Sunday, December 27, 2020

Behemoth media 2021 demo reel

 It's been a tough year, really tough for me and everyone else in the world. If you need or know anyone who needs animation, graphic design, motion graphics, editing please, PLEASE get in touch with me to work something out! 

View my portfolio site at:

Behemothmedia.com

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Nosferatu poster project

 

I seem motivated by monsters these days. When I get an idea and the urge to realize it I'm trying just close the door to the studio and work until I'm done. I started this one a day ago but did about 7 hours on it today. 

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Holiday Recommendations 2020

 Since we are pretty much all in the slammer this year in solitary confinement, spending the holidays with a few holiday films and specials might be in order. There are in no particular order and as always with recommendations, your milage may vary. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

The ultimate outsider, Charlie Brown's famous Christmas special. The deformed little tree, the weird dancing... there is a lot to like in this 55 year TV special. It will certianly bring back childhood memories for some of us but even younger inmates will get a kick form the story and Charles M. Schulz Peanuts characters.

Babine

Not technically a holiday story but such of it does take place in winter and, to me at least, it has that seasonal feel to it. The fantastical adventures of a young man born to a witch and the odd villagers of a small northern Quebec village. It's both comforting and touching and you can find a version with subtitles if you don't speak French. 

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

Maybe the gayest thing ever on television. I mean it Has K D Lang, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Charo, Joan Rivers, Little RichardGrace Jones singing little Drummer Boy!  And a million more! Pee-wee discovers the meaning of of the season as only he can and in the end, shirtless construction muscle thinks build him a playhouse addition of fruit cakes. 

Muppet Christmas Carol

I am not a fan of the Dickens story or it's film adaptions. I don't hate them but I will avoid it during the holidays... unless it's this Muppets version which is BEST adaption EVER MADE. I'll fight those who disagree, It really is an amazing, fun and heart warming version of the often over done classic. Michael Cain is a wonderful Scrooge and the muppets are all super in their roles. It's visually beautiful and despite the fact 90% of the actors are puppets they all read as real people and it draws you in like nothing else can. 



Saturday, December 19, 2020

Monster Zero/King Ghidorah

 

Otherwise known as King Ghidorah. I had a nice long chat with my my friend Mike today about art and other things and I was inspired enough to do another giant monster poster.I had been planning this for a few days so it didn't just happen out of nowhere, but my ideas came together and I thought I should strike while I was in the mood to create something. 

The title took longer than I thought. I tried it in 3D but there were all sorts of problems getting the textures right. (I wanted it to be made of rock for some reason.) In the end I went with just using Affinity Designer and adding more subtle  effects to the text. *EDIT: I could not help myself and did more work on the 3D titles and solved the problems I was having.)

I struggled a bit with the lightning rays... should i do them or not. They seemed over the top so in they went. I used the sort of style I did for Godzilla but with three heads, two tails and wings Ghidoraj was much more dynamic. Again I went through movies to find references but I also discovered some of the toy figures and studio publicity photos had ideas I could mix and match. 

This looks like comic book cover to me but I think it makes a good poster as well. 

Friday, December 18, 2020

Godzilla poster

 

One of a series (most likely) of giant monster posters. I went through the film to find good references and drew the King go the Monsters as he appeared in the original film. These will not be as clean and start at my Star Wars poster series but not too far off from that. I like to keep it simple. 

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Jack the Giant Killer (1962) Directed by Nathan H. Huran


 At first glance you might think you were about the see "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" as this film uses the talents of Kerwin Mathews and Torin Thatcher in the main roles. It also extensively uses stop motion animation for the special effects. Because of these similarities, as a kid I was DYING to see this movie and always seemed to miss it as the local theatre where it played at least once a year, we didn't have TV back then so if it was on TV a lot I would not have known. 

The reusing of cast and techniques is where the similarities end for the most part... at least terms of quality. The story is a mess, but a fun mess with Mathews as the handsome farmer saving the process from the evil over the top Thatcher from second rate stop motion monsters, bad matte paintings and sub-par animations. Mathews has a lot of charisma and does his best to sell it all but it's not enough to get thorough some of the slow parts of the story. The time and place is some fairytale old England but it might as well be the Arabian nights worlds of Sinbad, so much so they turned this film into a musical(!) on release to avoid being sued. Luckily the version I saw on Tubi was a later release with no music. 

Jim Danforth is credited with he stop motion animations and this is pretty obviously one of his first attempts at the process - he did get much better later on. The first effects scene with the princess dancing with a tiny figure from a dollhouse is well done and choreographed but after that... well each following monster looks more and more like a stuff dog's toy.

Was it worth the 46 year wait to see it? Sure. Why Not. It's not good but it is amusing in points with the weird-ass rhyming leprechaun character in a bottle and the villain over acting and chewing all the scenery. There is a certain lost charm to the animated puppets, at least for me that kept me watching until the very end. 

* a side note* Torin Thatcher seemed to be limping throughout the entire filming of this movie - what was up with that? 




Saturday, December 5, 2020

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) Directed by Robert Wiene



 Danny Peary, the writer of the Cult Films movie books has heralded this film as the first cult movie and the start of arthouse cinema and I would have to agree with him. The script tells a story within a story with the main character telling a friend about the murders that occurred in a small super weird looking and abstractly constructed town. A mysterious carnival barker has arrived to exhibit to the public Cesare, a somnambulist played by Conrad Veidt. Doing the show, the companion of the main character is told by Cesare that his time is short and will die by dawn. This happens and is part of a series of mysterious deaths no one can solve. 

Even though this is silent film, one everyone seems to think they know, I won't spoil it much. There are twists and turns you might not suspect for such an old movie and as familiar as people are with the imagery from this film, few really know what happens in it. I have seen it several times and was surprised at how much I forgot, including that there is more than one twist at the end. 

In some ways the fantastical look of the sets and characters takes away from the story telling and in other ways it IS the story telling. It could be argued that its twisted streets and bizarre characters are hints as to what is really going on. This is one of the few pure expressionistic films made that influences film makers still this day. Not a fan of remakes, this one might be interesting if it could be done with no commercial considerations in mind as a pure experiment, maybe even as an animated project that could push the look and abstractness to levels not dreamed of in the silent era. I might even try a shot or two myself because it is such a challenge. 

Silent films are not for everyone, but they are for students of cinema and there is a lot for this film to teach us still.