Vinton’s “Festival of Claymation ”is inventive animatedfilm
By Chris McCubbin
Staff Reporter
It’s not really a movie, exactly. It's
more of a sampler. “Will Vinton’s Festi
val of Claymation" is an amusing over
view of the state of an Emerging art form.
Claymation involves building a clay
Figurine over a jointed armature. The
figure is photographed, minute changes
are made in the figure, and it’s photo
graphed again, and so on. Eventually
the illusion of motion is created. It
takes 24 stills to create one second of
finished film.
Because the figure is three-dimen
sional, camera angles and lighting
effects can be used that could never be
simulated in traditional two-dimen
sional animation. Because the figure is
clay it can be molded, melded and
mutated like no model ever could.
Will Vinton is the undisputed master
of the art of claymation. He’s best
known to the public for the conga-line
---1
of California raisins kicking their way
through the commercial to the tune of
“I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
Vinton has also created a feature length
Claymation film:,"The Adventures of
Mark Twain.”
It’s a shame the Sheldon isn'i show
ing "The Adventures of Mark Twain”
along with — or instead of — "Festival
of Claymation.” "Adventures” shows
the potential of the medium as well as
"Festival,” and it’s also a wonderfully
inspired fantasy, innocent and educa
tional, but with enough wit and sophis
tication to charm any literate viewer.
But “Festival" is what we’ve got, and
it’s still a lot of fun. "Festival” is an
anthology of Vinton’s shorts and com
mercials from 1978 to the present. It’s
all strung together (sort of) by "Freak
Previews.” a fairly amusing parody of
those TV critic teams, starring Rex and
Herb, two bickering dinosaurs.
Despite the jumble, some of the
individual subjects are nothing short of
brilliant. In addition to their skills as
animators, Vinton’s crew are also visual
artists of remarkable emotional impact.
The melodramatic "A Christmas Gift”
packs an emotional wallop far beyond
what the corny plot (based on a rather
mawkish Peter, Paul and Mary song)
deserves.
There’s familiar stuff; Vinton’s com
mercials, including the raisins and the
Domino’s Pizza “Noid.” The excellent
video to John Foggerty’s “Vanz Kant
Danz."
There’s first-rate visual humor in
“Calaveras County” from the "Adven
tures of Mark Twain,” and in “Dino
saurs” and "The Great Cognito.”
"Will Vinton’s Festival of Clayma
tion” is a lot of fun for animation
aficionados and the young at heart. It
plays Thursday through Sunday at the
Sheldin Film Theatre. Screenings are
at 7 and 9 p.m.. with matinees at 1 and
3 p.m. Saturday and 3 and 5 p.m.
Sunday. Admission is $4.
Glassy Eye (continued)
EYE from Page 6
Also featuring Evelyn Ankers, the
queen of screamers, Dwight Frye
(Fritz the hunchback in "Franken
stein”) and the legendary Olaf Hyt
ten. 68 minutes of bliss. So why’s it
on at 4:50 a.m.? Somebody at Univer
sal needs a brain transplant cuz this
sucker still isn't out on video. Sigh.
Stoke up the VCR.
Sunday 1 p.m. WGN Ch. 2.
“Abbott and Costello meet
Frankenstein, ” (1948) Bela
Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Glenn
Strange.
Don’t get me wrong here. Ole Bud
and Lou, Slim and Tubby, Chick and
Wilbur . . . whatever, never really
made me bust a gut but this is
actually pretty funny. Incredible as
it may sound, Bud and Lou helped
Universal pictures stay afloat and if
anything, kept audiences interested
in monsters till the next cycle of
spook films cranked up in the '50s.
This flick is a nice contrast to
Saturday morning’s "Ghost of Frank
enstein.” Lon Chaney had fallen on
hard times and was no longer Univer
sal’s star. Here he plays the Wolfman
for the zillionth time aided by his
hip flask of fire water. Bela plays
Dracula for the first time since ’31
and was grateful since he’d been
grinding out cheapies since ’41. At
64, he wears lots of rouge, lipstick
and whiteface. The Frankenstein
monster is played by Glenn Strange
(Sam the bartender from “Gun
smoke”). It’s considered by many to
be one of the best horror parodies
ever made. Best Line: (Bela to Lou)
“Vut ve need today is young blood
and brains.”
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