In 1991 for some odd reason Brian Cirulnick and myself were able to talk John O’Donnell of Central Park Media into making the first Anime themed CD-ROM. The CD-ROM featured 1,000 targa images taken from various Anime TV shows and movies (everything from from Project A-ko to Urusei Yatsura) and 100 digital video clips which were produced using the then new technology QuickTime from Apple Computer. In fact the CD-ROM was the 2nd commercial title to feature QuickTime, the first I believe was a porno title. The other cool thing about the project was that it featured a multimedia presentation which contained a catalog showing a thumbnail sketch of each image. After it's release the CD-ROM started to sell well and was even picked up by Educorp (one of the early CD-ROM catalogs). However sadly the title was spotted in Japan by one of the copyright holders who mistook it for a video game and thus ending the shelf life of the project.
By the way, as a special bonus here's the credits listing from the CD-ROM for old times sake:
Central Park Media - Producers
John O’Donnell - Executive Producer
Jeff Thompson - Production Coordinator
Cliff Rosen - Special Liaison
Vanguard Media - Project Management and Human Interface Design
Michael Pinto - Project Manager, Screen Design, Art Direction
Brian Cirulnick - Technical Manager, Video Toaster expert
Dov Hechtman - Video Toaster and Photoshop
Sheldon Mills - Photoshop, Screen Shots
Nick Kent - Photoshop (retouching)
Dave Copcutt - Video Toaster and Photoshop
Safire Software - QuickTime and CD-ROM
Mark Safire
Premiere Graphics International - Macromind Lingo Programming
D.J. Hacker
Integrated Media - Windows version of Catalog Program
Alan Hochman
DG•IT - Sound Design and FX
Nick Kent
Adobe Systems Inc. - Photoshop Try-Out
Steven I. Guttman - Product Marketing Manager
Raxsoft - GDS (PC Targa viewer program)
Paul Schmidt
Vision Software - MovieTime for showing QuickTime
Special Thanks
Mark Altschul - Legal Advice
William Lee - Japanimation Help
Ralph Quimby - Japanimation Help
Robert Fenelon - Japanimation Help
Gerald Moriarty - Japanimation Help
Richard Moriarty - Japanimation Help
Bill Morrison - Windows Advice
Michael Ling - PC Advice
Bob Montgomery - PC Advice
Pam Sansburg - CD-ROM Advice
Carmen Yancey - CD-ROM Advice
Jane Brady - CD-ROM Advice
Craig Owen - Beta-tester on the spot....
* * Not only was it kind of Adobe and Raxsoft to let us use their
software - but their software was really good! Forgive the plugs but
Photoshop is the best image program I have ever worked with - and
GDS is a great PC utility. I urge every serious user to purchase both
- I was VERY happy with each. Also Vision Software (who makes
MovieTime) makes CameraMan - a real neat program that allows you
to make QuickTime movies of your desktop on the Mac - a little gem
of a program that every QuickTime fan should have.
...ah yes the good old days!