logo Sign In

The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released) — Page 27

Author
Time
Post link
Sorry, I'm having computer troubles...

If Williams DID intend that piece to open the film, then it could be added back in, right? It's a lovely piece of music (along with the love theme and its variations), but it would be neat to re-instate stuff.

Also, I was wrong on Langdon! It turns out my DVD box set of silent comedies has THREE of his. How soon do you need the DVD-R of the documentary clips? With another day or two, I can add an entire 2nd DVD-R just with silent film clips that reflect what's in the film.

Oh, and get this.... in my business/professional communications class, we have to do a proposal presentation. We were going to do one on getting Georgia State University a football team and stadium, but we realized we can't do a lot of research in two weeks. So, we're looking for another topic... If I can convince the other people in my group to go ahead with it, I think it would be neat. It'll be easy for the group since I can just link up all the stuff you've found - and I'm doing a term paper on "Thief" anyways.
"I was a perfect idiot to listen to you!"
"Listen here, there ain't nothing in this world that's perfect!"

- from The Bank Dick
Author
Time
Post link
Oh dear ...



And no rush on the DVD-Rs! If a couple days will get some extra clips, take a couple days. =D
Author
Time
Post link
http://www.ctufilms.com/cobbler/fantasiatallis.mp3

complete mp3 in terrific quality. I did a little try synching it... it actually fits really well!
"I was a perfect idiot to listen to you!"
"Listen here, there ain't nothing in this world that's perfect!"

- from The Bank Dick
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: OgOggilby
http://www.ctufilms.com/cobbler/fantasiatallis.mp3

complete mp3 in terrific quality. I did a little try synching it... it actually fits really well!

Listening to this, I'm being reminded this same piece was used for a short film produced by the National Film Board of Canada in the early 80's I have in my collection entitled "Zea".
Zea
Yours truly,
Chris Sobieniak

For more mindless entertainment....
My LiveJournal Page
The Online Video Depository - For all your daily video needs!
Author
Time
Post link
Funny about the "Funny Thing" thing. I def think those should be included, as the animation - 'specially Buster Keaton's in the close - is great and a little different to anything else RW has done (as usual).

I'm sure "The Little Island" was shown on BBC 2 or Channel Four here in the UK. I'm going up to my mother's on Sunday and will check out some boxed up tapes. Trouble is I never labelled anything!

I will go through and see what I can find. Will get on to the "I Drew..." and "Art" dosc next week.


BTW, how is PAL DVCam for you?? It's the pro version of MiniDVD (with no dropout) and the easisest, less compressed format I could get things to you quicker. That or Digital Betacam...?

I may have a real prob getting from good old analogu BetaSP into a digi format to transfer to DVD...
Author
Time
Post link
Yeah, I'm sure PAL DVcam would be fine to send to ... well, someone reading this thread in the Uk who does video.



EDIT: Okay, Babyhum has agreed to do any transfers of PAL miniDV material ... I don't know about DVcam (which is sometimes incompatible), but I've asked.
Author
Time
Post link
I just wanted to say Tequilla Mockingbird is a great nickname.
Author
Time
Post link
I got my analog video capture device working, so I'll be able to get most of a Harry Langdon short from a tape (it's part of a compilation film).

Some DVD captures:

http://ctufilms.googlepages.com/langdon1.jpg

http://ctufilms.googlepages.com/campbell1.jpg
"I was a perfect idiot to listen to you!"
"Listen here, there ain't nothing in this world that's perfect!"

- from The Bank Dick
Author
Time
Post link

Hi DrGonzo! I wouldn't mind transcripts of Animating Art and parts of Behind the Ears (from the official Roger Rabbit DVD) actually .... what I'm really waiting on is converted copies of the 1969/70 Clapperboard and One Pair of Eyes docs (the latter already being transcribed). Apparently there's another called The Creative Mind too, which both Roy and Holger Leihe have mentioned. I'm not sure if this is the same as One Pair of Eyes: Dreamwalkers, as it sounds similar.

Obviously there's plenty else I could actually use help with in terms of organizing the book and doc, but I'm always hesitant to ask for these things, and I can barely think of what they'd be. I've got all those scans now from the Therhorn collection, 1000 scans of Thief material which is all split up over two or three or more scans apiece, and ought to be Photoshop-stitched together .... which I'm way too hassled to do now, but I'll have a look at it and do some of it, since I'd like to use and color this artwork for use on covers and things ...


Unfortunately, all the stuff I has is off the myspleen torrent and I only have the barebones RR dvd (cause I've just had other things going on lately and haven't picked it up yet). I can start a transcript of Animating Art off the wmv I have. Do you need time codes or just who said what? (Every person is kinda different on specifics on what they want). If I can get a copy of Behind the Ears (which disc on the new dvd is it on, I'll see if I can't get it from Blockbuster.com), I'll start that as well.

I've got better things to do tonight than die! - Springer, Transformers the Movie

Author
Time
Post link
So, Holger Leihe, who among other things worked over Ken Harris' old work animating The Thief on the film, sends news that as of 7 months ago, Don Hahn mentioned he was working on a restoration of The Thief, with Dick Williams.

I've asked him to casually look into it, and see what Don's up to now. =) Apart from being second in command at Disney and all that. Obviously Don is verrry busy, but hopefully can get a few words out of him. I do have Don Hahn's email (I took a guess what it was and was right) but I won't email him ... why bug a man who has the restructuring of Disney to think about right now!

Holger will also be sending in some copies of the Clapperboard and "The Creative Man" documentaries from 1969, dealing with the Nasrudin film, which he got from Roy Naisbitt.


I don't know if I mentioned it, but I also heard from Greg Duffell.


There's been so much news, every day I'm dealing with dozens of emails and tons and tons of new information. I'm still writing emails from four days ago ... or longer ...

But I'll keep you all updated on the best of it. =)


NOW ...


I need some help, and I'm really serious about this one. I need some SERIOUS help.

I need an editor ... who can wade through and organize a LOT of written material. It's practically a writing job in and of itself.

I was working with Sean Murphy, who had signed up to be an editor, helping edit together the materials needed for me to write this book/script.

Sean, to his credit, put a lot of work organizing articles into a private Wiki. But it wasn't the kind of organizing I actually needed!

Today he called, and we had a nice conversation, but he said he just couldn't wrap his mind around the kind of editing I needed here. He understood it now, but he couldn't do it.


So, this is what I need.



I have collected a large amount of articles. A few hundred pages worth, yeah.

I need someone who can go through this material, article by article, and separate out the portions of each article which pertain to a specific period of time.

So, if the bit of the article was about "Richard Williams was born in ..." You'd put that at the beginning of Chapter 2.

If it's about Nasrudin, it goes into the Nasrudin chapter at the appropriate point. About A Christmas Carol, at that point.

The idea is to get the appropriate portions of each article arranged so that all the information about, say, Richard's early years is all together. Everything about The Little Island is together. Raggedy Ann, together. The 70s Thief, together. The 80s Thief, together. The 90s Thief, together.

When this is all done, I'll have a long master document that I can then look at while I'm writing, and instantly have all the information I could ever need right in front of my eyes. Every sentence I write will be well-informed and I'll be able to use the best information from every source.

I can break this job up so that it's being done by one person for a while, then another person, then another person, but it can only be done by one person at a time really.

It is a pretty tough job. Sean agreed that it would be a mistake to try and do it myself, as I would get so into organizing the material that I'd be low on energy when actually writing, I'd feel like it had all already been said. The information needs to hit me freshly for the text of the book to have any snap.


Anyway. It's a hugely important job. And I can break it up to make it easier, people can do it in shifts.

Any takers?
Author
Time
Post link
I'll buy that for a dollar.

I've got better things to do tonight than die! - Springer, Transformers the Movie

Author
Time
Post link
Email me?





So, Amid Amini, who does the website Cartoonbrew.com with Jerry Beck (!), thought it might be a good idea to feature an interview about The Recobbled Cut at that site. Which is flattering and cool. It might help people find out about the project who wouldn't otherwise hear about it ... hopefully including more artists who worked on it. We'll see.

He sent me a few questions to answer via email. I hate interviews which sound "typed" so I just kind of replied the way I'd reply if I were talking out loud. No real edits to my brain vomit. I babbled on for a while, and it's quite long, and if you're reading this thread this is nothing you don't already know, but here's what I sent. Which will probably be shortened for the site. =D


Cartoon Brew talks to Garrett Gilchrist

(or, Garrett Gilchrist talks and talks at Cartoon Brew, as usual)

> What is it specifically about THE THIEF AND THE
> COBBLER that has inspired you to invest so much of
> your time and money to restore this film?

Lot of time, lot of money, yeah. Heh. When I was seven years old, I read an article in Comics Scene magazine - I still have the magazine - which shows absolutely no artwork from The Thief - Richard wouldn't let them - but interviews him about it ... and he says he's trying to revolutionize animation; he's trying to create the greatest animated motion picture ever made. That he's been working for 23 years on this one film, The Thief and the Cobbler. Now at the time I was sleeping on Roger Rabbit bedsheets, I had Roger Rabbit bendies, a Jessica PVC, so if the man who animated Roger Rabbit says that, you better believe I was interested.

Richard just had a way of talking about this film - he made it seem uniquely magical. He exaggerated like P.T. Barnum, but you can tell he really believed in this project, that he wanted to make the best animated movie he possibly could, no matter how long it took. I've heard the same thing from a lot of other people, how when they were kids they read about this legendary unfinished movie that this guy was spending 10, 20, 25 years on .... how it was going to be a masterpiece. Even the people who worked on the movie, they worked on it because they were in love with the idea of it.

I was about 14 when I actually saw a trailer for Arabian Knight in the theater, and I thought it looked awful. I thought, "someone's ripped off Aladdin." But it stuck in my mind that this was from the animator of Roger Rabbit ... long-lost memories came unstuck ... hang on, somehow this is the same masterpiece he was talking about when I was a kid. Something's gone horribly wrong here. It wasn't until I was in high school that I read the actual story of how the movie was destroyed, never finished as intended.

Richard Williams spent 26 years working on this film, but it wasn't until after Roger Rabbit that he was actually able to get funding to make it properly, because now he'd won three Oscars and animated the first modern animated blockbuster, so he had clout again. Richard always wanted The Thief to become a blockbuster and kick-start a new modern golden age of animation, but Roger Rabbit wound up doing that instead ... which is nice. He started the film afresh with a team of mostly young animators that he could teach as he worked, but now, after 22 years he had to meet some sort of deadline. Warners needed him to deliver the film on time and on budget ... and he'd gotten so used to working on it slowly over time that he couldn't do it. He got close - he only had 15 minutes left to go - but when Warners saw the film, they didn't like what they saw. It was too arty, too old-fashioned.

Disney was making leaps and bounds in the 90s - this was the era of Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin ... and Dick's film, so long in production, seemed old-fashioned by comparison. I've heard that Dick hated The Little Mermaid, because it was driven by dialogue rather than visuals. Dick wanted to make a film like Fantasia, like the classic Disney cartoons, but now there was a new style at Disney. Dick never cared about dialogue, he cared about the visuals, creating a whole world onscreen. The funny thing is that Dick influenced that - over the years so many people had trained under Dick and they were mostly working at Disney now. Eric Goldberg, Andreas Deja, Dick Purdum, a few thousand others.

And Disney was making this film called Aladdin - which is, I mean, Aladdin is an excellent film, but it's basically a musical-comedy version of The Thief and the Cobbler. It's widely known as a ripoff - the characters are identical, much of the plot is identical, even individual shots, lines, line readings, are identical. And frankly it's sort of juvenile compared to The Thief. But now there was a big problem with The Thief ... because Aladdin was coming out, and he would have to compete with that! They were racing to finish before this film that they'd inspired. And Disney had been very inspired by Dick, so you can just imagine Dick trying to play catch-up to all the young guys he'd inspired, who'd taken his ideas and ran with them. Disney was in a golden age, but Dick was screwed ... which is another reason not to spend 26 years on a film, if you needed another reason.

Warner Bros. wanted The Thief to be like Aladdin, like Mermaid. And it's not - it's more like Yellow Submarine, like Fantasia. It could never be a broadway musical. It's purely about the fascinating visual potential of animation. Most of the characters are silent - there are incredible war sequences - it creates a whole world - It's closer to 2001 than Aladdin. Or to Pinocchio for that matter. Anyway, Warners got scared and backed out, Richard was fired from his life's work, the film was finished by a hack named Calvert, and it's terrible. The version of The Thief and the Cobbler you can get on video is terrible.

It's even more terrible because Disney got scared of it, and recut it themselves to turn it into an Aladdin ripoff. They had Tack talk about Genies and talk about Aladdin ... they really ruined it, Disney really ruined it. They were scared I guess that anyone would watch this movie and LIKE it, and realize that Aladdin wasn't an original film. The version you can get on video, it's terrible, it's almost impossible to like, so that makes it seem like an Aladdin ripoff rather than the other way around. To quote Judge Doom in Roger Rabbit: "I bought the red car so I could dismantle it."

It's a very sad story. Richard was obsessed with this movie, probably to an unhealthy level, and when it was taken away from him it was obviously such a terrible blow. Now he's known as the master animator, the Animator's Animator - he's written The Animator's Survival Kit which is now THE textbook for any animator, it's the best book ever written on animation. His animation masterclasses were huge events, always sold out. People who took them became teachers themselves. A lot of the great animators today, they learned from Richard, or they owe a lot to Richard. But people have never seen his masterpiece. You can't rent or buy or watch Richard Williams' The Thief and the Cobbler. It doesn't exist as it was meant to be seen. I think that's a pretty damn good reason to restore this movie!


> It was rumored some years ago that Roy Disney had
> been trying to convince Disney to do an official
> restoration of the project. Do you see this as a
> replacement to any eventual official restoration
> that Disney might do, a companion piece, or something
> completely different?


God, I really hope Disney does restore this film someday. The latest I hear is that Don Hahn is working on it now with Richard. Or was, a few months back. So it's in good hands. I don't think they're scared of the film anymore, as certain people were for awhile after Aladdin. Certain people at Disney who are now long gone. Roy Disney tried to get a restoration done for almost a decade, but it's a film that's ... it's impossible to get those two sides to come together.

Richard doesn't trust Disney with this fim (or trust anyone with this film after what happened!), and Disney can't quite play ball with Richard. The story I heard was that they just weren't spending the money to do it right - that they'd let Richard be involved but wouldn't pay him. Or wouldn't pay him to have a staff, he'd have to do it alone. Richard always wanted this film to be a blockbuster, like Roger Rabbit wound up being. It's not a tiny project to him, and they were lowballing him because they didn't think there was a market. This is a huge film among animation geeks, but the general public doesn't know about it. So raising the money ... hmm.

Anyway, I wish them a lot of luck. I'm not trying to step on Disney's toes. I'm hoping that what I'm doing will help their cause. For one thing, my goal is to prove there IS a market out there. I'm spending a lot of my own money to prove there is a market out there. I said I was doing a restoration of The Thief and the Cobbler and people went nuts ... it's such a legendary film among people who really know animation. They would sell a lot of copies. If they can ever do a restoration, what I'm doing is a companion to that I guess. Because they could do it with much better picture quality than I ever could, and people who have seen my version would want to buy Disney's version in a second. But what I can do is ... I don't have to worry about rights issues, so I can collect anything and everything related to this film. We've collected an amazing amount of material. And I hope it generates even more interest in this classic film, because people can show this stuff to their friends. I feel like I'm doing Disney's job for them, doing their marketing. Heh. No, I don't need to, there's quite a cult following out there.

> It looks like you're also compiling some amazing
> dvds of supplementary materials like documentaries,
> interviews, and other Williams animation projects.

Yeah. Ten DVDs so far, which is pretty remarkable. Everything about this project has been larger than life, which is appropriate since Richard is a larger than life figure and this is a larger than life film. We've collected lots of documentaries, including a whole bunch recently from 1969 and 1970! That early, which is really fascinating. From 1980, from 1989 ... We've collected rare short films, commercials, promo pieces, lots of things you just can't get on video, in good quality. I'm geeking out, it's great stuff.

There's also the matter of all the artwork, images, interviews, articles ... I scanned 1000 pieces of original Thief artwork this week. We've scanned about 500 pages worth of interviews and articles. I mean, dear god, when will it end? It would be silly if Disney told us to stop at this point. They'd be silly not to just take it all from us and use it on their own release. We've done more work for them than they would ever do in a million years. I say we because it's been very much a group effort, a lot of people who worked on the film have been ridiculously helpful. I don't want to name names.

> How much involvement have original crewmembers had
> on this project, and who are some of the artists that
> are helping out?

All right then. The guy who really kickstarted this proect was a fellow named Simon Downes, who was assistant to Roy Naisbitt (layout) on the film. I kind of mused out loud on a message board that I wanted to restore The Thief and the Cobbler ... something I originally did for fun six years ago, on VHS. Very few people saw that one. Simon contacted me saying, hey, I worked on this film, here's some rare stuff. He sent me the widescreen DVD version of the Thief which is pretty rare, from Japan, a beautiful copy of the 1980 documentary, some really rare camera tests he'd saved from the film ... it was great! And I said, all right, and just ran with it. And I've been hemhorraging money on this project ever since. Heh.

Roy Naisbitt was great, I called him up, very nice man, and a genius at that, he was Dick's assistant and layout man for nearly 3 decades. He sent me some really rare stuff, documentaries from the 60s, commercials. I interviewed him. Alex Williams, Richard's son and a major animator on the film (did Tack and the opening), very nice indeed. Visited him at his home, interviewed him, and that meant a lot, to get a thumbs-up and approval from him. Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, animated the lackeys, he's been very nice, lent me his vast collection of Thief artwork. Tony White, who was and is a hero of mine because his book on animation was the first one I ever read, at age 7, a mindbogglingly gorgeous book called The Animator's Work Book, buy it if you haven't. He's a teacher now and he showed the film to two classes, had a huge screening. I think that's real education.

Holger Leihe, worked on The Thief mostly, Steve Evangelatos, Greg Duffell, Jerry Verschoor, Beth Hannan who did ink & paint, oh god I'm forgetting people now. There are too many. Few very nice people who worked on the Calvert version who may not want their names named ... Heh. I called Fred Calvert, he didn't want to talk, but he's in a bad spot, his wife just died apparently. I doubt I'll ever get to talk to him. Sad.

But it's been a lot of fun. I mean, I've been such a fan of this beautiful film for years and now I get to see it from the inside in a lot of ways, touch a piece of it. It's beautiful, it's such an honor. I hope more people get in touch - if anyone is reading this who worked on the Thief, my email is tygerbug (at) yahoo.com, and what we're doing is, we're putting together a scrapbook. I'm collecting everything, everyone's memories, good, bad and otherwise. If anyone has any saved artwork, saved video, I collect it and I send it to EVERYONE, so that everyone involved in the film can share in it. And that's an honor in and of itself. Costly, but an honor.

I'm planning on writing a book about The Thief, doing a documentary. It's a hell of a story, a major moment in animation history, and it needs to be told, in the words of the people who were there, in all its glory and pain. It's an insane story in some ways, a story of obsession, and the desire for perfection in art. I'm a filmmaker primarily. I've directed seven features and thirty shorts, which you can see at orangecow.org. I once spent three years on one feature so I know a few things about obsession in art.

> There's already a rough 'director's cut' by Richard
> Williams that has been floating around the animation
> biz for many years. How will the version you're
> working on differ from the existing Williams' cut
> that many in the industry have seen?

Yeah, THAT bootleg. Well, that's the whole inspiration for this project, because it's terrible, isn't it? I mean, it's beautiful to watch because it's a great film but the quality is terrible. You can't see anything. And half the film isn't finished. This was Richard Williams' masterpiece, a film of such richness and subtlety that you can only hope to appreciate it on a big screen. And the only version of the thing anyone can get looks like crap with half the scenes missing.

So my goal is to take everyone who has that crappy bootleg of The Thief and the Cobbler, and quietly replace their terrible copies with a gorgeous DVD quality copy. This is why I've been giving it out for free so much, even though I'm so broke I'm getting kicked out of my apartment, because I want this version of The Thief to spread, spread enough that Disney says, hey, we'd better get on to restoring this film. Dick spent 26 years on this film, the least I can do is spend a few months on it.

> I noticed that you're doing some really ambitious
> things like compositing frames from two different
> sources to create a widescreen effect. Can you tell
> us what other types of things you're doing that'll make
> this the definitive version of THIEF AND THE
> COBBLER?

Yeah. Well, we spent a few months searching for the best version of the workprint we could find. First I edited the whole film with a poor quality workprint, and I released that as the "Recobbled Rough Cut," which a lot of people have. But better quality copies of the workprint kept turning up - I wound up reediting the whole damn movie twice! Finally a REALLY good quality copy turned up on Emule of all places. I have no idea who posted it there originally, but if you're reading this, please contact me. I'm sure it was someone who worked on the film, it had to be. A PAL copy.

So I'm starting all over again. The crappy Miramax version is available on DVD in widescreen, and I'm using that for 80% of the movie, just not using the picture. So you can see 80% of the movie in glorious widescreen. The audio is from the workprint mostly, and has been noise reduced and restored and sounds great. Anything they cut out, we take from the workprint, and that has been restored by Chris Boniface and looks great. The workprint is matched to appear in the same place as the DVD material, so it transitions seamlessly. It's all color corrected. More music has been added that wasn't there before to make it feel more like a finished film than a workprint, sound is taken from other sources at times, CD quality music sometimes, opening and closing titles and special effects.

I've added back a few scenes Dick originally cut out, and I'm actually using a lot of the stuff Fred Calvert animated, even if it's kind of cruddy, because it tells the story better than storyboards. Some of the film is still unfinished, and you'll see storyboards, but you'll see a lot less of them than you used to - you'll see a lot of finished animation instead, some of which is actually quite good. We've also found a cut of the film which I didn't know existed, Stanch found it, it's a work in progress of Fred Calvert's version and contains some extra Dick Williams animation that I'd never seen before anywhere. So that's going in - there's a scene with One Eye which used to be just pencil test, but Dick finished it, and you'll see it. Yumyum in the bath, Zigzag charging at Tack ...

Now there are some really important scenes that are in Fred Calvert's "Princess and the Cobbler" version of the movie but not in the Miramax cut (which is much worse) ... the old witch, the entire march of the one eyes, a lot of the best stuff in the film. I wish I had Princess and the Cobbler in widescreen but I don't. I have it on DVD in pan & scan, because it was never released in widescreen. So, what I'm doing is pasting the really clear pan & scan image over the less clear widescreen image from the workprint. It works great, because the pan & scan image contains the important part, like the witch herself, and that'll be REALLY clear, and the rest can be less clear but who cares? It's good stuff.

Also, I'm using a lot of trickery to make it work better - I've created my own backgrounds for some pan & scan shots so the whole picture can be clearer - which I've had to matchmove or match changing lighting on as the shot changes. I've composited parts of shots over clearer backgrounds. One shot, the Thief is really tiny in it, so I just composited The Thief over a really clear background from the DVD, and reanimated the FX elements around him myself - flying cannonballs, a grabber hand that comes down. It's remarkable because it's suddenly DVD quality.

I did the same with a shot of the One Eye War Machine - I created a background and animated it with rain. I guess I've gone a little crazy with this. I guess that's the understatement of the year. This film tends to inspire obsession in people. Dick would know that better than anybody. That's my main goal, is to create something Dick would like too. I don't know if I'm capable of that, but I hope so. My cut is not the same as his cut, and his son Alex advised me to tread lightly - he hasn't spoken publicly about this movie in 15 years, it really ruined his life when he lost control of it, his whole obsession, his life's work. Alex was worried that Dick would think that I was just stealing his movie and reworking it, like everyone else. But gonna try and approach him with it. That'd be nice ....

> Since this whole thing is obviously a non-profit
> fan-driven project, how will the average reader of
> Cartoon Brew be able to get their hands on this
> material?

The final Recobbled Cut will be available for free via torrent at myspleen.net. There's already an old torrent there somewhere which has a terrible version of the workprint and some good specials on it, but the real Recobbled Cut will almost certainly end up there. I don't know about the 10+ special features discs, but we'll see. They'll certainly be spreading around, I'll make sure of that.

> And when do you think your final restoration will be finished?

26 years ... No, it ought to be done sometime in May. Probably early May. I'm still waiting for the new restored workprint and Arabian Knight to come in, that Chris Boniface has done his work on. That'll come in and I'll start working on the final cut next week. April 17th, I'll start work on the final cut. The 20th is my birthday, I'll be 25. The 30th I get thrown out of this place for failure to pay rent. And sometime in May ... Recobbled Cut.

But I'll be keeping this research project open, because I'm enjoying talking to people involved with this film, and I'm going to keep gathering up their memories, and gathering up special feaures related to this film. Maybe it'll help Disney when they do theirs. They can feel free to contact me. Heh. It would make a really good book, and a good documentary, and I hope I somehow maintain the stamina to do both. It's been a fun ride so far, and it's only getting better.
Author
Time
Post link
Very interesting summary of the events up to this point. You did a good job of writing everything down in a conversational style. Hopefully things work out. So, once you get kicked out of your apartment, where will you go?

As far as I know, street alleys don't come with outlets for computers...
Author
Time
Post link
I have no idea where I'm gonna go.



No idea.


I could go anywhere if I had the money to do so, but I don't ... so where isn't really the question.


But hey. As Madonna said, "take your picture off another wall ... you'll get by, you always have before." =)
Author
Time
Post link
Okay, so I've assigned the first part of the article-editing to Tweaker. Many thanks.

Dr. Gonzo, you're on board for part 2.


Richard Williams, The Curious Case of Inspector Clouseau (2002):

Blake said, "Peter Sellers and I, we both need a hit, we're both in the soup, our career needs a lift, we're gonna break our ass on this picture." And, uh, I said, uh, look, I'd like to do a couple of things, I'd like to take the Panther and stretch him out, I'd like to put him on black because the pink will look wonderufl in black. We can have him dance like Fred Astaire or whatever you want, and I said can I stretch him out, make him a little more elegant. And he said, "Elegant! That's right! They never understood my character!" (Williams reacts in shock) And I said "Oi oi?" It's him, as a panther!




Gah, I have to sleep. If I'm gonna ever get anything done on this project I really have to start asking for more help.

Anyone wanna have a hack at OCRing some articles? I suggest blowing them all up first and adjusting the contrast, via some sort of batch convert thing in Photoshop.

http://orangecow.org/thief/articlesforOCR

By the by, for you casual readers of this thread, the articles in that directory are of interest, it's the whole John Loter collection to date.

This article is definitely worth reading, it's the most amusing interview with Richard that I've read.

http://orangecow.org/thief/articlesforOCR/pg57.jpg
http://orangecow.org/thief/articlesforOCR/pg58.jpg
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: ocpmovie
I have no idea where I'm gonna go.



No idea.


I could go anywhere if I had the money to do so, but I don't ... so where isn't really the question.


But hey. As Madonna said, "take your picture off another wall ... you'll get by, you always have before." =)

I only hope for the best.
Yours truly,
Chris Sobieniak

For more mindless entertainment....
My LiveJournal Page
The Online Video Depository - For all your daily video needs!
Author
Time
Post link
In that case I plan to live on the moon surrounded by sexy sexy mermaids.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: ocpmovie
In that case I plan to live on the moon surrounded by sexy sexy mermaids.


Sorry, already called that one.

Go to bed, you crazy bastard. BTW, those articles should be able to be OCRed as they are, without fiddling around in Photoshop.
Author
Time
Post link
The 20th is my birthday, I'll be 25



Hey! That's my Birthday too! I'll be 30!


Author
Time
Post link
I've got spring break next week, and I'll more than likely be spending it on the computer, bored, so I might as well help out. So I guess unless something comes up for me, count me in for some editing starting on monday.
Author
Time
Post link
You know, if it'll take the load off a little, I can still do the re-editing on Animating Art and I Drew Roger Rabbit. The funny thing is that I was set to go a few days ago, but with the potential better quality source material, I figured it was worth waiting for.

I have a book by Gianalberto Bendazzi called "Cartoons" and there's a short bit on Richard Williams. Oddly enough, it still mentions "Thief" is an adaptation of the Nasruddin stories, despite being a relatively new book.

I'm visiting my old home for the weekend, so I showed my mother the recobbled cut and she loved it! I'm just in awe of how everyone I've shown this to just falls in love with the film.
"I was a perfect idiot to listen to you!"
"Listen here, there ain't nothing in this world that's perfect!"

- from The Bank Dick
Author
Time
Post link
Oh my gooosh...

I can't afford to get all twitterpateted right now.

I still haven't finished the Alex Williams phone conversation -- I've been insanely busy with school, finals coming up and all. I haven't given up. But it'll take me a bit longer.

And I so want to say that I can help organize materials for you, but... nnnngg....I really can't say that right now. Not until finals are over. Then we'll see.

Lovely interview, by the way. That's nice to see.
Surprised, aren't you? I knew you would be.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: OgOggilby
You know, if it'll take the load off a little, I can still do the re-editing on Animating Art and I Drew Roger Rabbit. The funny thing is that I was set to go a few days ago, but with the potential better quality source material, I figured it was worth waiting for.

I have a book by Gianalberto Bendazzi called "Cartoons" and there's a short bit on Richard Williams. Oddly enough, it still mentions "Thief" is an adaptation of the Nasruddin stories, despite being a relatively new book.
Hey, I just read that book last year! I highly recommend it!

I'm visiting my old home for the weekend, so I showed my mother the recobbled cut and she loved it! I'm just in awe of how everyone I've shown this to just falls in love with the film.

It's kinda funny how that works at all. Too bad it never did a decade ago.
Yours truly,
Chris Sobieniak

For more mindless entertainment....
My LiveJournal Page
The Online Video Depository - For all your daily video needs!
Author
Time
Post link
Hey everyone! So I've been uploading most of the huge, 1GB collection of scans of artwork from the collection of Andreas Wessel-Therhorn. This is because I'm leaving for the weekend and I wanted to give you all something big to chew on. =)


http://orangecow.org/thief/thieffromtherhorn


There you are. Mostly pencil drawings. They've mostly been scanned in two or more parts because they wouldn't fit on the scanner, so anyone wanting to patch them together in Photoshop, that kind of thing. To do anything with them you'll have to do that.

All are quite large.


This isn't the whole collection, but it is most of it. Maybe I'll upload the Ken Harris "Thief in tree/awning" and Art Babbit "Get those balls" sequences some other time ...

These would be a good basis to trace as fanart, or to play with in Photoshop.


There have been no takers for OCRing that collection of articles. Anyone?





EDIT:

Fellow in Australia believes he can get a 16mm copy of The Little Island converted, for the tune of $50 Australian for miniDV, $60 for a DVD. He can also get The Dermis Probe, probably for free.


Sounds like another excuse to spend money! I'm tapped out to negative levels right now though. Maybe I can ask a few of the regulars here to throw $5 apiece into the tygerbug at yahoo paypal?