FREAK SHOW STUDIOS NEWS: Freak Show Studios "SHORT-shorts" & "The World of Snowboy & Crow: Series 2"

FREAK SHOW STUDIOS NEWS: JUNE 18 2013

Along with production on the "Henry: The Heart Boy" short film, we have in the pipeline two exciting new projects to tell you about.

1.  The first will be a series of all new animated shorts called Freak Show Studios "SHORT-shorts".  Comic-strip like little stories that will feature new characters in shorts about 15 seconds in length.

"Dark comedic little shorts to brighten your day."
- Ken Turner

2.  We are pleased to announce "The World of Snowboy & Crow: Series 2"!!! Your favorite snowy land characters are back in all new adventures.  This time around you find out the answers to questions imposed from Series 1.  Such as where did Crow get that "magic bean"?  What happened to Snowboy's hat that made him get a new one?  What started the epic snowball fight between Snowboy and Crow? Where did Snowgirl come from?  Series 2 will feature 5 episodes and 1 Bonus Special episode.

Stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks and months from these two new projects along with more updates from the HENRY film.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLKrgVwA6G2IBk9sIGf3xxA

Cheers

Ken

"Henry: The Heart Boy" Short Film - Production Update #16

The Henry: The Heart Boy film is moving right along.  About a third of the backgrounds are complete with about 90% of the animation cleaned and colored.  The above screenshot was from a scene I worked on yesterday.  When you see the film you'll see where this character's grumpy disposition fits in.  Once animation is complete I'll start to work on final promotional pieces for the film.  More screenshots and updates to come.

  

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLKrgVwA6G2IBk9sIGf3xxA

  Stay tuned for more updates and be sure to tell your friends.

Cheers

 - Ken

https://twitter.com/iKenTurner

Ken Turner Blog Series: Influences and Inspirations Blog Entry #11 - CHARLES ADDAMS (1912 - 1988)

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.” - Morticia Addams

 Charles Samuel Addams who was the creator of the "Addams Family", that appeared in the New Yorker magazine in the 30's, inspired a popular TV series which debuted in '64 and many sitcoms, animated TV programs and two live action feature films.  He was honored with the Yale Humor Award and a Special Edgar Award for "Cartoonist of the Macabre" by the Mystery Writers of America in '54.  A lifelong collector of ancient armor and devices of execution and torture, which fed his fascination with death and dying.  After a 24 year hiatus from the sanctity of marriage, he exchanged vows one last time in 1980, in classic Addams style, dressed in all black, when he wed Tee Matthews in her Water Mill, New york pet cemetery.

Addams died on September 29, 1988, at St. Clare's Hospital and Health Center in New York City, having suffered a heart attack while still in his car after parking it. An ambulance took him from his apartment to the hospital, where he died in the emergency room. As he had requested, a wake was held rather than a funeral; he had wished to be remembered as a "good cartoonist". He was cremated, and his ashes were buried in the pet cemetery of his estate "The Swamp". (info via Wikipedia)

 “To live without you, only that would be torture."
"A day alone, only that would be death.” - Charles Addams

"When we're together, darling, every night is Halloween." - Morticia Addams

OPENING for the 60's TV series and TRAILERS for the 90's feature films:

  

 

 

 

  

 

"You're dearer to me than all the bats in the all the caves of the world." - Morticia Addams

 

One friend said of him, "His sense of humor was a little different from everybody else's."

     

Next time on the Influences and Inspirations :  *Hint - When he was a child, he sneaked onto the lot of Universal Studios during a tour and befriended an editor who showed him a few things about filmmaking.

Cheers

Ken

Ken Turner Blog Series: Influences and Inspirations Blog Entry #10 - DR. SUESS (1904 - 1991)

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird,

and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love" - Dr. Suess

Theodor Seuss Geisel was a children's book poet and cartoonist who wrote under the name Dr. Suess.  He published 46 children's books often involving imaginative characters and rhyme.  His most popular books were The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who! and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Some other facts on Dr. Suess:

 

 Dr Seuss: Rhymes and Reasons (2003 documentary) Part 1 of 9:

(you can find the rest of the parts on the documentary on YouTube)

Then our mother came in
And she said to us two,
“Did you have any fun?
Tell me. What did you do?”
And Sally and I did not
know what to say.
Should we tell her
The things that went on
there that day?
Well... what would YOU do
If your mother asked you?
Look at me!
Look at me!
Look at me NOW!
It is fun to have fun
But you have
to know how.
 - The Cat in the Hat

Oh me! Oh my!
Oh me! Oh my!
What a lot of funny things go by.
 - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

The Grinch hated Christmas!
The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why.
No one quite knows the reason.

 “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas… perhaps…
means a little bit more!”

- How The Grinch Stole Christmas

 

 "Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities." - Dr. Suess

"Think and wonder, wonder and think." - Dr. Suess

 "I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a situation. Then in the end, I go back and try to cut out most of the preachments." - Dr. Suess

 

"Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." - Dr. Suess

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go." - Dr. Suess

Next time on the Influences and Inspirations :  He nicknamed himself "A Defrocked Ghoul"!

Cheers

Ken

Ken Turner Blog Series: Influences and Inspirations Blog Entry #9 - RONALD SEARLE (1920 - 2011)

"There was the irresistible impulse to draw. I cannot remember wanting to be anything else other than an artist." - Ronald Searle

Ronald Searle was a famous British artist and cartoonist who lived to be 91.  Most remembered for creating the St Trinian's School books, Molesworth series and Cats books.  He produced work for magazines in the 50's such as Life, Holiday and Punch and his cartoons appeared in The New Yorker.  He also worked on advertisements and posters.  His work influenced generations of illustrators, animators and cartoonists including Matt Groening and the animators of Disney's 101 Dalmations.

"The two people who have probably had the greatest influence on my life are Lewis Carroll and Ronald Searle." - John Lennon

Here's an interview conducted in 2010 with Searle (the first interview in 35 years):

 

"Drawing for me has never been a case of therapy because I was shy, or not outstanding in physical activities, or anything else. It was a compulsion. I carried a sketchbook day and night, because I could not stop drawing. To sell a sketch was a pleasure, because it meant a little less economic worry and more freedom to explore. But if I had not sold, I still would not have stopped." - Ronald Searle

Here's a couple of animated pieces done in the style of Searle:

 

[referring to his imprisonment in Changi Prison, a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp, during World War II] "If all your generation - everyone you knew - died when they were nineteen or twenty, you've got the biggest present in the world. You live from day to day thinking "My God, I should have died when I was nineteen and I'm eighty-five now". How many presents can one have in one's life? Every day is a present." - Ronald Searle

Next time on the Influences and Inspirations : Dr. Theodor Geisel

Cheers

Ken

Ken Turner Blog Series: Influences and Inspirations Blog Entry #8 - RAY HARRYHAUSEN (1920 - 2013)

"I'm very happy that so many young fans have told me that my films have changed their lives. That's a great compliment. It means I did more than just make entertaining films. I actually touched people's lives -- and, I hope, changed them for the better." - Ray Harryhausen

In last week's "Influences and Inspirations" blog entry I hinted at my next entry would be about a certain "Master of Stop-Motion Animation".  This past Thursday May 7 sadly Ray Harryhausen passed away at age 92.  He single handedly influenced a generation of names in the film industry today such as Tim Burton, Stan Winston, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg to name a few.  He was first influenced and later tutored by King Kong pioneer Willis H. O'Brien.  Most famous for his work in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and the skeleton sword fight in Jason and the Argonauts.

Ray Harryhausen FILM Highlights

• Mighty Joe Young (1949 – first technician)

• The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953 – animation effects)

• It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955 – visual effects)

• Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956 – special photographic, animation effects)

• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958 – associate producer, visual effects)

• Mysterious Island (1961 – special visual effects creator)

• Jason and the Argonauts (1963 – associate producer, special visual effects creator)

• One Million Years BC (1966 – special visual effects)

• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977 – producer, special visual effects creator)

• Clash of the Titans (1981 – special visual effects creator)

VIDEO: Ray Harryhausen And His Iconic Monsters

"It’s not everybody’s cup of tea. Some people find it tedious. I’ve never found it tedious. But that’s peculiar to different people." - Ray Harryhausen on being a stop-motion animator

 "I feel it’s a tool. As you know, in a thirty-second commercial you see the most amazing images, the amazing image is no longer spectacular. It’s become mundane because it’s over used. The computer seems to be able to do anything. So people take it for granted, I think. There’s something that happens in stop-motion that gives a different effect–like a dream world–and that’s what fantasy is about." - Ray Harryhausen on CGI as a tool

Ray Harryhausen Special Effects Titan teaser trailer

This is the definitive documentary about Ray Harryhausen. Aside from interviews with the great man himself, shot over five years, there are also interviews and tributes from James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippett, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, John Landis, Ken Ralston, Joe Dante, Randy Cook, Guillermo Del Toro, Steve Johnson, John Lasseter and many more. For the first time Ray have provided unprecedented access to film all aspects of his collection including models, artwork and miniatures as well as Ray's private study, where he designed most of his creations, and his workshop where he built them. In addition the documentary will use unseen footage of tests and experiments. Never before has so much visual material been used in any previous documentary about Ray. This definitive production will not only display a huge part of the unique collection but will illustrate the influence that Ray's work has had on film makers during the past fifty or so years.  Written by The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation

  Concept Art from "Jason and the Argonauts" by Ray Harryhausen

Film Still from "Jason and the Argonauts"

 
 Ray Harryhausen Homages

The restaurant in Monsters, Inc. (2001) is named after him.

The piano in Corpse Bride (2005) is named after him.

 

 I paid homage in the alien spaceship episode from my web series Snowboy & Crow (2012)...the hat shop is named after him.
 

 

"1933's King Kong haunted me for years, I came out of the theatre in another world. I'd never see anything like that before in my life. I didn't know how it was done and that was half the charm. I didn't just say "Eureka, I've found what I want to do", that came over a period of time. But I'd done a few dioramas in clay of the La Brea tar pits and I saw in "King Kong" how you could make them move. Luckily a friend of my father's worked at RKO and he knew all about stop-motion, so I started experimenting in my garage." - Ray Harryhausen

 
Next time on the Influences and Inspirations :  The man who created St Trinian’s!

Cheers

Ken