Spanish Lottery’s “Deportes”–directed by Yuval and Merav Nathan via Acme Filmworks, Hollywood, Calif., for agency Branding, Miami and Madrid–has won the Annie Award in the commercials category during a gala ceremony held earlier this month (2/6) at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles.
Now in its 37th year, the Annie Awards competition annually recognizes outstanding achievement in animation. The Annies are presented by the Burbank, Calif.-headquartered International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood).
Contributing to the stop motion Spanish Lotto spot was a team that included Acme executive producer Ron Diamond, co-exec producer Gwynn Adik, producer Donna Waxstein, DP Rick Thomas, animators Yuval Nathan, Guy Ben-Shitrit and Pete Levin, production designer Merav Nathan, art director Tricia O’Connell and postproduction supervisor George Khair.
Similarly themed stop motion from Yuval and Merav Nathan also graced their “Her Morning Elegance” music video with singer Oren Lavie (which earned Lavie and the Nathans inclusion in the 2009 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase) and a Comcast commercial “Anthem” for Long Beach, Calif.-based agency Grupo Gallegos (a SHOOT Top Spot, 8/14/09).
Spanish Lotto’s “Deportes” topped a field of Annie nominees that consisted of: another Acme-produced spot, Idaho Lottery’s “Twiceland” directed by Dave Wasson for Boise agency Drake Cooper; Goldfish crackers’ “In The Dark” from Blur Studio, Venice, Calif., with Lee Santos serving as director/animation supervisor for Young & Rubicam, New York; McDonald’s “Nutty Trade” from Blue Sky Studios, Greenwich, CT; and Kellogg’s “The Spooning” for Leo Burnett Chicago, with Henrik Sundgren directing for Acne U.S., Venice, Calif., and Chris Finnegan serving as animation director via Screen Novelties, Los Angeles. (The Screen Novelties collective is now handled via Los Angeles studio DUCK.)
The Annie Awards competition honors outstanding animation achievement in theatrical feature films, TV programs, commercials, home entertainment, video games and short subjects/special projects.
Pixar Animation Studio’s Up won such honors as best animated feature and best director, Pete Docter. Walt Disney Animation Studios earned six Annies overall–three for its feature The Princess and the Frog and three for its television production Prep and Landing. DreamWorks Animation won five Annies including best TV production for children, and directing/TV for The Penguins of Madagascar, and storyboarding/feature for Monsters vs. Aliens. Coraline from animation studio Laika copped a pair of Annies.
For a full list of winners, log onto www.annieawards.org.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More