Hasta La Motion!

A Documentary to accompany the exhibition Behold The Man which is currently on show at The Wilson in Cheltenham. More information can be found at thebigcoldturkey.com

Production Company: Ataboy http://ataboystudios.com/ Directors: Kris Merc http://cargocollective.com/krismerc Benjy Brooke http://www.benjybrooke.com/ Creative Director: Vikkal Parikh Story: Kris Merc, Benjy Brooke, Vikkal Parikh Designers: Benjy Brooke, Ellen Su, Kris Merc Animators: Benjy Brooke, Ellen Su, Zeynep Aydogmus, Scott Wilkinson, Arthur Guttilla, Yana Pan, Monika Norcross, Christine Kim Compositor: Adam Van Dine Editor: Jeremy Baumann 3D Artist: Emily Zurl Storyboards: Benjy Brooke, Takeia Dunlop Producer: James Howell Executive Producer: Karen Hennegan Song credits: Recorded at Mophonics Music + Sound in Venice, CA “Mojo Thunder” Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Josh Marcy Mastering by Kelly Hibbert ℗ and © Mophonics and the Peach Kings

Turner Broadcasting owned Cartoon Network Enterprises EMEA (CNE EMEA) has signed an agreement with the Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari (IMG) Group which sees the launch of a dedicated Cartoon Network Zone within IMG Worlds of Adventure; Dubai’s first mega themed entertainment destination.  The 1.5 million square foot project will be the world’s largest temperature controlled indoor themed entertainment destination with a capacity to welcome more than 20,000 guests from all over the world every day.

Turner Broadcasting EMEA president Giorgio Stock said in a press release: “The Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group’s multi-million dollar investment in this ground-breaking attraction is a clear demonstration of its confidence in the mass appeal and longevity of Cartoon Network brands across the globe.  Developing interactive and immersive brand experiences provides not only kids but their entire family with new and exciting ways to engage with our shows and characters and create indelible memories. These live entertainment experiences coupled with our compelling TV offering, our new and emerging media experiences and our licensed products are the ideal platform to build and sustain the appeal of our properties.”

The new deal sees popular characters from global and award winning hit Cartoon Network shows including: Ben 10, Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball and Turner Broadcasting owned Lazy Town brought to life in an immersive world of thrilling rides and entertainment. The Cartoon Network Zone will feature the first ever ‘Ben 10’ 5D cinema and an exciting line up of branded restaurants and retail locations, including the world’s largest ‘Ben 10’ retail store. This offers licensees the opportunity to sell its products to a captive audience in a unique cross category branded environment.

“IMG Worlds of Adventure is the entertainment destination Dubai has been waiting for,” jointly said Ilyas Galadari and Mustafa Galadari, executive co-chairmen of the Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari (IMG) Group. “It is the first leisure destination in the world to bring together global brands with our own original concepts.  We expect the brand cachet of IMG Worlds of Adventure to cement Dubai’s position as a complete one-stop international destination for entertainment and leisure.”

Cartoon Network Arabic is one of the leading children’s entertainment channels in the Middle East. Key franchises including The Amazing World of Gumball, Ben 10 Omniverse and Adventure Time. These shows ranked among the top five most watched by Arabic children aged 7-14 in the United Arab Emirates and the channel is amongst the top three free to air kids channels in the Gulf region.

The channel’s popularity extends online, with CartoonNetworkArabic.com the number one dedicated children’s website in the region, experiencing impressive and stable traffic figures, at 1.3 million unique visitors and 40 million page views during 2014.

Nickelodeon UK vice president and commercial director Kiaran Saunders has joined A+E Networks VP of EMEA.

Saunders has joined the company in a senior strategic role within its own EMEA operations responsible for A+E Networks’ growth strategy, branded channels and digital distribution across the region.

He will take charge from Liz Higgins, who has joined News UK as commercial development director, and report to MD Dean Possenniskie.

Meanwhile, Jon Wildman has been hired in the newly created role of VP ad sales for EMEA.

The announcement was made by A+E Networks EMEA MD Possenniskie to whom both will report.

At Nickelodeon, Saunders was responsible for managing distribution activity, advertising sales, and business development.

Earlier, he held senior corporate development and finance positions at Channel 4 and RSM Robson Rhodes.

Saunders assumes his new role from September.

In a shocking (not really) announcement late last night Google announced plans to shut down Orkut, its first attempt at building a social network. The platform will be formally closed on 30 September, after which users will be unable to log in or export their photo albums to Google+, which some believe is the better working prototype of its predecessor.

Orkut grew out of Google’s 20 per cent initiative, which allowed employees to use a fifth of their working week on side projects. The social network has since been supplanted by Google+, a more ambitious service that ties into many of Google’s other products.

Starting today, it will be impossible for newcomers to create a new Orkut account. Existing users can access the service as normal, however; Google says the three-month period should “give the community time to manage the transition.” Orkut enthusiasts can also export their profile data, community posts and photos using ‘Google Takeout’.

Orkut has been around for a decade and to mark its legacy, Google will preserve all of the site’s public communities in an archive. It’s a nice gesture, although users can choose to opt-out by decoupling Orkut from their Google account.

The Orkut app will be removed from Google Play and the App Store later today. And one can find out more about the changes and how its user base will be affected in the coming months.

Google says it’ll be focusing its efforts on YouTube, Blogger and Google+ moving forward. None of these services featured at the company’s I/O conference last week, although CEO Larry Page insisted the latter is still “growing tremendously.” Google+ was recently updated with a new photo editor, Auto-Awesome Effects and photo albums called Google+ Stories.

Orkut has been around for a decade, but its usage in US declined over the last six to eight years, though it has remained popular in other markets, such as Brazil and India. Account data will be inaccessible after 30 September for all users. Google will preserve the open community threads, and suggests users transition their content and communities to Google+. Google has a history of killing off its underperforming products and Orkut is no exception.