Claymation!

Well, let's start by clarifying that this video is not Michael Jackson's, Michael Jackson is a dancer, is not an Stop Motion modelist or photographer . The author of this scene from the film Michael Jackson Moonwalker (as well as the head of the special effects throughout the film) is Will Vinton and, in bold .

Will Vinton is an architect and filmmaker influenced by Antoni Gaudi, who began making documentaries with political themes in the 60s, until he made Culture Shock, their first short animation.

At the 70's he met Bob Gardiner, a modelist, who founded Clay animation, an animation company in the cellar of his home, and together made a half minute short test film called Wobbly Wino. In 1973, they bought a team of 16 mm, and combined the qualities of Vinton photography and Gardiner modelist skills, in 1975 they completed their first real short: Closed Mondays, which won the Oscar for best short animation film.



Vinton and Gardiner broke rellations in 1976 during the filming of his second short: Mountain Music. Gardiner produced political advertising, while Vinton created his own studio: Will Vinton Studios, and with a new team of animators he made dozens of ads.

As a new producer and with only a handful of workers on the payroll, Vinton made a trilogy based on folk tales: Martin the Cobbler (1977), Rip Van Winkle (1978, nominated for an Oscar), and The Little Prince (1979 )










The three chapters were premiered in film together, under the title Trilogy, and on video with the title: The Little Prince and Friends. They filmed a documentary of the making off process titled: Claymation .

In 1971 they changed again to 35 mm with the short Legacy and a series of short films such as Dinosaur, The Great Incognito and The Creation, nominated for an Oscar in 1981. Also made video clips and animated A Christmas Gift for Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary and Vanz Kant Danz for the former Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty. These shorts were collected on VHS as Festival of Claymation and Son of Combo II.

Vanz Kant Danz @ Yahoo! Video

Vinton no longer make animations by him and devoted himself exclusively to produce special effects, especially for TV series such as Divine Madness, Moonlight (which won an Emi) and the opening and closing titles of the series Brain Donors .




In 1985 he produced the feature film The Adventures of Mark Twain, and that same year was nominated for an Oscar for best special effects for the Disney movie Return to Oz.

As a producer of animation for advertisement, Claymation was very prolific, and created characters such as M & M's or raisins from California.




Ads of California raisins were so successful that they released two specials for the CBS: Meet the Raisins and Raisins sold out, after that, they published two albums of music.








CBS produced 3 more Claymation specials: A Claymation Christmas Celebration (who won an EMI in 1988), The Claymation Comedy of Horrors (a special Halloween 1991) and A Claymation Easter.




In the 90s they produced the FOX series: The PJ's, a series that was going to be produced by Eddie Murphy. And Gary & Mike, considered a series of worship for the UPN network. For this series, Claymation forgot plasticine as work material and changed it by the foam, much more versatile and clean, creating a new technique of stop motion that Vinton named "Foamation".



In the 90s, apart from the productions of 400 animators and technicians of Vinton studios, they gave the facility to other small producers of animation in what they called "The Walkabout," where came out creations like Arnold Escapes From Church by Craig Bartlett, who won an Oscar in 1987, which led to the Cel-animation series Hey Arnold, broadcast on Nickelodeon, and the Claymation short: The Arnold Waltz (1990) and Arnold Rides a Chair (1991).




In the lates 90s, They added CGI animation effects to their creations, as can be seen in advertisements of M & M's, also began to create short films in 3D, like Fluffy, or Doug Aberle. They developed a new 3D animation program by partnering with a computer company , and rthey published the animated series for Internet: Ozzie the Elf.




In the 90s, to feature films, he had to seek investors, among which was the company Nike, whose son of the president: Phil Knight, had worked in Claymation.

In 2002 Will Vinton losed power on the company, Phil Knight became the main shareholder and Vinton, by failing to attempt a Hollywood production, was fired from the studies that he had created. In 2005 studies changed the name of Will Vinton Studios to Laika House, and got as art director of the study Henry Selick, the director of Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and James and Giant Peach

View article on James and the Giant Peach

After this capitalist game, Vinton founded a new company: the Will Vinton's Freewill Entertainment, which works by order, as the graphic novels of Darkhorse: Jack Hightower. Is devoted to production for film, TV, and all kinds of short films, and in 2005 he completed his first animated short of its new venture, this time in computer animation mixed with real image, The Morning After

Total, one of the greatests men of Stop Motion animation,he invented foamation, he was part of the latest generation of artists from traditional special effects, was the first to perform a mixture of stop motion and foamation with digital effects, he knew all sorts of animation skills, styles, genres and media, won an Oscar in a film shot in his garage! As the only producer of Oregon who has never won an Oscar. He launched to fame and influenced dozens of artists from Stop Motion, including Henry Selick, regarded by many fools as the second best Stop Motion Animator after Tim Burton. Nominations for the Oscars, a Golden Lion, several EMIS ... and what happened to this man? robbed and minimized by capitalism as an artist.

The world of plasticine is harder than it seems.