
NOTE TO EDITORS: High Resolution BlastOff!
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available for print.
DreamLight.com/insights/12/StillGallery.html
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WOBURN, MA – April 12, 2007 — DreamLight® today
announced that the Webby Awards, the leading international
honor for the Web, recognized DreamLight’s first 3D animated
short film, BlastOff!™ (available on Telebites.com)
as an Official Honoree in the category of animation, a distinction
that recognizes work exhibiting remarkable achievement. |
Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times,
The Webby Awards is the leading international
award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites,
Interactive Advertising, Online
Film & Video,
and Mobile Websites. The awards are judged by the International
Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes
David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening,
Jamie Oliver,
Internet inventor Vinton Cerf, and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser. The
11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over
60 countries and all 50 states. Out of more than 8,000 entries
submitted, fewer than 15% received this honor and were deemed Official Honorees.
“The Webby Awards honors the outstanding work that is setting the
standards for the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, executive
director of The Webby Awards. “BlastOff’s Official Honoree selection
is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creator
Michael Scaramozzino and DreamLight Interactive.”
“We’re thrilled that BlastOff! has been recognized with an Official Honoree
distinction from the Webby Awards and we’re honored to even be
mentioned along side such esteemed fellow Official Honorees including
the likes of CBS, NBC, BBC & MTV,” said Michael Scaramozzino, BlastOff!’s
creator and DreamLight founder. “I can’t think of a better way
to celebrate DreamLight’s twentieth anniversary this month than
with such a prestigious recognition for our first 3D animated short
film - BlastOff!.”
BlastOff! Rockets Through International Film Festivals
BlastOff! has been chosen as an Official
Selection to screen at over a dozen international film festivals
and also received a Merit Award from its initial screening at the inaugural
2D OR NOT 2D animation film festival in Everett
Washington with keynote speaker Roy E. Disney, Director Emeritus
of The Walt
Disney Company & nephew
of Walt Disney. The growing list of BlastOff! festival screenings
is posted at Telebites.com where
a QuickTime version of BlastOff! may be viewed online and the BlastOff!
Special Edition DVD may be ordered for only $24.95.
“BlastOff! tells the story of how the worlds of reality and fantasy
easily blend together in the fertile imagination of a young child,” said
Michael Scaramozzino, BlastOff!’s creator and DreamLight founder. “What
better way to launch a child’s imagination than a custom designed
space shuttle bed?”
BlastOff! – A Family Friendly Film
BlastOff! begins at dawn with a child’s wishful drawing of a space
ship. During the day his father builds him a custom designed space
shuttle bed and fills his room with toys. As the sun sets, one
of the child’s
toys, a little green alien, comes to life and is excited to play
space ship pilot. As his imagination soon takes over completely,
the room fades away
and the shuttle bed blasts the little alien out into space for
a wild rocket ship ride through the rings of Saturn. The alien
finally comes crashing
back to reality as the child returns home to find his room is a
complete mess.
Inspired by the Original BlastOff! Bed as seen on HGTV
BlastOff! was inspired by a custom designed space shuttle bed that
Michael Scaramozzino built for his son MJ when MJ was
three and ready to graduate from his crib into a “big boy’s” bed.
The story behind the design and construction of the original BlastOff!
Bed™ is featured
on episode #HLWID-106 of HGTV’s show Look What I Did! which first
aired in December 2006 and airs again on June 21, 2007 at 6PM
ET/PT. Check www.HGTV.com for
scheduling details.
BlastOff! Special Edition DVD
The BlastOff! Special Edition DVD contains a DVD resolution version
of the film and includes behind the scenes content about the making
of the film, including director & animator
commentaries, production stills, animation tests and actual LightWave
3D files of props & sets
from the film. It also includes behind the scenes content about
the making of the real BlastOff! Bed, including construction video
and photos as well as a BlastOff! Bed Construction Guide which
includes the
actual construction
plans that Michael Scaramozzino used to build the original
BlastOff! Bed. The BlastOff! Special Edition DVD is available immediately
and may be ordered online at DreamLight.com/blastoff for
only $24.95 plus shipping & handling.
BlastOff! Lifts DreamLight’s 3D Animation Capabilities to New
Heights
BlastOff! was originally conceived as an initial test project for DreamLight
to exercise and refine all the tools and skills necessary to produce
a 3D animated short film, from concept to completion, focusing
on many aspects of 3D character
animation. It was used to build an Apple Macintosh based LightWave
3D animation pipeline and in-house render farm at the DreamLight
studio in preparation
of creating a new series
of 3D animated shorts, named the Autiton Archives™, to be released
on the Web. DreamLight also uses this new pipeline
to produce a wide variety of 3D animation projects for its commercial
clients intended for various media such as CD-ROM, DVD, the Web,
digital video, TV and film. Samples of DreamLight’s commercial client
3D projects may be viewed online at DreamLight.com/3d.
About DreamLight Interactive
DreamLight
Interactive is an award-winning interactive multimedia studio
built upon a solid foundation of computer science, digital design,
illustration and animation. Founded in April of 1987, DreamLight
has been pushing the cutting edge of digital media for the past twenty
years.
About The Webby Awards:
Established in 1996, the Webby Awards is presented by The International
Academy of Digital Arts
and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include:
Adobe; The Creative Group; Verizon; AOL Video; dotMobi; Level3;
Adweek; Fortune;
Reuters; Variety; Wired; IDG: Brightcove; PricewaterhouseCoopers;
2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum of the Moving Image.
About the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS):
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated
to the creative, technical, and professional progress of the internet
and interactive media. The Academy is an intellectually diverse
organization that includes over 500 members consisting of leading
experts in
a diverse
range of fields, such as musician David Bowie, Virgin Group founder
Richard Branson, business guru and author Tom Peters, The Body
Shop president Anita
Roddick, fashion designer Max Azria, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening
and Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser. The Webby Awards and The International
Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences are registered trademarks of International
Data Group. For more information, visit www.iadas.net.
###
Press Contact:
Michael Scaramozzino – Info@DreamLight.com –
(781) 932-6333
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information, please visit
DreamLight’s online
BlastOff! Press
Kit.
DreamLight.com/insights/12/PressKit.html
DreamLight, the DreamLight logo, BlastOff!, BlastOff!
Bed, and The Autiton Archives are trademarks of DreamLight Incorporated.
Other
names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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