35 eKIDS: Everyone Wants a Piece of the PIE SilverTech isn’t just eKIDS. Forging into the realm of secure Web transactions, the company is just beginning by conquering the sensitive kids online issue that has foiled many others. Gregory Singer reports. TELEVISION EBRUARY 40 I Call On Charlie Adler Will Ryan pays a visit to the super-kinetic Charlie Adler, one of the industry’s foremost voice actors and directors. F

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20012 Table of Contents

FEBRUARY 2001 VOL.5 NO.11 FILMS/VIDEOS

44 Fresh from the Festivals: February 2001’s Film Reviews Maureen Furniss reviews short films: Daddy and I, a collective Korean student film, Hein?! by Mauricio Vidal, Renan de Moraes and Sergio Yamasaki, Au Premier Dimanche d’Août (A Summer Night Rendez-Vous), directed by Florence Miailhe, Film S Djevojcicom (Film with a Girl), directed by Daniel Suljic and Bob Godfrey’s Millenium - The Musical.

48 New from Japan:Anime Film Reviews Fred Patten reviews the latest anime releases including: Jubei-chan, the Ninja Girl, Tenamonya Voyagers, Phantom Quest Corp. Perfect Collection, Gasaraki and Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. EVENTS

53 The Eighth Trip to the Holland Animation Film Festival: Scenes from Utrecht Visit the most recent Holland Animation Film Festival. AWN’s Ron Diamond attended and brought back photos of festival participants and the lovely city of Utrecht.

BOOKS

54 Animation Scriptwriting:The Writer’s Road Map Rick DeMott takes a look at Animation Scriptwriting, the latest how to book on scribing, re-

2001 vealing that this road map might not lead everyone to fame and fortune.

SOFTWARE

56 pmG:An Artistic Answer to 3D Animation After amassing rave reviews and hit projects in just one year, it is time to visit the project:messiah Group, creators of 3D animation’s newest leading software package, that was created from the ground up to fill both studio production and animators’ artistic needs.

58 The New messiah’s Details Project:messiah 1.5 is about to expand into messiah:studio, a new modular and innovative approach to animation. Mike Amron investigates. NEWS

61 Animation World News Sci-Tech Oscar Goes To Pixar, Chicken Run Lays A Golden Globe Nom, Plympton’s Mutant Aliens Premieres At The Sundance Film Festival, Crouching Tiger Director To Take On The Hulk, CTV Gains Star Wars Rights, FCC Approves AOL/Time Warner Merger, Film Roman Dropped From Nasdaq and much more.

63 Next Issue’s Highlights 18 This Month’s Contributors Cover: In-your-face graphics combine with NFL emotion to create the future of football gaming.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20013 Editor’s Notebook by Heather Kenyon Am I ready for this? mastered my cel phone and stuck arrive on our doorsteps in the with that across the board. I won’t future, neatly packaged as “the hile I am very eager even begin to tell you all the dif- next best thing,” and all contribut- for the upcoming ferent places I have numbers and ing to the growing global digital Wsuper-connected addresses stored because that network of communication. world to arrive, I do have to ask ranges between several comput- Information will never be lost (as myself, “Am I ready for this?” I have ers and programs to random Dr. Toon touches upon in his arti- had my cel phone for about two pieces of paper, including one cru- cle this month), properties will be years but still haven’t stored any cial paper plate. leveraged across all forms of numbers in it. In fact, all the adver- Currently being “connect- media easily (as Artworld UK is tising that I get in the mail says I ed” takes some time and effort, already doing) and our entertain- should have upgraded two times but we are told that one day, we ment opportunities and access to by now. I bought an answering will have one communication knowledge will be almost infinite. machine after months of delay device that will do anything and The digital world, as Ms. Van only to have it sit in a box for everything for us. It will contain Tassel says, will be as large as the another month before I hooked our personal phone book, and be real world. How the technological the thing up. I don’t even want a pager, cel phone and communi- players will make this happen and to tell you about my telephone cator (think Star Trek) all in one. how the ripples of economic debacle. In a state of technology This device will be Web connected impact will play out over the next euphoria I bought a phone that at all times and probably about the fifty to one hundred years are all to does more things than I can even size of a wrist watch. Lost and be seen. What is known, is that tell you and for that I paid quite a need directions? You will have an this is happening as we speak. hefty price. Now, months later I instant mapping service at your Slowly, but surely, all of the pieces have only ever picked the thing up fingertips. Bored on a train? Then needed for this new media world and dialed. I haven’t used one spe- how about a few games? Need to are taking shape. Business-wise cial feature. Therefore, I realize I catch up with some people? Just some will lose and some will win, should have just gone to the local select how you wish to communi- but all of us will dramatically electronics store and bought a cate with them. change how we do basic daily standard old phone. Of course, The same will go for your tasks. now my window of opportunity home. One device resembling a I am sure that the book that for returning my “personal com- cross between your television and comes with these devices will be munication center” has long computer will deliver program- 300 pages long. But, in the mean- passed so I might as well keep the ming and entertainment upon time, before these new age gadg- darn thing and hope that one day demand and amazing, interactive, ets arrive, all we can try to do is I have time to read the 100-page immersive environments that will stay as current as possible and booklet with which it came. This be the evolution of the current keep our eye on the long run pic- booklet probably tells me I didn’t gaming industry. As Joan Van ture. I am sure, one day, someone really ever need to buy that Tassel discusses in “What’s A Digital will say, “Here, Kenyon.” And then, answering machine, and by the Media Futurist?” this day will I swear, I’ll be organized. time I figure it all out, I’ll be getting come. But what is even more fas- cards in the mail about upgrading cinating to think about is what we Until Next Time, my “pcc” as well. I should have just can’t yet even imagine, that will Heather

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20014 [email protected] Choosing A School I was not surprised to find, and to me smelled like African- This is just a little feedback that before I actually visited your American street ghetto spirit. Is it on the article “Choosing An Website, my letter to the magazine something to be proud of? I don’t Animation School” (Lauria, 5.02). was justified. Your content was know, but I certainly lived it, In my opinion that was a very even more than I had imagined. A breathed it, and detested it during good article. I am trying to decide black man with a gold chain my schooling in Southern Illinois. I whether or not to go all out with around his neck in bed with a was embarassed to say the least. I my dreams of animation and that white, long blond haired woman. realized later in life that the social article really gives me something Original? Not really. Pure black things that came out of me were to work with. Warhol! ... and yes ... I said black plastic and not really made up of not African American, due to your the substance that could produce Thanks and keep up the good content, representation and street anything artistic. In other words, I work, thug content within your scripts. was not true to myself. Josh Heyer Hasn’t society had enough of It was later that I discovered “ghetto behavior?” I can’t believe myself, after moving to a socially Spare Us any educated African American and nourishing environment that To whom it may concern, but would appreciate to stand by your looked at everyone as a talented mainly Michael Jenkinson: content and be proud of his/her individual. There, I began to draw association with that aspect. I sim- things I could have never done I am a firm believer in anti- ply say, “Grow up and represent while in my previous life-sucking racism and strongly believe that something to be proud of black environment. Was it dreamland I those who are talented should be America!” found? Maybe not, but I was lucky given credit and praise, no matter Now you must be think- to have the opportunity to live in what race, religion or creed they ing... “What a jerk!” or “Who does that community. I guess I blos- are. In your case, however, you this guy think he is?” or maybe, somed to be who I really was and have not only fulfilled the reverse “Let’s get that mutha!” Actually, I not what the street tried to raise racist role, but have made yourself grew up in Carbondale, Illinois in a me to be. examples of what this country predominantly black school, fight- I suppose if I were an should not pay attention to. ing every day for a decent educa- African American, you would be I was first introduced to you tion, which I later received after I taking this letter to heart, but since and your company by Animation left Illinois. I learned many of the I am not an African American, I will World Magazine that had an arti- black social aspects growing up in not go into the details of my past, cle, “Urban Entertainment: Siting that environment and have much so enough about me. I wanted to A Skyline Across the Net” to say about our cultural differ- make a few things in my letter (Dannacher, 5.09). I read the inter- ences, but I will not. I can only clear. view and was left with an extreme- hope my children do not experi- I guess my reason for this ly bad taste in my mouth. I had to ence and suffer some of those life letter is not out of anger, hate or see how and why this magazine lessons that I have experienced anything racist, but to let you could spoon feed garbage to not and now live with deep in my know how I feel about the busi- only me, but the whole world. I heart. ness, art and entertainment you decided to write the magazine Your company is as distaste- are promoting. It is, in my belief, and explain why I felt their choice ful as it gets and relies upon the what is polluting the most vulner- in content was unacceptable and shock treatment attempting to able in our world today. There also explained why. I then decided destroy the neural fiber of society’s seems to be a thrill with the black to visit your Website. creative mind. It is very unclassy culture in contaminating the qual-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20015 ity and originality of life. Not all of crew” how to screen better materi- modem connection to download. us would agree that opening the al than what you have now, or It’s a very handy guide to have for pages to black/urban comedy is possibly fire everyone and start someone like me, and I really really all that funny or entertain- over with a new creative depart- appreciate AWN making it available. ing, because it’s not! ment. One that can “represent” a My only wish is that Rick As many of us grew up little better. My hope is that this would at least mention some of with comic book heroes, we were enlightens someone out there to the voice talents involved in the very influenced by that genre of shine better than the candy wrap- cartoons. That’s often a deciding media. Don’t think for a moment pers and over kicked tin cans lying factor in what I choose to down- that it isn’t as influential as many on the saddened streets of our load because of my interest in may believe, because I feel it is and inner-city. Let’s make the world a voice actors. And the voice talents hope your common sense would better place, not just a crappy race. (particularly on icebox.com) are often agree with me. Remember Fat one of the few redeeming qualities Albert, Deathlok, Spawn, Cage, Thank you for your ear, of lesser-quality Web cartoons. Storm, Black Lightning, Black Duane Panther, Falcon and Captain Thanks for your time, Marvel? These were all black char- Hooray for the Web Animation Craig Crumpton acters that influenced many, even Guide Assistant Editor “Gookie” for myself. The street humor there I just wanted to thank you http://www.toonzone.net was done in a style that had no personally for the honor of choos- Editor “Voiceroy” for offensive racial material. It was ing Joe Paradise as your #1 “Rick’s http://zip.to/thevault classic and will remain a true testa- Picks! – Best of 2000.” I was totally The Voice Actors Ultimate Links ment to its times. If you wish to be shocked when I ran across the Treasury. a voice in the crowd, do it just as list last week. Your review was Exclusively at Netscape’s Open tastefully, unlike your content now. extremely flattering and I truly Directory http://dmoz.org I know that I am only one appreciate all your observations of voice in the crowd, but if my weak the inner workings of the show. It’s Editor’s Note: Rick DeMott, our yell is heard by you and contem- great to know that all the blood Associate Editor and official Web plated for a few moments, then and sweat that goes into making Animation Guide writer, has heard my message has hopefully been of Joe is paying off! Thanks again for your call and is going to try to use to you. I am familiar with the all your support. include more voice actors in the way controversy works in provid- Guide. Thank you for the useful ing ammunition for interest and Roque Ballesteros comment. eventually popularity, so I won’t Creator/Director of Joe Paradise bow down to it. I only wish that www.wildbrain.com society didn’t scab its knees in doing just that. wtttw In conclusion, your Website has given credit to those who My favorite AWN feature once carried spray cans, guns and is the Web Animation Guide other socially disturbing weapons, (http://www2.awn.com/web- the artistic software they need to guide/index.php3). I don’t have now litter and deface the Internet. cable, and there’s so little anima- Maybe that’s a step in the right tion on network TV these days that direction, but learn to use the tools appeals to me, that the only way I more wisely. Discover those black can get my animation “fix” is Web artists that provide more positive cartoons. I seem to share similar content and show exceptional interests with the individual who intellectuality than what you seem writes the column, so it helps me to have now. Maybe you should to decide what I want to spend teach your so called “creative my time waiting for my slow

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20016 The Next Big Drive: Gaming Transforms Itself Again by Jacquie Kubin ideo gaming is undergo- ing some drastic changes. VThe once niche industry is poised to become a leading entertainment option in living rooms around the world. “The new generation of video game consoles are more than just game players,” explains Doug Lowenstein, President of Screen shots of Madden NFL 2001’s player profiles. © Electronic Arts. the Interactive Digital Software reported leading preference at the evision set for less than $300 there Association. “They have the poten- time of study (June, 2000) was is going to be a major consumer tial to become the center of the the Playstation 2 with the Sega conversion.” home entertainment universe, Dreamcast receiving 22.4%, On-line gaming via the PC rolling games, Internet access and Nintendo Game Cube 17.2% and is already a reported entertain- DVD movies into a single set top Xbox 11.9% of consumer loyalty. ment choice for almost 15 million unit at an affordable price.” Out of 1,500 persons surveyed, U.S. households in year 2000. Whether they are learning the propelling interest for 75% of Where the real escalation in on- from their children or from the respondents was the lure media, general consumers are of online gaming. becoming more aware of game “The social aspect consoles as an entertainment of this medium is going to option. According to PC Data, cause the most dramatic located in Reston, Virginia, one change with the biggest out of three home Internet users zeitgeist being the plans to purchase one of the next ability for players to generation game consoles. The partake in multi-player story worlds,” says Celia Pearce, Research Associate, Annenberg Center for Communication, University of Southern California (www.annenberg.edu). “Consider that Information courtesy of PC Data. television watchers will have the option of either watch- line gaming will be is in the con- ing sitcom re-runs or joining in on nected console market with an engaging, fun game with fam- Forrester Research predicting it will ily or friends who are living in grow from 5 million households Douglas Lowenstein, President Interactive Digital Software Association. other areas of the world. When during this year, 2001, to more Photo courtesy of BSMG Worldwide. that becomes available on the tel- than 50 million within five years.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20017 gaming system that allowed game developers more opportunity to create experiences that would hold gamer loyalty. The next step came with the release of the first 16-bit systems, the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), until the industry exploded once again when the new machines, the Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation were released in the mid 1990s. And though other developers tried to introduce new plat- All-Star Kobe Bryant, left, plays the self-titled basketball video game Kobe Bryant forms, including the Apple Pippin in NBA Courtside. Nintendo launched the game Monday,April 27, 1998. and 3DO, the N64, Saturn and Photo courtesy of Newscom.com, Feature Photo Service. Playstation emerged as the domi- The ‘connected console’ is the and third party, independent nant platforms vying for consumer familiar living room unit which groups who create games for con- loyalty while enticing game devel- now allows interaction with others sole play, developers. opers to create properties that through the Internet. Video gaming is changing, could become franchise hits for Game console manufactur- but how broad its future success is them. ers, Sega, Sony, Nintendo and will surely hinge on its ability to be Microsoft, are competing to create all things to all people. Or at least this gaming platform that will offer something to each member combine game software and inter- of the family. active on-line game play becoming what is termed a ‘broadband And Then There Were Four entertainment hub.’ Through the ups and Broadband because these downs of the game industry, miniature ‘super-computers’ will game system consoles have come include the components that and gone. allow them to network interactive Pre-historic systems, the gaming, television/cable broad- Atari, Mattel’s Intellivision, Coleco cast and the Internet together. Industries Colecovision and These new consoles, with either Magnavox’s Odyssey 2 had all but

128-bit or DVD format processors, disappeared when Nintendo of Fifteen-year-old Ryan Ontiveras, right, of contain enough horsepower to Japan entered into the fray releas- San Jose accepts the first Sega provide film quality images and ing the Nintendo Entertainment Dreamcast from actress Donna D’Errico and actor Verne Troyer at Software Etc. in hard drives able to store down- System (NES) in 1995. San Jose, Calif., just after midnight on loaded content, like on-demand The 8-bit NES revitalized a Thursday morning, September 9, 1999. movies, that will be available home gaming market that had Photo courtesy of Newscom.com, when the consumer wants to grown lackluster because of the WirePix via Feature Photo Service. watch them. limitations of game play. With an Fast forward to the 1999 The new game consoles 8-bit machine that worked at a release of the Sega Dreamcast, the will also be changing the game speed of 1.70 MHz and was capa- first step on the road to the 128-bit development community com- ble of displaying 16 colors at one game featuring a game console prised of both first party, those time, developers began to see so powerful that it provided groups owned and directed by new creative opportunities. But enhanced characterizations with the game console manufacturer, the quest was on to make a better movie-like visual and audio com-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20018 ponents. tem. Though little data is available ment and coding as straightfor- For holiday 2000, Sony cre- for the Game Cube, it is reported ward as possible. ated an unfulfilled consumer to be using an IBM Gekko proces- The Microsoft Xbox has demand with the Playstation 2, a sor as its microprocessor unit, been busy forging relationships system that allows game players to which will integrate the power of with developers including operate Sony’s library collections of a PC central processing unit into a Oddworld Inhabitants, creators more than 800 games developed custom, game-centric chip. The of Abe’s Oddworld, Oddworld: for Playstation (1) and that also theory behind this being that it will Abe’s Exoddus, designed for the serves as a DVD movie player. be easier for game developers to Playstation, and now for the Xbox, Playstation 2 also featured a 128- create games for this system, Munch’s Oddyssey. bit ‘emotion chip’ processor that enlarging the number of third After many months of promises superior game play. party developers creating software development, the company “As a gamer, I wanted the for the console, helping Nintendo switched platforms from the immediate gratification of the to gain a large piece of console Playstation 2 to the Xbox. “We Dreamcast as did almost 4 million and software sales. have chosen to develop games for other gamers, which is a huge the Xbox because it’s clearly the number of consoles for Sega to most powerful console with the have sold,” says Ken Soohoo, technology and raw horsepower President and CEO Planet Web. needed to take the Oddworld “On the other hand, I also want franchise to the next level,” says the Playstation 2 because it gives Lorne Lanning, Oddworld presi- me a lot of bang for the buck in dent and co-founder. “It has the that I can play my existing library most friendly development envi- of Playstation games on it and I Nintendo plans to follow up the N64 with ronment and points toward a get the DVD player. So while there the Game Boy Advance hand held system future of standardization which is are not a lot of new Playstation 2 which will interact with the Game Cube a tremendous breath of fresh air console. © Nintendo of America, Inc. games that are taking advantage All rights reserved. for the console industry.” of the technology yet, it is a purchase for the future that I want to “The key factor that will have.” separate the systems is the level of engaging, challenging and amusing software (games) that are offered,” says Perrin Kaplan, director of corporate affairs, Nintendo of America. “Nintendo’s ‘next-gen’ library for both the GameCube and Game Boy Advanced will be built with solid, challenging titles. Pokémon is a classic example of this.” The biggest tilt to the con- Perrin Kaplan, director of corporate sole wars may be Microsoft’s pro- affairs, Nintendo of America. Photo cour- Ken Soohoo, co-founder, president and posed fall release of the Xbox. tesy of Nintendo of America, Inc. CEO of Planet Web. Photo courtesy of New to the game console busi- Planet Web. ness, but with years of consumer With Great Power, Comes Not expected to be on PC applications behind them, Great Responsibility retailer shelves until this fall, Microsoft is releasing a system with Since 1994 the video gam- Nintendo plans to follow up the a streamlined architecture based ing industry has released in excess N64 with the Game Cube con- on Direct X 8.0, allowing design- of 7,000 individual titles that are as sole, which will interact with the ers to create on a platform specifi- varied as the movies released by Game Boy Advance hand held sys- cally designed to make develop- Hollywood each year. And the

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February20019 number of titles will grow expo- expanding beyond the typical This will make gaming a nentially with the new systems. gamer who is often characterized as direct competitive force against The difference in the games an 18-35 year old adolescent male. Hollywood’s silver and television is that they will now be a part of a “The biggest driving force screens as interactive vidgames broader entertainment choice, behind acceptance of the net- strive to eclipse the passive view- more of an end to end experience worked console will be bringing ing of movies and sit-coms as one that will deliver quality interactive women, and families, to the plat- of consumer’s leading entertain- content to the consumer. But with- form,” Pearce says. “And that will ment choices. out intelligent, engaging games to happen when games with con- play the game console will not tent for women, children and fam- find its way to the family living ilies to play together becomes room coffee table. more readily available.” “The console systems have Presently the vidgame moved toward offering more than industry does offer great diversifi- just game play content thus insur- cation. Of the more than 215 mil- ing their positions as a family lion video games sold in 1999, entertainment option,” explains Pokémon titles for Nintendo sold Kevin Sullivan, VP Sales and more than 12 million copies alone, Marketing, AgeTec, Inc. “But, the though the year’s biggest title was console will reside in the living Donkey Kong 64, selling 1.4 mil- Nintendo 64 system console and game room and the game development lion games for a reported $86.4 controllers. © Nintendo of America, Inc. company must strive to offer million. All rights reserved. games that contain taste, style and Third party developer, content that the whole family can Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. has Gaming Versus Hollywood enjoy.” created a diverse series of family For 1999, the gap Developers are being given titles from Allstar Baseball to Mary between box office receipts and the ability to create games that are Kate and Ashley Olson adventure VGI sales has narrowed to a scant visually, and audibly, superior titles. Electronic Arts, Inc. develops $1.3 billion when comparing through consoles with remarkable games with instantly recognizable Hollywood’s 1999 gross box office computer power. With that ability, celebrity titles like John Madden receipts of $7.4 billion and the the game developers should be NFL and Tiger Woods PGA Tour VGI’s industry sales of $6.1 billion. looking at an audience that is 2000/2001. “Over the last five years, The clear victor in both soft- video games have been the fastest ware and hardware sales, howev- growing segment of the entertain- er, for year 2000 was Playstation ment industry,” says Lowenstein. who remained victorious with “Between 1995-1999 alone, sales 49.3 percent of overall software grew more than 100%, from $3 revenue and 50.9 percent of video billion to $6 billion. All signals game software unit sales. point to annualized average Nintendo 64 captured 36 growths over the next five years of percent of software revenue and 15-20%.” 24.9 percent of video game soft- Harrison Ford as Indiana ware unit sales. Jones was the quintessential The gaming industry’s best explorer, thrill seeker and risk taker hope for living room acceptance – and a huge movie franchise for may well lie in being able to lure Paramount Pictures. The studio

Celia Pearce, research associate for the consumers to the game communi- may be replacing Indy with a new USC Annenberg Center for ty where they will pay to partake tough-as-nails action hero when Communication and Interactive Track in live, multi-player games instead they release Tomb Raider later this Head of Production for the USC School of Cinema-Television. Photo courtesy of of watching network or cable tele- year starring Angelina Jolie as the Celia Pearce. vision reruns. video game inspired femme fatale,

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200110 Lara Croft. As a franchise, Tomb Raider got its start in 1994 when game developer Eidos Interactive released her onto un-expecting male gamers everywhere. The dainty heroine was an instant success and her game life has already been sequeled three times with Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Through these action/adventure games, players have helped her to climb over, swim under and tunnel through natural and unnatural obstacles and deathtraps in her quest for treasure. And one would have to believe that Paramount expects Lara and Angelina to be as successful a franchise as Indy and Harrison was for them. They have already signed the star for two additional Lara Croft theatrical release movies. But this is a two way entertainment street. Major studios, such as Disney, Universal and Fox have all developed divisions that Lara Croft, played by Angelina Jolie, stands in the High Council Chamber in a scene oversee the development, market- from the anticipated live-action film Tomb Raider, based on the popular video game of the same title. Photo courtesy of Newscom.com, Feature Photo Service. ing and promotion of movie branded games. Other movie studio owned properties, such as the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, are turned into vidgames by third party developers like Infograms Entertainment, which has also turned hot television properties like Dragonball Z to the interactive game world. As gaming gains ground on Hollywood, the demand for quality game developers will increase, as will the need for talented producers, directors, story- writers, script developers and animators.

During a press conference in New York August 19, 1997, actresses Maud Adams, left, With new game consoles and Grace Jones, both of whom starred in James Bond films, play the Nintendo game will come new games and con- Goldeneye 007. Photo courtesy of Newscom.com, Feature Photo Service. sumers can expect to see hun-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200111 dreds of new titles over the com- tations and ultimately manifest increasingly important as broad- ing years giving the animator great work in spite of technologi- band entertainment grows.” many more career path options cal shackles,” Lanning says. “Many within an opportunity filled indus- of the most talented animators try. An industry which is attractive coming out of schools today are to many because of the perception also gamers and they are heading that it is an industry that inspires straight to the game industry. For individual creativity while lacking computer animators, nobody some of the traditional, often frus- who’s hiring cares if they worked trating, Hollywood baggage. on games, movies or TV. The deter- mining factor is the quality of their work. If their animation is great, it will be great for any industry.” At the end of the game, the final story is that gaming is a valid Inspired from the popular Pokémon fran- commercial medium that will not chise, Nintendo’s N64 unit called Pikachu be discounted by academia, the Nintendo 64. Photo courtesy of mainstream media or the enter- Newscom.com, Feature Photo Service. tainment industry for long. To view more in-depth A bit of on-line surfing specs and information on gaming shows that almost every game consoles visit us online! After many months of development, the Oddworld franchise switched platforms and console developer has some (http://www.awn.com/mag/issue from the Playstation 2 to the Xbox. on-line interactivity element 5.11/5.11pages/kubingaming. © Oddworld Inhabitants. already, with all of them promising php3) “The game entertainment more as the next gen platforms expansion simply gives animators and broadband entertainment Jacquie Kubin, a Washington, many more options through- delivery options expand. DC-based freelance journalist, out their career paths,” says Gaming has been with us, enjoys writing about the electron- Oddworld’s Lanning. “Not that in one way or another, for a very ic entertainment and edutain- long ago, if you were an animator long time, and according to ment mediums, including the you either worked on Saturday Pearce, it’s not liable to go away Internet. She is a frequent con- morning shows or you worked on anytime soon. “Just like rock ‘n’ tributor to the Washington Times feature films. Game animation has roll, which was similarly discount- and Krause Publication maga- greatly expanded the traditional ed, it is a cultural force that will not zines. She has won the 1998 industries, creating an entire new go away and is going to become Certificate of Award granted by industry of opportunity.” the Metropolitan Area Mass One thing that stays consis- Media Committee of the tent from genre to genre is that American Association of University game animation requires that ani- Women. mators have all the classic skills in their toolbox. The ability to draw Note: Readers may contact any and animate, add lighting and tex- Animation World Magazine turing are talents that cannot nec- contributor by sending an e-mail essarily be learned. However, the to [email protected]. technical aspects of getting a drawing from paper to game machines can be learned. “The most valuable people are the ones that have nurtured Top selling console game, Tony Hawke their classic talents, have perse- Pro Skater 2. © Activision, Inc. vered through technological limi- All rights reserved.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200112 What’s A Digital Media Futurist? by Heather Kenyon

hile going through some notes from E3, I Wcame across a title that fascinated me: digital media futurist. “What on earth is a digital media futurist?” I thought. The answer is Joan Van Tassel, an author and teacher who has worked for every major university in Southern California, including such leaders as the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She has followed up her first book, Advanced Television Systems: Brave New TV, with Digital TV Over Broadband: Advanced Joan Van Tassels’s First book, . The follow-up book by Joan Van Tassel, Harvesting Bandwidth, which hit Television Systems : Brave New TV Digital TV Over Broadband: Harvesting bookshelves with its second edi- Bandwidth. tion since being published in 1999. 40 documentary pieces over a ten desk and said, “This is a portable Expecting a very serious year period. Then I went back to computer.” Everyone in the audi- technophile, I was surprised when graduate school and I thought I ence gasped. Ms. Van Tassel turned out to be was going to walk under great vivacious and talkative as she trees thinking great thoughts HK: Wow, now they are three imparted to me, her sort of won- about television, but it turned out pounds. der about what the future is going that I had signed up to a grad to hold. school that specialized in new JVT: In those days you had to media, which in 1983 I had never walk over to the computer depart- HK: What I am really interested in heard of. ment to pick up your output. We is this day when our television, worked on a mainframe and sent computer and phone are one. But HK: What grad school was that? it to the output for printing. I was- before I get into questions about n’t very interested in technology, how gaming fits into this new JVT: The Annenberg School of but I worked with a Ph.D. student world, I wonder if you could Communications at USC. I thought on an interactive video disk. In explain your background and it was going to be like the those days you didn’t have digital study in this realm? Annenberg School in video processes — you couldn’t Pennsylvania, but no it wasn’t. encode or decode it — so we put JVT: I was a documentary televi- Everybody had computers on their analog video on a video disk sion producer. I worked on Real desks. I remember in 1984 when which you could digitally control. I People and did a couple of pieces this young professor hauled in this did my Ph.D. dissertation on com- for 20/20 and PBS. We did about huge suitcase and put it on the paring linear video with interactive ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200113 video to cancer patients using did test that I would say really sup- HK: Were they interacting with material explaining the side effects ported some of the research, the other patients as well? of cancer treatment. I took the which is that people in the inter- same material, using exactly the active group actually experienced JVT: No. When I got out of grad same footage and did different more emotions and a wider range school I went back to television. I kinds of interactives. We catego- of emotions. Consequently their started teaching but I wasn’t able rized different types of interactives intellectual grasp of the material to stay there because I realized and placed them in the video suffered a little bit because they that the students’ world was footage. People had the illusion could go back over things and going to be changed within ten that they could do something dif- really deepen their emotional years of their graduating. I could- ferent, in fact they couldn’t, but it response to it. Let me tell you, side n’t stand the idea of not equipping looked like they could. That was effects is a very emotional thing for them for it. I became more and very exploratory. I had about 50 a cancer patient. You are going to more tilted toward digital media. subjects and really found some dif- be sick. You are going to lose your Gradually it took over, and here I ferences in how people reacted to hair. Nobody wants to hear this. am, totally digitized. interactive material. I think the Part of the question was, “Could most interesting one is that people you use an interactive device, like HK: How do you spend your time who had the interactive presenta- a computer, especially if it had now? I know that you’ve been at tion were more likely to seek a sec- video material, in place of a per- Pepperdine and at UCLA. Do you ond opinion. I didn’t even write son?” Which initially sounds horri- do special seminars? that up in my dissertation because ble, but consider this, would you I didn’t really have any theoretical rather have a well produced piece JVT: I do at UCLA. I taught as a support for it, but it stayed in my or a nurse practitioner at 4:00 faculty member at Pepperdine, but mind. Since then I’ve thought that p.m., who has already told eight I stopped because of my full-time it’s really because in an interactive people the effects of cancer treat- writing. I wanted to write more mode you are more in a decision ment? That person has been because at the Annenberg school, making mode, period. That carries through a lot and so at the end of I was given this vision of the new over into how you imagine you the day they may forget to tell you communications of the world and would act in the future. things. They have had their own I will tell you how I thought of it: it emotional experiences that day. is global, high definition, interac- HK: Did you think that it would tive, two way communication net- make them feel less like victims HK: So these pieces that you pro- works. and more empowered by finding duced, they had video and then information and asking questions they also had...I am just trying to HK: Which is where we are headin this format? figure how it worked...how it was ing very quickly. interactive. JVT: I didn’t even think of that. JVT: I have a 50-year timeline. It’s You know, we didn’t have the JVT: The video pieces were the not so much high definition as it is Internet then, so I didn’t have a same. The people who saw linear variable bit rates. So it’s a variable framework for it and that’s why I video, that’s all they saw; all the definition depending on what didn’t look to support it particular- pieces put together. But in the your needs are and what the infra- ly in theory. Therefore I couldn’t interactive conditions I broke them structure permits. For instance, really write it up, but that was the up in different ways. It looked like you are not going to have broad- conclusion that I reached, yes. TV. band wireless everywhere anytime soon. HK: So you just put it out there HK: If you had a question could saying, ‘I wonder how they will you go more into that area and HK: But pieces and chunks will react to this different, interactive then skip other areas? eventually come together. stimuli?’ JVT: You couldn’t skip, but it JVT: They are already here! A real- JVT: I did have some things that I looked like you did. ly completed global network is

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200114 what I consider the work of the what you were doing and go take become. You buy property, you 21st Century. This is what we are care of business. If you didn’t you build a house and you take on an doing. ran out of what were called occupation. There is actually quite “mana” points. There were three a conflict between the settlers and HK: In The Industry Standard, kinds of points to get: money, the soldiers so to speak. The same they had pictures of underwater killing points to get weapons, and conflict if you had a house in cable that was laid a year ago ver- then there were mana points, Woodland Hills and people were sus this year and it was just incred- which were power points. If you always starting wars. It’s really very ible! From these threads to these ran out of power points then you funny. Pretty much the users keep chunks of red. We are building a couldn’t go anywhere and had to the story moving; 90% of the story whole new infrastructure. How do sit out a whole round. You can see is moved by the players. But they you think gaming, or what gam- all these elements coming togeth- have a staff of writers and if they ing is going to evolve into, is er now in the online, multi-player begin to feel there needs to be going to fit into this new struc- games. some big event then they will ture? My general belief about this stage it. Or they have celebrities A really come on who play characters. It’s JVT: I started out like everybody starting to take on some of the else on consoles. Then in about completed characteristics; the attention to 1987, I went online to things detail, individual environments, like MUOOS, Multi User Object global network the use of writers to quote ‘move Oriented Spaces. They weren’t so the story along.’ game oriented. They were more is what I I think some people have like chat rooms where you imag- consider the been looking at the wrong format. ined the space that you were in. It Look at DEN and the most recent was a sort of collectively designed work of the crop of failures. What was their space. MUOOS was very much template? TV. TV is not natively the forerunner to things like 21st Century. interactive and isn’t going to work. Ultima. You got to be an immortal is that there will always be a mar- Games have a native interaction to by designing an area. You came ket for fictional entertainment and them. No matter how fast or slow, into the central square and it that games are the template for they just do, so they fit the inter- would be a kingdom of some what will be in the interactive envi- active environment really well. We kind. A lot of them had this ronment. So far we have about 30 are going to see many, many, medieval idea to them. There were years of interactive entertainment many more ways of doing games usually multiple kinds of points development. The only successful that are collaborative, dramatic and you chose the kind of player ones that I have really seen are environments; fantasy environ- that you were. At any given time games. One thing that has not ments. you could alter your communica- migrated has been traditional tion between whisper, talk and drama/comedy type program- HK: So when your TV/computer shout. You could talk to one per- ming. But where you do see it is in et. al. is one, you might have the son, to only the people on your games like Ultima. option of watching TV or a movie team or to everyone in that loca- Ultima was developed out as we know it today, or interacting tion, which was shouting. You of MUOOS. It is an online game in one of these environments? used words in little pointy brackets that takes place in a sort of vague- to indicate, ‘Joan curtseys,’ or ly medieval space. A player is born JVT: Yes. Who wouldn’t want to ‘Joan waves.’ I went on a few into Ultima pretty much like you have a big, beautiful game that’s 8 times and then a guy contacted were born into the world: naked, x 10 while you’re leaning on the me and I got on his team. You crying and alone. You have to couch eating grapes with your could be a warrior, magician, etc. accumulate an identity and it takes horizontally and vertically fixed air There were things written into the a long time. It also costs $10 a mouse? It probably won’t work for game so you had to sleep and eat, month. The more time you spend twitch games very well though. which means you had to stop the easier your identity will HK: That’s one thing we have

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200115 been discussing in the magazine, become a reality. Do you have any that world, so if companies don’t is that gaming is becoming a thoughts on this? create that, then the users will. much wider realm. People used to only think of twitch games, but JVT: Well, it’s kind of interesting. HK: For instance, The Phantom actually a lot of games that are cur- Okay, we have the world. Let’s just Menace: LucasArts came out with rently being sold are for kids, fami- call that for now “reality.” The three a pod racing flight simulator ly titles. Are you saying that in this dimensional and four dimensional game. Would these types of ele- new world, that trend is going to world of stuff. Now we have a net- ments now be integrated into the continue even more? work, it’s the doubled world. It film? So that if you wanted to take goes back to the Greeks with their a break from the film and pod race JVT: I do think so but the genre myths. There’s nothing original with all those characters you could that I think holds the most promise about this, as kind of a collective and then you could rejoin watch- is role playing games. conscious and that is really what ing the film? we’ve created on the Net. We HK: Shows like Friends and keep making this a more and more JVT: There’s that kind of interac- Cheers: folks watch them because real example or real copy of the tively, but I am thinking more they are a group of people they world. It gets more and more along the idea of this sustained like. It’s almost like spending time detailed. If you can’t find some- immersive environment. So there’s with them. You want to see what thing on the Net, it’s really frustrat- going to be the Phantom Menace is going to happen next. ing. You have a sense that, ‘It has world that you can belong to. to be there somewhere. I am just JVT: That is something that is not able to find it.’ Probably you HK: And you can go in and inves- called terra social interaction and are right. You don’t have the right tigate all the different planets and it’s the tendency for people watch- combination of search engines to live in those areas... ing television to identify with char- get to it. The world, like our real acters as though they were real world, has become bigger than JVT: ...and reinvent those charac- people and as though they were anyone can know. That is what ters so that you can be someone’s talking to them. the Holodeck is. This is when the cousin. I think the next group of other world becomes as big as, users is absolutely going to HK: It seems like in these environ- maybe bigger, than the real world. demand the ability to engage in ments you get to know the other Since the imagined world needs an immersive environment that is players, so you are having that both that world and the resources responsive to them. They don’t same experience but instead of of the real world to make it. Then have to change the characters watching it, you are immersed in it’s probably bigger than the real that they have invented, but those it. world. characters need to populate that I will take this a step further world and some extension of JVT: Yes, and besides that in many — there will be no popular film those characters need to be able ways you may interact with both that does not have an interactive to respond to users in some way. the character and the person. If extension. There will always be the you get to like a character, the two desire to sit around the campfire HK: That is going to be a lot of of you can go off-line, exchange and listen to a story, why would work for a lot of people. email, meet and even get married. that change? But when you have It is also possible to have friend- people who are fully engaged JVT: It is. Although users do so ships with a person’s character that interactively as well, they are much of it themselves, it is going you would never know in regular going to want to recreate that to be a lot of work for a lot of peo- life. You might not even like them experience whenever they want it. ple. I think that there will be big but like that particular inclination Plus, they are not going to want to environments and small environ- of them. watch the same movie twice, or ments. three times or four times or even HK: Everybody out there is wait- the sequel forever. They are going HK: And some might continue on ing for Star Trek’s Holodeck to to want to be able to do things in and on and on very strong, where

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200116 some worlds might be popular for vision? main players in this kind of new a little bit and then ebb as the world? Obviously you have the movie becomes less popular. JVT: There is a little bit of work people designing the games. here. In my opinion it’s somewhere JVT: Exactly. I think too that peo- in a 15 to 20 year horizon. It’s ten JVT: Yeah, they have a really good ple have not really, in the game years at the soonest. There are future. The content people do. If world, capitalized at all on email, some standards to work out. you have a hit, you have a hit. but they will. You are not neces- Basically what would have to hap- When you get it right, you get it sarily going to have to go to a pen is, you would have to have a big. The delivery people are the place. Elements of games will communications gateway into near term winners — actually the come to you, and they should. your house and a communica- infrastructure people underlying tions center that allows you to port the delivery people — until the HK: How will that work? material to whatever device you network is extended to its eco- want, where you want it. nomical end points, which is prob- JVT: Well it depends on how ably well short of a global broad- broadband the deal is. The work HK: What do you think the band network. Still, there is a lot of space is already pretty broadband. biggest technological hurdle is at work that needs to happen. There Characters can interact among this point? is some technology work that each other using email. If I were needs to happen, like bandwidth running a game, I would certainly JVT: Standards. But that’s not the trading. be notifying people of things that biggest barrier. The biggest barrier were going on in the environ- is the business game. What are the HK: What is that, bandwidth trad- ment, if they wanted. If there is relationships among the players? ing? going to be an attack, you want to That’s the real unsettling part. know so you can come and pick Everybody wants to make the JVT: It’s kind of like the way you up your pitchfork. You could be biggest dollar. Some of those rela- envision the electrical grid and emailed with graphics of your tionships are in place, but every- moving electricity to wherever you ‘house’ going up in flames. They body argues and more time is need it. It doesn’t really work like could notify you on your cell spent on that. Nobody starts out that but it should, and you think phone. There is a lot of cross by saying, ‘Okay, I’ll take 2%.’ that it does. We need a grid like media engagement that could be Everybody starts out at 50%. that for bandwidth. It doesn’t real- occurring that is not that expen- There’s a lot of players and some of ly exist for a lot of reasons. GTE’s sive to do and players could opt in them are not going to make it. Like network is GTE’s network and and out. There’s a source of private the equipment people, I don’t see Quest’s is Quest’s. They do trade amusement that they might enjoy. that they are going to be able to around a bit but there’s no center. You could really link this game into stay in the game. Los Angeles is in some ways, as someone’s life. You could send they are developing these tele- them Christmas greetings from the HK: Do you see the telecommuni- phone hotels, so that’s kind of the characters in the game, for exam- cations giants as being the real precursor to bandwidth trading. ple. And that’s just off the top of winners? They are the ones that The interconnects need to be my head. control the pipeline. developed before you can really move around bandwidths. There HK: What do you think the time JVT: No, I don’t. Again, I’m using is actually something called the frame on this is? a 50 year timeline, so I have a dif- BTO, the Bandwidth Trading ferent take on it. In the near term Office, and people are starting to JVT: As soon as people think of it sure, they are the winners. But I work on it and figure out how to and start doing it, it’s ready to go. think that wireless communication do it. In the next five to ten years, is really going to challenge them we are going to see it. Large HK: And the sort of watching and broadband satellite. amounts of digital assets will be these immersive communities or able to be moved and you won’t fantasy communities on your tele- HK: So who do you see as the know how. You’ll just get a ‘bit bill.’

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200117 HK: So there’s still a lot of system opportunity for relationships with building that is going to handle people. People can really find the this world that’s coming? other people who offer what it is they need in their life to grow and JVT: Yes, there really is. Those sub- be satisfied. That’s really thrilling. marine cables: when this system is in place, you are going to be able Advanced Television Systems: to push material across the net- Brave New TV, by Joan Van Tassel. ANIMATION WORLD NETWORK 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600 works easily. Right now it’s a night- Woburn, Massachusetts: Los Angeles, CA 90036 mare. You have to hire somebody Butterworth-Heinemann Phone : 323.634.3400 Fax : 323.634.3350 to tell you how to get material Publishers Ltd., 1996. 336 pages. Email : [email protected] from here to Tokyo or worse ISBN: 0240802438 ($46.95) Osaka. Like Carson City to Osaka? If you are not in a major place Digital TV Over Broadband: then you have to hire a company Harvesting Bandwidth, by Joan to tell you how to do that. We Van Tassel, Woburn, Massachusetts: [email protected] have specialists in that arena. It Focal Press, 2000, 2nd edition. PUBLISHERS should be easy and everyone 370 pages. ISBN: 0240803574 Ron Diamond, President knows that you should be able to ($47.95) Dan Sarto, Chief Operating Officer run material over a network and EDITOR-IN-CHIEF somebody gets paid for it. There’s Heather Kenyon a settlements process that’s not here yet. Heather Kenyon is editor-in-chief ASSOCIATE EDITOR of Animation World Network. Rick DeMott After receiving her B.F.A. with HK: It is like electricity; a distributor EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR is buying electricity from a compa- honors in Filmic Writing from Joan H. Kim ny and you, the consumer, don’t USC’s School of Cinema- even know it. You turn a switch Television, she went to work for CONTRIBUTORS Mike Amron and it works. You don’t know how, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. Rick DeMott you just get a bill. Well, every- Currently, she is an International Ron Diamond Maureen Furniss, Ph.D. where except California right now, Board Member of Women In Martin “Dr. Toon” Goodman but it is the same principal applied Animation and on the Board of Heikki Jokinen to bandwidth. Trustees of Trees for Life. Heather Kenyon Joan Kim Jacquie Kubin JVT: That’s where we are, in this Katie Makal Note: Readers may contact any Fred Patten very fundamental working out of Animation World Magazine Chris Robinson the distribution of bandwidth. We Brett D. Rogers contributor by sending an e-mail aren’t even at the content part yet Will Ryan to [email protected]. Gregory Singer and we are not going to be there Glenn Vilppu for a while. In the meantime Paul Younghusband there’s all this richness of experi- OPERATIONS ment. Annick Teninge, General Manager

HK: What do you think is the most DESIGN/LAYOUT exciting or interesting thing going Alex Binotapa on right now leading up to this? WEBMASTERS Jeremy Keller JVT: The most interesting thing to Alex Binotapa me is the amazing speed with ADVERTISING SALES which it becomes second nature. Jay Stokes But, the most exciting thing is the

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200118 A One Stop Digital Shop: Data Design Interactive and Artworld UK by Paul Younghusband or around 18 years Birmingham-based Data F Design Interactive has been churning out top-notch games for some of the industry’s most presti- gious publishers. Working for Sony, Millennium, PSS, Psygnosis, Ocean and Infogrames on projects such as Pegasus Bridge, ROBOCOD, Rise of the Robots and Water World to name a few, Data Design has earned a reputation as one of the UK’s top games developers. Their experience developing for the Spectrum, Amstrad, Amiga, Game Boy, PC, Sega Megadrive and, of course, the Playstation, put them in the perfect position to take advantage of the games industry’s soaring popularity. But as we found out, the folks at Data Design have more than video games on their mind…

Two scenes from WW2, the upcoming game being developed by Artworld UK. Expanding Horizons © Artworld UK. When Lego Media the graphics and animation.” games. “We’ve built up a great International approached Data And they “handle” it very relationship with Lego Media,” Design to create their Lego Rock well indeed. For the last four years says Dorney, “in total we must Raiders game the company knew Artworld has been producing have competed more than 8 pro- that they would require a dedicat- some of the best game and game- jects for them.” ed animation team. “That’s when related animation in the UK. But we set up Artworld UK, our sister they haven’t just stuck with game Building a Company with Lego company,” says Rob Dorney, Head animation — the company has a Bricks of Art Department. “We have a wide range of TV commercials, Artworld’s work with the very good working environment Websites and even comic books Lego brand has established them here – Data Design handles the that they’ve produced as a result as a force to be reckoned with. game code, and Artworld handles of their astounding animation for After they completed the anima-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200119 tion for the Lego Rock Raiders characters and the way we tell sto- rish sense of busyness…and we game, Lego was so impressed that ries about them obviously works. had to do it in 6 weeks with only they commissioned Artworld to We seem to be on the same wave- 11 people.” And what’s more, create the animation for the televi- length. We know what they want. Artworld has yet to make use of sion commercial too. Then the And we get it right the first time.” motion-capture in a project. Using work started flooding in: Lego ingenious bits of programming Racers, Lego Alpha Team, Lego Taking Animation Beyond the scene is pulled off with ama- Creator, Legoland introduction Plastic Bricks zing believability. animation, Lego motion simulator Artworld’s work with Lego rides, Lego comics and more. has led to them producing anima- The Digital Bridge “Lego were so impressed with our tion for other game developers Because the work that work that they actually asked us to too. In an astounding sequence Artworld does is 3D, they can use help design some of the actual created for the upcoming game the fact technology to apply this Lego sets that were going to go WW2, Artworld recreated the D- 3D to Lego’s different types of proj- on sale,” Dorney recalls. “It was Day landings in 3D. “That type of ects while cutting costs and maxi- really great to see our work in plas- work is particularly challenging,” mizing efficiency. “It’s really quite tic on the shelves at Toys R Us.” Dorney states. “It’s amazing how simple,” Dorney says. “We can use complex a sequence like that is. If the same 3D models and textures you watch Saving Private Ryan, in a number of projects. We just which features a similar scene, build high-resolution models to you’ll see that everyone in the start with and downgrade them scene is doing something — for use in the games. We then use everywhere you look someone is the higher quality models for the being shot, or a mine is exploding. print and TV work.” This way We had to recreate that nightma- Artworld can apply their work to a variety of outlets for maximum return — and the fact that their sister company, Data Design, is a games company takes this one step further. Not only can the two companies provide excellent games complete with top quality animation, but they can do the packaging, the TV commercial When Lego Media International and even the Website. approached Data Design to create their Lego Rock Raiders game, the “We’re really interested in company set up Artworld UK, a doing more Websites,” Dorney sister company, to handle the confesses. “We’ve done Web work graphics and animation. © Artworld UK. for Kinder Surprise, Gubble and Hot Foot. We’re very excited about So why does international the Macromedia Flash format and toy giant Lego keep coming back are really pushing it to see how far to Artworld? “I think it’s because we can go. It’s great to take our they trust us with their intellectual 3D and animation and make use properties,” explains Dorney. of the same tools and techniques “Their brand is the core of their to create work for a different medi- business — it’s the key to their suc- um. We’ve done a lot of animation cess. Everyone knows Lego. They and 3D graphics for comics and feel that we portray their brand in packaging — creating interactive a way that works for them. The Background scenes developed for the Internet solutions seems like a nat- character that we put into the Lego Rock Raiders game. © Artworld UK. ural extension of that work.”

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200120 TV series for Winchester Television,” Dorney reveals. “And I’m sure you’ll see a Playstation 2 title from us next year too.” And more Lego projects? Predictably, Dorney is being secretive. But it’s clear that when Lego does decide to create another game, TV commercial or even another motion simulator ride, they’ll know where to go. Straight up the M5 and into Birmingham city center. I’m sure someone there will be able to help them!

Paul Younghusband is editor-in-chief of Visual Magic Magazine, a publication focusing on the 3D graphics From concept art, storyboarding,Website design, animation, audio production, and digital effects industries. comic book illustration and static art,Artworld UK’s gallery of work continues to expand. © Artworld UK. You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet mation, it is clear that both are set Note: Readers may contact any Despite Data Design’s 18 for bigger and better things. As for Animation World Magazine years in business, and Artworld’s 4 what those things are, they’re contributor by sending an e-mail years providing graphics and ani- keeping very quiet. “We’re doing a to [email protected].

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200121 Heroes Wanted: Stan Lee Media Struggles to Stay Afloat by Brett D. Rogers $100 million more than Marvel Enterprises, where Stan Lee still serves as chairman emeritus. Like many Internet-related companies, however, Stan Lee Media’s perceived success did not accurately reflect conditions behind the scenes. Although the company’s stock managed to remain comparatively stable through much of the dot-com stock bubble burst in 2000, Stan Stan Lee, action-adventure creator Lee Media was running out of extraordinaire. © Stan Lee Media. money at a blistering pace. While ess than two years ago, taking in just over $1 million in rev- Stan Lee Media rose from enue in its short history, the com- Lthe ashes of a bankrupt pany tore through over $20 mil- Marvel, where comic legend Stan lion in cash. Stan Lee Media’s heroes from their first Lee created characters such as Webseries, 7th Portal. © Stan Lee Media. Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk In February 2000, backing for the company to con- and the X-Men. With the creative Stan Lee Media’s tinue operating. Along with the force of Lee providing guidance, deal came a qualification, howev- Stan Lee Media quickly earned market capitalization er. If the company’s stock price widespread praise for its innova- was well over dropped below a dollar, the tion in online animation. The com- financing agreement would not pany developed a loyal audience $300 million… move forward. for its new characters and attract- The events of the following ed high-profile clients like the In Stan Lee’s comics, when weeks defy explanation. In the Backstreet Boys for its animation trouble strikes you can always face of the positive financing services. With the wind of a dot- depend on Spider-Man or another news, Stan Lee Media’s stock price com boom at its back, the compa- familiar hero to save the day. plummeted down from about $8, ny even found itself able to hire Unfortunately, it’s not that easy for smashing through the $1 mark on away talent from major studios like his namesake company, which unusually high trading volume, Disney, attracting animators look- must depend on a different sort of as short-sellers apparently found ing for the creative freedom and superhero, the high-risk investor. reward in the carnage. energetic environment associated On December 15, with its with an Internet start-up. Soon Putting The Players In Place stockholders still reeling, Stan Lee after the launch of its stanlee.net In November, it seemed as Media announced that the plunge Website in February 2000, Stan if Stan Lee Media had found its scuttled the company’s badly Lee Media’s market capitalization champion. A bridge financing deal needed financing, forcing it to was well over $300 million, about was reached to provide enough suspend operations and lay off

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200122 Commission filings, Paul reported if he or she buys or sells stock in a his intention to sell through PFP company while in possession of Family Holdings, his family trust non-public information that would company, over 400,000 shares of be considered important to a rea- Stan Lee Media stock in its final 20 sonable investor. An insider who days of trading. A sale of that size knows material, non-public infor- in the midst of Stan Lee Media’s mation about a company has two meltdown would yield estimated choices: either disclose the infor- proceeds of over $635,000 for mation to the public, or refrain PFP, with those sales representing from trading. Additionally, if an almost 8% of the stock’s trading insider who holds more than 10% volume over that period. of a corporation’s stock buys and When Stan Lee Media’s then sells within a six month peri- stock price made its final plunge to od, he or she must repay all of the Ken Williams, President and CEO of 13 cents on December 18, NAS- profits realized to the company. Stan Lee Media. © Stan Lee Media. DAQ halted trading of the compa- nearly all of its 140 employees. ny’s shares. Shortly after, the In a press release, Ken Securities and Exchange Williams, President and CEO of Commission opened an informal Stan Lee Media, expressed a glim- inquiry into the trading of the mer of hope in saying, “We still company’s stock “by certain indi- believe in the fundamentals of our viduals and entities.” business plan and are proud of the work we have accomplished to Stan Lee Media’s date… In the coming weeks we will be focusing on exploring the total remaining value full range of strategic alternatives in terms of market available to us in order to maxi- A scene from Stan Lee Media’s popular Webseries, 7th Portal. © Stan Lee Media. mize shareholder value.” capitalization is only Since learning of the com- about $1.69 million. Violating insider trading pany’s shutdown, angry stockhold- laws can result in a wide range of ers have directed their ire toward Seven Stan Lee Media insid- punishments, including criminal Stan Lee Media insiders. A prime ers, including Devendra Mishra, liability, civil penalties and private target is Peter F. Paul, a long-time president of the company’s inter- suits. A person who has been friend of Stan Lee and co-founder national unit, filed to sell approxi- harmed by illegal insider trading of Stan Lee Media who had served mately $2.1 million worth of stock has the right to bring a private as a consultant to the company in the company’s final 20 days of civil suit against the insider for since its inception. According to trading. As of press time, with trad- damages. Securities and Exchange ing in the company’s stock still halt- While at this stage there is ed, Stan Lee Media’s total remain- no indication that any insiders at ing value in terms of market cap- Stan Lee Media violated federal italization is only about $1.69 securities law, it is likely that the million. unusual timing and size of insider sales of the company’s stock will be The Rules and Regs an issue the SEC examines in its Stock sales by insiders of a investigation. publicly traded company are com- In a release announcing mon, legal occurrences when the SEC probe, Stan Lee Media properly completed. However, a reported that it had terminated the Peter F. Paul, a long-time friend of Stan Lee and co-founder of Stan Lee Media. company insider may be in viola- employment of Stephen Gordon, © Stan Lee Media. tion of the Securities Exchange Act executive vice president of opera-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200123 tions, as well as Peter F. Paul. In addition, the company had uncovered “evidence of possible misuse of company funds by former mem- bers of its management team.” Moreover, the company will not comment about the exis- tence of any connection between the discharge of Paul and Gordon, the SEC inquiry and the internal investigation.

A Thickening Plot What went wrong? What led to the discord between Paul, Gordon and Stan Lee Media’s management? What made a company co-founder contribute to the downfall of Stan Lee Media’s financing package by declaring his 7th Portal’s Conjure Man, a character whose magical powers, telekinesis and intention to dump a portion of his empathetic abilities, ensures the popularity of Stan Lee Media’s Webseries. shares at such a vulnerable time? © Stan Lee Media. The answers remain unclear. heavily into weakness in Stan Lee ly a target” of the company’s inter- Media’s share price must have nal investigation. What went thought twice about holding onto It is particularly important wrong? their own shares. that the company claims the dis- As more details surround- missal of Paul was “for cause.” A In a statement to Dow ing the Stan Lee Media nose-dive March 2000 SEC filing made by Jones Newswire, Paul defended are uncovered, Paul is likely to the company states that if his actions, saying he “never remain at the center of controver- Paraversal, the company through intended to sell any stock,” and sy. Last August, as Paul organized which Paul provided consulting that the shares sold were liquidat- a massive campaign fundraiser for services to Stan Lee Media, was ed as security for a loan. Paul also Hillary Rodham Clinton, the terminated for “any reason other criticized the methods used by Washington Post exposed Paul as than for cause or for death and Stan Lee Media to raise money, a convicted felon who two disability, Paraversal will be entitled saying they made the company’s decades ago served three years in to a lump sum payment of stock vulnerable to short-selling by prison and had his license to prac- $1,000,000.” investors. tice law suspended after he was Paul’s employment agree- Regardless of the reason for convicted of cocaine possession ment with Stan Lee Media defines Paul’s trades, Stan Lee Media’s flur- and attempting to defraud the “cause” as “(a) willful and repeated ry of insider sales certainly had a Cuban government of almost $9 failure to comply with the lawful negative impact on the stock’s million. directions of the Board of price. Insider sales are a valuable Directors; (b) gross negligence or and frequently used tool in assess- A Slight Hope? willful misconduct in the perform- ing the health of a company and While Rick Madden, Stan ance of Consultant’s duties to the the sustainability of that company’s Lee Media’s general counsel, told Company; or (c) conviction of any stock price. Investors who Dow Jones Newswire that Paul’s act of fraud against, or misappro- watched the company’s co- criminal past did “not directly” con- priation of material property founder and second largest share- tribute to his termination, Williams belonging to the Company, con- holder, along with a company offi- stated that Paul was “very definite- viction of any criminal statute con- cer and five other insiders, sell ly [fired] for cause,” and is “certain- stituting a misdemeanor involving

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200124 moral turpitude or conviction of a Williams declined to comment, cit- felony, chronic alcoholism or drug ing the sensitive nature of his com- addiction.” pany’s efforts to emerge from Stan Lee Media was just recent events. beginning to develop a core audi- In the coming months, ence when the strange events of while the rest of the online anima- November and December 2000 tion industry watches events pulled the plug. The popularity of unfold with intense interest, we’ll its 7th Portal franchise earned the find out if there will be any new company a movie deal and a adventures for Stan Lee Media, or promising 3-D amusement park if the last panel of this Lee creation ride. Unless favorable financing is has already been inked with a final secured, Stan Lee Media’s ambi- “The End.” tious plan to use the Internet as a springboard for its creations into Brett Rogers is a freelance the more profitable areas of licens- writer and law student based ing and merchandising will remain in Baltimore. untested. Stan Lee amongst the many characters Williams, speaking by tele- he has created. © Stan Lee Media. Note: Readers may contact any phone with AWN, says there are ing core executive group, “contin- Animation World Magazine still “good prospects” for his com- ue to actively pursue” deals to res- contributor by sending an e-mail pany and that he and the remain- urrect the company. Beyond that, to [email protected].

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big on business | big on content | big on interaction | big on intelligence it is conceivable that audiences a thousand years from now will be able to view an original episode of MyMy Generation?Generation? Rocky and His Friends with full understanding of the cultural con- by Martin “Dr. Toon” Goodman text. Sure, the show may seem a bit weird and unworldly but hard- ly indecipherable, since it will never have disappeared. These audiences will contain historians and academics, but also fans who will recognize many of the show’s nuances.

The first true star to emerge from Hanna-Barbera Productions was Huckleberry Hound, who began in 1958 sponsored by Kellogg’s cereals and syndicated by Screen Celebrating the cartoon stars of the Gems. In 1960, the blue hound went on to win the first Emmy Award ever given to an Hanna-Barbera library, the 24-hour clas- animated program.TM & © 2001 Cartoon Network.An AOL Time Warner Company. sic cartoon network arranges its weekly All Rights Reserved. schedule into four different programming “Don’t want to end up a cartoon categories designated by character, half- in a cartoon graveyard…” hour series, year (television season) and Boomerang action-adventure genre.TM & © 2001 - Paul Simon © 1986 BMI Music Cartoon Network.An AOL Time Warner differed from Company.All Rights Reserved. emories from a sixth- its “sister” grade history class: I Old Is New: Boomerang Mrecall seeing pictures of by offering Which brings us to April 1, pale, pitted figurines that resem- vintage 2000 and the premiere of Turner bled malformed gingerbread men Broadcasting System’s newest iced with dirt. My textbook cartoons. offering, Boomerang. A compan- informed me that these objects make any assumptions at all. ion channel to the highly success- were “fertility statues,” created to Assuming no nuclear con- ful Cartoon Network, Boomerang ensure fecund livestock and boun- flagrations, environmental disas- differed from its “sister” by offering tiful crops. At least that was the ters, world-cleansing global pan- vintage cartoons. The title sug- prevailing theory; they might have demics or invasions by the Drej, gested the “baby boom” genera- actually been the Sumerian equiv- the record of the past should be tion born between 1946 and alent of fuzzy dice, pet rocks or easy to read. Current technology 1964 who were ostensibly the action figures. After some 5,000 has been able to preserve civiliza- original audience for these car- years, who really knew? This con- tion through the use of increasing- toons, and the fact that the car- jecture led to the only interesting ly sophisticated devices, and at toons had returned to their cultur- homework assignment I ever had least the past fifty years of cultural al owners and caretakers. in elementary school: “If archaeol- history are available to all mankind Boomerang first cut a deal with ogists were to dig up our class- on CD-ROM, DVD and other for- EchoStar satellite service and then room 5,000 years from now, what mats. Frequently this historical hit it big with DirecTV soon there- assumptions might they make record reappears in digitally remas- after. In an interview with ign about the artifacts they find?” That tered form, looking and sounding (March 27, 2000), Cartoon was a challenging question in better than ever. This is no sci-fi Network president Betty Cohen 1965, but answering it in 2001 is fancy: source material will be pre- noted that while, “Cartoon simple: They wouldn’t need to served in ways yet unforeseen and Network’s phenomenal audience

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200127 in sundry stages of development. Each one has the potential to develop into a series within the next two years. Add to that the commitment that CN is making to anime (Gundam Wing and Techni Muyo are now on the scene in addition to CN’s other imports), and there is far less time available for Hanna-Barbera leftovers such as Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan.

Wait…Who’s Watching What? Still, how can one let a library spanning forty years of Saturday morning animation lie Inside his laboratory, Dexter believes that every day is a great day for science, but not fallow? Adults make up 35% of for sister Dee Dee.TM & © 2001 Cartoon Network.An AOL Time Warner Company. CN’s viewing audience, and its All Rights Reserved. viewership spends an average of growth with older kids and and enter the mainstream’s prof- seven hours per week “tooned” in younger adults is increasingly driv- itable secondary markets. To these to the station. The average viewer en by our aggressive ramp-up ends, Cartoon Network has dedi- is 81% more likely to have four or of original programming and cated its prime viewing hours to more television sets in the home contemporary acquisitions...our original programming. Their than non-viewers. This suggests research and consumer feedback phenomenally lucrative Friday that there is certainly enough tells us we still have enormous evening block (7:30pm-11pm) time, TV sets and adults to go opportunity to serve baby boomer was a key factor in gaining the around for the vintage toons, but I parents with more of the classic economic leverage needed for find myself puzzled by a couple of favorites they grew up with. program expansion. CN is one of other statistics, and these deserve Boomerang will give them the (ad-supported) cable TV’s highest examination since they left me chance to share those favorites rated networks, and advertising with their kids.” revenue exploded 40% over 1998- Noble sentiments indeed. 99 levels, partly due to this block’s Economical ones as well. Research popularity with viewers. and consumer feedback have nei- Some original projects, ther ensured success nor averted such as Ed, Edd n Eddy, are disaster in the world of TV pro- passable. Other programs like gramming, and the Cartoon Cow and Chicken or Dexter’s Network execs are likely aware of Laboratory have a steady follow- that fact. Boomerang may, in fact, ing. Still other programs, primarily have a secondary and even terti- The Powerpuff Girls, have slipped ary purpose. Cartoon Network has the leash and are on the eventual two important goals that mitigate way to classic status. Cartoon against older toons dominating its Network continues to develop its programming. CN must ensure a own shows and will do so for the steady dose of progressive and foreseeable future; Cohen and original programming. They must company have made a $350 mil- Shaping up to be a classic, The Powerpuff also develop the intensive market- lion commitment to original pro- Girls have worked over audiences creating their own powerful niche. TM & © 2001 ing that is inseparable from toons gramming, and at this time there Cartoon Network.An AOL Time Warner that slip their restrictive time blocks are reportedly 25 animated shorts Company.All Rights Reserved.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200128 wondering at which audience the own progeny (allowing time for was the last thing on their minds. Boomerang network is truly their children to hit the age of Boomerang seems more a strategy aimed. five), who is that viewership? to attract GenXers and their off- According to an article in spring, who also cross over to CN One con- Marketing Click (3/99), “More chil- for the newer and hipper toons. dren’s television is viewed in Thus, CN and Boomerang team clusion we households with GenX parents up for the tastiest pieces of the could draw and kids under 12 than those with demographic pie. Boomerang Boomer parents, according to also serves the purpose of clearing is that Mediamark Research Inc. GenX the decks for CN’s original pro- Boomers are households were almost twice as grams while maintaining the origi- likely to have tuned in to the nal network’s 35% adult viewing overrated as Cartoon Network during a recent base and fully utilizing Turner’s a viewing six month period than Boomer colossal cartoon library. households...” audience for Therefore, one conclusion Curious-er and Curious-er animated we could draw is that Boomers are Fortunately for CN, the car- overrated as a viewing audience toons made during this period are cartoon for animated cartoon shows. “hot,” gaining the endorsement of shows. Another conclusion we might GenXers such as Timothy and reach is that Boomerang, while it Kevin Burke, who sent these pro- As noted earlier, Boomers does show cartoons pre-dating grams a cuddly love letter with represent people born in the years 1967, may not be completely their book Saturday Morning 1946-1964 (ages 55-37). If we intended for the baby boomers Fever. Unfortunately, with few add five years to these birth dates and their kids after all. At the time exceptions, many of these car- to reflect more accurately the that most of Boomerang’s current toons exemplify how standardiza- times in their lives when Boomers fare was playing on Saturday tion, poor quality, minuscule were first addicted to cartoons, the morning, true Boomers were financing and fuss-budget “con- range of programming would sweating out recessions or lurch- sultants” with pro-social agendas reflect the years 1951-1969. ing towards yup-dom; Jabberjaw can drain animation of all its magic Demographic studies suggest that the typical head of the household among CN’s audience is in the 25- 34 age range, which suggests birth dates ranging from 1967- 1976. If we were to apply the same five-year rule, the range of programming would represent something like 1972-1981. This range more accurately reflects the prevalent programming on Boomerang. In an interview with l.a. life on April 1, 2000, Boomerang senior VP Mark Norman suggested that the network would be concentrating on the years between 1963 and 1976. If the viewership of Boomerang, as Ms. Cohen sug- The Flintstones, network television’s first primetime animated series, was originally produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios for ABC-TV from 1960-1966 and is now showing on gests, is sharing the beloved car- Boomerang.TM & © 2001 Cartoon Network.An AOL Time Warner Company. toons of their youth with their All Rights Reserved.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200129 and wonder. For better or worse, boomer born in 1956, I think that Boomerang is a historical record of Cartoon Network has the more a well-defined generation’s favorite desirable lineup. I would pay extra cartoons...but possibly not the to see Mo Willem’s frenetic assault generation described by Betty on the “fourth wall” that he calls Cohen or suggested by the net- Sheep in the Big City. I would dig work’s title. up a few more shekels to watch I find this more curious John R. Dilworth and Courage the than problematic, and I respect Cowardly Dog carry out their min- the right of Turner Broadcasting, imalist revision of the American or Cartoon Network, to call their horror genre. I would pop a few new entity whatever they wish. It more pennies to enjoy the lively is amusing, however, to see true animation and snappy dialogue of boomer cartoons such as Tom and the underrated Mike, Lu and Og Jerry and Rocky and His Friends, show. And I would bust my piggy or the offerings of the Acme Hour, bank to see the City of Townsville playing on Cartoon Network at eternally protected by The the same time that Boomerang is Powerpuff Girls. But shelling out broadcasting Sealab 2020 and dough to view The Cattanooga

Yogi’s Space Race. My only real Cats, The Funky Phantom or Another facet of the new Cartoon quibble is that Boomerang does Speed Buggy? With all due Network lineup, Sheep in the Big City not seem to be part of the basic respect, someone would have to is a heart-warming tale of a farm animal’s attempt at making it in a new cable package and must be pay me. town.TM & © 2001 Cartoon Network. purchased either separately or Ah, but I am only one hum- An AOL Time Warner Company.All through a package upgrade. It ble journalist soon to be lost to the Rights Reserved. seems to me that Turner is charg- flow of history. Boomerang is, at the cartoon graveyard. Thanks to ing people for the wrong net- least, part of the process that this network’s current efforts, it is work. Speaking as a genuine assures no cartoon ever goes to possible that 5,000 years from now future historians, cultural archaeologists and animation fanatics can all sit down together and watch Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch! without questioning whether this was an example of animal worship, tribal ritual or archetypal epic. Figuring out what era of audiences it was aimed at, however, might be a different story since the matter is evidently not clear among the Turner networks themselves.

Martin “Dr. Toon” Goodman is a longtime student and fan of animation. He lives in Anderson, Indiana.

Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine Cartoon Network’s popular award-winning series, Courage the Cowardly Dog.TM & © contributor by sending an e-mail 2001 Cartoon Network.An AOL Time Warner Company.All Rights Reserved. to [email protected].

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200130 Monthly provocative,drunken, idiotic ramblings from the North… Da imagined, desired world ya all are dreamin’ of, don’t exist. Not sayin’ it shouldn’t — cause da pimp got nuttin’ but lovin’ for all “Long Live ya sweets — but ya all be dreamin’. Dis here film be showin’ da world for what it is, not what it should be. Tits” Da man all be IDIOTS. Don’t hear da men ‘plainin.’ ‘Sides...there be stupid MEN and stupid WOMEN. Illustration by Andreas Hykade. Ya know what I’m sayin’. Courtesy of Chris Robinson. by Chris Robinson

Yo, yo, yo ladies. but views through the eyes of Main man Diego don’t do nuttin’. Da pimp is here cave men. Bloody fool dat’s all. makin’ wit da mouth. Ya know what I’m sayin’. Time ya hardboileds stop confusin’ Ya know what I am sayin’. your reality with da others. Seems dat feminism gone so far Ain’t no one reality ladies and be Been hearin’ some yappin’ dat no one be ‘llowed to say shit time ya stop tinkin’ ‘cause just ain’t ‘bout couple o’ films: ‘bout no woman. so. Ring of Fire Don’t seem right if ya ask me. Ya know what I’m sayin’. and Night of the Carrots. ‘Sides...how many fuggin’ German speakin’ sister eggs do ya As with the Fire film. Seems you honeys be know? From da get go, this guy Hykade is thinkin’ they be crappin’ on ya all. Ya know what I’m sayin’. da BOMB. Making da ladies look bad. Ya know what I’m sayin’.

Dat makes da pimp mad. He don’t like no rain from da honeys. Less it involves cork poppin’. Rather be mackin’ than yappin’. Ya know what I’m sayin’.

Okay…y’all listen up. Carrots got a few ladies: that salivin’ elevator button, a big titty waitress, a yappin’ German egg and da fat kid’s mom.

Don’t understand da problem ladies. All da men be biscuit arsed smack offs. They be huddled away in rooms with nothin’ but fantasies. What u see of da ladies is nuttin’ Ring of Fire directed by Andreas Hykade. © Gambit.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200131 ‘Side the Uke and Estonian, he is king of da cartoons right now. Ya know what I’m sayin’.

Okay...da film. Listen up. Two guys headin’ to some fuggin’ Fellini with Dante world o’ bends. Is it hell? Dunno…seems plenty nice ta me. These two fellas just be trying to bone and get their groove on. Ya know what I’m sayin’.

Turns out though that da man we be callin’ HERO, ain’t nothin’ but a low-down lady beatin’ mutha’ fuggah. Da man we usually be laffin’ at á là Walter Brennan be da real man. He be lookin fo’ da love like Chef, Night of the Carrots directed by Priit Parn. © EESTI Joonisfilm. not Ike. then don’t see how these 2 films Join Chris online in The Animation Ya know what I’m sayin’. fit. Café at http://www.creativeplan- If anyone bein’ objects it’s da crack- et.com/communitycenter/, a sort Man who be treatin’ da ladies ers. of anarchistic forum (or variety right get himself some love and They ill defined, fugged up crea- show if that sounds better) for some bustin’. tures. debates, criticism and commen- Sure...the waitress, egg and eleva- tary about any and all aspects of ‘Gain not sure what da problem is. tor button be re/op-pressed. animation, especially the art of ani- Some dancing women. But shit, if ya axe me, everyone be mation (whatever that means). Some chicks waxin’ on each other messed up. messin’ with da tongues. A chick munching anuther. Ya know what I’m sayin’? Chris Robinson is a writer, festival Why sex be sexism? director, programmer, junky and Merely a view within the minds of Hottie Animator o’ da month doesn’t give a shit about you. His two lost souls. Ain’t none of you. All that bitchin’ hobbies include horseback riding, Ya know what I’m sayin’. ‘bout two good films...forget pudpulling, canoeing and goat about it. Instead da honour goes thumping. Ya all need to open up... to a nice slice of Korean. Some pages of dat dead bald French guy’s book The History of The Animation Pimp is brought to Note: Readers may contact any Sexuality. you by AAA Ladies From Shanghai, Animation World Magazine No pictures. Won’t be gettin’ ya servicing the sexual needs of the contributor by sending an e-mail off. animation community since to [email protected]. But damn if it don’t help all ya August 1999. repressed folks understand da ways of sexuality. Visit us online at: Ya know what I’m saying. http://www.awn.com/mag/issue 5.11/5.11pages/5.11animpimp. If sexism be defined as the objecti- php3 to download and view fication or oppression of a gender QuickTime movie clips of each of by another gender, these films!

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200132 Sketching on Location: Texture as Planes in Space

by Glenn Vilppu Glenn Vilppu. his is the fifth in a new series of bi-monthly articles Tabout sketching on location. The articles are based on my Sketching on Location Manual. The manual was developed as a series of lessons that I use on my guided sketching tours of Europe, and that I use as material in my regular drawing classes. As such the lessons can be part of a regular course or can be used by individual students as a practical learning guide. In the last chapter we worked on “Light and Dark Patterns.” If you have not seen the previous lessons starting in the June 2000 issue of Animation World Magazine, it is recommend- ed that you do. The lessons are progressive and expand on basic ideas. It is suggested that you start from the beginning for a better All drawings in this article are by and © Glenn Vilppu. understanding of my approach. If ings. A texture can be the fluffiness pencil or pen to clarify an object’s you really want to start at the of a cloud, the gravel of a walk- place in space. beginning open with the lessons way, the variety of shapes of In looking at the examples, based on the Vilppu Drawing leaves, or the peeling of paint on a notice the variety of textures used. Manual. wall. We don’t have to make up The use of contrasts or differences textures for they are all around us. is a fundamental element of artistic Bringing in Texture Every good gardener employs this expression. Reducing your picture Another widely used way concept in organizing how the to a series of stripes, each different of separating elements and organ- flowers in his or her garden will in size, texture, quality of color and izing your picture is through the look, one against another, and as value is an incredibly useful tool in use of textures. The basic principle a whole. Photographic books are picture making. Consistently look- we have been using is that con- full of artists’ depictions of one tex- ing for these contrasts will also trast applied to planes organizes ture against another. give you much more enjoyment the elements of the picture. The In drawing we make delib- and appreciation for what you use of textures serves the same erate contrasting marks to show see. function. Pierre Bonnard is a good clear differences. While the subject While doing these draw- example of an artist who consis- itself gives us the direction to take, ings, I applied many of the ideas tently used them as a way of at other times, it may be necessary we have discussed in the previous organizing his paintings and draw- to create arbitrary marks with our chapters, particularly the alterna-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200133 Drawing.” His drawing manuals and video tapes may be purchased in the Animation World Store. Glenn Vilppu teaches figure drawing at the American Animation Institute, the Masters program of the UCLA Animation Dept., Walt Disney Feature Animation and Warner Bros. Feature Animation, and has been sent to teach artists at Disney TV studios in Japan, Canada and the Philippines. Vilppu has also worked in the animation industry for 18 years as a layout, storyboard and presentation artist. His tion of darks and lights in the able online at: drawing manual and video planes stepping back into the pic- http://www.awn.com tapes are being used world- ture. It is not necessary to see this /mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/5.11 wide as course materials for dark and light pattern as just a vilppu.php3. animation students. product of shadows. Pushing the differences between one plane and Glenn Vilppu first wrote for Note: Readers may contact any another is the important thing. Animation World Magazine in Animation World Magazine the June 1997 issue, “Never contributor by sending an e-mail More examples are avail- Underestimate the Power of Life to [email protected].

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200134 eKIDS: Everyone Wants a Piece of the PIE by Gregory Singer hen folks think of car- Greg Boegner, Vice toons and animation, President of Business Development Walmost universally we for SilverTech, and a former media think of kids. Once in my wander- producer for NASA’s Johnson ings I came across a T-shirt on a Space Center, explains, “This is pro- toddler which read: “I am not a prietary technology that uses target audience.” However quaint encryption from end to end; it or poignant such a message may starts where the connection meets be, the fact remains that anima- a user’s computer, encrypts the tion and children are closely asso- What you’ll find on eKIDS Internet’s lines all the way into our servers, ciated — if not always in our mar- main page. © SilverTech Inc. where there is layer upon layer of keting schemata, then certainly in launched its operations in firewalls.” our collective cultural imagination. February 2000. At the gleeful age The “eKIDS Internet” is the of 67, El St. John has an extensive fledgling and ambitious enterprise and varied background, from run- of SilverTech, Inc., and it aims to way modeling and race care driv- be, as it explains self-promotional- ing, to advertising, marketing and ly, “The place where kids click with documentary filmmaking. At tech- kids.” nology conferences and meetings — standing out among the stereo- typically youthful, predominantly male crowd — St. John offers a compelling and unique vision among founders of Internet start- ups. St. John has, first and fore- Greg Boegner,Vice President, Business most, a passion for kids, and she Development, is responsible for identify- ing and acquiring content for eKIDS wants to create a place for chil- Internet, representing the company at dren to be safe and secure as they various trade shows and conferences, as experience the online world. St. well as leading marketing, advertising and public relations efforts, and business John says, “There must be a way affairs. Photo courtesy of and for people to take advantage of © SilverTech Inc. the ease, accessibility and conven- ience of the Internet within a safe, St. John adds, “The PIE El St. John, founder and CEO. In her first technology provides a service endeavor using PIE technology, she creat- protected microcosm.” ed eKIDS Internet, the world’s first pri- During the past three which is flexible and virtually vate Internet network for kids featuring years, in collaboration with impenetrable, offering the primary its own browser and search engine. Photo benefits of the Internet without courtesy of and © SilverTech Inc. her husband, a physicist at Intel Corporation, St. John has devoted the public risks.” In creating safe Founded in 1997 by for- her energy and resources to pio- and secure online environments, mer telecommunications executive neering this effort, in developing the technology can be applied to El St. John, San Francisco-based her company’s patented Private other industries and businesses; SilverTech officially and globally Internet Engine (PIE). military, legal and medical profes-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200135 View the Flash animation game, It’s Fishy featured on eKIDS’ Flash animation game, The Nasty Mariachi vs.The Evil Cucarachas, eKIDS Internet and created by Bevin Stone. created by Rogelio Ramirez and SteveMedoff.© SilverTech Inc. © SilverTech Inc. sions, as well as government, its rough outlines, gems of ideas to go out and do stuff for them- financial and educational institu- are slowly realized. Kids can learn selves.” tions. how to cook, tune up a car, take Currently, with almost thirty SilverTech must have hit care of a pony, make a simple sections or “e-centers” to explore, upon the right electronic nerve, camera, or stretch a canvas for oil there’s no lack of encouragement because they have already raised painting… or inspiration for kids. Garrard’s $10 million in seed money from Julie Garrard, creative direc- department, in the last six months, angel investors, and received sub- tor of the original animation and has already made over 100 stantial pecuniary and hardware games on eKIDS (ages 4-12), says, games, cartoons and activities to investments from such companies “What we’re trying to do is have complement the e-centers. Once a as Hewlett-Packard and Cisco, something that’s educational and month, kids can talk with the which provides all of their servers fun, but also have stuff that eKIDS animators in the chat rooms and networking infrastructure. encourages kids to do things that to share ideas on what future Other strategic partnerships have aren’t necessarily on the comput- games and toons they may like to been established with AboveNet, er.” Garrard, a self-described see. Ask Jeeves and Headbone enfant terrible, adds, “You gotta There is, for example, a Interactive. make them think and then want poetry mic — a take on the paper- and-pencil Mad Libs game of yore, Easy as PIE where kids can choose from dia- The eKIDS network, there- logue that is then read, in a very fore, is the inaugural effort of bad French accent, by an animat- SilverTech’s PIE technology. Install ed character. their software on your computer, Commenting on one of her register and you’re tapped in. It’s favorite recent creations for the that simple. network, Requiem for a Turkey, In one click, you’re stuffing Garrard notes, “One of the rea- your face with low-res graphics sons this stuff works so well for games and participating in fart kids is we’re not coming from a jokes, and in the next click you are normal adult perspective on it. reading about the basal plane and We’re trying to be silly, irreverent crystallography of snowflakes. In and not talk down to kids.” its current incarnation, eKIDS tries The eKIDS animators, with to cater to the interests of young- Julie Gerrard, creative director of eKIDS a median age of 25, all come from sters ranging in ages from 4 to 19. oversees the creation and production of backgrounds in traditional, cel ani- original animation and games on eKIDS So you can imagine what kind of Internet. Photo courtesy of and mation. As Garrard explains, unlike juggling act this entails. But amidst © SilverTech Inc. other studios where production ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200136 may center around a client’s prop- or ThinkBox? whole shebang — complete with erties, the eKIDS animators are While it is initially suggested communication (email and chat), given a fairly “long leash” to create that the eKIDS service will cost $12 education, entertainment, news, what they want. Occasionally they per month, it is essentially a free and a kid-friendly browser and are reigned back in, but for the Internet network, so long as kids search engine (which already most part they have the freedom keep recommending it to others. boasts at least 140,000 Websites and creativity to produce the con- The first six months are offered for cached on its server). tent as they like. The general feel- free, and subsequent six-month SilverTech is drawing the ing and consensus is that, if the “subscriptions” are also free, for attention of parents and children animators are not having fun, the every child one may refer to the to their eKIDS Internet through an kids won’t be having fun. site. SilverTech generates its rev- intensive promotional and market- Delving through the net- enue through corporations and ing campaign. In free parenting work, you continue to come sponsorship sales, and the $12 publications — mostly in the across, like an echo, all of the price tag is meant for kids to Northeast right now, in such areas familiar sights and sounds of the understand the value of the net- as Massachusetts, New York and larger World Wide Web; every- work, not to preclude anyone Minnesota — SilverTech is offering thing from music, magic and mar- from being able to participate in it. free CDs to register for the service. tial arts to learning origami and Ideally, St. John wants all kids to Radio Disney, syndicated around yoga to banking, traveling and have access to the site; she doesn’t the U.S., is running ad spots for even practicing your technique as want it to become an elitist kind of eKIDS. At special events in metro- a video editor. During the next service for affluent kids. politan areas (zoos even!) free discs turn, you find yourself back again are also being handed out. The among the playful pedantry of SilverTech is eKIDS Internet is sponsoring the your youth: squishing cockroach- Pokemon Live stage show which es, pampering Santa with peckish drawing the debuted last September at Radio kisses and back-scratching candy attention of City Music Hall, and is now touring canes and setting characters on North America. There has been a fire with lightning bolts. parents and back-to-school promotion with In total, El St. John intends Hewlett-Packard, Office Depot and for the eKIDS Internet to be a self- children…through Staples this past fall as well. And an contained, friendly, kid-only zone. an intensive in-school, online safety promotion It sprawls all over the place, afford- has also been set up. eKIDS creating children not only the opportu- promotional and ed a “homework folder” with infor- nity to peer their heads into the mation for both kids and parents museums of the world (exposing marketing on how to be safe using the World them to the breadth of human his- campaign. Wide Web; again, there is a free tory and geography), but also CD included with each promotion- encourages them to participate; to The basic idea is that eKIDS al folder. In all, there will be rough- submit, for profile and exhibition, is selling to parents. It is offering ly 12 million discs in circulation by their own creations and ingenu- them the peace of mind that their this March. ities be it drawings, music or oth- kids can maneuver in an online erwise. environment without being The Square Route of PIE exposed to any inappropriate Having recently returned Having a Finger in the PIE material, either intentionally or from a media conference in With activities and games accidentally, and without the fret London, business development fashioned after everything from or threat of them being exposed executive Boegner speaks comfort- punk mosh pits to playing dress-up to predatory behavior. Online des- ably and confidently of SilverTech’s with beauty products, what else tinations for children are generally future position in the growing distinguishes or differentiates and primarily entertainment- global marketplace. While their eKIDS from such other online des- based, whereas eKIDS seeks to first efforts have been in establish- tinations as Nick, Disney, Rumpus emulate an entire Internet — the ing a safe, sequestered environ-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200137 ment for children’s education and communicate with one another want to feel more secure in their entertainment, SilverTech is poised directly, through software translation online activities. In short order, to be a leader in bringing confi- applications. SilverTech will be providing full, dentiality and security to the vastly online resources for researching expanding online universe. Other SilverTech is materials, holding client informa- businesses and professions are poised to be a tion confidential and mediating seeing the benefit of such tailor- other Internet-based enterprises. made, safe havens for exchanging leader in We can look forward to such PIEs and sharing information, and as eLawyer, eMedical, eShipping, European media and telecom bringing con- eDistributor (a private network for companies are eager to jump on fidentiality and selling electrical parts), and the opportunities the Internet may eEducation (a private network for provide, particularly with respect security to the distance learning). to children. There is nothing “pie in the vastly expanding sky” about it. SilverTech means online universe. business. In the coming months, Check us out online at eKIDS itself (ages 4-12) will spin off http://www.awn.com/mag/issue into separate Internet engines, 5.11/5.11pages/singerekids.php3 “eTeens” (ages 8-13) and “24-7 to see sample Flash animations! Edge” (ages 14-18). As the World Wide Web Gregory Singer is a freelance continues to evolve and thrive, the writer and amateur scientist, in The Flash animation game, Moshpit fea- climate of concern for the protec- feverish midnight pursuit of a tured on eKIDS Internet and created by tion of information also grows. As cure for the common pun. Rogelio Ramirez. © SilverTech Inc. El St. John explains, “Those ‘public Boegner admits that the streets’ are not where everyone Note: Readers may contact any eKIDS network is going through its wants to do business, especially Animation World Magazine growing pains now — that the when commercial interests and contributor by sending an e-mail content is somewhat limited and privacy issues are at stake.” People to [email protected]. rudimentary and the idea of creating an entire, private Internet is daunting. But, as the saying goes, one has to start somewhere, and the eKIDS Internet, if nothing else, does hint at the potential of the PIE technology. Undoubtedly, as the service becomes more popular, SilverTech will have increasing resources to develop, acquire and Web-enable their content, as, for example, they recently have done with Artisan’s Tangerine Bear and UNICEF’s Meena series. Soon children in France, Germany and the United Kingdom will also come online with their own e-centers, and kids from around the world, who do not necessarily share Yoffe the wonder dog saves the day in a Flash animated short created by O.J. San Felipe a common language, will be able to and Steve Medoff featured on eKIDS Internet. © SilverTech Inc.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200138

I Call On Charlie Adler Charlie Adlerby Will Ryan riving up to Charlie Adler’s actually seen each other. Each of first came to Hollywood you had rustic Calabasas home last us had some undeniably gray just left the world of theater? DNovember, I was thinking hairs on our respective heads and I hadn’t seen Charlie in perhaps we’d both gained a few pounds. Charlie Adler: Yeah. three, maybe five years. Luckily for Charlie, his were all Back when we used to muscle and tattoo. WR: What made you decide to audition a lot for voice work in settle here? Hollywood we’d bump into each other frequently. We were also CA: Well, I actually moved out Glo-Friends together on a less- here ‘cause — at the time I was in than-memorable series of the New York. I did Torch Song Trilogy same name. I believe that we bat- on Broadway in the Harvey tled the forces of evil together as Fierstein role, and then did the part of the same G.I. Joe platoon. national tour. When I left to do the I also have a vague recollection of national tour I thought, ‘I’m going the two of us portraying random to get out of New York for a while, Smurfs in a now-abandoned finish the tour, move to L.A. and recording studio in the back of the see if I can get a TV series.’ And I now-abandoned Hanna-Barbera did. Got the Red Foxx show and building on Cahuenga. never hated anything more in my But when I finally saw life than television at that time. It Charlie standing in his driveway, I Annie Award nominee Charlie Adler is just was dull for me. one of the most sought after voice realized it must have been more actors and directors in the entertain- like nine or ten years since we’d ment business. Photo courtesy of WR: Five days of waiting around Cartoon Network. for a few minutes of shooting. When I first met Charlie, he was fresh off a road show tour repris- CA: Yeah! I gotta do something. I ing his star turn from a hit Broadway didn’t feel used. I was kind of show. He had begun applying his embarrassed. It wasn’t what I talents to an audience of one micro- thought it was gonna be. It’s funny phone at a time. Less applause. Less how you spend your whole life travel. More money. Maybe. going, ‘God, I just want to be in a ‘Maybe’ turned out to be a TV show and have a parking decided ‘yes’ for Charlie, whose space.’ Then I got it and it was just restless creative energy would so not what I wanted to do. Now, seem to prevent him from ever at 44 years old, I probably would accepting ‘no’ as an answer. So re-think that whole thing because let’s sit down in a nice comfortable now I know how to wait around, chair in his oak-paneled living but then it was so wrong for me. I room and catch up with a few of was 27, and I had committed to the multiple personalities of the live here. What I didn’t expect was Rugrats:The Movie was a huge success energetic Mr. Adler. to have animation grab me and it for Nickelodeon and Adler. © 2000 Viacom International Inc./ did. It just literally did, it just Nickelodeon.All rights reserved. Will Ryan: So, Charlie. When you grabbed me. ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200140 15 radio spots in my entire career in Los Angeles — they just do not get it. I make everybody very nerv- ous. But New York got me, which is why it’s so odd.

WR: Is it possible you actually have energy and so does New York, do you think?

CA: Yes, my energy was very off putting. But it is in life and I don’t expect to go to the prom nor do I want to be invited to every prom. It’s fine by me.

Adler voice directed Susan Sarandon, Debbie Reynolds and John Lithgow in WR: I’ll keep that in mind. Rugrats in Paris. TM & © 2000 Paramount Pictures and Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved. CA: I’d absolutely consider your WR: Was it your agent Arlene WR: Just like London. prom. So Mark made it very clear who did all this literal grabbing? to me that you do not, when you CA: Yeah, you’re a craftsman. sign with an agency out here, sign CA: My agent in New York was across the boards and I said, ‘Well, Harry Abrams, which is how I got WR: You do all these different things. I have to be represented for voice.’ Torch Song Trilogy and their affili- He said, ‘You have to meet that ate office [in Hollywood] was department separately.’ And I said, Abrams, Rubiloff and Lawrence ‘No, I do not, it’s all or nothing. and I went and met the on cam- Buh-bye.’ He said, ‘Wait right era agent. At that time I was very here!’ So I had never been particu- hot commercially and had on the larly clever in business. air probably about, at any given time, 8 national spots. That’s when WR: You mean to say, you had a I passed for white and worked certain amount of leverage and with the Antichrist. So I was work- you didn’t realize it at the time? ing all the time. Adler currently stars in the primetime Emmy nominated series and CA: I don’t know if I was even international hit Cow & Chicken as the WR: It seems to me you used to voice of Cow, Chicken and The Red Guy. aware of the fact that I had lever- enjoy McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. © Cartoon Network. age. I just think it annoyed me. I CA: Right, exactly. It’s like London think it was that visceral and I’m CA: Yeah, I did. Actually, I was so you’re considered an artist and that immediate. It just pissed me vegetarian when I was doing the so there are no rules about that. off is what it did and five minutes McDonald’s commercials. I had a When I came out here and Mark later I was down in the voice-over big spit bucket. Anyway, so I met (Pearlstein), the then agent at department and I met Arlene with the on-camera agent and in Abrams, said, ‘Well, we’re gonna Thornton and (Ginny McSwain), New York you’re considered an sign you for on camera.’ I said, who was then the agent there, actor. You do a voice-over, you do ‘Well, great,’ and then I said, ‘Do who totally had no interest in me it on camera, then I would do a you guys do a lot of voice-over? whatsoever. soap opera for a week, then I’d go ‘Cause I do a ton,’ and at that time to the theater every night and do I was doing anywhere from 7-15 WR: So it wasn’t love at first sight? a play for eight months and then radio spots a week and here — by afterwards go out and sing. the way I think I’ve maybe done CA: You know, the re-telling of the

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200141 story is how it was instant love but an on camera commercial for Herriman. Charlie, you’ve made it wasn’t. That first meeting was Beck’s Beer and I was up in San the transition from acting to direct- very difficult and it was, ‘Yeah, Francisco and got off the plane ing, a very logical transition, but yeah, yeah, come on back in a and checked my voicemail and keeping your feet in both ponds, week. Do you have any tapes?’ there’s a message from Arlene that so to speak. And I said, ‘No, I didn’t need a said that I had been hired to tape in New York, I just work. I replace Joey Kamen as a Smurf. CA: The direction thing has been don’t have a tape.’ Well, what do They had killed off one generation great. I would go out of my mind you do? I had done one animated and they were turning them in to if that’s all I did, as I found I was thing in New York. I did two of the the babies. So they turn on the going out of my mind just doing specials, My Little Pony I and My Tidy Bowl. So I did that. That was animation voices. I mean there’s a Little Pony II, and that was it. Spike my first animation job out here glass ceiling in this world that we the Baby Dragon is my career. was Smurfs. inhabit and I’m not really particu- Hello! So I didn’t have any tapes of larly interested in any of — any that nor did I have any voice tapes. limitations, which is why I started painting and which is why I prob- WR: But, of course you were there ably will be doing other things in person. With your actual mouth. too. I mean four years ago I co- wrote a show for myself, which CA: Right. So they said, ‘Come won a Dramalogue, which has back in a week and we’ll make a now been scripted for a screen- tape,’ and I didn’t know what the play. And we have some people hell to make so I ended up — lucki- attached to it and that’s still some- The Wild Thornberries with Tim Curry, ly, I had done a lot of improv in is yet another Nickelodeon series thing I want to do down the road New York and a lot of improv in life directed by Charlie Adler. © 2000 as a writer. Whether I’m in it or not and a lot of character work and so I Viacom International Inc./ Nickelodeon. as an actor or a director is at this All Rights reserved. just threw together — they said five moment immaterial but you start minutes, I did twelve minutes — but WR: What was your awareness of to lose your mind if you buy into I did it wearing this fine hat and animation prior to working in it? the boxes that you’re put in. So, sunglasses and with my back to very luckily for me, even the stuff them ‘cause I was too embarrassed. CA: Not a lot, not a lot. I mean, I’m directing has a lot of diversity like everybody else I had stuff that which is great for me. WR: Your back to them? You, of I loved and I certainly loved all the the theatre?! — my favorite stuff didn’t have WR: You mentioned that you voices. My favorite thing was the recently directed Jane Goodall. CA: I didn’t want anybody to look Road Runner. That always just That’s kind of…how in the world at me, which really, honest to God made me pee in my pants. I loved did that come about? Tell me the is true. Now they remind me what that. Let’s see, do I not want to see story. a retard I was. I just absolutely it or do I want to take a dump? would not be looked at. I was so Hmm. That’s a weird expression. CA: Oh my God. Well I’m embarrassed. So my favorite characters probably directing this series, The Wild were Tweety Bird. I loved Tweety Thornberries, which is with Tim WR: We pause now to conjure up Bird and I loved Krazy Kat. Curry and a great cast. I’ve been this mental image. Okay. So that with them something like 90 was your audition and then you WR: The comic strip? episodes and they wrote a script had representation? that was very pro-animal rights. I CA: It was a cartoon. They turned am totally about that, and proba- CA: And then I auditioned and it into a cartoon. Yes and I was bly if I didn’t do this I would have then they got me a general audi- wild for Krazy Kat. an animal shelter and be a per- tion at Hanna-Barbara. Then I was fectly happy man. They had Dr. flown up to San Francisco to do WR: And I’m just wild about Goodall —

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200142 WR: I observe you have a dog on have an animal shelter. I probably last two weeks that’s been my your lap at this very moment. would spend my life being politi- motto. ‘Charlie,’ I go, ‘I have no cally active and being ridiculous idea what I’m doing out of bed.’ CA: And a peacock in the drive- about what I committed myself to way. And a feral cat in the backyard. do. I would paint, I would sculpt, I We got the beat now. Anyway, she would write and I don’t think I’d played herself and it was a spiritual ever act again as long as I lived. I experience for me. It sounds so don’t think it would have anything hokey to say that but there are to do with show business if I had some people on earth who are so the option. If I could turn the clock potent and so inspirational and so back — and I love my life but remarkable and exemplary in the there’s one thing in me that isn’t life that they have created and in sung — I would love to have been what they manage to pass out. a doctor or a veterinarian or both. She’s one of them. She absolutely Charlie has over 100 regular characters rattled my cage. WR: You’re working toward a in over 80 animated series, features and specials. Photo courtesy of degree right now. Cartoon Network.

CA: Naturopathy. Homeopathy. WR: Well, let me sign off here before you hop back in. WR: Which is related? For more articles about voice- CA: It is. Actually, I want people to overs, acting and casting visit the look at my paintings. Animation World Magazine Archives to get an array of past articles using WR: Oh yeah. What’s the Website? a keyword search. Charlie also directs Rocket Power, a Nickelodeon project telling the story of CA: I’m on Artnet.com and you Will Ryan won an Annie Award for four friends who are addicted to action and extreme sports. © 2000 Viacom just pull up my name. They have a the series Elmo Aardvark: Outer International Inc./ Nickelodeon. directory of artists and you pull up Space Detective! in November. All Rights reserved. my name. Co-produced by Renegade WR: Which is pretty rare for her Animation and Snappytoons — she’s usually spotted in the wild, WR: (They’re terrific.) Now when Amusement Company, it will soon you know. did you start painting, by the way? be distributed by Mondo Media. He was recently nominated for a CA: You asked me something ear- CA: It’ll be just a year. Writer’s Guild Award and an Emmy lier, before we started rolling tape. for his work with Jim Henson WR: That’s very surprising. Productions. His new book, Unsung WR: You mean, what you would Songs of the American People, will do if you could do anything in the CA: I’m having a good time. be published in November by world? Oxnard University Press. WR: That’s great. Unfortunately, CA: Yeah. I just thought of what I these words are being preserved Note: Readers may contact any would do in life if I had a magic wand. so you can’t take anything back. Animation World Magazine With that in mind, do you have contributor by sending an e-mail WR: Does it involve tutus? any final words in self-defense? to [email protected].

CA: It involves tutus and a can of CA: I saw the best refrigerator Wesson oil, black light and a Jimi magnet — tells you where I shop Hendrix poster. I think I would trav- — and it said, ‘I have no idea what el my ass off. I would probably I’m doing out of bed’ and for the

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200143 takes its viewer into the mind of the child as she struggles to Fresh from the Festivals: escape physically and mentally February 2001’s from what is taking place. Film Reviews by Maureen Furniss

ithin the world of ani- cia.com. mation, most experi- Au Premier Dimanche d’Août Daddy and I, directed by Eun-su Kim, mentation occurs (A Summer Night Rendez-Vous, W Jye-jung Kim,You-jin Jung, Dong-jae Lee, within short format productions, 2000), 11.5 min, directed by Kyung-hwa Lee, Mi-sun Park and Song- whether they be high budgeted Florence Miailhe, France. Info: hee Lee. © Kaywon School of Art and Design. commercials, low budgeted inde- Caroline Lebrun, Les Films de pendent shorts, or something in l’Arlequin, 23 rue Meslay 75003 The 7-minute computer- between. The growing number of Paris, France. Tel: 0033 14277 generated work was made as a short film festivals around the 2055. graduation film in the Department world attest to the vitality of these Film S Djevojcicom (Film with a of Animation, Kaywon School of works, but there are few other Girl, 2000) 8.5 min., directed by Art of Design. On the one hand, it venues for exhibition of them or Daniel Suljic, Croatia. Info: Goran is surprising that the film comes even written reviews. As a result, Bkula, Zagreb Film, Vlaska 70, HR- from students, since its message is distribution tends to be difficult 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Tel: 385-1- relatively subtle in its delivery. and irregular. On a regular basis, 4558-417. Fax: 385-1-4557-068. From my experience, students Animation World Magazine will E-mail: [email protected]. often take emotional topics or highlight some of the most inter- Millenium - The Musical (1999), angst-ridden scenarios as the esting with short descriptive 24 min., directed by Bob Godfrey, focus in their work; in most cases, overviews. England. Info: Bob Godfrey, Mikey though, they have not yet devel- Hayes, Bob Godfrey Films Ltd. Tel: oped the skills to render these sub- This Month: 0207 278 5711. Fax: 0207 278 jects delicately. I am guessing that Daddy and I (1999), 7 min., 6809. the fact that the film was made as directed by Eun-su Kim, Jye-jung a team effort, with not one but Kim, You-jin Jung, Dong-jae Lee, Don’t forget to visit us online at: seven directors, probably aided in Kyung-hwa Lee, Mi-sun Park, http://www.awn.com/mag to this respect. I have often coun- Song-hee Lee, Korea. Info: Song- download and view clips of each seled students to work in teams, to hee Lee, 142-16 Sadang 2 dong film! gain objectivity and the skills of Dongjak ku Seoul, Korea. E-mail: others to supplement their own. I [email protected]. Daddy and I am also guessing that the group Hein?! (What?!, 1999), 2 min., Daddy and I is interesting directorial effort — which was directed by Mauricio Vidal, Renan to discuss both in terms of its sub- done as a practical solution to the de Moraes and Sergio Yamasaki, ject matter and the way in which shortage of equipment and space Brazil. Estúdio Conseqüéncia de it was made. The subject of the in the animation program — Animaçao, Rua Cosmo Velho, 318 film, which is about a man who helped these students develop the / 1006 Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22241 - sexually molests his young daugh- kind of balance often lacking in 090 Brazil. Tel/Fax: 55 21 527 ter, is depicted largely through single-student works. They worked 5510. E-mail: studio@consequen- suggestion, without dialogue. together to create the small cia.com. URL: www.consequen- During the violent act, the film amount of rotoscoping used, in

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200144 Hein?! (What?!), directed by Mauricio Vidal,Renan de Florence Miailhe’s Au Premier Dimanche d’Août (A Summer Night Rendez- Moraes and Sergio Yamasaki. © Estúdio Conseqüência. Vous). © Les Film de l’Arlequin. addition to 2D animation, created was created by Mauricio Vidal, Brazil and numerous other prizes. through the use of Adobe Renan de Moraes and Sergio The short was acquired for broad- Photoshop 5.0 and After Effects Yamasaki, as part of a demo reel cast by France’s Canal + and has 4.0 for digital painting and com- for their new production house, inspired sequels, including position. An Avid was used for Conseqüéncia, which was the first Roubada! (The Steal!, 2000), editing and final output. computer animation studio in Rio which again features the relentless The student directors say de Janiero. The 2-minute short tells granny chasing down a deserving that some people found their con- of a wheel-chair-bound grandma young punk. cept, a father molesting his daugh- named Dona Mariana (Mrs. Each of the film’s three ter, somewhat unbelievable Mariana), who takes revenge on a directors received college degrees (unfortunately, I suppose, it’s not purse-snatcher. It was created from the Federal University of Rio that hard for me to believe). As a using 3D Studio Max 2.5 for ani- de Janeiro and have been result, they tried to instill a sense of mation, Adobe Photoshop 5.0 for employed by TV Globo, though realism by using a true news story textures and Adobe After Effects Vidal now teaches at Estácio de Sá on television and creating back- for compositing. The made-for-tel- University in Rio de Janiero. ground textures with the text of evision short is without dialogue. actual newspaper articles. On a They worked in conjunction with A Summer Night Rendez-vous television, the father watches a Mauricio Barros, a Brazilian musi- Lacking dialogue and rotoscoped image of a popular cian, to create the film’s sound- being structured thematically Korean actress who herself fell tracks, while well-known director around a dance taking place in a from grace after a kind of sexual Cesar Coelho provided encour- village, this film faces a challenge: attack; when a video showing her agement for the project. how to sustain the viewer’s interest in a private situation was widely The humor of What?! is for over eleven minutes. It does so distributed, she went into seclu- largely developed around the through its skillful combination of sion. Adding another layer to the grandma’s super-charged wheel- visuals and music, which are both story is its opening music, an chair, which is armed with all kinds varied and seamlessly interwoven. adaptation of a popular children’s of technical devices and weapons, This combination works well to song, which goes, “At the flower but even Dona Mariana’s false not only create a cohesiveness in garden which Daddy and I make teeth come in handy when she is the work, but also to maintain together, Sun plays and Touch-me- in pursuit of the criminal. She is a interest in the continually evolving nots are in full bloom . . .” high-tech, feisty attacker, far from visual and aural imagery. The the stereotype of a helpless old result is a lovely film that com- What?! lady. What?! has proven popular ments on human nature, From Brazil comes another among a variety of audiences, courtship and community. computer-generated short created winning the popular vote in the Director Florence Miailhe by a group directing effort. What?! 1999 Anima Mundi festival held in created her images using dry pas-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200145 Film S Djevojcicom (Film with a Girl), directed by Daniel Suljic. Legend Bob Godrey’s Millenium - The Musical. © Channel 4. © Zagreb Film. tels, working directly under the scary. Using the technique of oil 1997. He is a successful musician camera. This technique lends itself on glass, he creates a sketchy, and created a number of other to metamorphic transitions, which child-like drawing in black and animated works while he was a help provide fluidity to the parents white, which is effective in telling student. Film with a Girl, which is and children, lovers, friends, and the story of the spunky character. without dialogue, is distributed by even a pair of dogs, who keep Though Suljic doesn’t go so far as Zagreb Film. time with the waltzes, tangos and to develop the personality of the rock music being played at a girl, he certainly creates an individ- Millenium - The Musical dance on a warm summer night. ual that is full of energy and a cer- Animation director Bob The soundtrack for the film, which tain charm. The part I like best is Godfrey is a legendary figure with- includes laughter and voices, was where she bops a dopey boy on in the British animation industry, recorded during an actual dance. the head after he is unresponsive; having established a studio in Music was composed by Denis other instances, where she is London, Biographic Films, in the Colin. offered drugs, for example, are a mid-1950s, with partners and later Miailhe was born in Paris little heavy handed, but would branching off on his own. Over and qualified from the National seem to get a clear message the years, he has created a num- Superior School of Decorative Arts. across to kids. Later, the girl is res- ber of irreverent short works, She works as a painter and illustra- cued by an Elvis-like figure, an including Kama Sutra Rides Again tor and has been featured in a action I think contributes to the (1971), which captures his off-beat series of exhibitions. Her previous film’s success (I’ve never seen a film humor, often developed around films, all of which were made with including ‘the King’ that I didn’t sexual content. That film was pastels under the camera, include like!). created in conjunction with Hammam (1991), Scheherazade A variety of Croatian artists scriptwriter Stan Hayward, whom (1995) and The Story of a Prince contributed to the realization of he worked with on several occa- Who Became a One-eyed Beggar the eight-minute film, including sions. Some of his other films have (1996). These award-winning films animator Stjepan Bartolic, editor been biographical, such as, Great, have appeared in festivals world- Bajko I. Hromalic and musician a half-hour production on engi- wide. Tomislave Babic. Suljic not only neer Isambard Kingdom Brunel directed the film, but served as ani- (1975) and a fifteen-minute work Film with a Girl mator and writer as well. Born in on Margaret Thatcher (1999). In Film with a Girl, director Zagreb, he studied at the School In Millenium - The Musical, Daniel Suljic tells the story of a of the Applied Arts and the Zagreb Godfrey takes on the challenge of young girl who confronts many Academy of Arts before graduat- telling the last one thousand years situations in the course of her day, ing from the Hochschule fur of English history within a twenty- some frustrating and some a little Angewandte Kunst in Vienna in two minute short. To do so, he ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200146 combines traditional cel animation town cryer who tells the history of been tightened a bit. However, to techniques with stills and a bit of England on stage before a some- have accomplished the film at all live-action footage; post-produc- what frantic modern-day produc- on such a tight schedule reflects tion was digital. The film was comer, could have been reduced a bit Godfrey’s skills and experience as a missioned by Channel 4 Television in favor of the actual events being well-seasoned animation director. in the United Kingdom on a very told (they focus mainly on political Aiding him in his effort was writer tight schedule. Although he had rulers, wars, disease and inven- Colin Pearson and composer been thinking of doing the project tions). However, I realize that the Rowland Lee, both of England. as a ninety-minute feature for ten film is as much about Bob years, when he received approval Godfrey’s own brand of humor as Maureen Furniss, Ph.D. is for a shorter version, he had only the actual telling of British history, Assistant Professor and Program twenty-two weeks in which to so concessions should be made. Director of Film Studies at complete it. Working without a Using music and humor as a Chapman University in Orange, storyboard, he created a sponta- means of enlivening history is, in California. She is the founding neous feeling in the work, which the long run, a good choice. The editor of Animation Journal and employs a variety of stylized limit- Bubonic plague is so much more the author of Art in Motion: ed animation techniques. interesting when it is described by Animation Aesthetics (John At times, the film’s lyrics are singing skeletons. The ruthlessness Libbey, 1998). difficult to understand — at least of Richard III makes more of an for a Yank like me — because of a impact when a chorus sings, Note: Readers may contact any strong English accent and relative- “What a very tricky chap, that Animation World Magazine ly fast pacing. I also think that the Richard!” in a lively way. With more contributor by sending an e-mail narrative frame, which involves a pre-planning, timing could have to [email protected].

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200147 Nanohana (nicknamed Jubei), a New from Japan: bubbly young teen who has just moved with her father to a small Anime Film Reviews town and entered high school. Jiyu is only interested in modern young girl stuff and tries to refuse by Fred Patten the eyepatch. But the town was round 1995, Japanese his “lovely eyepatch” with the mys- the center of the Ryujoji-Shinkage animation (anime) began tic powers of his Yagyu-Shinkage school, one of Jubei’s suppressed Apouring into North school of dueling to a young faith- rivals. The supernatural confirma- America, Europe and across the ful retainer, Koinosuke, to give to tion of Jiyu as Jubei’s heir draws globe in video form. Most of these his destined successor. Koinosuke the Ryujoji spirits to seek their titles were unknown outside of searches Japan for over 300 years, revenge. Jiyu is challenged to Japan and never covered by ani- and is dumbfounded when the duels to the death by possessed mation journals. Whether a title is heir turns out to be Jiyu schoolteachers (the screen switch- highly popular or very obscure, a high-quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct- to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have some merit and about which our readers should know.

Jubei-chan, the Ninja Girl: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch. V.1,A Legend Reborn.V.2, Basic Ninja Training. V.3, Heart of Steel.V.4, Final Showdown! TV series, 1999. Director/Script: Akitaroh Daichi. V.1, 4 episodes, 100 minutes. V.2 - V.4, 3 episodes each, 75 minutes each. Price & format: $19.98 each dubbed video; $29.98 bilingual DVD. Distributor: Bandai Entertainment.

Jubei Yagyu (1606-1650) was a skilled samurai and personal swordmaster to the Shogun’s court whose successes over his rivals were rumored to be due as much to assassination and political intrigue as to unbeatable swords- manship. In this wacky 13-episode fantasy series (April 6 - June 28, 1999 on Japanese TV), the dying Jubei-chan, the Ninja Girl, is about an eighth grade girl who becomes the new incar- Jubei (who was one-eyed) entrusts nation of Jubei Yagyu, the greatest swordsman in all of Japan. © Bandai Entertainment.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200148 es from standard TV-cartoon for- ic scholarship, are two young quickly turns into a humorously mat to letterboxed to simulate a women stranded on the planet squabbling Odd Trio hopping dramatic battle in a theatrical Meldonia when their school clos- from planet to planet ahead of samurai feature). Shiro Ryujoji, a es. They just want to get home to their adversaries, trying to reach handsome senior who is his clan’s Earth, a backwater planet on the Earth by getting a spaceship, modern heir, finds himself torn other side of the galaxy. They meet legally or otherwise. Their between love for Jiyu and a com- Paraila, another student wanting schemes (such as entering a battle pulsion to duel Jubei. The series to get to Earth, who suggests they contest on a gambling world) usu- begins as pure zany slapstick pool their resources and travel ally get the girls into extremely humor, but slowly evolves toward together. But she is really Space scanty costumes, with Tetsue hot a serious message about living for Trash Paraila, a boss of an interstel- on their heels with giant robots, the present and future without lar crime syndicate who is on the rayguns and similar heavy artillery. obsessing on past wrongs. A sin- run after her takeover coup failed. For girls, Tenamonya Voyagers gle scene may mix attractively Both the mob’s assassins and offers a dynamic female cast with designed main characters, goofily Tatsue Yokoyama, the trigger- which to identify. For boys, it offers drawn comedy-relief characters (a happy head of the Organized more T&A than will be found in TV deadly ninja wears Mouse Ears Crime Unit of the Space or theatrical productions, plus over his traditional black costume), Federation Police, are after her. plenty of Star Wars-style space bat- and scrawled characters with dia- Paraila’s attempt to blend in with tles (all bloodless). BUT (spoiler) logue like, “Oh, Hell! We’re drawn the demure schoolteacher and her there is no resolution. The final so badly that you know we’re ward immediately fails. The group episode ends on a cliffhanger with gonna get wiped out almost the girls still far from Earth. No rea- immediately.” A middle episode is son is given, but you can bet these an unexpected completely serious four direct-to-video episodes failed three-hanky tearjerker. The bizarre to sell and the rest of the planned blend permits many imaginative series was cancelled — like too new ways to take advantage of many other unresolved anime limited animation. But Jubei-chan “movies” released in America from will leave most non-Japanese failed OAV series because their viewers completely confused over licenses were cheap. Too bad, the distinction between samurai because these four episodes are and ninja. Animation production high-spirited and really funny (a by Madhouse. beautifully-designed sleek futuristic train has the sound effects of an Tenamonya Voyagers. old steam locomotive); worth the OAV series (4 episodes), 1999. price despite the lack of a conclu- Director: Akiyuki Shinobu. 100 sion. An additional bonus is the minutes. Price & format: $29.98 opening credits music by Hiroshi DVD (the first American anime Miyagawa (best-known in America DVD-only release). Distributor: for his music for the 1970s Star Bandai Entertainment. Blazers); a peppy ragtime march that would have fit a 1930s naval This is a good example of review. Animation production by the pros and cons of Original Studio Pierrot. Anime Video series. “Rated 13 Up;” in this case an adolescent space Phantom Quest Corp. Perfect comedy. In the distant future the Collection. whole galaxy is settled by OAV series (4 episodes), 1994. mankind. Ayako Hanabishi, a Series development: Mami Sci-fi comedy mixed in with giant robot naive new teacher, and Wakana action equals the Tenamonya Voyagers. Watanabe. Directors: Koichi Nanamiya, a student on an athlet- © Bandai Entertainment. Chigira (#1), Morio Asaka (#2, #4),

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200149 Takuji Endo (#3). 120 minutes. as Madame Suimei, a European- Gasaraki. V.1, The Summoning. Price & format: $14.98 DVD. style fortune-teller, and Rokkon, an V.2, The Circle Opens... V.3, Distributor: Pioneer. Oriental exorcist (lots of Buddhist, Betrayal. Taoist and Shinto chants and slap- TV series, 1998-1999. Chief This humorous supernatu- ping demons in the face with Director: Ryosuke Takahashi. V.1, 4 ral thriller, roughly a cross between printed prayers). She is also helped episodes, 100 minutes. V.2 - V.8, 3 Kolchak: The Night Stalker and by friendly police detective Karino episodes each, 75 minutes. Price & Buffy the Vampire Slayer, demon- who lets her know when some format: $19.98 each dubbed strates the allure of mixing familiar mysterious crime involves the video; $29.98 bilingual DVD. Western popular mythological ele- paranormal. In the first of four half- Distributor: A. D. Vision Films. ments with their exotic counter- hour episodes, a series of night- parts from the East. Ayaka Kisaragi time slayings of beautiful virgins is The Sunrise Studio gained a comes from an ancient family of clearly the work of a vampire. reputation for dramatic “giant demon-fighting Shinto priests. Ayaka discovers a hidden fight robot” science-fiction anime start- Because her personality is too between two vampires, a “good” ing with its Mobile Suit Gundam flamboyant to fit a religious voca- one who is able to control his tion, she has set up a commercial addiction to blood, and Dracula ghost-busting business, Phantom himself who was brought to Tokyo Quest Corporation, aided by a few when a collector of international regular outside consultants such art treasures bought his coffin in Transylvania. Ayaka and the good vampire team up to rid Japan of the deadly predator. The other three “Incident Files” similarly keep the audience guessing whether the supernatural element will be beneficent, malign or both. Ayaka is irresponsible when not on a case, and there are running gags at the end of each episode about the scramble between Mamoru, her young secretary who needs their client’s payment to pay their bills, and Ayaka, who wants to go on a shopping binge or an all- night drunken karaoke spree. (The opening credits theme song, a nice bit of cocktail-lounge blues by Junichi Kanezaki, is repeated on the DVD as a music video without the overlaid credits.) The stories are slight but quick-paced with witty dialogue, and much of their appeal is due to the interplay of the main casts’ likeable personalities. The main complaint is that there is no plot progress among the four episodes, which could be Ayaka Kisaragi heads Phantom Quest watched in almost any order, and Sunrise Studios’ Gasaraki was written Corporation, a company that specializes by Takahashi and Hajime Yatate, with a in dealing with supernatural disturbances. no real conclusion. Animation pro- screenplay by Toru Nozaki. © Pioneer. duction by Madhouse. © AD Vision Films.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200150 series in 1979. Takahashi, one of as observers since the Japanese complex plots a problem) is that Sunrise’s top directors in this genre Constitution forbids the Self the characters and military hard- (Dougram, Votoms, Gundam Defense Force to engage in war- ware are in a very realistic art 0083), has returned with Gasaraki, fare, but with secret orders to sta- design, which makes the limited a 25-episode TV serial (October 4, tion in a combat zone. But the TV animation painfully obvious. 1998 - March 28, 1999), that is U.N. forces are almost wiped out Still, this Sunrise program (written unusual in its very near-future set- by hitherto-unknown similar TA by Takahashi and Hajime Yatate, ting. The story opens with an suits operated by a clandestine with screenplay by Toru Nozaki) extremely realistic military test of a international organization that has will be a winner with fans of real- Tactical Armor (TA) battle suit. As been supporting the Belgistan istic high-tech science-fiction and plot elements slowly fall into place, government. This is barely the military action. we realize that the test is being beginning of the plot, which performed by the Japanese Self involves the maneuvering of the Dual! Parallel Trouble Defense Force on an experimental Gowa family and their mysterious Adventure. V.1, Visions. V.2, prototype developed by Gowa Symbol rivals to control the inter- Student Housing. V.3, Artifacts. Digital Systems, a Japanese- national weapons market, Gowa’s V.4, One Vision. owned powerful multi-national attempt to subvert the Japanese TV series, 1999. Director: corporation. Meanwhile an inter- government, and the internal Katsutoshi Akiyama. V.1 & V.4, 4 national situation modeled upon machinations among both Gowa episodes, 100 minutes. V.2 & V.3, Operation Desert Storm (complete and the Symbol group. And this is 3 episodes, 75 minutes. Price & for- with “SNN” newscasts) is develop- before the story gets overtly “sci- mat: $24.98 each dubbed or subti- ing between the U.S.-dominated ence-fictional!” There is a hero, tled video; $29.98 bilingual DVD. United Nations and “Belgistan” Yushiro, the “good” member of the Distributor: Pioneer Entertainment. (Iraq). The Gowa family sees this as Gowa family, but he spends most an opportunity to field-test the TA of the first seven episodes in a “From the Creators of suits. They pull strings to have the daze; understandable, since he Tenchi Muyo!” the blurb screams. JSSDF unit testing their suits was apparently killed nine years And it shows. A.I.C. and Pioneer included with the multi-national earlier... The main problem with launched two of Japan’s major force sent into Belgistan, officially Gasaraki (unless you consider anime hits of the 1990s, Tenchi Muyo! and El-Hazard, the Magnificent World, both being teen sci-fi comedies about a shy high school Earth boy chased by a bevy of cute otherworldly gals. (Tenchi Muyo! is currently popular on The Cartoon Network’s Toonami lineup.) Dual! rehashes that formula, adding a parody of the ultra-serious Evangelion (another ‘90s anime fan favorite, with giant robots), in a scenario of alternate universes. Kazuki Yotsuga is a fan of giant robots (like most teens), but he actually sees visions of them overlapping the real world. Prof. Sanada, a mad scientist, believes that a parallel Earth exists alongside ours. Kazuki is transported there, where he finds

Kazuki is plagued by visions of giant, destructive robots that the other world’s versions of that no one else can see. © Pioneer. Sanada and his academic rival,

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200151 Prof. Rara, are commanders of Yamano (stereotype of a stern Muyo!’s Tenchi and El-Hazard’s opposing armies. Sanada is the schoolteacher) draft Kazuki as a Makoto. But where the ultra-popu- head of the Earth Defense new pilot. He is delighted to be lar Tenchi ran on interminably, Command, fighting for freedom, able to fly a real giant robot; is less Dual! is complete in 13 TV while Rara is trying to conquer the delighted when he is ordered to episodes (April 8 - July 1, 1999 in world. Again using the Japanese do so in drag to keep his gender a Japan) and one direct-to-video epi- myth of the mystic power of vir- top secret; and is terrified when logue, all contained in these four gins, the super-scientific technolo- several of those strong-willed volumes. Anime International gy of the combat battle suits (giant young women pilots develop a Company’s production is mostly robots) is such that only the brain- personal interest in him. Some of smooth cartoon animation with waves of strong-willed young the middle episodes get a bit nice CGI highlights. women can control them. The ace heavy into the comedic romantic Fred Patten has written on pilots of the two armies are the complications, but the plot keeps anime for fan and professional teen daughters of Sanada and twisting and turning in clever magazines since the late 1970s. Rara, both named Mitsuki. (The ways. Dual!’s story is credited to plot gets as much mileage out of Masaki Kajishima, who was the Note: Readers may contact any parallels as possible.) But the character designer of Tenchi Animation World Magazine robots inexplicably respond to Muyo!, and bashful teen hero contributor by sending an e-mail Kazuki. Sanada and U.N. Inspector Kazuki is a double of both Tenchi to [email protected]. Bonus HTML Features Every on-line (HTML) issue of Animation World Magazine contains additional features not found in the download or print Acrobat version, such as Quicktime movies, links to Animation World Network sites, extended articles and special sections. Don’t miss the following highlights that are showcased exclusively in this month’s Animation World Magazine HTML version: • The Next Big Drive: Gaming Transforms Itself Again Jacquie Kubin delves into gaming. From its history to its future, she discusses the brink that gaming is getting ready to leap, and yes, film industry, you should be looking over your shoulder… Go online to see more in-depth specs and information on gaming! (http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/kubingaming.php3) • The Animation Pimp What’s wrong with Ring of Fire and Night of the Carrots? The Animation Pimp sees nothing offensive here; this month Chris Robinson takes on a few feminist nay-sayers. Visit us online at http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/ 5.11pages/5.11animpimp.php3 to download and view QuickTime movie clips! • Sketching on Location: Texture as Planes in Space Renowned drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu continues with his fifth installment discussing how to use texture to create depth and perspective while sketching on location. For a complete gallery of examples, go online at: http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/5.11vilppu.php3. • eKIDS: Everyone Wants a Piece of the PIE SilverTech isn’t just eKIDS. Forging into the realm of secure Web transactions, the company is just beginning by conquering the sensitive kids online issue that has foiled many others. Gregory Singer reports. Check us out online at http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/singerekids.php3 to see sample Flash animations! • Fresh from the Festivals: February 2001’s Film Reviews Maureen Furniss reviews short films: Daddy and I, a collective Korean student film, Hein?! by Mauricio Vidal, Renan de Moraes and Sergio Yamasaki, Au Premier Dimanche d’Août (A Summer Night Rendez-Vous), directed by Florence Miailhe, Film S Djevojcicom (Film with a Girl), directed by Daniel Suljic and Bob Godfrey’s Millenium - The Musical. As always, QuickTime movie clips available online at: http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/5.11festival.php3! • The Eighth Trip to the Holland Animation Film Festival: Scenes from Utrecht Visit the most recent Holland Animation Film Festival. AWN’s Ron Diamond attended and brought back photos of festival participants and the lovely city of Utrecht. To see more photos, visit us online at http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/robinsonholland.php3. • The New messiah’s Details Project:messiah 1.5 is about to expand into messiah:studio, a new modular and innovative approach to animation. Mike Amron investigates. Dowload and view QuickTime movie clips at: http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/amronmessiah.php3.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200152 The Eighth Trip to the Holland Animation Film Festival: Scenes from Utrecht Introduction by Chris Robinson ne of animation’s most unique festivals lies about Othirty minutes from Amsterdam in the historic Dutch town of Utrecht. The most recent edition of the Holland Animation Film Festival was held from November 15 - 19, 2000. After years of holding a competition for only applied animation, HAFF introduced its first competition for independent short films. Fittingly, From left to right: Dmitry Rezchicov, Igor Kovalyov, Ron Diamond and Piotr Dumala. the two grand prize winners All photos courtesy of Ron Diamond. were Dutch productions. Michael Dudok de Wit’s Father and Daughter took the best narrative film prize, while fellow country- man Joost Rekveld won the Grand Prize for non-narrative film with the enticing and strange #11, Marey<->Moiré. Complimenting the compe- titions were a number of special programs including tributes to Paul Driessen and Rene Jodoin. Acme Filmworks’ executive producer and AWN publisher, Ron Diamond with Beyond films, HAFF is a hurricane Mikhail Aldashin, director of Mike, Lu and Og for Cartoon Network. of socializing and dope smoking that definitely caters to the more artistically orientated animator.

To see more photos, visit us online at http://www.awn.com/ mag/issue5.11/5.11pages/robinsonholland.php3.

Chris Robinson is the artistic director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail Director Paul Driessen with his wife Diane. to [email protected].

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200153 cises she creates to break down a series and understand its charac- Animation Scriptwriting: ters and style are very in depth and informative. Those writers dreaming of penning the next The Writer’s Road Map episode of Rugrats or The Powerpuff Girls, but who have no book review by Rick DeMott idea where to start, will find the first six chapters helpful. Students and aspiring writers might find the tips in the last chapter well worth the price of the book. As a paid screenwriter, the author outlines the industry standards for submission and pitching. Her pointers are very useful and she uses great examples from her own work on how to create springboards, premises, treat- ments and beat outlines. She even gives advice on how to locate script editors, who might read your work. In addition, the end of the book contains a full script for a seven-minute What-A-Mess episode. One highlight of the book is Webber’s use of examples. I’ve read a lot of screenwriting books that don’t explain what is going on in the example well enough to drive home the author’s point. Webber does a good job, so that The book contains good industry tips even if you have never seen the and guidelines, plus helpful exercises. series, you are not totally lost.

here is one major problem just arriving to the animation writ- A Bit Dodgy… with books on screenwriting scene could glean some help- Earlier I criticized the chap- Ting — they can’t teach cre- ful tips from reading it though. ter on how to be funny, but it ativity and originality. These two does serve as a good list of stan- factors are the top tools a writer Good Stuff! dard gags that have proven suc- needs to scribe scripts that sell. In For students who want to cessful in toons for years. Writers regards to Animation Scriptwriting: write for television, the beginning in a bind could use it to discover a The Writer’s Road Map, truly and the end of the book could way to reinterpret one of the humorous writers might find it prove invaluable. Chapters 1 scenes that they feel isn’t working. quite amusing to read a chapter through 6 outline the creation of a However, if the writer can’t think trying to teach scribes how to be series and its cartooniverse. Author of a way to make these examples funny. While the text is definitely Marilyn Webber goes into solid seem fresh and new, a list of tired for the inexperienced scribe, a detail on how to develop an origi- old routines isn’t going to put high school student, an under- nal series, i.e. its world and char- them on the staff of The Simpsons. classman in college or someone acters for given genres. The exer- The real problems arise

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200154 when Webber delves into explain- Your Own Voice next break through in animation. ing the process of drafting sample The best advice I can give on episodes. She uses a car/road which scriptwriting book to read, is Animation Scriptwriting: metaphor throughout the text, to read them all. Most of the The Writer’s Road Map, by Marilyn which gets bogged down in unfa- authors are paid screenwriters, so Webber. Fairfax, Virgina: GGC miliar terms. If she just called an each will offer something regarding Inc./Publishing, 2000. 208 pages. anti-hero an anti-hero, it would the craft. One key to penning a ISBN: 0-9661075-9-4 ($24.95) have been easier to follow. great script is discovering the Overall the book is a good process that best suits you; the Rick DeMott is the associate text for novice and aspiring writ- process that unleashes your natural editor of Animation World ers. It contains good industry tips talent and ability. While some texts Network. He is the writer of and guidelines, plus helpful exer- will help one more than others, AWN’s Animation Flash cises. However, I warn teachers each book can give the reader new Newsletter and the weekly about using it as a classroom text. insight into the writing process, Web Animation Guide. Misspellings (including Looney which can be helpful in finding Tunes spelled Looney Toons), one’s own path. Webber’s book will Note: Readers may contact any grammar mistakes, missing words definitely clue in the uninformed or Animation World Magazine and inconsistent formatting really ignite the imagination of a writer in contributor by sending an e-mail hurt its overall credibility. a rut, but probably won’t inspire the to [email protected].

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ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200155 pmG:pmG: An Artistic Answer to 3D Animation by Heather Kenyon t’s 2:00 a.m. and the pmG acter setup, real-time interactive team is working late. They’re animation, local/world coordi- Iup writing a piece of code for nates on the fly, forward/inverse a client who is up against a dead- kinematics and a pre-managed line and needs to solve a problem interface. Strictly speaking from fast. Not a big studio client, mind Websters, a messiah is defined as you, just an independent anima- theatrical short for Nickelodeon the professed or accepted leader tor trying to finish a piece of facial and produced by Threshold of a new hope or cause, and that’s animation for a homegrown proj- Digital; Butt-Ugly Martians, a new what we’ve tried to bring to 3D ect. With most other creators of series produced by DCDC; spots animation through our products.” professional 3D animation pack- for Colgate, Wonka Candies, Whether for an independ- ages, you might (but not neces- Thunderball Lottery and the show ent animator or a huge studio, the sarily) expect that kind of service open for the D&AD Awards, all kind of customer service provided during normal business hours produced by Passion Pictures; by pmG (six updates in just one from a technical director (TD) in a sequences for features such as year) is nothing new to the three cubicle. But at 2:00 a.m., it’s more Battlefield Earth (Computer Café partners, who celebrated the com- than likely going to be either Fori also used messiah on a package of pany’s first anniversary in January. Owurowa, Lyle Milton or Dan spots for Nerf); and TNT’s movie of Together, they have created some Milling, founders and partners of the week The Hunley (in addition of the most impactful products pmG (project:messiah Group), Station X Entertainment utilized in the 3D marketplace. Fori and creators of project:messiah messiah to create Full Tilt, the Owurowa, with 14 years of CGI 1.5, the hi-end, low-cost profes- opening for Siggraph 2000’s experience, has contributed a pro- sional 3D software toolset that has Electronic Theatre). gressive series of advancements taken 3D animation by storm. It is Other pmG clients include such as MetaNURBS®, Puppet also the first 3D program created Savage Frog!, Rhythm n Hues, Master™, Metamation, Morph from the ground up to fill the pro- Coulter Studios/Henson Interactive, Gizmo and FreeForm 3D, through duction needs of studios and the Pixelizm, Joe’s Digital Bar & Grill, version 5.5 of LightWave 3D. Lyle artistic needs of animators and Grid Productions, Discreet Monsters, Milton spent 10 years at AT&T Bell technical directors. Creative Imagineering, Artworld Laboratories and AT&T Advanced UK, Blue Rocket Productions, Grid Communication Laboratories as From Jimmy to Zappy Productions, O Entertainment and an award-winning artist, project It’s been a year and several rez•n8, among others. manager, technology visualizer odd months since project:messiah and marketer. As co-founder of was announced at Siggraph Technology for Art’s Sake One and Only Media, he created 1999. In just that time, the com- What has made messiah a LightWave plug-ins such as pany has acquired a who’s who favorite tool of these global pro- MacroForm and FXtremePRO, and client list that includes: Will Vinton ducers is its combination of speed, co-wrote the book, 3D Modeling Productions (spots for Wisk, power and price. “messiah blends the Natural Way. Dan Milling, a Zappy, Mountain Dew and Hula an extremely comprehensive former LightWave 3D program- Girl); Steve Oedekerk and toolset with an easy, uncluttered mer, was the developer of Nickelodeon’s animated feature interface,” says Owurowa. “The Translator 3D, and co-developed and TV series, Jimmy Neutron (ani- program features the world’s Morph Gizmo with Owurowa. mated by DNA Helix); Edward fastest inverse kinematics (IK), “The key to understanding Fudwupper, Berkeley Breathed’s bones and expressions, easy char- project:messiah is that this is a

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200156 product created by artists, for polygon scenes without a propor- enable users to write scripts that artists. We have spent five years tionally linear increase in render are just as powerful as compiled collecting the wish lists of digital time, and luminous objects that plug-ins. animators and putting them into not only glow but actually give off “We set out to enhance one fast, elegant package,” says light. “The renderer can be con- and expand the tools we intro- Dan Milling, who with Owurowa trolled through messiah’s GUI, its duced with project:messiah, and was a co-founder of Station X user-programmable shader sys- we have accomplished that,” says Studios before the two hooked up tem, which gets information for Milton “We are still what we start- with Lyle Milton to form pmG. rendering at levels deeper than ed out as: a company created by “Separately, we were all plug-in any other system’s, and also artists, for artists, dedicated to cre- developers for LightWave,” adds through messiah:animate’s power- ating and selling great 3D soft- Milton. “When we were working ful and fast expressions system, ware. We are now ready to take on our own, we began to get a which provides ultimate control by the next step in the process: to sense of what was missing in procedurally modifying rendering expand and diversify our product other products. This is not a criti- and surface parameters,” adds line and create new customer cism of other companies or pro- Owurowa. bases. We are dedicated not just grams, but we were all artists to to being different, but better.” begin with, not just programmers, “We set out to “Studios around the world and we knew the things we want- have included project:messiah ed to see in a software package. enhance and into their productions since the pmG became our vehicle to do that.” expand the tools day it was released,” says Milling, “and in the highly demanding Only Getting Better we introduced world of CGI, that’s no small task A year after the release of for a product that is a little over a project:messiah, pmG has reached with project: year old, having debuted in its initial goals and is reaching out messiah, and November 1999. Messiah has for much more. What has been become the secret weapon of pro- the premier animation plug-in for we have accom- ducers, animators and TD’s around LightWave, is about to take a giant the world.” leap with the upcoming release of plished that.” the standalone messiah:studio — Lyle Milton Heather Kenyon is editor-in-chief suite, consisting of messiah:ani- of Animation World Network. mate 3.0 and messiah:render, the messiah:animate will incor- After receiving her B.F.A. with company’s new global illumination porate all the features of version honors in Filmic Writing from and radiosity renderer. The prod- 1.5 with many newly-added abili- USC’s School of Cinema- ucts can be purchased separately ties. A faster, even more customiz- Television, she went to work for or as a full suite. The big news for able interface will allow users to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. the industry is that messiah:ani- resize windows and easily change Currently, she is an International mate will also support and arrangements of control blocks, Board Member of Women In enhance Maya, 3D Studio MAX buttons and sliders. The new SDK Animation and on the Board of and Softimage XSI, in addition (Software Development Kit) will Trustees of Trees for Life. to LightWave. In a surprise allow developers to create their announcement, pmG has just own effects and applications that Note: Readers may contact any announced that the full suite will work with, and talk to, messiah. Animation World Magazine also port to Apple OS X. Expanding on messiah’s motion contributor by sending an e-mail In addition to fast, high blending tools, a new Non-Linear to [email protected]. quality diffuse illumination, messi- Animation Editor greatly enhances ah:render will feature caustics, vol- the program’s MotionClip™ tech- umetric lights that are accurate to nology. In addition, messiah:ani- real world conditions, soft shad- mate will also provide support for ows, efficient rendering of dense Renderman RIB files, and will

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200157 The New messiah’s Details

ecently I met with Fori by Mike Amron Owurowa, Dan Milling and RLyle Milton, the principal now messiah:studio, is animation programming architects of pmG capability and speed. (project:messiah Group), the new- messiah:studio will consist comer in the field of 3D animation of two modules — messiah:ani- programs, to discuss their upcom- mate and messiah:render. Among ing release of messiah:studio and the features of messiah:animate other matters of a graphic nature. are simplified character animation, Just going into beta, the soft-body dynamics to create soft new 3D animation and rendering objects, cloth simulation, object stand-alone version of pmG’s collision and mathematical expres- award-winning messiah software, sions. Many of these features are messiah:studio, is a suite com- in other 3D animation programs, posed of messiah:animate and at a much higher price. messiah is messiah:render. Or maybe I should aimed at the professional anima- say “stand-with-others version,” All images courtesy of and © 2000 pmG. tor, but at an affordable cost. since the package can work alone A Whole New Package Alias|Wavefront, 3D Studio Max, or concurrently with other pack- The first version of proj- Lightwave and other 3D model ages. Let me explain: messiah:ani- ect:messiah is a plug-in for formats can be imported into mes- mate will be able to work directly Lightwave. Released last year, proj- siah:animate to create animation. with a package like Maya. For ect:messiah 1.5, and its subse- MetaNURBS® are also supported. instance, one will be able to quent upgrades, have been messiah:render, the render- update animation in the Maya embraced by many production er, will initially be familiar to the interface, as the animation is creat- houses and studios already. The messiah user, with features in the ed in messiah:animate. With both main focus of the first version, and renderer utilizing the same method- packages open at the same time, the user will be able to change parameters in both messiah and Maya utilizing the strengths of both packages at the same time. A novel and modular approach. Having an open system to interface with other software seems to have many advantages and few disadvantages. Open code within packages creates many more possibilities than packages that stand-alone. Using the best renderer with the best model- er on one project is common. To use both within a single software system would be both practical and desirable. Let’s just say it’s easier than sowing the packages with Screen shot of a 1280 x 1024 screen created by Taron, demonstrating a custom-written software. setup using the many features available in project:messiah 1.5.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200158 Studio Max will be available as well. utility of the software on your Most animation companies desktop or laptop. All of the fea- have many different software tures for messiah were developed packages. With the release of mes- with the user in mind, with much siah:studio, the animator not only of the next version’s features imple- gets an animation program that’s mented because of feedback from affordable, but compatible with current users. OS X Mac capability the other 3D packages that are will be available with the new available. That’s an unusual con- release too. Linux is also a future cept, one that fosters a much dif- possibility. ferent outlook on creating animation within an open system.

Go online to see a video clip that shows real-time Soft Body Dynamics in action. (http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/ 5.11pages/amronmessiah.php3) ology as messiah:animate. messiah:animate will have parameters as a control to the renderer; the ability A screen shot showing the sliders being used for facial animation. to access all of the parameters, have control through expressions, messiah has motion-cap- be able to access the features deep Go online to see a facial animation video ture capabilities that allow loading in the render core, and use expres- showing what can be achieved with of the most common capture files. sions to control the rendering bones, instead of morphs. Just one key can automatically cre- (http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/ parameters, all will add to the 5.11pages/amronmessiah.php3) ate a skeleton from motion-cap- power of messiah. The ability to use ture data. The bones of the skele- the renderer with other packages ton can then be adjusted to better will allow the para-meters in the fit the model. outside package to talk to the host pmG has found that using application, messiah:render. The the Web affords great access to its outside package’s operations, such user base. Using the Web to disas shader colors and specularity, tribute the initial release of the soft- will be used by messiah:render. ware worked out very well and messiah:studio also exports will continue. It’s a unique idea, Renderman rib files if the user and has brought tighter communi- would like to render the files in cation between the messiah devel- Go online to see a second clip showing RenderMan. Optimized in the pro- the bone setup that was used for the opers and users. An animator can gram, the speed of messiah:render facial animation video. log on to the messiah e-group, promises to be quite fast. proj- (http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.11/ post a question and get feedback 5.11pages/amronmessiah.php3) ect:messiah has been developed to very quickly, either from the devel- provide continuity within its diverse Added Control and Ease opers themselves or other experi- parts. The same methodology used The look of messiah:studio enced users. Also, CD based docu- to change expressions can be uti- should appear similar to current mentation turned out to be more lized to change surface parameters. users of messiah. Many of messi- efficient and practical for updates An interesting concept. The inter- ah:studio’s parameters, windows and will continue. Voluminous col- face will not divert the animator and menus are adjustable and lections of manuals will not be a from their animation tasks within configurable. Windows can be part of future releases of messiah. messiah, yet will enhance the func- resized, while menus can be A single CD holds the present ver- tionality of outside packages. Plug- resized and even hidden. Control sion of messiah, and hopefully in capability to Maya, XSI and 3D of the interface will enhance the future releases and documenta-

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200159 tion will continue to be able to fit on a single CD as well. To learn more and get involved in project:messiah’s community, simply visit their Website and await the arrival of their new product line starting in the second quarter of 2001.

The MotionBlender panel where The SaveMorph panel where you set Mike Amron is a computer you can select which effect you want up to save out object sequences graphics instructor at DHIMA. to apply and showing a description of of animation. He has worked for a number how each effect works. of leading visual effects companies, including Digital Domain, VIFX and Industrial Light & Magic.

Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail A panel showing the camera Another panel showing some of the to [email protected]. reticle settings. motion editing capabilities.

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200160 Animation World News Compiled and written by Rick DeMott Technology news compiled and written by Paul Younghusband Tampere news written by AWN’s Scandinavian correspondent Heikki Jokinen Additional news written by Katie Makal, editor of sister Creative Planet community site Design In Motion Get your headline news first every day on-line at http://www.awn.com/headlines Plus, have industry news delivered to your e-mail every week in the Animation Flash,AWN’s weekly industry newsletter. Subscribe today at www.awn.com/flash/ Awards Events l Sci-Tech Oscar Goes To Pixar l Animation Dreams VI Brings The Best Of The School of l Grammy Gives Nods To Toons With Tunes l Visual Arts To The Public l Havana Film Fest Awards Go To Gods & Cinema l The 98th Toy Fair Invades New York In February l Chicken Run Lays A Golden Globe Nom l The First Cartoon Masters of 2001 Comes To Reunion Island 4 http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Awards l See How Voicebank.net Will Attempt To Change The l Industry At Their Upcoming Demo Business l Animation 2001 Includes Talks By The Bolex Bros & Bob Godfrey l Film Roman Dropped From Nasdaq l Cartoon Masters Strasbourg Tackles The Topic Of Business Plans l Mondo Media Lands $17M More In Financing l Exploratorium Presents Behind the Screen: Making l Animation Stock Ticker For Tuesday, January 16, 2000 l Motion Pictures and Television l FCC Approves AOL/Time Warner Merger l Larry Lauria Animation Workshops In Phoenix l New Visual Design Firm Opens In Jersey l ASIFA-Colorado Best of Ottawa Screening l Das Werk Acquires Centropolis Effects l Plympton’s Mutant Aliens Premieres At The Sundance Film Festival l Animation Stock Ticker For Tuesday, January 9, 2000 l The British Academy Gives Their Year End Nods l Kirch Might Not Bail Out EM.TV l Brussels Festival Highlights The Best In All Kinds Of Animation l Aardman Catches Spies In Their Midst l Australian Effects & Animation Fest Brings F/X Down Under l Animation Stock Ticker For Tuesday, January 2, 2000 l Discover The Middle East Toon Scene At The Animation l Stan Lee Media Probed Over Stock Trades l Festival Of Tehran l Pentamedia Acquires Media Dreams l Kick Off The Buying & Selling Year At The Monte-Carlo l Incanta and AtomFilms Announce Distribution Agreement l Television Market l Saban Forces His Way Out Of Fox Family l The Second Annual Interactive TV Games Conference l Z.com Sues Chris Rock Over Non-Delivery Of Content l Evening of Remembrance Celebrates Animation Greats l EM.TV Shares Rocket Upward l Who Passed In 2000 l Cinar Announces Canadian Tax Settlements l Find New Opportunities At The Interactive TV & Mobile l Animation Stock Ticker For Tuesday, December 19, 2000 l Games Conference l Medusa Etches Deal In Stone To Buy Lanterna Magica l Sell Your TV Ideas At The 41st Monte Carlo Television Festival 4 http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Business l Milia New Talent Competition Showlights Sensational l Student Work Commercials l Art In Motion II Investgates Who Is The Author In Filmmaking? l Class-Key Chew-Po Goes Cuckoo For Coco-Puffs l Milia 2001 Brings Interactivity To Life For The World To See! l Blur Travels Back In Time For New Pac-Man Spots l Mobius Advertising Awards Honor The Best In Commercials l Rhinoceros Tears Up 3M Scotch Tape Spot l Phoenix Film Festival Sets The Moving Image Ablaze l TOPIX/Mad Dog Opens Pool For Thrifty Spot l Want To Sell Your Toon Premise Then Go To WIA’s Writers’ l Click 3X Spots Disney Store Ad For 102 Dalmatians Merchandise l Group Seminar l Spontaneous Shocks Circuit City With Photo-Real Santa Spots l Discover New Talent At The Victoria Independent Fest l ViewPoint Livens Up Rivera Live With New ID Package l Internet World Media & Entertainment Fest Brings The l Rhinoceros Sparkles For Victoria’s Secret l Best To The Web 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Commercials l New York Intl Children’s Film Fest Highlights The Young At Heart 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Events

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200161 Call for Entries Technology l Tough Eye Festival Highlights The Best of All-Time l Electric Image Announces Amorphium PRO l Get Your Film In Front Of Tinsel Town At The Hollywood l SGI Digital Media Software Development Kit Now Available l Film Fest l IBM Announces World’s Fastest UNIX Workstation l Animate In Paradise On A Balearic Islands Retreatl l AFX Releases SceneGenie 1.4 4 http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Call%for%Entries l Stop Motion Pro 2 Available Now l Alias|Wavefront To Preview Maya For OS X At Macworld l Interactive Effects Ships Piranha HD 3.3 Films l NewTek Releases Lightwave 6.5 l Cast Away Sinks To Second At US Box Office 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Technology l Unbreakable: Int. Box Office Hero, Chicken Still Runs Mexico l Crouching Tiger Director To Take On The Hulk l Disney’s Groovy Spanish Dub Disaster Television l Unbreakable Unstoppable At IBO, Chicken Run Takes Mexico l Third Week Atop The US BO For Cast Away l CTV Gains Star Wars Rights l Dinosaur Still Roars At IBO, Pokemon Claims Germany l Nick Toons On Brazil’s TV Globo l Disney To Release Spanish Dubbed Groove In LA l Howard Stern’s Doomsday May Be Dead l National Registry Adds Clampett’s Porky In Wackyland l U.S. Primetime TV Ratings For The Week Of January 1-7, 2001 l Cast Away Floats Atop Holiday Box Office In The US l Imagine’s The PJs Loses WBTV As Production Partner l Cats & Dogs Writing Duo To Pen New Looney Tunes Feature l Fox Renews King Of The Hill & Futurama l The Grinch Steals Int BO As Charlie’s Angels Fades l U.S. Primetime TV Ratings For The Week Of December 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Films l 25-31, 2000 l Fox TV Taps Gear-CGI For New 3D Series l Collideascope To Produce Flash Animated TV/Web Program In Passing l Oxygen Resuscitates DotComedy l Indie Animator Alison de Vere Has Passed Away l Celebrity Deathmatch Enters UPN Ring l Schoolhouse Rock Co-Creator Passes l U.S. Primetime TV Ratings For The Week Of December 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=In%Passing l 11-17, 2000 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Television Internet and Interactive l This Week’s Web Animation Guide For Friday, January 12, 2001 Video l Rumpus Gains Big Voices For Next Online Feature l Original-Cut Pete’s Dragon Arrives On VHS & DVD l This Week’s Web Animation Guide For Friday, January 5, 2001 l NightWalker Descends Onto Video l DreamWorks Signs 5 Year Gaming Pact With TDK l Demon Warrior Koji Heats Up Home Video l Electronic Arts To Support Microsoft Xbox Console l Princess Mononoke Brings Peace To DVD l This Week’s Web Animation Guide For Friday, December 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=Video l 22, 2000 4http://www2.awn.com/magt/news.php3?item=Internet%and%Interactive

People l AOL Time Warner Cuts Colin Powell & 5 Others From Board l TV Loonland Beefs Up Sales Staff l Unbound Opens Doors For VP Of Business Development l iXL Gains New Exec Producer & Senior F/X Artist l CartoonNetwork.com Registers New VP l Mondo Media Appoints David McCoy To VP Of Advertising l Sales Post l Cinesite Adds Townley To Art Department l Cartoon Network Spain Gains New Head l Ring Of Fire Ignites With Four New Artists l Eyeballnyc Blinks In New Executive Producer l Cinesite Adds More Color To Staff 4http://www2.awn.com/mag/news.php3?item=People

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200162 Next Issue’s Highlights Technology, March 2001

arch is technology month. In this issue we will be discussing what the future will be like for the high-end computer hardware/software companies. Have their glory days Mpassed? Are they just releasing new software versions to release new product or are these true advancements? Do studios need all of these versions? Due to previous advancements are studios now comfortably doing more with less due to the high-end/low-end technology blur and proprietary software? How does the cost of retraining factor into these deci- sions? Karl Marx said that capitalism was doomed to a circle of producing product for the sake of producing product...is this what is happening in the hardware/software world today? Led by Bruce Manning, these will be a few of the topics we tackle. We are also going to look at how software packages are being altered to accommodate bringing animation to the Web. Martin Goodman is going to look back at John K.’s landmark series, Ren and Stimpy, which has inspired a generation of artists. Gerard Raiti is focusing on the new trend of taking small screen animation hits to the big screen. From the Recess gang to Rugrats to Powerpuff Girls, they are all getting their turn to shine on the big screen. Chris Robinson will be providing us with yet another Animation Pimp rave and a profile of independent filmmaker Piotr Sapegin. Also, Fred Patten will return with five more anime faves. Upcoming Editorial Calendar

Technology March 2001 The Business of Animation April 2001 Recruiting and Jobs May 2001 Independent Animation June 2001

ANIMATIONWORLDMAGAZINE February200163