Helsinki’s Animatricks Animation Festival has issued its final call for short film submissions, which must be received by January 31 for consideration for the 2016 event. The festival — Finland’s only dedicated short animation celebration — also invites suggestions for films that would fit the Animatricks program. Entries and tip-offs can be submitted using this online form.
Per competition rules, all animated films and music videos completed after January 1, 2015 that have not been previously screened at Animatricks and do not exceed 30 minutes’ duration are eligible. At least 70% of the film must be animated. Educational and commercial material is not eligible. Submissions will be reviewed by a pre-qualification jury, and selected films will be screened in either the International Shorts Competition or New Finnish Animated Shorts category.
Animatricks 2016 is scheduled for April 22 to 24. See www.animatricks.net/en for more information.
Students looking to perfect their visual effects reels will have a unique opportunity to get expert critiques in an open “Battle of the Reels” session held February 10 during next month’s PauseFest digital technology festival in Melbourne. Pros from award-winning vfx studio Rising Sun Pictures, software developer The Foundry and talent agency Tyroe, which are all sponsoring the event, will screen submitted student artist reels and offer live feedback on creativity, technique and professional merit.
Aspiring fx artists can submit reels of no more than 90 seconds’ duration in any of four categories: Compositing, Modeling, Lighting and Texturing. Each entry must have utilized at least one product from The Foundry, and may be submitted through www.tyroe.com/register.
A panel of judges will review all submissions and select a short list of participants for the Battle of the Reels, which will take place live at The Cube – Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. Feedback will be given by Rising Sun’s Marcus Wells and Kirsty Parkin, Tyroe’s Alwyn Hunt and Andrew McDonald, and The Foundry’s Mariana Acuna and Nicki Morris.
The best reel in each of the four categories will be awarded a software prize from The Foundry.
PauseFest will take place from February 8 to 14, with days dedicated to Creative (Feb. 10), Tech (Feb. 11) and Business (Feb. 12). More information at www.pausefest.com.au.
International animatics service studio Animated Storyboards has opened a new office in Toronto, and tapped Maria Hanafy to lead the local team as Managing Director. The 4,300 square foot Toronto facility marks Animated Storyboards’ 10th office, joining up with New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Sao Paolo, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Dusseldorf and Shanghai.
Together, these offices employ nearly 300 full-time, in-house illustrators, designers, directors, producers, and 2D & 3D artists.
The Toronto office will host a dedicated Director, Producer, Marketing Associate and Animator/Editor in addition to MD Hanafy. The facility includes three editing suites, a state-of-the-art audio studio, conference room and spacious lobby area for welcoming clients.
Hanafy brings nearly a decade of production experience to her new role, which she takes on having produced projects for a range of clients out of Animated Storyboards’ NYC and Chicago offices. A Radio & Television graduate of San Francisco State University, Hanafy began her career at local cable stations, producing, shooting and editing on-air promotional content. She then worked as a casting manager at SF-based Talent6 before moving to an associate producer position at Publicis & Hal Riney where she handled radio and video production for clients including US Cellular, Hewlett-Packard and Walmart. In 2012 she worked in production and post at Acme Posts/Hamady Production before joining Animated Storyboards in 2013.
L-R: Dave Horst, Caitlin Mulqueen, Maria Hanafy, Megan Brescacin, Andrew Minett
Barry Ziehl has been named Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Strategic Initiatives for Warner Bros. Entertainment. Currently overseeing worldwide public relations and marketing for WB Consumer Products, Ziehl will assume his new responsibilities in the coming weeks and report directly to EVP, Worldwide Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Dee Dee Myers.
Ziehl will now assume oversight of the company’s public affairs team, including corporate responsibility and the further integration of philanthropy and sustainability initiatives in WB’s corporate values and business interests. Working with department VP Michael Walbrecht, Ziehl will also tackle state and local government and community relations efforts. Additionally, he and Myers will work to identify opportunities and develop strategic worldwide initiatives to enhance WB’s brand reputation.
In his 10-year stint with the Consumer Products division, Ziehl oversaw the development and execution of global marketing campaigns supporting DC Entertainment properties — most recently the introduction of the new company-wide global franchise DC Super Hero Girls.
Ziehl joined the company in 1999. Prior to WBCP, Ziehl worked for the U.S. Postal Service at its Washington, DC headquarters, where he led award-winning PR and marketing communications programs.
German brand management company m4e has tapped Moscow-based brand4rent as Russia and CIS territories agent for preschool property Wissper. “Wissper is traveling the world. After major markets such as the U.S. and Latin America, we are confident that the appeal of the brand will also attract girls in the Russian Federation territories,” said m4e head of licensing Bernd Conrad in the announcement.
In addition to handling media distribution deals for the CG animated series, brand4rent will represent the brand’s licensing and merchandising interests in the region. The consumer products program will be lead by master toy partner (EMEA) Simba Dickie Group.
Produced by Absolutely Cuckoo with m4e, Telegael, Discreet Art Productions and Bastei Media, Wissper centers on a young girl who has the ability to communicate with animals and help them solve their problems.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the nominees for the 14th Annual VES Awards, taking place February 2 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Recognizing artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games, the nominees were selected by VES members through events organized by its nine sectors: Australia, Bay Area (U.S.), London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, New Zealand, Toronto and Vancouver.
The box office juggernaut Star Wars: The Force Awakens leads the feature film nominations with nods in seven categories, while Fox/Blue Sky’s The Peanuts Movie is the top animated feature contender with five (including two in the Animated Performance category). HBO’s Game of Thrones leads the broadcast nominees, and carries the most nominations overall with nine.
The nominees for the 14th Annual VES Awards are:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Furious 7
Mike Wassel
Karen Murphy
Martin Hill
Kevin McIlwain
Dan Sudick
San Andreas
Colin Strause
Randall Starr
Bryan Grill
Nordin Rahhali
Brian Cox
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Roger Guyett
Luke O’Byrne
Patrick Tubach
Paul Kavanagh
Chris Corbould
Mad Max: Fury Road
Andrew Jackson
Holly Radcliffe
Tom Wood
Dan Oliver
Andy Williams
The Martian
Richard Stammers
Barrie Hemsley
Matt Sloan
Chris Lawrence
Steven Warner
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
In The Heart of The Sea
Jody Johnson
Leslie Lerman
Sean Stranks
Bryan Hirota
Mark Holt
Bridge of Spies
Sven Martin
Jennifer Meislohn
Charlie Noble
Sean Stranks
Gerd Nefzer
The Walk
Kevin Baillie
Camille Cellucci
Viktor Muller
Sebastien Moreau
Everest
Dadi Einarsson
Roma O-Connor
Matthias Bjarnasson
Glen Pratt
Richard Van Den Bergh
The Revenant
Rich McBride
Ivy Agregan
Jason Smith
Nicolas Chevallier
Cameron Waldbauer
Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
The Peanuts Movie
Steve Martino
Michael J. Travers
Nick Bruno
Scott Carroll
Inside Out
Michael Fong
Jonas Rivera
Victor Navone
Paul Mendoza
Anomalisa
Derek Smith
Rosa Tran
Joe Passarelli
John Joyce
Hotel Transylvania 2
Karl Herbst
Skye Lyons
Alan Hawkins
Genndy Tartakovsky
The Good Dinosaur
Sanjay Bakshi
Denise Ream
Michael Venturini
Jon Reisch
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project
The Order: 1886
Nathan Phail-Liff
Dana Jan
Anthony Vitale
Scot Andreason
Halo 5: Guardians
Nicolas Bouvier
Jon Wood
Brien Goodrich
Matt Aldridge
The Hobbit: A Thief in the Shadows
Alasdair Coull
Daniel Smith
Nick Donaldson
Tim Elek
Destiny: The Taken King
Michael Zak
Mark Noseworthy
Stephen Scott
Dave Matthews
Cartoon Movie 2016 — taking place March 2-4 in Lyon, France — is planning to see over 700 animated feature producers, investors, distributors, sales agents, video game companies and new media players from across Europe in attendance. The annual event, having its 18th edition this year, helps fund roughly 20 animated feature projects per year in the region.
Programming highlights for 2016 will include presentations of new projects from several acclaimed directors. In-production samplings will include first images for Richard the Stork by Reza Memari and Toby Genkel (Ooops! Noah Is Gone), Cinderella the Cat by Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Alessandro Rak and Dario Sansone (MAD Ent.); and A Skeleton Story by Alessandro Rak (The Art of Happiness).
Concepts in the works include mo-cap project Canaan from Tondo Films by Jan Bultheel (Cafard), Little Bastards from Rokyn Animation by Manuel Sicilia (Justin and the Knights of Valour, The Missing Lynx) and Old Man Coyote from Cinemon Ent. by Aron Gauder (The District). The Magic Mountain director Anca Damian is involved in both the rotoscope film The Fantastic Voyage of Marona from Sacrebleu Prod. and The Faun, a co-production with JPL films directed by Augusto Zanovello (Women’s Letters). Enzo d’Alo (Lucky and Zorba, Pinocchio) will also be there with his latest, The Prince of the City of Sand, from Iris Productions.
Organizers also report a record number of projects targeting teens and adults, at nearly 33%. These cover difficult topics such as child soldier in Angola (Another Day of Life, Platige Image), Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge (Funan, The New People, Les Films d’Ici), Iranian resistance (The Siren, Les Films d’Ici), adoption (The Khmer Smile, Animalps Prod.), the Angola civil war (Nayola, da Praca de Filmes) and fictional stories like Heart of Darkness (Les Films d’Ici) and graphic-novel inspired Mind My Gap (Studio Rosto).
Family comedies and kid-friendly films continue to be well represented, as well as adaptations from literature and comic books. But for the first time, a Canadian project will be presented following the success of last year’s Cartoon Connection Canada: Amoeba from House of Cool has already been opted by European broadcasters CBBC (UK), France Televisions, Walt Disney UK, YLE (Finland), Channel 5’s milkshake! (UK) and Canal+ (France). To date, Cartoon Movie has selected 55 projects, with 18 from France. Denmark and Germany each have five representative films, followed by Italy, Netherlands and Poland with three each.
Visitors can also take in the fifth edition of Cartoon Games on March 4, which consists of 20-minute “matchmaking” sessions for film producers and video game companies. Plus, the city of Lyon will be hosting a series of screenings of great European animations and personal appearances by iconic directors during the “On cartoon dans le Grand Lyon” festival organized by cinema network GRAC.
Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen accepted the Golden Globe for their Best Animated Feature Film winning Pixar flick Inside Out at the Sunday night awards ceremony. The inventive CG family film won out over indie darling Anomalisa, Brit import Shaun the Sheep Movie, The Peanuts Movie and Pixar’s late year release The Good Dinosaur.
The victory marked the seventh Pixar movie to win the category in the ten years it has existed at the Globes — the exceptions being Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn for Paramount, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee’s Frozen for Disney and Dean DeBlois’ How to Train Your Dragon 2 for DreamWorks last year.
Inside Out is set partially inside the emotionally turbulent world of a tweenage girl’s mind, and was widely lauded for its depth of feeling and the colorful worlds creative to represent its concepts. The film featured the voices of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black and Bill Hader as the emotions, with Richard Kind playing Riley’s waylaid imaginary friend who helps Joy (Poehler) and Sadness (Smith) on their tumultuous quest to restore Riley’s happy-go-lucky mental state after a cross country move spins her life upside down.
On the heels of Atlantyca Entertainment’s launch of the Atlantyca Live! Division headed by Rachele Geraci, the company has appointed Marco Piccinini as Licensing Manager for the company. Formerly senior category manager for CPLG – Italy, Piccinini will start work immediately per the announcement made by Atlantyca Ent. CEO Claudia Mazzucco.
Based in the company’s Milan office, Piccinini will work with Atlantyca’s licensees to develop and coordinate exclusive multi-category merchandise and marketing programs as well as seeking out and securing new partners and opportunities for all the company’s IP and third party properties. Additionally, he will manage all marketing activities for all licensees, including special events, publicity, billboard and print campaigns, website and social media initiatives.
Piccinini joins the company after spending 12 years at Copyright Promotions Licensing Group (CPLG) in Italy. In his most recent role, he was responsible for creating and securing new licensing partnerships and program in all key categories for the company’s blue-chip franchises, including brands like Minions, Kung Fu Panda, The Simpsons, Skylanders, Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Rabbids, Hotel Transylvania and Pink Panther.
Paris-based studio TeamTO has promoted consultant Patricia de Wilde to the permanent position of Director of Marketing and New Business for the entire TeamTO group. The appointment was announced by studio founding managers Guillaume Hellouin and Corinne Kouper, and is the latest move in the company’s ongoing strategic response to doubling its workload and facilities last year.
In her new role, de Wilde will carry over her experience consulting on the distribution and launch of the studio’s first feature, Yellowbird, and be responsible for developing the overall marketing strategy for the studio, as well as the development of new media and interactive projects. To this end, de Wilde will manage distribution and oversee public relations as well.
In her consultancy period with TeamTO, de Wilde also oversaw the launch of original animated properties Take it Easy Mike (presented at Annecy), HeroEek! (a Cartoon Forum official selection) and season three of Angelo Rules.
De Wilde brings 20 years of experience in distribution, marketing, production and licensing to her new position. Prior to joining TeamTO, de Wilde was SVP – Consumer Products for Zodiak Kids and Marathon Media for 10 years. She previously worked at VIP Licensing, Columbia Tristar International TV Distribution, Tele Images and Canal +. Outside entertainment, de Wilde helped set up the French Licensing Association and served as its president for two years.
The world lost a pop culture giant this weekend as singer David Bowie died of cancer on Sunday, January 10, just two days after marking his 69th birthday. A brief announcement was made through his Facebook page saying that he passed peacefully surrounded by his family after an 18 month struggle with the disease.
The creator of pop hits such as “Let’s Dance,” “Changes,” “Modern Love,” “Under Pressure,” “Life on Mars” and many others — as well as his colorful alter-ego Ziggy Stardust — Bowie’s last album was just released Jan. 8, on his birthday. Titled Blackstar, the album was intended as a “parting gift” to the world, according to the artist’s long-time friend and producer Tony Visconti, who said on Facebook “His death was no different from his life – a work of art.”
Many will remember Bowie’s lordship over a world of unnerving muppets as Jareth in Jim Henson’s cult classic Labyrinth. The creatures also featured in the music video for “Underground” off the film’s soundtrack, which includes an animated Bowie segment and was directed by Steve Barron (who also did a-ha’s partly animated “Take on Me”).
The starchild also touched the world of animation, voicing the villainous Maltazard in the English version of Arthur and the Invisibles and playing Lord Royal Highness for the made-for-TV SpongeBob movie Atlantis SquarePantis. A caricature of Bowie, voiced by James Urbaniak, became a fan-favorite recurring character on Adult Swim’s The Venture Bros. after first appearing in “Showdown at Cremation Creek.”
Bowie is survived by his wife of 23 years, Somali-American model Iman; their daughter Alexandria Jones; and his son by his first marriage to Angela Barnett, director Duncan Jones.
A decision to censor an episode of Cartoon Network’s popular series Steven Universe during U.K. and European broadcasts has inspired a backlash from fans, with thousands taking to the web to express their disappointment and sign their names to an online petition which has garnered over 6,000 signatures as of Sunday, January 10.
Since launching to critical praise in 2013, the magical adventure-comedy series from Adventure Time alumna Rebecca Sugar has proven a hit with both child audiences and adult fans who have lauded the show for its treatment of issues of gender and LGBT positivity. The decision by Cartoon Network’s European division to cut a scene in which two female characters kiss each other from the episode “We Need to Talk” has outraged viewers and a wider community who see the move as an act of homophobic censorship.
Cartoon Network responded via Facebook:
“Cartoon Network (in Europe) often shows amended versions of programs from US originals. The US broadcast system requires that shows are marked with a rating –in this case PG (parental guidance necessary). In the UK we have to ensure everything on air is suitable for kids of any age at any time. We do feel that the slightly edited version is more comfortable for local kids and their parents.”
However, one of the first outlets to bring attention to the controversial edit, Pink News, pointed out in their follow-up coverage that the equivalent U.K. rating of “Universal” allows for characters to kiss and even make references to sexual behavior, as long as there is no “overt focus” on sexual behavior, innuendo or language.
You can view a side-by-side comparison of the edited and unedited scene on YouTube here.
The first-ever stop-motion animated episode of Pen Ward’s Adventure Time will premiere on Cartoon Network this Thursday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT) as part of a full week of all-new tales from the Land of Ooo.
Titled “Bad Jubies,” the stop-mo episode is guest directed by Kirsten Lepore, who has earned top animation prizes the world over with shorts Sweet Dreams and Bottle. In the Thursday adventure, there’s a catastrophic storm headed for The Grasslands, so Finn, LSP and BMO decide to build a bunker for protection — but Jake has plans of his own.
The week’s other new episodes include:
Mon., Jan. 11: “Angel Face” – BMO ropes his friends into a live-action cowboy role-playing adventure.
Tue., Jan 12: “President Porpoise Is Missing!” – Finn and Jake must find President Porpoise before Vice President Blowfish takes over! It’s chaos under the sea!
Wed., Jan. 13: “Blank Eyed Girl” – One very spooky night, Finn and Jake come face-to-cafe with an urban myth.
Thurs., Jan. 14: “Bad Jubies”
Fri., Jan. 15: “A King’s Ransom” – Ice King suffers a heartbreaking loss and it’s up to Finn and Jake to find the culprit.
Turner International has promoted kids’ chief content officer Mark Eyers to Senior Vice President of its Asia Pacific division. The core of Eyers’ new duties will be to strengthen the planning process for Turner’s kids channels in the region — Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami and POGO — and seek out fresh animation talent from his Hong Kong base.
Additionally, the decade-plus Turners kids veteran will now be tasked to identify opportunities to develop and distribute hit properties and franchises across Turner’s TV, web and mobile platforms, and spearhead the development of new channels in Asia Pacific. Eyers first joined the division in 2004 as part of the creative services team.
“Under Mark’s leadership, Turner’s Kids brands has not only dominated the genre but also expanded tremendously across the region. He has spearheaded the growth of our Kids brands across multi-platform while also leading numerous international original animation productions, including the award-winning Monster Beach and recent series Exchange Student Zero,” said Ricky Ow, president, Turner International Asia Pacific. “His promotion is a timely acknowledgement of his contribution to the importance of the Kids brands to Turner’s business in this region and the confidence we have in him to further build upon it.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the scientific and technical achievements to be honored at the annual Awards Presentation, to be held Saturday, February 13 at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. The ten awardees, represented by 33 individual award recipients, as well as one special recognition “represent a wide range of new tech, including a modular inflatable airwall system for composited visual effects, a ubiquitous 3D digital paint system and a 3D printing technique for animation,” according to Academy Award-winning vfx artist and Sci-Tech committee chair Richard Edlund.
The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS (ACADEMY CERTIFICATES)
To Michael John Keesling for the design and development of Image Shaker, an optical system that convincingly creates the illusion of the camera shaking in a variable and repeatable manner.
The Image Shaker was unique and superior to alternatives in use when it was invented two decades ago, and it continues to be used today.
To David McIntosh, Steve Marshall Smith, Mike Branham and Mike Kirilenko for the engineering and development of the Aircover Inflatables Airwall.
This system of modular inflatable panels can be erected on location, at lengths reaching hundreds of feet, with exceptional speed and safety. When used to support blue or green screens, the Airwall permits composite shots of unprecedented scale.
To Trevor Davies, Thomas Wan, Jon Scott Miller, Jared Smith and Matthew Robinson for the development of the Dolby Laboratories PRM Series Reference Color Monitors.
The PRM’s pioneering and innovative design allows the stable, accurate representation of images with the entire luminance range and color gamut used in contemporary theatrical feature presentation.
To Ronald Mallet and Christoph Bregler for the design and engineering of the Industrial Light & Magic Geometry Tracker, a novel, general-purpose tracker and solver.
Geometry Tracker facilitates convincing interaction of digital and live-action elements within a scene. Its precise results and tight integration with other ILM animation technologies solve a wider range of match-animation challenges than was previously possible.
To Jim Hourihan, Alan Trombla and Seth Rosenthal for the design and development of the Tweak Software RV system, a highly extensible media player system.
RV’s multi-platform toolset for review and playback, with comprehensive APIs, has allowed studios of all sizes to take advantage of a state-of-the-art workflow and has achieved widespread adoption in the motion picture industry.
To Richard Chuang and Rahul Thakkar for the groundbreaking design, and to Andrew Pilgrim, Stewart Birnam and Mark Kirk for the review workflows and advanced playback features, of the DreamWorks Animation Media Review System.
Over its nearly two decades of development, this pioneering system enabled desktop and digital theater review. It continues to provide artist-driven, integrated, consistent and highly scalable studio-wide playback and interactive reviews.
To Keith Goldfarb, Steve Linn, Brian Green and Raymond Chih for the development of the Rhythm & Hues Global DDR System.
This consistent, integrated, production database-backed review system enables a recordable workflow and an efficient, collaborative content review process across multiple sites and time zones.
To J Robert Ray, Cottalango Leon and Sam Richards for the design, engineering and continuous development of Sony Pictures Imageworks Itview.
With an extensive plugin API and comprehensive facility integration including editorial functions, Itview provides an intuitive and flexible creative review environment that can be deployed globally for highly efficient collaboration.
SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING AWARDS (ACADEMY PLAQUES)
To Brian McLean and Martin Meunier for pioneering the use of rapid prototyping for character animation in stop-motion film production.
LAIKA’s inventive use of rapid prototyping has enabled artistic leaps in character expressiveness, facial animation, motion blur and effects animation. Through highly specialized pipelines and techniques, 3D printing capabilities have been harnessed with color uniformity, mechanical repeatability, and the scale required to significantly enhance stop-motion animated feature films.
To Jack Greasley, Kiyoyuki Nakagaki, Duncan Hopkins and Carl Rand for the design and engineering of the MARI 3D texture painting system.
Combining powerful, multilayer painting tools and a unique texture-management system, MARI simplifies working with large, high-resolution texture sets. It has achieved broad adoption in the visual effects industry, often supplanting long-term in-house systems.
SPECIAL AWARD (PLAQUE)
To the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
For one hundred years, the Society’s members have nurtured technology, provided essential standards, and offered the expertise, support, tools and infrastructure for the creation and post-production of motion pictures.
Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation will be included in the Oscars telecast on February 28.
The 2016 BAFTA nominations are in, and the top animation feature contenders this year will be Pete Docter’s heartstring-tugger Inside Out (Disney-Pixar), Pierre Coffin & Kyle Balda’s ‘60s CG comedy Minions, and Mark Burton & Richard Starzak’s non-dialog stop-motion slapsick Shaun the Sheep Movie (Aardman Animations).
Focusing in on local animation talent, the nominees for the British Short Animation award are Nina Gantz’s Edmond — a stop-motion film which uses felt puppets and 2D animation elements to explore “all-consuming love, self-understanding and the deepest parts of your psyche,” produced by Emilie Jouffroy; Richard Williams’ painterly Prologue — a fight to the death between Athenians and Spartans as observed by a young girl, produced by Imogen Sutton; and Simon Cartwright’s MANoMAN — a blend of puppetry and animation that tells the haunting story of a man named Glen and his exploration of primal scream therapy.
And in the Special Visual Effects category there are no surprises: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (special effects supervisor Chris Corbould), Mad Max: Fury Road (visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson), Marvel’s Ant-Man (vfx supervisor Jake Morrison), Ex Machina (CG lead Mark Ardington), and The Martian (vfx supervisor Chris Lawrence).
Robert Balser, best known for serving as animation director on The Beatles’ psychedelic Yellow Submarine, succumbed to respiratory failure and died on Monday, January 4 at age 88. His widow, Cima, told AWN that her husband had been hospitalized at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles in mid-December.
Balser’s reputation was built by his work on Yellow Submarine, released in 1968. Working alongside Jack Stokes (1920-2013), Balser was one of a small number of Americans on the project, and was responsible for directing and storyboarding all the scenes before and after the Pepperland sequences — including Beatles homebase Liverpool and the traveling scenes. This was his first feature-film gig.
Prior to Yellow Submarine, Bob Balser had worked in commercials, a number of which received awards. One of his early career triumphs was his collaboration with graphic designer Saul Bass on the introductory animated title sequence for Michael Anderson’s Around the World in 80 Days (1956). After ambling from studio to studio across Europe for a bit, Balser landed at Estudios Moro in Madrid where he directed the 1964 short El Sombrero (The Hat).
After wrapping up the Beatles project, Balser opened his own production shingle in Barcelona, where he produced series and specials including The Jackson 5ive for Rankin/Bass; Bill Melendez’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Peanuts (CBS), Barney (BBC) and The Triplets (HBO). He also contributed to 1981 cult classic Heavy Metal as an animation director.
Balser lived and worked in Barcelona for much of his life, producing and running an animation production school. He served on the board of ASIFA International from 1978 to 1994 and helped establish ASIFA-Spain in 1980. Balser and his wife Cima were contributors to AWN for years, and the outlet is now collecting memorial tributes from Balser’s colleagues, which can be sent to editor@awn.com.
An all new animated series from the LEGO Group kicks off on Cartoon Network on Monday, January 11 as LEGO NEXO Knights debut at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The CG adventure-comedy will premiere new episodes every weeknight through Friday, January 22 in the U.S., and will roll out on Cartoon Network channels worldwide in the coming weeks.
Set in the futuristic, high-tech kingdom of Knighton, the series follows NEXO Knight army leaders Clay, Macy, Lance, Aaron and Axl who with their mentor Merlok 2.0 set out to defeat the evil jester Jestro and retrieve the Book of Monsters. In a world of technology, epic battles and digital wizardry, the NEXO Knights also bring a generous dose of humor to their adventures both in and out of their armor.
NEXO Knights is the latest partnership between LEGO and Cartoon Network, which has produced the highly successful Ninjago, Justice League: Batman Be-Leaguered, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out, Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, Legends of Chima and Mixels.
