Hasta La Motion!

Fire ants use their bodies to construct Eiffel Tower-looking structures when they run into a tall obstruction while looking for food or escaping to new areas. A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that they build these structures without a leader or coordinated effort. Each ant wanders around aimlessly, adhering to a certain set of rules, until it unknowingly participates in the construction of a tower several inches tall.

For more: http://www.news.gatech.edu/features/sinking-ant-towers

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Zinkia Entertainment, the Spanish producer of Pocoyo, aiming to increase its growth in the Japanese market has entered into an alliance with Aqui Media, a Japanese media and marketing company founded by the Spaniard media executive, Jesus Perezagua.

As of 3 July, Japanese audiences can enjoy the first three seasons of Pocoyo (156 X 7) via platforms managed by Aqui Media. These include TV exposure and streaming via an SVOD app available for both smartphones and tablets.

Zinkia CEO Alberto Delgado stated, “It is an important strategic move for the company. We are happy to work with Aqui Media team in this new stage of Pocoyo in Japan. Aqui Media have made important inroads into the local animation industry and has the knowledge of Japanese culture Pocoyo needs”.

The alliance includes the commercialisation of Pocoyo audiovisual content via TV and VOD platforms in addition to the exclusive management of L&M rights across a wide variety of categories such as toys, publishing and apparel. Aqui Media will also be responsible for carrying out local promotions, advertising and the production of meet & greet and live show events.

The deal is part of Zinkia’s wider strategic plan with the objective of achieving a global repositioning of the Pocoyo brand internationally. The strategy includes activity in 12 key territories including Japan as it is one of the most important territories in the entertainment industry.

Aqui Media founder and CEO Jesus Perezagua quoted, “The collaboration with Zinkia to introduce and develop Pocoyo as a brand in the Japanese market is one of Aqui Media’s primary objectives. Pocoyo‘s high production values added to its educational and entertaining profile fits perfectly with Aqui Media’s media proposal, as it does with our company mission to offer the Japanese pre-school audience the best selection of international content available.”

He also added, “It is our aim to provide our public with activities that will enable them to discover and enjoy music, dance and arts, allowing them to thrive as global individuals and to grow up in an environment of tolerance”.

The post Zinkia and Aqui Media enter into a master agent deal for ‘Pocoyo’ in Japan appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Worldwide content producer and distributor Portfolio Entertainment has signed a raft of new deals that will see their animated and live action series launch in the Ukraine, Middle East and North Africa and the US.

With this latest round of sales, Urkraine’s Niki Kids signed on to the hit comedy Freaktown while Ultra Kids (Ex-Yugoslavia) has acquired the first two seasons of the animated expedition-adventure pre-school series Doki.

‘Doki’

In the Middle East and North Africa, Discovery Kids and E Junior have acquired Mack & Moxy (12×13’), a preschool series featuring the guest-voices of celebrities like Hank Azaria, Josh Duhamel and Rachel Ray.

In the kids’ live-action space, Starz (USA) has picked up, for its on-demand and online platforms, both seasons of docu-series Do You Know? hosted by YouTube tech vlogger Maddie Moate.

“We’re thrilled to continue growing the success of our tent-pole series while bringing fresh, diverse titles to new and existing global partners and audiences,” said Portfolio Entertainment international sales and acquisitions director Jonathan Abraham.

The post Portfolio Entertainment inks new sales for ‘Mack & Moxy’, ‘Doki’, ‘Freaktown’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Media & Entertainment Association of India (MEAI) was set-up with the sole vision of bridging boundaries and serving as a catalyst for B2B networking for Indian companies in the Media & Entertainment space. Over the course of the last year it has helped companies in exploring viable and profitable business association opportunities by traveling to various global events successfully.

Adding yet another feather to its hat, MEAI is leading a strong 8 member Indian Delegation to effects MTL in Montreal (QC), Canada – The biggest international conference on the American East Coast for visual effects and Animation. The delegation which will be led by MEAI, Joint Secretary, Sidharth Iyer includes participation from PixStone Images (Chennai), Drishyam VFX (Mumbai) and NY VFXWAALA (Mumbai), who will be rubbing shoulders with arguably the crème de la crème of the VFX and Animation world.

Bringing alive the spirit of ‘Make In India’ by fuelling innovation, self-reliance and national pride, it is a major achievement for MEAI to be leading such a diverse mix of creative studios to effects MTL, which is considered to be the one-stop-shop creative and technological gathering that brings together major players and decision makers in the industry.

MEAI Joint Secretary Sidharth Iyer exults: “effects MTL will prove to be a great platform for the Indian creative professionals to connect with industry peers and get exposed to the amazing work that is taking place globally. It will also enable us to learn some of the newer techniques that are now being used across VFX studios globally and how we could also follow suit and tweak them to suit our needs in the near future. And of course the business networking opportunities will help foster deeper connects between the two nations for the near future.”

The effects MTL team is equally happy to welcome a delegation of Indian studios for the very first time during its Fame Tour – showcasing local Montreal studios to international decision-makers.

Effects MTL will take place on 6 and 7 September, 2017 at Palais des congrès de Montréal.

The post MEAI bolsters the ‘Make In India’ belief with its Indian Delegation to Canada appeared first on AnimationXpress.