Michael and Betty Paraskevas created Maggie and the ferocious beast in 2000. It’s a place where Maggie’s favorite stuffed toys, the large, lovable and very polka-dotted Ferocious Beast, and steadfast pig Hamilton Hocks, come to life! Together they climb the highest mountains, cross the widest deserts, sing loud and harmoniously, and savor the sweet spice of pumpkin pie. Simply put, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast celebrates the power of friendship.To find out more on Maggiie and the ferocious beast go to these links:
Brian Wood created the cramp twins in 2001. Brian Wood created ‘The Cramp Twins’, the chart-topping animated TV series starring Wayne and Lucien Cramp. Since its launch in 2001, The Cramp Twins has become the most popular show for 6-11 year olds, particularly boys, on the BBC (UK), Cartoon Network (Europe) and Foxbox (USA) and has gone on to build a strong TV following in most other countries. Brian is currently putting the finishing touches to a second TV series of 52 Cramp Twins stories, which is due to start screening towards the end of 2004. 4Kids Entertainment is developing a licensing programme in America and the UK and Otherworld are publishing a Cramp Twins compendium in Spring 2005.
Matt Groening created Futurama in 1999.What is Futurama you ask? Well it's the brain child of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Matt G. has been a cartoonist for almost two decades working on the Simpsons and his own weekly comic strip titled 'life is hell.' David X. has been working on the Simpsons for many years before getting the idea of Futurama with Matt Groening. Matt and David have stated that they just wanted to try something new. So around 1997 started brainstorming ideas for a new show. They came up with the idea of "the jetsons meet the simpsons" and thus the idea of Futurama was created. On March 28th 1999 in the United States, 'Space Pilot 3000' aired on the Fox network. The ratings were shattering, one of the most groundbreaking pilot episodes ever on Fox. But soon after that Fox felt that Futurama needed a new time slot, so within two years, Futurama had more time-slots than you could have ever imagined. Because it was changed from time slot to time slot, Futurama could never really get a solid audience, this ratings lowered. And now, it seems fox has pulled the plug on Futurama, not ordering a 5th season. Instead, Fox will air the remaining episodes from season 3 and season 4 to make a season 5.To find out more on Matt Greoning and Futurama go to these links:http://images.google.co.uk/images?svnum=10&hl=en&q=matt+groening&spell=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuramahttp://collectorama.murderhorn.com/whatisfuturama.shtmlhttp://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/EpisodeGuide/
Lain Lauchlan was one of the many creators of the animated series called Tweenies. Tweenies was created in 2003.Meet Milo, Jake, Fizz and Bella. And not forgetting Doodles! The Tweenies encourage young children to wonder, explore and enjoy the world around them through songs, rhymes, games, stories, "make and do", fantasy and creative play. The programmes show the Tweenies learning about sharing and being friends.
To find out more on the Tweenies go to these links:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=tweenies&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/sundaymercury/features/tm_objectid=16450063&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=tweenies-made-me-a-millionaire--name_page.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2002/05_may/tweenies.shtml
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RFHD/203-1635898-7755940
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created Scooby doo in 1979.Scooby Doo' follows the adventures of a cowardly and ever-hungry mutt named Scoobert 'Scooby' Doo, and his owner Norville 'Shaggy' Rogers - a similarly cowardly beatnik hippie with an insatiable appetite for food. Together they travel around in their van, 'The Mystery Machine', along with their group of friends: Freddy Jones - a good looking and far too sensible young man; Daphne Blake - Fred's pretty redheaded girlfriend; and Velma Dinkley - the speccy know-it-all. Each episode sees our heroes, collectively known as 'Mystery Inc.', pitted against hideous monsters and diabolical demons, which would eventually turn out to be the bloke we met in the first couple of minutes of the show, now dressed up in a costume in an attempt to scare people away as part of a convoluted plot to steal gold / silver / jewels, etc. To find our more about Scooby doo or the creators go to these links:
Lumiere brothers made puppetry and shadow puppets in 1895.In the past, the films of Auguste and Louis Lumière have principally been available in badly-worn dupes, making it difficult to appreciate their work. Now, Kino on Video (in association with the Institute Lumière) has made available in the U.S. the first-ever authorized collection of Lumière films, mastered from the original 35mm materials. The Lumière Brothers' First Films is an amazing journey that provides us with an enlightening portrait of the birth of cinema. http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue04/reviews/lumiere.htmhttp://www.holonet.khm.de/visual_alchemy/lumiere.htmlhttp://www.terrace.qld.edu.au/academic/lote/french/yr5lumi.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumi%C3%A8re_Brothershttp://www.answers.com/topic/louis-lumi-rehttp://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/Schools/movingpics/movingpics10.htm
Edward Muybridge Edison (kinetoscope) .
Muybridge publishes his 100,000 plus photos in 'Animal Locomotion- An Electro-photographic Investigation of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements'. There were over seven hundred plates, all folio-sized, in eleven volumes. This work is today a reference source in motion study and is considered the most exhaustive analysis ever made of the subject. When seen through the Zoopraxiscope (as early as 1879), Muybridge's photographs are without debate, the world's first motion pictures. Men, women, children and animals are seen as in true motion, resembling nothing less in quality or appearance than the earliest works of the Lumiere's in 1895. Muybridge's final accomplishment was without celluoid, yet fluid, preceeding the commercial films of the 1890's by at least 16 years. When considering the fact that there are 172,800 + frames in a typical two hour film of today, Muybridge's 20,000 pictures, if shown consecutively (impossible with the Zoopraxiscope) would provide a film of approximately 13+ minutes in length. In comparison, The Great Train Robbery of 1912 (Edwin Porter) was 12 minutes, and Chaplin's Behind the Screen of 1916, was 15 minutes.
http://www.precinemahistory.net/1885.htmhttp://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/muybridge.htmhttp://www.wildwestweb.net/flicks.htmlhttp://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/NewSite/HISTORY/STUDIOS/Early%20Studios/EDISON/edison.asp
Emile Reynaud made the praxinoscope.In 1876 he decided to make an optical toy to amuse a young child. Improving on the Phenakistiscope and Zoetrope, Reynaud devised the Praxinoscope (patented December 1877). Consisting of a cylinder with a band of coloured images set inside, a central drum of mirrors was set exactly equidistant between the axis and mirror drum. As the toy revolved the reflection of each picture seen in the mirror drum appeared stationary. The images blended to give a clear, bright, undistorted moving picture without flicker. He produced the praxinoscope commercially, receiving an Honourable Mention in the Paris Exposition of 1878.
To find out more on Emile Reynaud and the praxinoscope:
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~s-herbert/theatopt1.htm
http://www.earlycinema.com/technology/praxinoscope.html
http://www.lips.org/bio_Reynaud_GB.asp
http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/Schools/animation/animation5.htm
http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/collection/optical/praxin.html
William Horner made the zoetrope in 1834.The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who originally called it a Daedalum ("wheel of the Devil"). It was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope, but was more convenient since it did not require a viewing mirror and allowed more than one person to use it at the same time. Horner's invention strangely became forgotten for nearly thirty years until 1867, when it became patented in England by M. Bradley, and in America by William F. Lincoln. Lincoln renamed the Daedalum, giving it the name of "zoetrope," or "wheel of life." To find out more about William Horner and the zoetrope go to these links:
http://courses.ncssm.edu/GALLERY/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm
http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/Schools/animation/animation4.htm
http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/HORNER_BIO.html
http://www.silentmovies.com/zoetrope/education/lessons.htm
Joseph Plateau made the Phenakitoscope in 1832.The phenakistoscope uses the persistence of motion principle to create an illusion of motion. Although this principle had been recognized by the Greek mathematician Euclid and later in experiments by Newton, it was not until 1829 that this principle became firmly established by Joseph Plateau.
The phenakistoscope consisted of two discs mounted on the same axis. The first disc had slots around the edge, and the second contained drawings of successive action, drawn around the disc in concentric circles. Unlike Faraday's Wheel, whose pair of discs spun in opposite directions, a phenakistoscope's discs spin together in the same direction. When viewed in a mirror through the first disc's slots, the pictures on the second disc will appear to move. To find out more about Joseph Plateau and the phenakitoscope go to these links:http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Plateau.htmlhttp://www.mhsgent.ugent.be/eng-plat1.htmlhttp://users.pandora.be/thomasweynants/plateau-intro.htmlhttp://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-plateauhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2209370&dopt=Abstract
