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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