Here at ColdHardFlash, we’re picky about the facts. We led the charge to clean up the Wikipedia entry on “Flash animation,” and helped confirm which Flash animated project was the first to play on TV (WhirlGirl - 1999). So with that in mind, we turn our attention to a recent press release about Jai Vigneshwar, a Flash-animated feature film produced in India. While we’re thrilled that yet another feature film has been produced in Flash, we don’t agree with their claim of creating “the world’s first 2D Flash animation movie.” That title appears to be Bryon E. Carson’s - for his feature film The Golden Blaze. Congrats to the team at Mayajaal Entertainment Limited, but we recommend a little fact checking next time you make an announcement.

Nassos Vakalis’ online series Crime Time has hit the big time. The Flash-animated episode titled Electro-Phobia, which was animated by Mumbai-based Future Thought Productions, has tallied up nearly a quarter of a million views on YouTube.

Nassos Vakalis, an Emmy Award winning artist in Los Angeles, has teamed up with Future Thought Productions to create Crime Time. The series, produced out of Mumbai, India, follows the adventures of Shifty, “a pint-sized pilferer with lofty ambitions and limited brainpower.” Vakalis directs and designed the characters, which draw inspiration from the classic UPA shorts. Future Thought utilized Flash and SoftImage in producing the series. Below is an episode titled Paint Job:

Illusion Interactive, a production company out of Bombay, India, recently produced 3 Flash-animated episodes for Cadbury Dairy Milk. The campaign was overseen by OgilvyOne, and produced by Gaurav Jain. I’d call the animation ‘floaty,’ but the design has some flair.

The langauge you’ll hear is Hindi, and the series seems to be based on a set of live-action Cadbury commercials, like the one below.

Ajay Karat and Brian Oakley recently participated in SavAniJAM, a 24-hour animation competition at the Savannah College of Art and Design. It took place on March 3rd and 4th, and entries used various techniques, including Flash, stop-motion and traditional. Ajay and Brian’s short is called ‘Games People Shouldn’t Play.’

At one time, Ajay worked for Jadoo Works, a now-closed Flash animation studio in Bangalore, India. He even worked on ‘Mucha Lucha,’ one of the first Flash-animated shows on broadcast TV. You can check out more of his work at his website, thedevilsgarage.com, and below is his take on Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs.’

Alan Houser, Roy Smith and Terry Coffey are three brainiac podcasters known as the Bionic Genius. They recently spoke (MP3) with Gregg Spiridellis, one half of the brother-duo behind JibJab Media. Many a Flash-animated topic was covered.

Macromedia’s Scott Fegette’s custom easing tool tutorial (thanks to Kevin Elam)

‘Who Stole Santa’s Sack?’ is underway at Renegade Animation in Glendale, California. It’s their first feature, and I hear this Flash-animated project is being done in record time. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “the story centers on little Sophiana who helps Santa recover his magical sack of toys just in time to save Christmas.”

Mediateck, an Indian animation studio is releasing a 90-minute Flash-animated feature film focusing on Indian philosopher Acharya Ramanuja.

Citizens for Global Solutions has announced a Flash animation contest based on the theme of ‘America’s Role in the World.’ Top prize is $2,000.

I just spotted a link to the new ‘The Buzz on Maggie’ website while browsing the ‘Animation Nation’ message boards. ‘Maggie’ is a new Flash-animated show from Disney that’s now set to bow on The Disney Channel in June, and the website is currently hosting 8 20-30 second clips from the show. It looks great, especially the ‘Mr. Pesky’ clip.

Maggie is described as “the funky fly girl with an extreme taste in music! She lives in the fly metropolis of Stickyfeet with her fun family and with her sassy best friend Rayna at her wing, Maggie’s life is a little wild and totally out of the ordianry — just the way she likes it!”

The show is being written by the always funny Bill Motz and Bob Roth, who I believe are also producers on the show. The director is Dave Wasson, the creator of ‘Time Squad’ who is also producing, and it’s being animated at Future Thought Productions (Bombay) and Bardel Entertainment (Vancouver).

I’m expecting great things from this show, as I know how talented the crew is. Jorge Gutierrez, Sandra Equihua and Katie Rice are splitting the character design effort, and the storyboards are under the supervision of Spumco-grad Gabe Swarr. And the list continues - Roman Laney is handling BG design and Ricky Garduno storyboarded several episodes. Ray Morelli, another Spumco-vet also chipped in with board revisions. Can’t wait!