Persistence of Vision

I went to watch a documentary about Richard Williams called Persistence of Vision at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The theater was not very pack, which is kind of sad. Most people in the theater were probably animators.

The documentary talks about Richard Williams' never finished animated feature film, The Thief and the Cobbler. He and all the animators in his studio spend 3 decays working on this feature. But in 1992, the project was shut down (or taken, I should say) and the 30 years of slavery like labors goes out the window. Just from looking at the bits of the tests of The Thief and the Cobbler,  I am already astound by the quality and the techniques of the animation.

The film was later finished and released by Majestic Films in 1993 as The princess and the Cobbler and Miramax in 1995 as Arabian Knight. 4 songs have been added to the released film, but in the Williams' original script, there was none. The script have been changed, scenes deleted and master piece gone.  I went on youtube to search for clips of the film and it is very obvious which scenes were done by Richard Williams and which scenes were not
I think this story of Richard Williams is a great lesson for me. I will mention one of the lesson I learn watching this film: finished the storyboard so I know the over all of the project. The documentary mention a lot about the struggles animators have to face. Time is always a big challenge for all types of animation. Deadlines deadlines deadlines.

This film actually gives me some inspiration. I will start experimenting as soon as I finished my 18 pages Human anatomy and Physiology exam. 囧