A timely RE-post of a column I wrote for AWN way back in November of 2007. I am reposting it for several reasons. 1.) Since returning from the amazing and wonderful FMX conference in Stuttgart, my brains have felt like well-done scrambled eggs, and writing anything coherent has been an unsurmountable challenge. 2.) I think it was and still is an excellent and extremely necessary topic to address, and 3.) The very digital distraction that I am writing about, threatens to derail my own workflow almost every day, and I needed a reminder! 

Recently I went to see the new version of ‘The Clash of the Titans’, very curious to see what Hollywood had done to the Ray Harryhausen classic of 1981, directed by Desmond Davis. The modern day version’s director, Louis Leterrier, fueled by truckloads of money and a penchant for making overblown action adventures, picked a film that many animation aficionados hold very dear as one of Ray Harryhausen’s last masterpieces

Hanging out with the creator of the animation in the original 'Clash of the Titans' the legendary Ray Harryhausen and his wife Dianne in Annecy, 2004

How do you take a film that is not working, and rebuild it in record time, creating in the process a modern day classic? It’s simple! Hire super directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, and let them work their magic! 

Chris Sanders and Dean Dublois, directors of 'How to Train Your Dragon'

The story and visuals of Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland have long been such an important part of my imagination’s development, I couldn’t help but be mightily intrigued by the idea of a brand new version being directed by Tim Burton. 

Bringing Elemental Magic to China -After flying to Philadelphia to conduct my ‘Elemental Magic’ workshop at the University of Pennsylvania’s PennDesign department, I flew back through Toronto, and then over the North Pole to Beijing and then Harbin, in Northern China, where I then conducted my workshop yet again, this time for a group of over 40 Chinese students, with extremely varying levels of English speaking skills.

The Princess and the Frog has been endlessly reviewed and dissected by the media. But I haven’t read a damned thing that really said anything.So, if you care to to read what I really think about this film, read on….I’m being purposely critical, which is against my nature for the most part. But hell, somebody’s got to do it, so I’ll bite the bullet and play the part of hardened critic.

The ‘Elemental Magic –An Organic Approach to Visual Effects Animation’ workshop is not just a cute little tip of the hat to traditional animation principles.  This is vital stuff, that cannot be left behind, in the rush to embrace ‘cutting edge’ digital technology!

Elemental Magic brings the organic imaginative process back into the picture of the 'digital' revolution of visual effects.

Elemental Magic Workshop in action at PennDesign