Digital Media FX Newsletter
Vol. 1, No. 2 - April 1, 2001

Table of Contents:

(1) Welcome Message
(2) Father & Daughter Winner Gets More Than an Oscar
(3) Spy Kids Has Huge Opening Weekend
(4) Top News Stories of Past Two Weeks
(5) April Fool's Issue of Digital Media FX
(6) Is Warner Bros. Going to Recognize William Hanna?
(7) Exclusive Sneak Peek - William Hanna: The Story of a Legend

Welcome Message
Welcome to the second issue of the Digital Media FX (dFX) newsletter, covering the world of animation and visual effects. This newsletter is published on the 1st and 15th of each month with original content, insider news, and sneak peeks at new dFX features.

There's a lot of material in this issue - everything from Spy Kids huge opening to a sneak peek at our "William Hanna: The Story of a Legend" feature. So sit back, relax, and see what the power of imagination is bringing to life. -- Joe Tracy

Father & Daughter Winner Gets More Than an Oscar
(digitalmediafx.com) At last Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony, the winner for the "Best Animated Short" category was a animated short called "Father & Daughter" by Michael Dudok de Wit. In accepting his award, de Wit ended up winning more than an Oscar. This year, the Academy Awards announced it was giving away a state of the art HDTV set to the person with the shortest speech during the televised event. Michael Dudok de Wit easily won that category too with a speech lasting only 18 seconds.

"I did not write the shortest speech to win the television set," de Wit said after the ceremony when asked about winning the TV. "I have many television sets. I wrote it to say what I had to say and no more."

De Wit says that he is giving the HDTV set to charity. His speech was a full 9 seconds shorter than his nearest "competitor". The Academy Awards suggested speech lengths under 45 seconds saying they may cut off anyone who went over. Best Actress winner Julia Roberts, however, delivered the longest speech at 3 minutes and 47 seconds. It was not cut short by the Academy Awards producers even though it was well over three times longer the limit set, which had been imposed on other award winners.

Here is the full text of Michael Dudok de Wit's 18 second speech:

"I would like to thank my two producers, Claire Jennings from London and Willem Thijssen from Amsterdam. And both for the dedication and very hard work. And I would like to thank especially my wife Arielle and for her support. Thank you, Academy members. This is fantastic."

For more on "Father & Daughter's" victory, click here.

Spy Kids Has Huge Opening Weekend
(digitalmediafx.com) When final box office results are made public on Monday, it is estimated that Spy Kids will have grossed over $26 million in its opening weekend. This is well beyond the $12 - $16 million predicted by most box office analysts. The PG-rated special effects film had a wide appeal from kids through adults and was the number one choice for family audiences. The opening of Spy Kids was better than last year's big family film, Chicken Run.

Top News Stories of the Past Two Weeks
(digitalmediafx.com) Digital Media FX is updated 365 days a year including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. If you don't visit daily you may have missed some important news. Here is a list of what we consider the top three news stories (in order of importance) of the past two weeks, including links to each story.

1. William Hanna Passes Away

2. Ub Iwerks - 100 Years Later

3. John Lasseter Given 10 Year Contract With Pixar

April Fool's Issue of Digital Media FX
(digitalmediafx.com) April 1 marked the First Annual April Fool's edition of Digital Media FX magazine. If you missed the special April Fool's update, you can view it by click here.

Articles in this year's April Fool's Edition include:
- DreamWorked to Produce Hieroglyphic Animated Feature!
- Dizney Unveils New Mascot
- Warner Sisters Denies Marketing Animated Film
- Monsters, LTD Receives Changes and a PG Rating!

Is Warner Bros. Going to Recognize William Hanna?
(digitalmediafx.com) On Thursday, March 22, 2001 one of the greatest cartoon visionaries of all time - William Hanna - passed away. It is customary when an artist like Hanna passes away for the studio to properly recognize the visionary publicly. In most cases this is done through press releases detailing the life and contributions of the visionary. Since March 22, Warner Bros., which owns Hanna-Barbera, has failed to recognize Hanna's contributions via a press release. When legendary Disney animator Marc Davis passed away last year, Disney immediately issued a press release honoring the life and memory of Davis. That release can be found here.

It is our sincere hope that Warner Bros. will soon do the same for William Hanna.

Exclusive Sneak Peek — William Hanna: The Story of a Legend
(digitalmediafx.com) On Tuesday, April 3, dFX will be publishing a feature article on William Hanna titled "William Hanna: The Story of a Legend". As a subscriber to the dFX newsletter, you are being given an exclusive sneak peek (two days early) of this new feature.

To view the feature, click here.

Thank you for being a part of the Digital Media FX team through your daily visits to www.digitalmediafx.com. I hope that you've enjoyed this second edition of the Digital Media FX newsletter and I look forward to providing you with continued coverage of the animation and visual effects industries.

Best Wishes,

Joe Tracy, Publisher
Digital Media FX - The Power of Imagination

If you are not currently a subscriber to the Digital Media FX newsletter, then click here for your free subscription which is delivered on the 1st and 15th of every month.

All stories in this newsletter are ©Copyright 2001 by Joe Tracy / Digital Media FX and may not be reprinted in any form without the expressed written consent of Joe Tracy. To request such consent, click here, and provide details of which article you wish to republish and the Website location where it will be published. You will receive a response within 48 hours with whether your request has been accepted and, if so, the proper credit wording that must appear with the article.

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