H.P Lovecraft

H.P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, RI in 1890.  While not a media artist, he is a common influence on many, including John Carpenter and others.



Many of his literary works have been made into films, but he didn't make much money from them in his lifetime.  Some of the more notable movies based on Lovecraft's works are Re-Animator, The Call of Cthulhu, and The Dunwich Horror.

But, his influence on major motion pictures is more than just adaptations.  He has his own sub-genre of horror, Lovecraftian horror.

Lovecraftian horror is defined as: horror that emphasizes the cosmic horror of the unknown (and in some cases, unknowable) more than gore or other elements of shock, though these may still be present.

Examples of Lovecraftian horror include: the Alien series by Ridley Scott,and  the Evil Dead series by Sam Raimi,

I have read quite a few of Lovecraft's works and I would love to make something utilizing Lovecraftian horror, as I find it more effective than its cheesy, gory, counterparts.  I'd like to think that the story for my animation is Lovecraftian at least a bit.

If Lovecraft were alive today, he might have been a great director of horror films, but he needs to work on his endings if I don't say so myself.

Don Bluth

What a man.  Animator, director, second cousin to Mitt Romney, and just look at that mustache!


Don Bluth is, and was, a visionary.  He worked with Disney, made video games, and at the time, released the highest grossing non-Disney animated film (An American Tail, 1986).

His admirable filmography includes many childhood favorites, including The Land Before Time (1988), All Dogs go to Heaven (1989), and The Secret of NIHM (1982).  He was only involved with the first Land Before Time film, not one of the 13 sequels.  And it is 13, I checked.

His work with Disney started in 1955, as an assistant on Sleeping Beauty.  He later left in 1957 to go on a mission trip to Argentina.  He returned to working for Disney in 1971.  His final work at Disney was the short The Small One (1978).

He went on to start his own studio with 9 other former Disney animators.  Unfortunately, Don Bluth Studio filed for bankruptcy after its first and only motion picture: The Secret of NIHM .  

This led to him working on an arcade game.  Dragon's Lair, which players played on a LaserDisc, was a great success and led to a sequel of sorts: Space Ace.

Bluth later worked with Steven Spielberg, and then Fox Studios to make Anastasia.  However, his work on the film Titan AE with studio was the last traditionally animated movie Fox would produce until 2007 with The Simpson's Movie.  

He is currently working on a film adaption of Dragon's Lair.

Layering Investagation

Ray Harryhausen, special effects titan of the 20th century.  Among his accomplishments, which are quite numerous, is the method of rear projection.  It was very similar to our current green screens in what its purpose, to fill in backgrounds and add things into the shot that couldn't be in principal photography.  If you've ever seen an older movie with a driving scene in it, you've probably seen rear projection in use.

The process involves taking two pictures on one piece of film to fill in blanks.





 

Ray Harryhausen may not have invented rear projection, but he objectively used it the best and to its fullest potential.  His most famous uses of rear projection are probably Jason and the Argonauts(1963), and Clash of the Titans(1981).


Because of the prevalence and ease of use of modern technology that does its job better than rear projection ever could, it is out of use in most professional and semi-professional films.  Using it with blender would be silly.

Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi was and is a director, writer, animator and much more.  While plenty of his film endeavors ended in flops, he did have a reasonable amount of success with films like Cool World (1991) and Wizards (1977).  I personally know of him because of his rendition of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings(1978). 
 


Sure, there are silly moments like this one, but there is also plenty of  SUPER cool, and dark imagery.


The Witch King


A Ringwraith

While Bakshi started his animation career with TV shows for children, his interests later turned to more... adult themes, we'll say.  With more adult geared animated films such as Fritz the Cat (1972) and Cool World (1991), both R rated films, Fritz the Cat's tagline being "He's X-Rated and Animated!"  His work not only paved the way for Peter Jackson's most popular film series and Seth McFarland's whole shtick.

Documentary Outline

1. The artist's style
           He was an expert draftsman, and was mostly a character animator

2. Expressive Structure
           “Milt’s drawings are very, very involved and are all about having high opinions of things,”                   explains honoree Andreas Deja.
            He was a perfectionist, competitor, and highly opinionated man

3. Media creation techniques
            Animation.  He created media via animation, as was his job.

Mid march madness production check up

This is my progress on my animation

Milt Kahl Documentary Prep

As one of Disney's Nine Old Men, Milt Kahl is known as an animation legend.  He specialized in human and animal animation because he did what others didn't want to do.

He joined the Walt Disney Company in 1934, and started animating in Snow White.  Some of his more well known characters include Tigger from Winne the Pooh, Shere Kahn from The Jungle Book, and The Sheriff of Nottingham from Robin Hood.

  

In the 1970's, he trained Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. Even after his death in 1987, his influence lives on in one of the most prevalent animators and animation directors of the current era.

peperoni stuffed rigatoni

The artist I have chosen to make my documentary is Milt Kahl, animator for disney