Folks wanting more info can email me at tygerbug (at) yahoo.com.
Yeah, info, that's the ticket.
>> I found that I can't export to m2v in Vegas... would AVI be fine?
If it's basically uncompressed, yeah that's fine. My preferred codec is PhotoJPEG if you can manage that!
BIG NEWS.
I met with Andreas Wessel-Therhorn today. Very nice guy, currently working on Disney's Mermaid 3.
For The Thief, he animated Zigzag's lackeys Goblet, Gopher, Tickle and Slap, apart from their first shot which Alex Williams did, and also did a lot of background characters, a whole scene of Zigzag, Phido and the lackeys with the balls, and a lot of other stuff.
From his desk he could see both Richard and Roy working, so he had a lot of stories to tell. I didn't get him on tape telling them, but what he told me was quite remarkable - many amusing and sad stories detailing the unique madness of this film.
He's been burning copies of Recobbled and Raggedy Ann for friends, with his own cover art. =)
I showed him my own cover art for Recobbled, and he liked it, but pointed out that I'd drawn the Thief's left foot wrong, which I most definitely had. He drew a quick one which was completely on model.
He scanned his Thief crew jacket for me, which he's emailing.
My brain is full with the remarkable stories he told ... but the big news is this.
He had a big box full of original artwork from the film. He ran around and saved a lot, that last day. He has the entire Ken Harris scene of the Thief crawling down a tree, pencils, all of it. Color poster art for Once and The Thief Who Never Gave Up. A few cels of background characters. Xeroxed model drawings of most every character. Pencil sheets of the lackeys especially of course. A lot of old Art Babbit pencils from the Nasrudin version of the film - of Zigzag and the lackeys in an early form, and of Tack in a VERY early form.
Lots of concept art of Yumyum, who was designed very very late in the game indeed. You can trace her progression. He notes that her breasts got bigger every time. The first shot of Yumyum animated was the shot of her receding into the distance with light on her ("Oh, rose of the land ...") - A shot which is slightly off model, being the test.
Here's the big news. He let me borrow this entire HUGE BOX OF ARTWORK.
I'm scanning the ENTIRE BOX.
...
I'm looking at it right now. It's right here. And it's a beauty.
Oh, and he has some pencil tests on old-style professional videotape. 3/4" I think? Might be able to get these from him. He also has the Warner Bros. trailer which Roy sent me as PAL .... He has it as NTSC somewhere.
He was glad to see his animation of Phido flying to Zigzag's tower in Simon's reel of camera tests. =)
Sooo ... more random info before I forget.
The tall guy who claps his hands together is named "Gort." Andreas animated him and the "little gong guy" in the king scene (Alex did the gong guy in the opening scene, since that was Alex's sequence).
Tim Watts did a lot of work on King Nod. Another German fellow whose name I've already forgotten did most of the stuff with the One Eye soldiers getting killed. Richard Williams did the first part of the Thief/Tack chase, and Dean Roberts did the staircase part, the "swimming pool" like shot, and etc. Andreas did The Thief crashing through the stained glass windows.
He kept pointing out who did what and I've already forgotten.
He did say that the Zigzag drawing John Loter has is probably not by Dick. He said who he thought it was by. But I'm so bad with names. I can get some of this in print maybe.
KNOW YOUR LACKEYS
Left to right: Goblet, Gopher, Slap and Tickle
Goblet - the brains of the operation. Voiced by Kenneth Williams. He plans to become Grand Vizier himself someday. Striped pants. Black rings. Purple skin.
Gopher - tall and clownllike, with an upward-pointed nose. Polka dot pants, he prances in a clownlike fashion. Red rings. Pink skin. Voiced by Stanley Baxter.
Slap - the "muscle" of the group perhaps. Very short - Art Babbit originally drew him like a pig, and that remains in his design. Black rings. Grey skin. Voiced by Stanley Baxter.
Tickle - Shy, foppish and effeminate. Art Babbit drew him as more snakelike and evil looking, he was made more comical in the redesign. His corkscrew nose, eyelashes and buckteeth define him. Green skin. Green rings. Voiced by Kenneth Williams.