Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Richard Williams

The anticipated day finally arrived this Monday, with an added bonus. Not only did we have the evening presentation, but were also graced by an informal visit to VanArts by Dick Williams, his wife Imogen (Mo) Sutton and 14-yr-old son Leif. Alan (president of VanArts) knows Dick from years back when he used to live in the Gulf Islands, so they shared some stories about flying in Alan's plane with Bob Godfrey. They dropped by around lunchtime so we gave them a tour of the school and the animation labs. The students were simultaneously stunned and excited, and plenty of them got photo opps and Survival Kits signed.






Along with Charles & Calvin, we all went out for lunch at Malone's. Conversations ranged from everything from animation stories to travel to foreign currency and everything in-between. I had a lively discussion with Dick about how music and animation relate to each other and how musicians make good animators. I was so amazed by how funny, cordial, humble and laid back he was, still talking the same way he does in all those old documentaries.



Charles is soaking up those stories...


At the theatre before the show, Dick and his family very graciously took the time to check out my story reel for Storytime with Nigel, as he seemed intrigued by the fact it's narrated by Bob Godfrey. He enjoyed it and I was glad to share it with him, as I feel that a lot of my animation style is inspired by his work.

The presentation at the VanCity Theatre was a smash hit to a completely sold out crowd that was lined up around the block. I got to introduce Dick before he took the stage to answer questions and present clips from his new DVD series. The clips he showed were priceless...very funny at times and of course loaded with exquisite animation. (There is a sequence of different animated eye designs morphing into each other which alone is worth the entire price tag to watch!) The evening concluded with a very long autograph line-up, and I got to see many familiar faces there too.

So the whole day was an absolute thrill to say the least, and I was truly honored to spend time with Dick Williams and his family. Thank you Dick for your inspiring work, kind spirit, and dedication to preserving the incredible art form of animation!

4 comments:

jriggity said...

COOL BEANS MAN!

I remember how jazzed I was to meet Harryhausen.

jriggity

David said...

Wow.

I'm glad for you . That must have been a blast.

Did he mention anything about what he's working on now ?

In an interview he did with the CBC-radio in Ottawa right before the Ottawa Animation Festival he dropped a few comments about a film he's finishing up , something that he had started years ago, then laid aside , now he's finishing it , then in the interview it sounded like he said "and now I'll get back to my feature" (I only heard the interview once , so I would have to go back to listen to it again.)

Ken A. Priebe said...

Somebody during the Q&A asked him about his current project, and he jokingly replied: Yes, it's called "Will I be alive to finish this?"

He didn't say much else except that he's very excited about it.

Nicole Standard said...

sounds like it was a great day :)