WILMINGTON - Michael Scaramozzino, of Wilmington, has hit a homerun the first time out of the gate with a 3D animated short film titled BlastOff!

The Webby Awards, the leading international honor for the Web, recognized DreamLight's first 3D animated short film, BlastOff! as an Official Honoree in category of animation, a distinction that recognizes work exhibiting remarkable achievement.

Scaramozzino is the founder and president of DreamLight Interactive, an award-winning interactive multimedia studio based in Woburn and 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 20 years. But, Scaramozzino is also the creator of the Blast Off! Bed, a custom-designed space shuttle bed that Scaramozzino built when his son MJ was ready to graduate from the crib to a "big boy" bed.

The story behind 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 is scheduled to air again on June 21, 2007 at 6 p.m.

Check www.HGTV.com for scheduling details. Using the BlastOff! Bed as a jumping off point from reality to fantasy, Scaramozzino's animated short 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.

"BlastOff! tells the story of how the worlds of reality and fantasy easily blend together in the fertile imagination of a young child," said Scaramozzino. "What better way to launch a child's imagination than a custom designed space shuttle bed?"

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 such luminaries as 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 percent 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 Scaramozzino.

"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!," he said.

The recognition continues. 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.

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 and 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 Scaramozzino used to build the original BlastOff! Bed.

The BlastOff! Special Edition DVD is available immediately and may be ordered online at www.DreamLight.com/blastoff for only $24.95 plus shipping & handling.

BlastOff! Lifts

Dream Light'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 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.