http://blog.media-freaks.com Animation Blog Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:33:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I came across these interesting shoes today. Not sure how they appeal to you, but they sure don't appeal very much to me! I must applaud the creators for their creativity though! :) http://blog.media-freaks.com/feet-shoes-for-you/ According to ROBERT W. BUTLER, 'Disney's "Bolt" is the studio's best non-Pixar animated movie in ages.' Here's what he wrote: "It's smart enough to keep adults on their toes and exciting enough to keep even the most antsy of kids glued to their seats. The film begins with an amazing action sequence in ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/bolt-movie-review/ Academy Award-winning animation filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki said Thursday that he is merely embarrassed by Japan's comic-loving prime minister. But he was far more upbeat about investing in the nation's children. Miyazaki's latest film "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea," now playing in Japan, is a story of a goldfish who forms ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/miyazaki-embaressed-by-japans-prime-minister/ It's always good to have a sense of humor when you are conveying instructions to somebody. For the first time I smile instead of frown when reading signboards :) http://blog.media-freaks.com/humorous-signboards/ Animation is getting democratized. After years of watching consumer-generated shorts sprout up on Google's  YouTube, NewsCorp.'s MySpace, and elsewhere, a Hollywood veteran wants to tap these amateur animators for help on projects that could hit the big time. With funding from Intel and Dell, former Sony Pictures digital chief ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/intel-and-dell-launch-mass-animation-on-facebook/ MyToons.com, the world's first and only online animation community to offer HD animation, today announced the launch of its ground-breaking Digital Portfolio System. Using the Digital Portfolio System, artists ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/mytoons-launches-digital-portfolio-system/ Pepakura is really taking the 3D community by storm. There are just so many magnificent paper craft using Pepakura that I had to do a lens on it! I've included some interesting videos and more pictures of Pepakura paper craft there. Please visit it at http://www.squidoo.com/pepakura. For the uninformed, Pepakura Designer ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/pepakura-squidoo-lens/ In the 1970s a guy called Gary Dahl came up with a brilliant idea called the Pet Rock that made him a multi-millionaire in 6 months! Ever since the Pet Rock has always been used as a case study for many licensing talks. I thought it is worth documenting to draw ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/have-you-heard-of-the-pet-rock/ Mobile handset maker Nokia India Pvt. Ltd has hired a nerd to endorse its E-series office handsets, online. He may not score in the dating department, but Dilbert—the main character from the eponymous comic strip syndicated to hundreds of newspapers around the world—can tell you a thing or two about the ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/cartoon-characters-a-cheaper-alternative-to-celebrities/ I have previously written an article called "8 Steps to Producing a Cartoon Series" which later sparked off a lot of questions. Most of my answers were made as comments and is becoming a tad untidy. To keep things coherent and easy to read, I've consolidated all the articles and ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/squidoo-lens-on-producing-a-cartoon-series/ I've written a post on this amazing software called Pepakura before. Basically it's a software that allows you to print out blueprints from 3D source files. Using these blueprints you would be able to create paper models. A gentleman called Mark Stewart would like to share this video that shows what ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/pepakura/ If you're planning on producing a cartoon series or rolling out a kids' campaign with an animated character you might be interested in Kidscreen's three-part series on children's TV viewing habits. The series covers recent research by Dr. Maya Götz of the International Central Institute for Youth and Educational Television in ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/what-kids-like-in-a-cartoon-character/ In the recent Animation Nation held in Singapore where Katakune won the 3rd prize for the Digicon 6 Animation Competition Singapore Division (read about it here), an animated movie from Japan was creating waves with the animation fans there. Piano no Mori was the animated feature that was showcased on the ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/piano-no-mori-review/ In a batch of 20 new webisodes, Charlie Brown and the gang have been brought back to animated life, much in the style of their classic holiday TV specials. But Lucy, Snoopy and others have been remade for the Web in 3- to 4-minute videos taken directly from classic 1964 ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/peanuts-on-itunes/ After months of very hard work, we've finally completed and launched The Parenting Magazine site! The Parenting Magazine was created primarily to create awareness for Katakune through providing free useful parenting advice so that parents can pick up useful tips on subjects such as - infant care, child care, child safety, ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/katakune-parenting-site-launched/ If you want to know what the Simpsons think of the US elections, here's your chance :) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oAqXAMgE2E[/youtube] http://blog.media-freaks.com/what-the-simpsons-think-of-the-us-elections/ Tony the Tiger and the Dairylea Cow have come under fire for failing to promote healthy eating in children, a consumer group has said. A report by Which? has accused few of the 19 cartoon characters in supermarkets for not marketing healthy food - and therefore, fueling childhood obesity. Kraft’s Moo, the ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/cartoon-characters-under-fire-for-promoting-unhealthy-food/ Talk about crazy news! A man in Japan has launched a campaign in Japan to legally allow comic book-loving humans to marry their favourite fictitious characters! More than 1,000 people have signed Taichi Takashita's on-line petition to establish a law permitting marriage to comic characters, according to The Daily Telegraph. Takashita says he ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/man-petitions-to-marry-anime-cartoon-character/ [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJmegq4IyU&eurl[/youtube] Pixar's 'UP' seems to be receiving pretty rave reviews. Even prior to its official release, people who were lucky enough to watch its preview have glowing praises for the show. Here's what one of them had to say of the animated movie. "Last night my wife and I had the wonderful opportunity ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/glowing-review-of-pixars-up/ It is very easy to think that character design alone determines the success and failure of a character brand and how many licensing and merchandising deals it can garner. In actuality, the very first criteria for merchandising opportunities is mass exposure before anything else. Licensing agents and manufacturing companies are often ... http://blog.media-freaks.com/what-makes-a-character-brand-licensable/