Archive for the ‘Independent Cinema’ Category

The Milpitas Monster

Monday, June 16th, 2008



“Not Since King Kong has such a tale been told”

The Milpitas Monster was produced in the early 1970’s by the community of of Milpitas, California, and directed by Samuel Ayer High School photography teacher Robert Burrill. The result is a one-of-a-kind of cinéma vérité monster flick that oozes entertainment. The roles of the Mayor, the city council, the police and file departments, the garbage collectors, and the High School students and faculty are enthusiastically played by themselves.



Animated monster effects accomplished by Stephen Wathen

The monster, spawned by pollution, terrorizes the city of Milpitas by stealing its garbage cans. The Milpitas Monster’s environmental message addressed the booming populations of nearby Silicon Valley communities, whose nearby landfills gave Milpitas a smelly reputation.



Kozy Kitchen restaurant miniature built by Duane Walz

The competent miniatures (including a particularly fine miniature of the Kozy Kitchen restaurant) and the monster suit were constructed by students and parents from Samuel Ayer High School. Stephen Wathen contributed polished character animation with his stop-motion effects of the monster.



The Odorola portable monster detector

I’m impressed with the talent and enthusiasm behind this 16mm amateur production. The bizarre tale of garbage, teenage “hoodlums,” George the loveable homeless alcoholic widower, and a 50-foot tall monster is just too charming to criticize. And everyone looks like they’re having a great time.



KTVU channel 2 Creature Features horror host Bob Wilkins in his cameo appearance as monster expert Dr. Lindford of the U.S. Pollution Control Board

The Milpitas Monster DVD can be purchased from www.milpitasmonster.com.

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Posted in Duane Walz, Independent Cinema, Robert Burrill, Stephen Wathen, miniature, stop motion | 4 Comments »

Pete Peterson – Beetlemen Test Reel

Monday, April 30th, 2007

Here’s another fantastic clip from Pete Peterson’s personal projects. This clip was discovered, along with The Las Vegas Monster, in a trunk from his former residence. Pete Peterson died in the 1960’s, before his work found much appreciation.

In his story for the film, the beetlemen are humans who mutated while hibernating in suspended animation.

Behind the scratches and damage to this short length of color footage lies an atmospheric scene that exceeds its simple concept. A lesser animator might approach this demo as a straightforward walk cycle, but Peterson evokes tremendous personality from each beetle-man. His long, evenly-paced style applies perfectly to the skulking mutants, and makes the appearance of an entire horde of bettlemen even more startling. This is a superior example of character animation.

Pete Peterson must have built several articulated puppets to support the multitude of characters in this short film. How many? I imagine that, when a puppet exited the frame to the left, Peterson immediately repositioned it to re-enter the frame from the right. I don’t believe it’s likely that Peterson optically composited puppets to create a crowd, especially considering that this is color film. Nevertheless I count four bettlemen on screen thirty seconds into the clip. I don’t know if Pete Peterson had assistance machining and skinning the armatures, but manufacturing four detailed, highly articulate stop-motion puppets is its own accomplishment.

At least one beetleman stop-motion puppet saw life in a feature film. A sword-fighting beetleman, animated by Jim Danforth, makes a strong impression in the 1972 feature Flesh Gordon.

Posted in Independent Cinema, Jim Danforth, Pete Peterson, stop motion | 1 Comment »

Pete Peterson – The Las Vegas Monster

Wednesday, April 25th, 2007

Pete Peterson’s stop-motion animation is greatly underappreciated today. As Willis O’Brien’s production assistant, he was responsible for memorable scenes in Mighty Joe Young, The Black Scorpion, and Behemoth the Sea Monster. The grace of his animations contrasts with the crippling arthritis he developed at the peak of his career. Peterson valiantly worked through his physical pain on the animation set, even while bound to a wheelchair.

The Las Vegas Monster is a test reel created by Pete Peterson for an unrealized motion picture. You’ll recognize the set and low-key lighting from The Black Scorpion. Peterson designed the monster and built the armature. Years later, the monster’s armature became the backbone for the Great God Porno (sometimes called the Nesuahyrrh) in the 1972 feature Flesh Gordon.

The monster – a mutated baboon – creeps along with a four-limbed simian gait that’s a refreshing change from King Kong’s, and the articulated feelers protruding out the nose are effectively bizarre. (They also sell the concept of the monster’s body reacting physically as it swings its body around, particularly at the end of the clip.) I’m also impressed with the monster’s extended pitch when hurling objects – it’s a motion that can’t be achieved by an actor in costume.

This clip’s pace seems slow to me. In contemporary animation, shots of the monster hurling cars and boulders would be photographed in just a few frames for more energetic actiont. But the pacing works with the long duration of each animation cut. This 2:19 clip is made up of only eight cuts (excluding the actor who briefly sticks his head out a door), and the longest is an astonishing 52 seconds, approximately 1,248 frames. Peterson must have been gifted with intense patience and memory.

The Las Vegas Monster demonstrates Pete Peterson’s innate talent for stop-motion animation, and I want to learn more.

Posted in Independent Cinema, Pete Peterson, Willis O'Brien, stop motion | 2 Comments »

Planet of Dinosaurs – Allosaurus Attack

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

The team who put together Planet of Dinosaurs clearly loves dinosaur movies. This 1978 independent production pits a group of lost space tourists against some quality stop-motion dinosaurs. The scenes between the dinosaur confrontations are just time fillers. Planet of Dinosaurs is all about the dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs were animated by writer/producer James Aupperle, Doug Beswick, and Stephen Czerkas. Aupperle and Beswick have been active in the effects industry ever since. Stephen Czerkas now heads The Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Utah. Jim Danforth provided some matte paintings.

This scene of a small Allosaurus attacking a spaceage damsel in distress represents the great quality of work that brought the film’s dinosaurs to life. This Allosaurus’ exaggerated scaly skin reads great on film, and a whole bag of stop-motion tricks was opened in this scene: Rear projection, static mattes, thrown sand, and impalement by a live-action spear. Its motions are smooth and natural.

This clip comes from a VHS tape I won on eBay.

Posted in Doug Beswick, Independent Cinema, Jim Aupperle, Jim Danforth, Stephen Czerkas, stop motion | No Comments »