Thunderbean: Disorganized Progress

Today is another rambling article, but it won’t be too long before there’s a little more cohesion here….

It’s the first week of the break, and so, the first week of being able to dive into Thunderbean in a very full time way in a while here! The week has been moving along very well here overall, although there’s just not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do right now. Orders are going out and training new people, and today I’m off to scan some more films. I’m looking forward to next week since the ‘big’ sending will be all done, folks here can concentrate on getting the films cleaned up at the new space, and I can concentrate on finishing the sets that are close. Many of these have been real adventures, but the best part has been seeing so many cool things and having so many films looking so nice.

This summer for Thunderbean is all about catch up, but having lots of things approaching the finish line is exciting. I’ve been working at nights on the tweaks for Grotesqueries. The films, menus and all else are done (and have been) but some of the ‘special’ extras on the set have been sticking points— specifically the ‘Ghosts’ High Noon’ . It’s a bonus (simple) animated sequence that Chris Buchman, the co-producer, holds especially dear. I’m trying hard to make it pretty and finished. This title will be the first of the ‘official’ ones to get finished this summer- maybe this week if all goes well!

I like doing little extra things when I’m able on the sets, either in menus or in titles or bonus features. Kat Huff, one of the graduating seniors in Illustration, just finished this background plate of the clouds (Left, click to enlarge) for the opening of the ‘Rainbow Parades’ set. She’s a talented Illustrator as well and will be working over the summer with Thunderbean.

I’ve been working on cleaning up Spinning Mice the last few days. It’s a really beautiful print other than being beat up at the beginning. I can’t wait to get out to Toronto to scan now that it’s all shiny and ready… Japanese Lanterns is getting similar, gentle treatment. This is the joy of doing these sets for me— getting them as good as they can be.

Now, if only Parrotville Old Folks could get scanned!

The More Stop Motion Marvels set is in full swing as well. I’ve started to organize the projects like an assembly line, the ones closest at the front and getting the most attention. Some other huge surprises became available this week, and we’ve managed to make a deal to include them on this set. One is one of my Holy Grails, previously seen only in (mostly) black and white. The first volume continues to get updates as well.

On things to come:

I’ve become a little hesitant to show some of the rare things that have been getting done here, but at some point they’ll all be available. There’s a ton of films that we have rights now that haven’t been shown at all yet. This summer is an excellent time to explore that.

To cap today’s post, I thought I’d post a couple of the stills we’ve been pulling as we’re working on some of the new projects.

Here’s a cool still from TV Guide, showing Mae Questel, Jackson Beck and Jack Mercer at Jack Kinney’s Studio:

And, another really fun one from the early 70s (Courtesy Lenny Kohl):

And, an especially cool still (with notes by Gordon Sheehan on the identities) of the Dave Tender unit at the newly formed Famous Studios (Courtesy Lenny Kohl):

Some real news soon! Have a great week everyone!