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Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 8 - Index

Powerhouse Animation Studios, Inc., an Austin-based
traditional and Flash animation studio, celebrated its 7th
anniversary on April Fool’s Day. But, as the company’s 2008
projects highlight, the talent at Powerhouse is no joke.
Powerhouse recently signed a contract with Santa Monicabased
RingTales, LLC to bring Scott Adams’ popular
syndicated comic
strip, “Dilbert,”
to life. RingTales
was cofounded
by Jim Cox and
Michael Fry, who
collaborated on
the DreamWorks hit
“Over the Hedge.”
“We are very
excited about this
project,” said Powerhouse co-founder Brad Graeber. “We
see a lot of potential for these cartoons going viral, since so
many people can relate to ‘Dilbert’s’ world.” Powerhouse
is currently producing five “Dilbert” cartoons per week.
“Dilbert” is the most read comic strip online. The comic
is syndicated by United Feature Syndicate in over 2,000
newspapers worldwide.
The “Dilbert” animated cartoons debuted on Dilbert.com
and MSN Video this April, to be followed shortly by the
release of an iTunes podcast, distribution on YouTube and
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Comcast.net and several other video sites. RingTales is
partnered with United Media on the distribution of the
cartoons. Besides being featured on major portals and
news sites, “Dilbert” also will be available in widget form
for insertion on social media sites (such as Facebook and
Myspace), into blogs and personal websites.
Powerhouse has previously worked with Ringtales on
animated versions of print cartoons from “The New Yorker.“
These “New Yorker” animations were recently nominated
for a Webby Award for Best Animation Video of 2008.
Powerhouse has more than doubled its staff since January
2008, and is currently working on an array of interesting
projects, ranging from animating NASCAR driver Darrell
Waltrip for a Mountain Dew commercial, to fire-safety
public-service announcements, to several educational and
video-game projects.
//www.powerhouseanimation.com.
Culver City’s (Calif.) VFX master, i.e. effects, handled
Motorola’s promotional launch for the new MotoPure H12.
The spot features soccer star David Beckham, and was
captured with the DALSA Origin 4K camera. Shot in-studio
against a green screen, the ad will be preloaded onto
millions and millions of Motorola cell phones worldwide and
dubbed or subtitled in at least six different languages.
The spot depicts Beckham in various noisy locations
as he’s demonstrating the H12’s
dual microphone noise canceling
technology called CrystalTalk. To give
a visual example of the device’s ability,
David Kenneth, visual effects supervisor
at i.e. effects, created a stylized force
field that appeared around Beckham
whenever the H12 was activated.
Because of budget and incredible time
constraints, Kenneth didn’t want to rent
three camera packages.
The Dalsa 4K Origin, which has the
highest resolution of any digital camera
on the market, gave him the flexibility to
capture wide, medium, and tight shots
with each setup. Beckham had three
wardrobe changes, so the camera
allowed him to change, shoot and
change again a total of three times in
90 minutes. i.e. effects used this camera
to try out something new, and not only
saved a lot of time in the process but