Disney Animated Shorts & TV Series Coming to iTunes

The Walt Disney Co. will now offer additional programming from ESPN and ABC Sports, ABC Ent. and Touchstone Television, ABC Family, ABC News, Buena Vista Television, Disney Channel and SOAPnet, as well as content produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation on the iTunes Music Store.  Beginning later this month, Disney Channel will provide episodes of the animated series KIM POSSIBLE and THE PROUD FAMILY. In addition, the libraries of ABC Ent. and Touchstone Television will sell the popular 1970's Saturday morning SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK vignettes.  Classic animated shorts produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and featured on Buena Vista Home Entertainment's upcoming DISNEY AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS, including the 1933 Academy Award-winning THE THREE LITTLE PIGS and the 1935 Academy Award-winning THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE, will also be available. Read on...

Toy Story added to the National Film Registry

In its first year of eligibility, Pixar's first feature film, Toy Story, has been added to the National Film Registry according to the head of the Library of Congress, James Billington. Each year the Librarian of Congress, advised by the National Film Preservation Board, selects up to 25 films that are culturally, historically or aesthetically significant to be added to the Registry. For each title named to the Registry, the Library of Congress works to ensure that the film is preserved for all time. Read on...

Narnia Crowd Control: Q&A with Scott Farrar
ILM visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar discusses the challenges and complications of handling crowd scenes with lots of furry creatures in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Ballistic Publishing Releases ELEMENTAL 2
The second edition of the world’s best Autodesk art

Ballistic Publishing is pleased to announce the release of ELEMENTAL 2, the sequel to the critically acclaimed art book showcasing the world’s best digital artwork created with Autodesk solutions. ELEMENTAL 2 is packed with exciting imagery from Autodesk customers working in the fields of visual effects, animation, game development, architectural and design visualization.  ELEMENTAL 2 features 215 works of art from 157 artists worldwide. 192 pages of mesmerizing 3D artwork are presented in the following categories... Read on...

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Diary: Part 1 — R&D and Principle Photography
In the first installment of his two-part production diary, Rhythm & Hues’ Bill Westenhofer talks about R&D and principle photography on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

AICN King Kong Review

I got an early look at KING KONG tonight and I am here to bring the water down from the mountain. Let me tell you now that that water is fresh and clear and good. Let me also get off a quick disclaimer. I am not a hardcore fan of the original King Kong, I just liked it—when I saw it, once, when I was about ten. It’s not a movie that got my juices flowing in such a way that I went back and watched it over and over again. It just didn’t hit me on that level. However, I have very fond personal memories of seeing King Kong in 1976, though I remember the movie was a bit of a letdown. So I went into KING KONG tonight a little reluctantly. Not sure I was I wanted to see it. Not sure I was the right guy to see it. So if you want a review from an apostate, here it is. Read on...

Announcing Walt's People - Volume 2

On November 29, 2005, Xlibris released Walt’s People – Talking Disney with the Artists who Knew Him – Volume 2, the second volume of a series of books that aims to re-animate the field of Disney research. The Walt's People book series, edited by Didier Ghez, is a collection of the best interviews ever conducted with Disney artists. Contributors to the series include noted Disney historians Robin Allan, Paul F. Anderson, Michael Barrier, J.B. Kaufman, Jim Korkis, Mike Lyons, John Province, Thorkil Rasmussen, Christian Renaut, Arn Saba and Klaus Strzyz. Read on...

Stop-Commotion: Sorting Out This Year’s Animated Oscar Buzz

During our coverage of feature and short films, AWN likes to take a look at the Oscar buzz that surrounds the Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Shorts categories. Just by the nature of the category and the pre-nomination time of year, there’s more talk going on about features, but we’re also going to take a look at some of the leading short films that have been making the festival rounds this year. Read on...

Chicken Little & Beyond: Disney Rediscovers its Legacy Through 3D Animation
With Chicken Little, Disney fully embraces 3D animation for the first time. Bill Desowitz explores how the studio’s CG future is being defined by its traditional legacy.

It’s rather apt that Chicken Little represents Disney’s first full foray into 3D animation. The sky was truly falling on its once esteemed traditional heritage, and the studio could not longer resist diving head first into the virtual world of the computer and reinvigorate its brand of storytelling. But lest anyone think that Disney is merely trying to out-Pixar Pixar and out-Shrek Shrek with Chicken Little by trying to be hipper and more self-reflexive, with its bright and shiny zippiness, core parental concern and pop culture jokes, there’s a deeper strategy: Disney Feature Animation is also trying to rediscover its legacy while playing catch up in this competitive CG marketplace. Read on...

Pixar Animation Studios Releases RenderMan For Maya 1.0

Pixar Animation Studios today announced the release of RenderMan® for Maya, the studio's next-generation 3D rendering plug-in. Now all Maya® artists can enhance their productions with the functionality and prestige of Pixar's Academy Award®-winning RenderMan, the benchmark against which all other rendering solutions are measured. As demonstrated in the making of such critically acclaimed films as Disney's presentation of Pixar's Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, as well as the majority of visual effects used in today's feature films, RenderMan has long been the established name in major motion picture filmmaking. With its seamless integration into Maya's workflow, Pixar's RenderMan for Maya is designed for intuitive ease of use while providing digital artists with the competitive advantages of RenderMan's legendary quality and performance.  Read on...