SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, May 23, 2012– Bitzio, Inc. (“Bitzio” or “the Company”), a leader in apps, mobile media and behavioral analytics, today announced the definitive acquisition of Motion Pixel Corporation Holdings, Inc. (“MPC”), a high-end media and animation studio with operations in the U.S., Costa Rica, and India.

The MPC acquisition adds 35 animators, developers and managers to the expanding Bitzio global team. Terms of the acquisition to be disclosed upon an upcoming 8-K filing.

William Schonbrun, President and CEO of Bitzio commented, “The acquisition of MPC elevates the quality, beauty and experience of a Bitzio app to that of an animated movie. MPC’s media and animation capabilities sync perfectly with our company vision. MPC also brings with it amazing relationships with sports and entertainment properties – and through those relationships we are able to secure mobile and digital rights to animated versions of world renowned athletes and stars.” Examples of MPC’s animation work can be viewed on their Demo Reel.

“Bitzio is now a company focused on delivering mobile apps with movie quality animation and game play, virtually never found in mobile apps. With MPC’s high end visual capabilities, and media and licensing rights, we can now completely focus on delivering apps for existing fans of sports teams, athletes and stars – and we can include animated versions of those teams and stars in the mobile game. We believe focusing our efforts on the existing fans of sports and entertainment properties, coupled with the quality of our apps and our behavioral analytics capabilities are massive differentiators. This is what sets us apart from other app development companies.”

Revenue will be generated from several channels including paid downloads, freemium (free to paid user) conversions based on premium content, in-app advertising, in app sponsorship, premium in-app purchases (game enhancement features) and cross promotion of other apps built around the sports or entertainment property through the Company’s proprietary App Wall technology.

Manny Bains, CEO of MPC commented, “Our team has seen a perfect alignment with Bitzio’s corporate strategy. We have the ability to create a level of graphic beauty that is rare in the world of apps right now. Bitzio brings the technology, deployment, marketing and monetization capabilities to the table. We chose to become a part of Bitzio because of their talent and vision. They have solved the conundrum that most app development companies have, how to connect with users. They are truly a behavioral analytics company masquerading as an app developer and this excites us. The value of marketing to existing fan bases boosts potential monetization and user conversion rates to levels we have never seen.”

Bitzio will be focusing on developing apps for four key verticals of existing fan bases: sports teams, entertainment, Bollywood and gaming. The Company will utilize the Bitzio Platform, which includes proprietary technologies such as Bitzio’s App Wall to market, monetize and analyze user behavior.

May 23, 2012 (Woodstock, NY): The Woodstock Film Festival’s Call for Entries for its 13th Annual Festival (October 10-14) is now open. WFF is looking for animated short films for its juried Animated Program curated by Oscar nominee Bill Plympton and renowned animator Signe Baumane. WFF’s Animation Program is sponsored by Blue Sky Studios and the winning film receives a $2000 cash award.

Blue Sky Co-Founder and director Chris Wedge will be one of the jurors as well as present the Maverick Award for Best Animation. Wedge won an Academy Award in 1998 for his short film Bunny, and has since directed Ice Age and Robots. His next Blue Sky feature is Leafmen. He can also be heard as the “voice” of the saber-toothed squirrel Scrat in Ice Age and its sequels.

Entries are now open through June 8 on both Withoutabox.com and at Woodstockfilmfestival.com. There will be an extended Withoutabox deadline of June 28. If you want to have your animated film seen by two giants in the animation business, and a chance for Blue Sky’s Chris Wedge to consider your film for the $2000 cash prize get your submission in now.

Plympton and Baumane have curated The Woodstock Film Festival animation program since 2004. The program provides a forum for independent animators to showcase their work, and is consistently one of the most popular programs. Previous award winners of the Animation Award include Juan Pablo Zaramella’s Luminaris in 2011, Anthony Sheppard’s Music Scene in 2010 and Jake Armstrong’s The Terrible Thing about Alpha-9 in 2009.

GET READY FOR SOME ALPHABET FUN AS SESAME WORKSHOP AND WARNER HOME VIDEO RELEASE ELMO’S ALPHABET CHALLENGE ON DVD AUGUST 14, 2012!

Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge Features Over 50 Minutes of Brand-New Sesame Street Content and Hilarious Video Game Spoofs!

BURBANK, CA (May 23, 2012) – Elmo is up for a new challenge as Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, and Warner Home Video (WHV) release Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge on DVD August 14, 2012 at a SRP of $14.98. Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge features brand new made-for-video content including seven hilarious video game spoofs and five catchy new Sesame Street songs.

Elmo and friends are up to the challenge – an Alphabet Challenge – as they embark on an all-new learning adventure. Abby is excited to show her friends her new Fairy Fly Pad, a magical tablet loaded with cool games. But with a simple tap they accidentally get trapped inside the video game world of A. B. C-more, a mischievous elf obsessed with the alphabet. In order to return to Sesame Street, the friends must defeat A.B.C-more in different video game challenges that test their knowledge of the entire alphabet.

Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge is much more than just ABC-related fun! The DVD focuses primarily on early literacy skills; and through these skills children begin to recognize the name of letters in the alphabet and understand letter-sound relationships. Children will also learn about task persistence and overcoming obstacles as they stay focused on a task until completion. Additionally, kids will learn about self-confidence and friendship as the video focuses on the positive and supportive interaction between Telly, Abby, and Elmo. The characters encourage one another and praise each other during the different challenges.

Spoofing several old school, and new school video games in an animated world, Elmo, Abby and Telly have never been seen like this before! Can an 8-bit-Elmo “munch” his way through a maze-like game where he must find objects that start with certain sounds? What happens when the friends encounter some letters from “Angry Words?” Can Elmo dance his way through a game where his moves need to match movements that start with certain letters? Will Abby be a “hero” as she rocks out with a guitar in another game? With seven challenging games to play the friends will discover it is not as easy as A-B-C to win against A. B. C-more!

“Warner Home Video is excited to bring Elmo’s latest never-before-seen adventure to DVD with the release of Sesame Street: Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge,” said Jeff Brown, WHV Executive Vice President and GM of Non-Theatrical Franchise. “Kids will love to play along and learn in a series of fun video game spoofs that will teach both letter recognition and sounds in a fun and entertaining way.”

AN INVITATION TO ALL PROFESSIONAL ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS
To Take Your Place In The Inaugural JACK DAVIS HUMOR SHOW
~ A National Juried Exhibition ~
SPONSORED BY: THE JACK DAVIS FOUNDATION

Whereas: It was 1950 when Jack Davis made his way from Atlanta to New York City to take his place as an illustrator, create light hearted, energetic and irreverent images that provided, as all popular media must, a true and honest reflection of our life and times.

And Whereas: Over the next half century Jack Davis established himself as one of the preeminent illustrators in America, with no artist having more success packing more people in less space, by his myriad creations lauded by one and all as peerless visual extravaganzas: parties to which we are all invited, and at which we all seem to be having an exceedingly good time.

And Also Whereas: The appreciation of said humorous illustration in all its manifestations is a time honored tradition for both young and old, whether as comic books, political and social satire, on and in magazines or as art for the movie and music industries, this long tradition of humorous illustration being a critical (if at times negligently under appreciated) cornerstone of American popular culture.

And Additionally Whereas: Humorous illustrators in creating said works serve as the court jesters, the comic commentators and coal mine canaries of said popular culture and are thus deserving their place in the spotlight, it is hereby decreed that THE JACK DAVIS HUMOR SHOW will take place, and all aforementioned creators of humorous illustration in its varied and wondrous forms are invited join the fray, celebrate a grand tradition, and in so doing do their part to keep the party going!

Therefore: Let the word go out to all said professional illustrators engaged in the editorial and advertising fields, and to all creators of cartoons and comics, that they are hereby invited to submit their finest work to a jury of their peers, with all successfully adjudicated work being exhibited at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation galleries for the period of January 21 thru February 22, 2013, and online at: jackdavisfoundation.org for a period of not less than one year.

The 19th International Film Festival Etiuda&Anima 2012 in Krakow, Poland will be held November 23-29, 2012. The festival has opened its call for entries for the ANIMA COMPETITION for short films. Open to students and professionals alike, submissions must be under 30 minutes.

The deadline for submissions is September 17, 2012. The entry form and competition rules can be found by clicking on ANIMA COMPETITION at www.etiudaandanima.com.

The following Prizes will be awarded at Anima 2012 competition:

• Grand Prix – Golden Jabberwocky and 2500 Euro
• Silver Jabberwocky
• Bronze Jabberwocky
• Special Golden Jabberwocky for the best animated festival’s student’s etude

The Jury also reserves the right to award Honorary Diplomas.

London — Visual effects software developer The Foundry announced that animation studio LAIKA has purchased a site license of KATANA and plans to fully implement the software on its next feature film production.

LAIKA is the world-renowned animation studio behind the Academy Award-nominated Coraline (2009), the first stop-motion feature film to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3D, and forthcoming release, ParaNorman (in 3D in select theatres this summer).

LAIKA’s decision to purchase a site license comes as the VFX team looks for ways to better manage the consistency of lighting and handle increasingly complex shots. KATANA will now help them to build a more asset-driven pipeline with better control over the looks of their CG materials.

The node-based approach will allow them to create and manage looks for large numbers of assets with minimal setup between tasks. It will also streamline shot lighting workflows and let them easily maintain standards and rigs across multiple assets, shots and sequences.

Andrew Nawrot, CG and Look Development Supervisor at LAIKA comments: “KATANA’s procedural workflow makes perfect sense for feature film look development and lighting. KATANA’s core features were driven directly out of large-scale visual effects production and this makes it an incredibly unique, flexible and effective platform for look development and lighting. With stop-motion, the scope of the sets and environments as well as the quantity of characters has traditionally been bound by the physical dimensions of the stages. With KATANA’s ability to handle incredibly complex environments and thousands of assets, we’re able to keep up with the increasingly expansive stop-motion worlds in which our films are set.”

Originally developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks, KATANA takes an innovative recipe based approach, enabling facilities large and small to build highly scalable and efficient lighting pipelines without a large internal engineering effort.

Jeff Stringer, Director of Production Technology at LAIKA comments: “In each successive film at LAIKA, we are more ambitious than the last. We expect that KATANA will put our VFX team in a better position to scale up the complexity of their work on these films. The team at The Foundry has been very attentive and responsive to us as we work through the integration. It is a collaborative effort, since many of the tools we need are developed at The Foundry. We knew we could expect this as we have enjoyed years of good support from them with NUKE.”

Andy Lomas, KATANA Product Manager at The Foundry comments: ”LAIKA is a wonderful addition to the growing portfolio of KATANA clients. KATANA is incredibly versatile and can be used on all types of productions including live action, CG and stop-motion. We are excited to be working with such a respected studio and can’t wait to see their first KATANA project.”

KATANA 1.0 was released in October 2011 and is already in use in production at Industrial Light and Magic, Digital Domain, Sony Pictures ImageWorks and most recently, Reliance MediaWorks and Spin VFX.

KATANA continues to be under evaluation at a number of studios, both large and small.

Los Angeles, CA (May 18, 2012) Olmos Productions and Animex are partnering on the 3D animated film El Americano: The Movie, the first animated co-production between the US and Mexico. The story will follow Cuco, a young Mexican parrot, whose epic quest to enlist the aid of an American crime-fighting TV celebrity, to defend his family in Mexico from bullies, teaches the young parrot to be a hero himself. The film will be directed by Ricardo Arnaiz (director of La Leyenda de La Nahuala and Nikte) and Mike Kunkel (animator of Disney’s Tarzan, and Hercules), with six-time Emmy Award winner Phil Roman (The Simpsons) serving as production supervisor and executive producer.  Alex Flores, Gerry Cardoso and Michael D. Olmos spearheaded its development at Olmos Productions and Animex respectively, and will serve as producers. Edward James Olmos will serve as executive producer and lend his voice to one of the main characters. Other cast members will be announced shortly.

“We’re delighted to be working with Edward James Olmos and his production company here in the US”, said Ricardo Arnaiz, award-winning director and founder of Animex in Puebla, Mexico. “It’s a story we have been working on for the last three years and we feel we have a really strong team in place to execute this film scheduled in 2013.”

Aleks Syntek, the Mexican singer, songwriter and producer who has been a member of the team from the project’s inception will compose the theme song for the film. “What motivated me to write the theme song for this film was the work Ricardo Arnaiz and this extraordinary production team have accomplished. Without a doubt it shows the passion, creativity, and talent Mexicans can have in the animation industry. Animation for the whole family has always been magical to me, which was another great incentive to create the music for this great film, which I’m sure will be huge hit”, said Syntek.

Blue Sky Studios is proud to announce its inaugural Story Artist Training Program. Beginning in mid-June, this 16-week program for recent graduates will provide the opportunity to work alongside and be mentored by our talented story artists. Trainees will be immersed in our environment of 400+ artists who have created some of the top grossing animated features over the past 15 years.

These paid trainees will be mentored and evaluated throughout the process and considered for full-time positions.

Highlights of the Program
• One on one daily interaction with mentors
• Individual assignments
• Working in a team dynamic with other trainees
• Pitch sessions with directors
• Guest lectures
• Opportunity to work on a feature film in production

Blue Sky Studios is located 45 minutes north of New York City. Shuttles are provided from nearby train stations to the Blue Sky campus.

Rolling admission is now open. Applications are being accepted through June 1, 2012. Submit PDF portfolio and resume to storytraining@blueskystudios.com