Another tragic bit of unused special effects for The Howling, joining the rod puppet in cutting room floor purgatory: David W Allen's stopmotion werewolves
Allen was hired when the rod puppet was considered as the method to realize the werewolves; as it couldnt be shown walking from a distance. You can tell the stopmotion wolves are based on the rod puppet's design. Sadly, when the rod puppet was rejected, so too were the stopmo sequences; Dante felt the quality of film was too noticeably different between the stopmo and live-action scenes. Allen wasn't that happy with all his hard work not making it into the film.
I'm finally releasing my thesis film Gnosis to the public. It was completed and aired May 2nd 2023 at the Central Michigan University Animation Showcase, but I've had the video unlisted for a while as it circulated through other film festivals. Please enjoy a year's worth of labor and love I endeavored on all on my own.
Gnosis is a reinterpretation of the seven days of creation through the lens of the metaphysical artist trying to reconnect with their art. It is a mixed medium film filled with experiments in stop motion and digital compositing. Each day presents a new dimension of creativity to explore, and to seek further understanding of the self.
vimeo
To learn more about all the research that went into the project, please check out the page for the project on my website-
Tumblr needs to blow up over Paranorman right now cuz that film was so much better than i remembered, and also it qualifies as a "healing of generational trauma" film when you look into Norman's maternal family heritage. [no spoilers tho]
It opens to a raw look into turbulent relationship between norman and his family, and by the end they learn to appreciate him for his gift and begin to try and understand him, the atmosphere in his home improving from rejection to acceptance.
Norman can be easily read as neurodivergent for viewers (like myself) who have ever felt outcasted by our family, our peers, our society. Heck, I'd wager queer kids and teens could also probably relate to his home life and struggles, even if queer rep in the film itself is only reserved for one end-of-film joke [no spoilers tho].
What i'm getting at tho is this film definitely needs to be shared over tumblr, gushed about, discussed about, critiqued over how it could be improved on, drawn more fanart, acknowledged as a piece of art.