ’80s Toons Arrive on DVD
It’s a good week for fans of Marvel animation — both new and vintage.With the release on Friday of the new live-action movie Iron Man 2, fans have a chance to catch up on the adventures of young Tony Stark in Iron Man Armored Adventures: Complete Season One (Vivendi, $29.93). Meanwhile, the Golden Avenger’s previous animated outing gets collected at last on Iron Man: The Complete 1994 Animated Series (Disney, $29.99)
If mutants are more your speed, then this week brings Wolverine and the X-Men, Vol. 5: Revelation (Lionsgate, $14.98). Unfortunately, Marvel recently announced this series won’t be back for a second season, so check it out while you can. Here’s a preview clip:
Older X-Men fans also will finally be able to complete their collection of the popular 1990s series that started it all, with X-Men: Vol. 5 (Disney, $23.99).
Fans of vintage TV cartoons can revisit the decade of MTV, New Wave and Ronald Reagan with Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s (Warner Bros., $26.99). This follows on successful similar releases for the 1960s and 1970s, and features episodes from 11 popular animated series, including Goldie Gold & Action Jack, Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, The Flintstone Kids, Mister T, The Biskitts, Monchhichis, Galtar and the Golden Lance, Dragon’s Lair, Thundarr the Barbarian and the Kwicky Koala Show.For the kids, four episodes of the popular preschooler series are collected on Go Diego Go: Great Panda Adventure (Paramount, $16.99). Also new for kids this week are Wow Wow Wubbzy: Escape From Dino Island (Anchor Bay, $14.98), Care Bears: Share-a-Lot in Care-a-Lot (Lionsgate, $14.98) and Sid The Science Kid: Weather Kid Sid (NCircle Entertainment, $12.99)
Anime fans better like Dragon Ball, as this week’s releases are Dragon Ball Season 4 (FUNimation, $49.98) and Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box 3 (FUNimation, $59.98).
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Pixar Releases Tractor for Managing Render Farms
Pixar Animation Studios has released Tractor 1.0, its software package for running distributed processing in render farms.Tractor, derived from Pixar’s experience in managing the world’s largest render farms through its RenderMan and Alfred applications, is a completely new solution engineered to ensure performance and scalability for farms with tens of thousands of processors.
Tractor consists of three primary components: the Engine, the Blade, and the Dashboard. The Engine maintains the central job queue and dispatches tasks, the Blade consists of a Python-based execution server running on each remote node, and the Dashboard is a customizable web browser user interface providing centralized control.
Tractor 1.0 will replace Pixar's Alfred and Alfserver. To aid in the transition for Alfred users, Tractor is designed to be fully compatible with previous Alfred scripts, and is available to customers of those products on current maintenance, as a free upgrade, on a one-to-one basis.
For details on pricing and availability, visit:
https://renderman.pixar.com/products/tools/tractor.html
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Debert Signs on to Mothership, Digital Domain
Digital Domain sister firm, production company Mothership has added director Aladino Debert to its roster.The job also will include Debert, a veteran visual effects supervisor, working as a creative director with Digital Domain’s commercial division.
"Aladino is a multifaceted creative talent who has built a portfolio of work that demonstrates an ability to be as adept and nimble behind a workstation as behind a camera," said Mothership president Ed Ulbrich. "He's exactly the kind of artist we're looking for to build the Mothership roster - a conceptual director with a great talent for using all of the storytelling tools available to him."
Debert previously worked for Digital Domain on such feature films as The Time Machine, Star Trek: Nemesis and Adaptation. He most recently worked as a creative director at Radium on commercial campaigns for such clients as Target, Pepsi, BMW, Honda, Coca-Cola, Renault, Bridgestone, Dolby and Boeing.
Said Debert, "I'm very excited to join Mothership and the impressive global roster of talent that Ed and executive producer Tanya Cohen have curated. They've built a truly breakthrough business model that creatively nurtures filmmakers and artists while providing them with the infrastructure and tools of one the industry's top visual effects companies, Digital Domain. There's no better place for me to be right now."
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
SIGGRAPH Asia Fest Issues Call for Entries
The SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 Computer Animation Festival is open for submissions and is seeking cutting edge and innovative animation and visual effects from around the world.The submissions are expected to have been completed on or after Jan. 1, 2009, and should be computer-generated or include aspects of computer-generated production.
The festival accepts submissions in the following categories:
• Animation Shorts (narrative, character, abstract, experimental, etc.; most animations should be in this category)
• Animated Feature Films (selections or montages)
• Commercials
• Music Videos
• Real-Time Visualization (games, mobile animations)
• Scientific Visualization or Research
• Visual Effects (short films, sequences, live-action feature films, etc.)
Submissions for Panels & Talks: All topics are eligible including, but not limited to, "behind-the-scenes", story development, character designs, and sound designs. Please submit a proposal for a Panel (multiple presenters) or a Talk (single presenter) about your project's content and relevance.
The festival includes two main screening programs: An official competition section that consists of the Electronic Theater and the Animation Theater, selected by the festival jury. Work presented in the Electronic Theater is eligible for the festival awards.
The invited section consists of special presentations of pieces invited by the festival committee, from short subjects to feature films, that represent world-class achievement.
Deadline for completing submissions, including uploading files, is midnight on July 15. For details on submitting, visit the festival site at http://www.siggraph.org/asia2010/content/presenters/computer-animation-festival.
The festival also is seeking proposal for presentations and panels. Ideas can be submitted online at http://sis.siggraph.org/cgi-bin/SIS_Asia.py. All submissions must be received by July 15.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Cartoon Networks Takes Beyblade: Metal Fusion for a Spin
Having been sold into markets around the world, Beyblade is returning to the United States.The new series Beyblade: Metal Fusion is set to debut June 26 at 7:30 a.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network.
Produced by Nelvana and d-rights, the new series consists of 51 new episodes using a mix of 2D animation and CGI spinning tops.
The series, which began as a popular toy line for boys, was revived in 2008 by Tomy Co., with the new episodes of the animated series starting to air in Japan about a year ago. The series debuts on Canada’s YTV on May 15 at noon.
Toys from Hasbro are set to arrive on store shelves in North America this fall.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
Pearlie Gets Australian DVD Release, Hot Nick Timeslot
The hit animated Australian TV series Pearlie is getting bigger all the time.The series, produced by Sticky Pictures, is coming to home entertainment in Australia with distributor Madman Entertainment releasing two volumes, Hurly Burly and Magic in the City, on May 5. A third volume, Twirly Whirly, will be released June 30.
Sticky also announced that the series will debut in the high-rating 8:30 a.m. timeslot on Nickelodeon Australia starting May 3.
Based on the series of best-selling books by Wendy Harmer, Pearlie is about a fashionable urban fairy who lives in Jubilee Park, a magical oasis in a large city.
Pearlie is produced by Sticky Pictures in collaboration with Canadian animation company Nelvana, and was commissioned by Australia’s Network Ten and YTV in Canada. It airs in a number of countries worldwide, including Canada, United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, South Africa and New Zealand.
(Thanks Animation Magazine)
New Green Lantern Concept Art Might Not Be What You Think
Some new Green Lantern concept art is floating around on the internet, including GL's uniform, glowing ring constructs, and more. Is it early art for the movie, starring Ryan Reynolds, a tie-in video game, or something else? See for yourself.
The Movie Insider has a collection of images, which were labeled "Production Works." While they are all a little blurry, the ideas are fantastic. But upon further inspection, we're getting a "video game" vibe from this art. They're clearly not as impressive as the previously leaked concept art. But we're not entirely sure: photoshops from the Green Lantern online game, or real movie art? Can that possibly be planet Oa? You be the judge.
(Thanks io9)
Jon Favreau Says Joss Whedon Is A 'Great Choice' To Direct 'The Avengers'
Last month, reports emerged that Joss Whedon was in final negotiations to direct "The Avengers," the highly anticipated film which will bring Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk together for the first time on the big screen.
And while Whedon's involvement with the film has yet to be confirmed by either Marvel or Whedon himself, "Iron Man 2" director Jon Favreau has offered a ringing endorsement of the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," "Angel" and "Firefly" creator.
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