New Info - Harryhausen Tribute

All the most current info about the tribute to Ray Harryhausen and a video about it can be found at the following link...

http://www.stopmotionmagic.com/tribute

Ray Harryhausen's Birthday!

This year Ray Harryhausen will celebrate his 90th birthday and I'm hoping we can do something really special! When I learned that Ray would be turning 90 this year, I made a suggestion on StopMotionAnimation.com that maybe we should celebrate by shooting stop motion video birthday cards for him. Our friend Nick Hilligoss was already in the middle of shooting a short with that same theme for Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine Online and I'm already working on 'Sinbad The 5th Voyage' but, I still felt that wasn't quite enough.

After I made that suggestion, a lot of animators agreed that the idea had merit and we really should go for it. I blathered on about the idea for a while hoping that it would become something worth collecting on a disk and shipping it to Ray himself. Well as it turns out, it got a lot more attention than that, the idea has ballooned and I'm happy to report that AnimateClay.com and Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine Online have both taken up the concept and expanded it into something that amounts to a REAL TRIBUTE!

Plans are still being hashed out but, Ray's business partner has now officially given his blessing to this and Ray will indeed see whatever we turn out AND there are plans being hatched for this to be something that can truly be called an 'event'.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been contacting as many stop motion animators that I have email addresses for and asking for their participation in this tribute and I'm happy to say that there have been a good number of those who have signed on to shooting a 'card' for Ray's birthday. I will be shooting my own short for this and I hope you will too!

So if you have the time, Please consider shooting something? There really are no strict rules for this other than the following... it needs to be shot in either puppet or clay animation and it must be 'family friendly'. (no gore or otherwise offensive content) Other than that, it can be as long or short, simple or complex as you can afford the time to do... it just needs to honor the life and career of Ray Harryhausen and/or wish him a Happy Birthday!

Further details about how this will be collected and shown are developing currently and I will post future updates as they unfold. But I want to get the word out to as many stop motion animators as possible as soon as possible. Ray's birthday is coming up on June 29th and I suspect that anyone who intends to shoot a 'card' for this event would need to plan to have it finished at least a month in advance of that date.

Ray Harryhausen is in my opinion, THE KING of stop motion animation and more than deserves his 90th birthday to be a massive showing of THANKS for all the years of entertainment and advancements to the craft which he alone mastered for millions of fans.

More To Come...

Sinbad: The 5th Voyage

I've had the distinct honor of being picked as the one who will animate a stop motion animated scene in the film 'Sinbad The 5th Voyage'. As an animator who has seen the work of Ray Harryhausen as nothing less than miraculous for all of my 43 years, I can only hope to make a meager - if not foolish attempt, to fit my tiny feet into those giant shoes.

We stop motion animators refer to him as 'Uncle Ray' for very good reasons... he is family and he will always be larger than us, for all he has taught, inspired and mastered. I will do my best.

Now Available Through

I just recently completed the process of making In the Fall of Gravity available on Amazon and what was very exciting for me was the fact that Creatspace (where I set up the account) sent me an advance copy of the DVD to approve before they release it. It was the first time I ever got to see the disk with the actual disk art on it and it looks very cool!

So now I have my very own eStore on Amazon and I think people will trust buying the disk through Amazon more than Indieflix for being sure they will get a quality product for the buck$.

So here's the link.. https://www.createspace.com/265051

Gravity Now Available From Indieflix!

Just a note that I've updated the box on the right with a link to the page on Indieflix where you can now get In the Fall of Gravity on DVD as well as via direct download. I'll add more links and stuff as the release moves forward.

Thanks for all your support!

Another Contest On...

After entering that last contest (still running on BigStar.TV) I got all jazzed about it and then I saw a posting for this new contest on SuperU and just couldn't resist taking a shot at this one too... BUT! Not only is the prize bigger but the competition is stiffer as well. YIKES! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE mozy on over to this new contest and plunk your votes down on the table. (ratings once again)

Remember the same rules (mine) as in the other contest... Take your time perusing the films, consider them all for their strengths and weaknesses, (keeping a score card if necessary) be fair, be objective, be honest and then vote for ME! Please? OK then, just be honest... I won't cry. Here's the link...

http://www.superu.ca/latest_entries/49