Hasta La Motion!

Framestore was nominated for the Special, Visual and Graphic Effects BAFTA for its work on His Dark Materials.
The Oscar, BAFTA and Emmy-winning studio was involved in the show from pre-production onwards, helping to bring to life the world inhabited by Lyra, Pan, Iorek and Mrs Coulter. Framestore worked on some 2,000 shots, creating everything from stunning environments to 50+ photoreal dæmons and the panserbjørne that inhabit Bad Wolf’s epic adaptation of the Philip Pullman classic.

We’re incredibly proud to have been nominated for @BAFTA‘s Special, Visual and Graphic Effects award for our work on #HisDarkMaterials. From the stunning environments to the photoreal dæmons and panserbjørne it’s been a real joy to help bring Lyra’s world to life. pic.twitter.com/ObfHnw9WnQ

— Framestore (@Framestore) June 9, 2020

The vast, complex and deeply imaginative landscape of Philip’s novels requires a world class but quintessentially British band of creatives to bring them to life.

Framestore global managing director film Fiona Walkinshaw said: “We’re all incredibly proud of His Dark Materials, and it’s a tremendous boost to see the team’s hard work recognised by BAFTA – particularly for those who are currently delivering season two.

Framestore creatives worked hand-in-glove with the show’s producers, cast and crew throughout the entire process. She added, “I think the collaborative nature of the work really shows when you see how seamlessly live action mixes with pure CG. I’d like to offer my thanks and congratulations to everyone who worked on season one – particularly VFX Supervisor Russell Dodgson, who led Framestore’s work with such determination and passion.”

Winners of the 2020 British Academy Television Craft Awards will be announced on Friday 17 July.

The post Framestore talks about BAFTA nomination for ‘His Dark Material’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Punyakoti, the first ever Sanskrit animation film has another laurel to its credit. The animated film has been shortlisted as a finalist for the New York Animation Film Awards (NYAFA). 

Directed by Ravi Shankar Venkateshwaran, Punyakoti launched on Netflix on 31 March 2020 and is presently streaming on the platform. However, the journey was not an easy one for the makers. The film got continuously deferred since April 2019, and got its first exclusive screening for the crowd-funders in October 2019 before landing on the streaming service. 

Speaking about the nomination to AnimationXpress, Shankar said, “I’m really happy at the selection. It is a strange feeling when global platforms are taking notice of the innovative work we have done, but the Indian animation fraternity has turned away from even acknowledging something like this has happened. I have written multiple times to the Indian Government but have not even received any recognition.”

Clearly there was not enough buzz around the film in the Indian animation industry as much as it should be. In one of his previous interviews, Shankar revealed to us, that he was still waving off his loans which he took to make Punyakoti see the light of the day.

Produced by Puppetica Media, Punyakoti is inspired by a popular folk song in Kannada, with an imaginary take on the circumstances that led to the encounter between a truth-speaking cow and a tiger in a village that is facing an impending drought. 

The script of the film is from a children’s picture book by the same name, written by Shankar himself. The movie follows a five act structure and is modelled along the lines of any international quality production in terms of creative and structural finesse.

The 80-90 minutes animated film has a unique style that’s inspired by Indian folk-art with a mix of traditional and digital animation techniques with more emphasis on the storytelling than on the technical prowess. The team had invested a lot of time and dedication to bring out a style that draws upon the Indian temple art and puppetry- the forms and style which follows the proportion and aesthetics of Indian folk-art and sculpture.

Earlier, Punyakoti won three awards at Animation Xpress’ ANN Awards in August 2019, for ‘Best Animation Digital Film’, ‘Best Voice Over Artist’ (Revathy) and ‘Best Screenplay’.

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Cinedigm has announced the launch of CONtv Anime, a new 24/7 linear and AVOD network dedicated to streaming Japanese Anime films and series. This comes after Cinedigm acquired global streaming service Viewster, which led to the recent surge of Anime viewership on Cinedigm’s flagship platform CONtv.

CONtv Anime begins streaming today, 9 June, across CONtv’s widespread footprint of more than 120 million connected devices and platforms including Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, iOS Android, Vizio, and others. The channel will be available embedded into additional platforms and Smart TV brands across North America over the coming quarter.

Cinedigm Networks president Erick Opeka said, “According to the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, the global market for Anime exceeds more than $19 billion dollars annually, and as evidenced by the popularity of the genre on top SVOD platforms like Netflix and HBOmax, Anime has gone mainstream. Our goal is to provide consumers an amazing, fan-curated channel, 100 per cent for free, deeply embedded into their favourite devices around the globe.”

Cinedigm will also rebrand and transition the programming of Viewster, the global ad-supported streaming service Cinedigm acquired in 2019, into CONtv Anime in the coming weeks, providing an additional footprint of more than 175M connected televisions and devices globally, including major brands such as Philips, TCL, Vizio, LG, Sharp, Magnavox, Sony, Hisense and Vestel, and many more. 

Following the launch and transition, CONtv Anime will be available on the majority of major devices and television brands worldwide, reaching approximately 295 million devices globally.

“As consumption of free, ad-supported content continues to skyrocket, Cinedigm is well positioned to meet the demand by drawing on our library of more than 30,000 films and episodes. With that in mind, we seek to dramatically grow our portfolio of networks over the next 18 months all focused on specific demographics and interests. We want to fully meet the needs of consumers while delivering great results to our advertising partners,” commented Cinedigm Networks general manager Tony Huidor.

CONtv Anime features 24/7 programming of anime content for anime enthusiasts alike, focusing on a diverse range of genres spanning from cyberpunk and the supernatural, to tense dramas, epic fantasy sagas, and everything in-between. Featuring content from top tier Anime producers, CONtv Anime viewers can enjoy a wide selection of popular offerings presented in English or with dubbing. Popular titles include Bubblegum Crisis, AD Police, Vampire Princess Miyu, as well as a library of hard-to-find classic and cult hits, recent releases, fan-favourites, and acclaimed anime films and series.

The launch is to expand Cinedigm’s brand, CONtv, the digital entertainment network showcasing the best in genre and fandom movies and television series. Over the last year, CONtv has also become one of the largest digital comics destinations in the world with more than 10,000 titles, via direct relationships with most major independent comic book publishers, providing unprecedented access to a growing roster of premium comics and graphic novels such as The Boys, Transformers, Star Trek, Judge Dredd, Bloodshot, Bob’s Burgers, and Vampirella, among thousands of others.

Bubblegum Crisis

The post Cinedigm launches new global animation network, CONtv Anime appeared first on AnimationXpress.

As the motion design community knows all too well, it takes a series of moments to create movement, just as it takes a series of beats, to form a groove. Please join us in a digital parade of stories, and images designed to animate pride in everyone.

Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu’s The Promised Neverland is officially set to come to an end in the next issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. Shirai and Demizu began their final story arc for The Promised Neverland some time ago, but have managed to keep readers guessing regarding exactly when or how the manga would reach its conclusion.

Written by Shirai and illustrated by Demizu, The Promised Neverland has been serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump since August of 2016. The manga follows a group of children living in Grace Field House, a lavish orphanage. While their life initially seems ideal, they soon discover that they are actually being raised as cattle, and are destined to be killed and sold to ‘higher’ species. Upon learning this, they begin to plan their escape.

An anime adaptation of The Promised Neverland premiered on Fuji TV in Japan in January of 2019, with an English version arriving on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim’s Toonami block a few months later in April.

A second season was set to arrive in October of this year, but has been pushed back to January of 2021 as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. But, a live-action film adaptation of The Promised Neverland is still set to arrive this December.

The post ‘The Promised Neverland’ manga confirms its finale next week appeared first on AnimationXpress.