Category: Kids

MUMBAI: Less than a month after laying off 650 employees US media conglomerate Disney has announced a major restructuring of its home entertainment division.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment International will be integrated into one global division — Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment (BVWHE).

BVWHE president Bob Chapek says, “With the rapidly changing landscape facing the home entertainment industry, we need to embrace not only new technologies but the global nature of our business as well. This new organisation addresses the need for global strategies and allows for market customisation.”

Chapek will lead BVWHE along with executive VP worldwide sales, distribution and trade marketing Pat Fitzgerald; executive VP of worldwide marketing, creative content and business development Gordon Ho, VP worldwide HR and communication Richard Ramsey and senior VP worldwide business and legal affairs Kristin McQueen.

In addition to this core worldwide team, Bill Segil has taken on the newly created position of senior VP worldwide operations. In this capacity, he will broaden his operational scope to include all worldwide supply chain strategies under Fitzgerald. Andy Siditsky has been named senior vice president of Worldwide Creative Services & DVD Production and will continue to lead the development of worldwide creative advertising and DVD production under Ho.

Siditsky will also add new programming to his responsibilities. Eric Maehara will serve as VP of worldwide communications and will manage worldwide publicity along with trade and home entertainment communications for the new division under Ramsey.

Commenting on the new global team Chapek said, “Pat Fitzgerald is one of the most aggressive and savvy executives in this industry. I am delighted that he will bring his considerable talents to overseeing our worldwide sales and operational teams.

“Gordon Ho has been an industry leader and major force in our key marketing and product strategies for BVHE titles. His creative and strategic contributions will be critical to our continued success in the global marketplace. Richard Ramsey has helped build the best team in the industry and will play a key role in building our global team. Kristin McQueen possesses a tremendous ability to quickly assess legal situations and gauge their commercial implications. We are confident that she will continue to successfully lead BVHE business and legal affairs in the global marketplace.”

In addition to the worldwide team, the new division will incorporate regional teams to manage day to day operations in the markets. The three regions include North America, Asia Pacific/Latin America, and Europe/Middle East and Africa. Lori MacPherson has been named the new GM for the US. Daniel Solnicki has taken on the role of GM for Asia Pacific and Latin America.Julie Sneddon continues in her position as GM for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Chapek adds, “Lori MacPherson‘s tremendous managerial and leadership skills will continue to drive the North American business. Her successful track record as a marketing leader will continue to innovate with consumer and trade programmes and keep us at the forefront of the market.

“Strong regional marketing, sales and distribution executives are key to the successful integration of BVHE product into the marketplace. Daniel Solnicki and Julie Sneddon have demonstrated their formidable talents and abilities to integrate our marketing and sales strategies into diverse cultures. We are delighted that they will help lead our international organisations.

“Entertainment is a rapidly changing business and with our dynamic and talented team in place we are poised to maximise our opportunities across the globe,” said Chapek.

NEW DELHI: Animax, the international animation channel, adopts a complete English language feed as a continuation of the Animax Refresh to meet the requirements of an ever growing and discerning Indian viewership starting this month.

With slick blockbuster animation series and shows that are more youth and young adult focused, Animax is punching into a different market segment to better attract the 15 to 24 years old, an age group with the real purchasing power. Operating a single English language feed is meant to better serve this segment.
 
Animax has been a pioneer seeking to change the face of animation in India by offering Indian viewers animation for grown-ups, and not just cartoons for kids. Animax programming tends to be more developed, dramatic animated series portraying human emotions and conflicts.

These series attract viewers that want intelligent, substantial themes along with the fun in their animated entertainment. The Animax audience are young adults who enjoy daily viewing of their favorite animated series on Animax.

Says Animax-Country manager- Sunder Aaron, “We‘ve converted the Animax feed into English-only to better meet the interests of our target audience in the metros. We‘ve targeted the young adults of India who we all see at cyber cafes, playing video games, downloading music and wearing branded clothes. Animax is focused on engaging this discerning audience with our programming. Broadcast in English also meets the demands of our various user-groups who have expressed this preference to us online. “

MUMBAI: 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. has set Mipcom 2006 for the global launch of its new high-definition animated action adventure television series Chaotic. As announced by 4Kids Entertainment executive VP International Brian Lacey, the 40 half-hour episode series will be available to international buyers at this year‘s market.

4Kids has exclusive rights to represent Chaotic worldwide across broadcast, home video, music and merchandise licensing. According to Lacey, the high-definition animated kids television series will premiere on 4Kids TV in the US in late September, informs an official release.

“Chaotic combines the best entertainment qualities of Pokémon – stories with heart and attitude that feature a collectable appeal for kids and Yu-Gi-Oh! – stories that build upon a compelling trading card game,” Lacey added.

MUMBAI: A couple of days ago US media conglomerate Disney honoured legendary songwriter and singer Sir Elton John, as well as 11 additional inductees, with the Disney Legends Award.

MUMBAI: Get addicted and be different! Animax is rolling out Ani-Flix, a new animation movie block on Saturday nights, which will air blockbuster animation films.

The block launches with its first movie on 12 August at 7 pm. Ani-Flix is yet another aspect of the Animax channel refresh, designed to meet the growing appetite for high quality animation in India.

Through this band, Animax will be airing movies that are more youth and young adult focused attracting a different target group. Movies aired on Ani-Flix will showcase filmmaking that has unleashed a new trend in movie making involving spectacular animation sequences.
 
On 12 August, Ani-Flix will premiere with Cowboy Bebop: Knocking in Heaven‘s Door. The movie follows the adventures of characters who are living on Mars in the year 2071.

Animax country manager Sunder Aaron said, “Indian youth and young adults are now becoming familiar with and getting addicted to watching top-flight animation on television, a trend that hit the west 10 years ago. With the onset of band programming, Ani-Flix will relay award winning marvels such as Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell – the inspiration for the Matrix movies, the international blockbuster Akira, the sci-fi thriller Appleseed – a movie so hot that John Woo is producing the sequel – and many more. These movies, especially Appleseed, will not disappoint the eye.”

“There is enormous attention to detail, reflections, shading and other small things. Many of the scenes, especially involving the giant city complex, look like art if you froze the frame. Ani-Flixs showcases exceptional movies that have young adult and mature content with edgy animation that should attract our target viewers. Our shift to broadcast only in English also presents these movies the way our viewers want to see them: our various user-groups expressed this preference to us in many ways, including online,” he added.

Ani-Flix will air Inu Yahsa: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass on 19 August.

And, on 14 August, all these movies will be aired back to back on the channel. Inu Yahsa: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass will be aired at 1 pm, followed by Ghost in the Shell at 3 pm and Cowboy Bebop: Knocking in Heaven‘s Door at 5 pm.

MUMBAI: With an aim to reach out to the Asian youth, Animax will be playing a key role in the World Cyber Games 2006 Asian Championship as its main sponsor.
 
Sony Pictures Entertainment Networks Asia vice president programming and production Betty Tsui said, “Animax is proud to be associated with World Cyber Games 2006 Asian Championship as gaming is a prominent interest of Animax‘s youth audience and, as a brand, we want to connect with our viewers in their areas of interest and to inspire them to fulfill their passions and live out their dreams.”

As the principal partner of this year‘s competition, Animax is creating an original production called CyberMax, a hip three-part entertainment series aimed at giving viewers an insider glimpse of the world of cyber-gaming.

Apart from this, Animax will showcase four anime titles in a movie marathon before they are premiered on the channel at the World Cyber Games 2006 Asian Championship on 12 August. The movies, which will be screened are: Blood the Last Vampire, Samurai X – Director‘s Cut as well as the first two episodes of Blood + and Girl From Hell.

Animax viewers around the region also had the chance to win exclusive backstage tours at the Asian Championships in Singapore through an on-air contest where three winners from Philippines and Malaysia will get to meet in person top gamers and find out what really goes on behind the scene of such a large-scale event.

MUMBAI: Cartoon Network will premiere yet another Indian animation film Krishna: The Birth on 16 August at 2 pm. What‘s more, the series will be launched on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtmi.
 
Produced by Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animation Studio, the 75-minutes long, 2-D animation movie, Krishna: The Birth traces the birth of Lord Krishna, the avtaar of Lord Vishnu.

This is Cartoon Network‘s second acquisition from Green Gold Animation Studio, the earlier one being Vikram Betal in 2005. This will also the first of the four planned Krishna series to be showcased on Cartoon Network.

Krishna: The Birth takes the count of local animations acquired and showcased by Cartoon Network to 12, with four of these launching in 2006 itself.

Turner International India Pvt. Ltd managing director Anshuman Misra said, “We are extremely enthused by the response of our audience to local animations acquired and telecast by Cartoon Network over the years. Airing locally produced shows is one of the cornerstones of the Network‘s localisation strategy and helps us contextualise the content for our Indian audiences. With the launch of Krishna: The Birth, the Network reiterates its promise of acquiring and showcasing over four local Indian animation products within this year itself, taking the total tally of home-grown animations acquired by Cartoon Network to 12! I am sure that this absolutely riveting and charming animated version of the birth of Lord Krishna, will be enjoyed by both parents and children, who have grown up listening or watching this enduring tale.”

PMI Green Gold Animation Pvt. Ltd managing director Rajiv Chilakalapudi added, “We are delighted to be working with Cartoon Network and are thrilled at getting the opportunity to animate a personality such as that of Lord Krishna. Krishna gives us the platform to showcase Green Gold‘s Creative and technical strengths in Animation. Since its inception Green Gold has been focused towards the development of original intellectual animation properties with the assistance of powerful digital animation software tools while pushing the boundaries of constant innovation.”

Debuting as part of Cartoon Network Theatre on 16 August, Krishna: The Birth is the enchanting tale of the miraculous birth of Lord Vishnu in the form of baby Krishna to Vasudev and Devaki. The story is set in an era when the human race was overburdened by the demonic forces of different kings posing themselves as the royal order. Perturbed by this disorder and chaos, the predominating deity of the Earth, known as Bhu Devi, and along with other Gods approached Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu promised them that he would take birth on Earth as Krishna, who would destroy all evil on the planet before the dawn of Kalyug. Krishna: The Birth‘ chronicles the events and incidents accompanying the birth of Lord Vishnu as Krishna.

The first four parts of Krishna would cover the birth of Krishna, Krishna‘s childhood, Krishna‘s teenage, and Krishna killing Kansa. The first part of this series, Krishna: The Birth has been worked on by over 100 animation specialists and it took almost a year to make the same, from the stage of pre-production, with production taking six months

MUMBAI: Nickelodeon Movies‘ computer-animated movie Barnyard, distributed by Paramount Pictures, features complex computer-generated animation that required unique and creative solutions from Sun Microsystems Inc.
 
The film is Nickelodeon‘s most challenging animated film to date and features vast landscapes with vivid details, realistic shading and lighting, and scenes that incorporate more than 200 characters that move with surprising fluidity.

Leveraging a rendering farm based on Sun Fire servers and Sun StorageTek data management systems, Barnyard‘s artists were able to quickly identify incomplete scenes, make necessary edits, and manage finished shots. The complex scenes were executed using 64-bit computing solutions from Sun that revolutionised how computer-generated imagery (CGI) is created and managed.

“With a state-of-the-art computer-animated movie like Barnyard, a seamless interaction between the technology and artist is essential to make the characters come to life. Sun raised the bar by providing the only solutions that met this challenge and exceeded business expectations,” said Barnyard executive producer Aaron Parry.

“We were thrilled that Sun was able to come up with a solution for us. Steve Oedekerk had some very specific and complex ideas that he wanted to see up on the screen, and Sun was integral in helping Steve and his team realize them,” said Barnyard executive producer Julia Pistor.

Sun provided a 620-node server farm and storage solution that was crucial in the completion of the complex animation required. The solution is based on Sun Fire x64 enterprise servers powered by AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture, and 100-terabyte Sun StorageTek 3510 and 3511 FC arrays and a Sun StorageTek tape library for online storage and backup of shot files and other movie assets.

Sun Customer Ready Systems helped migrate the production from its previous 32-bit render farm, and then configured, assembled and tested the new Sun render farm for the production. In addition, Sun provided continuous on-site consultation and support to the Barnyard production team.

Barnyard‘s producers believe their Sun solution may represent the first time a studio has relied entirely upon 64-bit technology to render a full-length animated movie.

“Animated movies are evolving rapidly, demanding more and more lifelike characters and scenes that are challenging artists, directors and the technology industry to create better CGI in faster and easier ways. Sun is excited to meet these challenges with our expanded product line and range of service offerings,” said Sun‘s x64 product line business driver Pradeep Parmar.