The Feature Films that Inspire Me.

Art has always had root in inspiration, ever since the first parietal art depicting animals and hand stencils of the inhabitants of the land, artists of all kinds are inspired from fellow artist and nature. Animation is no different and often inspiration is triggered from watching the work of other filmmakers, be it King Kong or The Nightmare Before Christmas.
This list will show films that have inspired me from an early age to present day, some films have had more influence on me than others, but I will go into detail in my explanations why they have shaped my imagination in storytelling, visual ideas and how I was moved emotionally by it.

JURASSIC PARK (1993)

When I was young, the films I would often lean towards had some element of fantasy or science fiction, more often than not, Dinosaurs were always a guaranteed hook for my attention. When I heard of Jurassic Park through a TV commercial, my mind exploded with excitement. The only Dinosaur film that was high ranking on my favorite list was "The Land that Time Forgot", which was a British film made with large hand puppet Dinosaur. Jurassic Park broke the mold for me on how Dinosaurs were portrayed in film, both by perfect blend of animatronics by the talented staff at Stan Winston Studios and the CG team at ILM. 

This is the film I always associate with being the one that made me want to work in cinema, especially after reading the Making of book which gave me content I had never before seen with any of my favorite films. Ever since its release, this film has been the forefront of inspiration in every drawing, sculpture and story idea I have had.

THE LAND BEFORE TIME (1988)

In the late 80's when I was still very much attracted to animated content over live action, The Land Before Time was my version of Disney's "Bambi". It featured epic scenes in the story and the mixture of caricature and "real" styles for the dinosaurs was so engaging, that even during quieter times of the film I was still enthralled enough to continue watching. Even the scenery left me with a sense of  grandeur. Though, by my standards today, this is not a style I personally would replicate in my own work, the story alone is something I continue to be drawn to, the family dynamic, death of a parent, a great journey and the reward at the end, as well as the constant pursuit of the main antagonist.

  JAWS (1975)

This is the first film I watched as a kid that was based in the horror genre, thought the subject of the film is about a shark (as a child I had a obsession with them) I was disappointed you didn't really get to see much of it. It wouldn't be until I reached my teens that I would appreciate the lack of the sharks appearance and the use of John Williams music to enhance the presence of the shark from bellow the surface. This taught me how important music can be to give life to the audiences imagination when watching films, just because you could see the creature didn't mean it wasn't there.

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974)

This film that was introduced to me around 4 or 5 years old, and until Jurassic Park, this was the pinnacle of Dinosaur movies for me. It's a British film adapted from the book of the same title by Edgar Rice Burroughs (the same author of "Tarzan" and "John Carter of Mars". It follows the story of a First World War U-Boat with its German crew and some British passenger ship survivors, they go off course and venturing into the arctic and discovering a tropical center where dinosaurs and early humans still thrive. The film utilized detailed hand puppets and marionettes as well as some crude animatronics. These captured my imagination for merging ideas like prehistoric animals with "modern" technologies, akin to the films I watched like King Kong and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which lead to many a dinosaur toy been adorned with Lego parts or fighting off toy Army Soldiers.

THE IRON GIANT (1999)

One of my later finds that added to my influence collection. When it was originally released I didn't show any interest in the film (I think it was due to the lack of advertising I saw) but when I saw it in the early 2000's I was blown away by how wonderful the story was, mainly for one scene in particular. The film follows a "typical" 1950's sci-fi move, a giant alien robot comes to earth, befriends a boy who teaches him the value of life and friendship only to be plagued by the military as a threat to mankind, but it was the ending scene that really broke me. The Giant having learned about death earlier was now comforted by the loss of his friend and to see grief in a character that until now didn't have any emotional reaction to such a situation was well executed; not only did it teach me the value of how character animations could be moving and show remorse, but the later scene where his sacrifice was driven by such powerful score, gave the scene weight. 

ALIEN (1979)

I became a fan of the Alien franchise in 1997 after seeing Alien Resurrection, but it wasn't until I saw the original trilogy that I would truly develop a fascination with Alien and Aliens. In terms of entertainment I prefer Aliens with it "Vietnam war in space" theme, but Alien is what inspired me; the use of the gritty, grimy truckers in space mixed with Giger's bio-mechanical, unstoppable creature was so different to anything I had seen before, especially its use of not showing the whole creature, similar to way Jaws didn't use the shark. 

BELLVILLE RENDEZ-VOUS (2003)

Belleville was a interesting discovery for me, I had never really watched animated films outside of the American or English releases, especially ones that I thought didn't conform to a "Disney style" per say, but watching this film inspired me on a few levels. The first being that is was practically a mute movie, there were moments of some dialog, but in comparison to other films this was practically a silent movie. The style also interested me, showing the differences of perspective of European views of america, compared to their Hollywood glamour of perfection. I also enjoyed the different shapes that represented the characters personality or role in society. The inspiration this left on me was that you didn't always need a narrator or dialog to tell a story, if you have a strong image you let the story unfold using the animation.

GODZILLA: ATTACK OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER (1965)

I was introduced to Godzilla around about the same time as I was to King Kong and The Beast, it was during his 60's and 70's era, my personal favorites are The Invasion of Astro-Monster and Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), There's something about a man in a suit that has always appealed to me, perhaps its the idea that I too could make a creature suit, miniature buildings out of boxes and building blocks and stomp around bringing out my inner creature, destroying those who choose to suppress me. This love of creature performance has actually driven me to work in a scare acting role for two years and also helps me plan out my creatures choreography for story-boarding and animating, once I get into that mindset of being the creature, what do I do, how do I move, what are my eyes doing, these are the questions that always come to my mind when planning ahead.

THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958)

The 7th Voyage was my second introduction to Ray Harryhausen's work and this also had a lasting impact on my creature and story ideas. The scenes of the Cyclops and burned into my memory ad the Dragon was so impressive I tried to get my father to make me a wooden toy of the dragon, but the skeleton scene in particular really struck a cord for me. It was the first time I ever really believed in magic, I knew it had to be a trick of some kind because I couldn't see strings like Thunderbirds, and it certainly couldn't be a man in a suit, nor was it a rod puppet like The Muppets? I wouldn't find out for many years later, but the inspiration I got from this brought rise to my interest in Fantasy and Mythology which would always play a part in my creature designs.

THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953) 

My very first Ray Harryhausen film, I have such a love for this film I would give anything to see the original armature blueprints to see what made the beast move. As with Kong, I was at a very young and impressionable age when I saw this, it really played with my imagination, the idea of prehistoric beasts been awoken from a deep slumber by man's destructive power. The look and the motion of the creature also aided in that amazement and love for the creatures destructive power of tearing down building and sinking ships, fueling my own thoughts of Loch Ness Monster's and giant sea serpent's, especially its climatic end, which taught me that even if your character must die, hero or villein, a good ending is always a dramatic one. 

STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

I had seen these film in chronological order in the late 80's ( I think they were Christmas films at the time) and to be honest I wasn't that blown away by the first Star Wars film, sure it had great spaceships and I loved the villein Vader but I found the plot boring and none of the character that interesting. But, as the films progressed my interest grew, better effects and more intense plots really started to pull me towards the theme of the films, then came Jedi! I was in awe on how much visual effects were going on in some scene, especially the space battles. I started to want to create my own space craft in Lego bricks and this is where I started to learn about attention to detail, even if its only on film for a brief second, without it, it could ruin the whole shot.

KING KONG (1933)

This was one of the very first films I ever watched as a toddler, it made a huge impact on me and despite the remakes or retelling of this classic film, the original still brings me back again and again. People forget how important this film was back in the 1930's, been made during the great depression in America, it took audiences out from the mundane world and brought them into a world of fantasy allowing them to escape even for just a few hours their troubles. Some of the effects were still very much "trial and error", but most were perfected by the film crew, along with O'Brien, after previous work on The Lost World (1925) and The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918), but these pioneered the way to future effects that would shape the would of cinema as we know it today. The thing I take away the most from this film is not hold back on your idea, if it has scope to be bold, do it, don't fear what has not yet happened since, like Kong, it could be that start of something truly inspiring!

THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982)

Probably the only puppet film to really impress me on my list, other than Labyrinth of course, this film had such a nightmarish draw to me that when watching it I would get so terrified I couldn't turn away from the screen. The details of the characters, the little creatures to bring life to this fantasy world, even the conflict of Good and Evil being two sides of the same coin, was such a huge shift int he fantasy films I had grown accustom to.

THE FLIGHT OF DRAGONS (1982)

The last of my childhood inspirations, mainly for the ideas of magic and its ties to medieval stories. But again the links with Good and Evil being two sides of the same coin, time travel and even the voice talent of James Earl Johns, this film captivated me and taught me how to arch a story, giving purpose to characters, even if they ended up not making it to the end of the story.