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Tag: Lawrence

  • CASBAA media college graduates first intake

    CASBAA media college graduates first intake

    MUMBAI: The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has awarded the first CASBAA Media College ‘Certificates of Accreditation’ to six executives who had passed the 2004 six-module course dedicated to enhancing skills in sales and account management.

    The CASBAA Media College is supported by CASBAA and the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA).

    MDA director of industry development Seto Lok Yin, formally awarded the Certificates of Completion to Christopher Pattinson of ESPN Star Sports, Yvonne Tay of Star Group, Jasmin Wong of Turner International Asia Pacific, Lawrence Ng of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Peter Giakoumelos and Daniel Joseph of Discovery Networks Asia, at an official ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel.

    The 2004 CASBAA Media College television sales training scheme ran from April to November this year, with each module covering two full working days (Fridays and Saturdays).

    Other companies participating in the inaugural year of the CASBAA Media College included CNBC Asia, BBC World, MTV Networks Asia, Nickelodeon, StarHub and HBO Asia.

    Students unable to complete all modules of the scheme during 2004 (due to travel requirements etc), will do so in 1H 2005. The next session of the CASBAA Media College will be in April 2005.

    CASBAA chairman Marcel Fenez noted that the first graduates from the CASBAA Media College had worked exceptionally hard for their reward and had given up significant personal time, not only to attend the course but also to complete challenging assignments both in their places of work and at home.

    Given the work pressures under which we all operate and the amount of traveling that many sales executives must undertake, the achievements of our first six graduates are not inconsiderable, said Fenez. Working with our partner Allsorts Habit Creation, this is a long-term project that will not only bring benefit to our member organizations, but also to Singapore and the industry at large.

    Seto, speaking on behalf of the MDA, welcomed the completion of the first year of the CASBAA Media College. “This is definitely a significant moment in our efforts to build media manpower capabilities. This is part of our strategy to develop Singapore as a global media city. We look forward to having more such programmes next year,” said Seto.

  • Sony Pictures Animation to produce first CGI film

    Sony Pictures Animation to produce first CGI film

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Animation, a division of Sony Pictures Digital, is set to begin production on its first feature length computer generated images (CGI) motion picture Open Season.

    Open Season will feature the vocal talents of black comedian Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher and Debra Messing from the sitcom Will And Grace. Open Season tells the story of a 900 pound domesticated grizzly bear Boog voiced by Lawrence and a scrawny, one-horned mule deer named Elliot (Kutcher).

    They are stranded together in the woods during hunting season. Boog and Elliot must work together to rally the animals of the forest and turn the tables on the hunters. Messing will voice the character of Beth, a forest ranger who rescued Boog as a cub and raised him.

    Digital animation will be provided by Sony Pictures Imageworks. That company is currently producing the CGI adaptation of the children’s book The Polar Express with director Robert Zemeckis. The company has also worked on Columbia Tristar’s major blockbuster for the year Spider-Man 2.

  • BBC viewers sink Murdoch’s ‘Titanic’

    BBC viewers sink Murdoch’s ‘Titanic’

    LONDON: It may be the all-time box office champion of the UK, US and the world. It may have won 11 Academy Awards. But all that has not saved Fox’s Titanic from being voted the UK’s worst film ever by viewers of BBC One’s Film 2003 with Jonathan Ross.

    Over 2,000 different movies were nominated by tens of thousands of viewers during the six week poll. Everything from Absolute Beginners to Zulu, from famously bad films such as Plan 9 from Outer Space to many generally acknowledged as classics such as Citizen Kane and Lawrence of Arabia received nominations..

    Titanic emerged as a clear winner. “And may I commend the nation on its choice” Ross added. .On BBC’s site one remark from a vengeful viewer ran like this. “My father fell asleep after 20 minutes. He was lucky. It was only his snoring that kept me awake”

    The other films in the top ten worst list included Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut which mystified the voters and not surprisingly John Travolta’s egotistical failure Battlefield Earth. The indie box office horror hit film The Blair Witch Project and Steven Spielberg’s A.I. were also cited as was Michael Bay’s disastrously jingoistic Pearl Harbour.