Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Today I went with my friends Eric Deuel and Chris Bancroft to Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park to see the Bronson Caves. This area has been the site of many films over the years including the 1956 classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In the photo above you see actors Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter running across the canyon in the film. You can see from my present day photos that the area really hasn't changed much in 51 years.

My next post will include photos of the cave, better known as the "Bat Cave".

Behind the Scenes: NFL on Fox

Here's a series of behind the scenes photos from the last round of NFL on Fox commercials created at Vinton Studios in 2002. Travis Knight and myself were the animators and Brad Shiff was the animation director. They were a fun group of spots to work on. In the photo above I'm working on the tiny submarine set where Terry is spying on the weather girl, Jillian as she takes a bath.
Here's Travis working on NFL "Cookout". His animation is amazing. In addition to these NFL spots, he also animated many stop-mo Kikoman commercials during this period at the studio.

Here I am animating Terry Bradshaw as he tortures Jimmy Kimmel with his singing voice in "Kimmel's Travels".

More Portland Photos

I thought I would post a few more photos of last month's Portland trip. That's Cannon Beach above.
Here I am with my friends Kyle and Matt at The Portland Grill. Kyle has been with Laika/Vinton Studios for the last 20 years.
Waiter, Kyle, Matt, Eric Deuel, and our waitress Sabrina.
This is the Columbia River Gorge. That's Washington on the other side of the river.
This statue is called Portlandia. She's been sitting up there for over 20 years now. Portlandia is the second largest hammered copper statue in America (the largest is the Statue of Liberty).

Eric at the Pittock Mansion.
Eric roaming the halls.
Multnomah Falls.

Mulholland Drive

I was driving along Mulholland Drive today and discovered this scenic overlook which has a great view of Hollywood and downtown LA.
That's the 101 Hollywood freeway headed south. Notice the Capital Records building, middle and to the right.
Here's a unique view of the Hollywood Bowl.
Look off to the east and you see the Hollywood Sign.

Claymation Commercials

Here we have a few behind the scenes photos from some Will Vinton Studios commercials I worked on. The first two photos are from a low budget Albertsons commercial I animated along with Teresa Drilling. I remember having to shoot the above shot twice because I had the characters bumping too violently into the doors as they were trying to get out.
The faces were clay and I think the bodies were taken from some old "Gary & Mike" puppets.
I always liked animating the Three Musketeers. This photo was taken during the filming of the "Chocolate Awards" spot. We shot the characters front light/back light so they could be placed into the live-action environment of an awards show.