Don Bluth
Don Virgil Bluth (born 13 September 1937 in El Paso, Texas ) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter who was famous for his work on numerous animated films, first at the Disney studio, and later on their own.
Biography
Childhood
Don Bluth grew up as the son of a Texas extended family on a farm in Payson, Utah. After he had seen at the age of six years, Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, he began to paint with passion and decided already in his childhood to try as makers of animated films. After the family moved to Santa Monica, California in 1954, the young Don graduated from high school graduation and sent a portfolio of drawings to the Disney Studios. His work was recognized and he was hired as an illustrator for intermediate images in animated films such as Sleeping Beauty.
Different Ways
After one year left Bluth Disney and served for two and a half years as a missionary of the Mormons in Argentina. After his return, he graduated from the Brigham Young University in Provo with a degree in English Literature and then opened with his brother Toby a theater. After some time, however, Don turned back to the movie business, in the television production company Filmation Studios, he started as a layout artist and soon rose to the head of the animation department.
Return to Disney
After three years at the Filmation Studios Bluth returned in 1971 to Disney, where you can still sought the direction for the future after the death of the legendary founder. After collaborating on the animated film Robin Hood (1973 ) he became the animation director for Winnie the Pooh (1974) and Bernard and Bianca (1977 ) appointed. Unlike some intent on thrift producers Bluth put premium on accurate, high-quality drawing technique and an intelligent story, which should require the audience.
During this time, the contact with the subscribers Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy was born. The three developed more and more of their own ideas and soon saw no way to realize them within the Disney production structure.
Productions
In September 1979, Bluth, Goldman and Pomeroy left together Disney and started their own studio, 1982, the dark literary adaptation Mrs. Brisby and the Secret of NIMH published. In 1986, produced in collaboration with Steven Spielberg success An American Tail walkers followed.
After installation of the studio into the Irish Dublin in November 1986 was followed by other animated films, among which the most famous Dino Adventure In The Land Before Time ( 1988) is likely to be. Later, the relatively highly acclaimed Anastasia (1997 ) and the science fiction film followed Titan AE (2000 ), which evolved into a disastrous flop for the studio and production company and led to the closure of Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. In response it Bluth and colleagues laid the time being on the design of computer games, but founded a few years later, again a film company, Don Bluth Films, Inc.
Since early 2008, Bluth prepares the film adaptation of the computer game Dragon's Lair 1983, in which he himself had cooperated. A start date has not yet been determined.
Profile
Don Bluth influenced the Disney productions of his time by a previously rarely reached seriousness and the high value he put on the quality of each animation. After he said goodbye to Disney, reinforced this influence to their own films yet. Frequently, viewers have to deal with the sudden and often quite brutal death of an important figure, and find their way in an extremely harsh, threatening reality ( so after the death of Little Foot's mother in The Land Before Time, and even more in the overall darker Mrs. Brisby and the Secret of NIMH). Therefore, it is occasionally asked by film critics, whether his films are suitable for children.
Visually distinguished Bluth work from a high level of precision and detail, the movements of the characters are softer and more fluid than the average. One characteristic is the strong use of mimic movements: the characters, such as the mouse Fievel in the eponymous film, moving their faces, blink and wiggle your nose, move their mouths and roll their eyes, making them appear more lively. During the render of cartoon characters overdrawn and because of the violent gestures often unfocused acts as for example in Disney productions, Bluth sets in the representation of realistic, human characters great emphasis on naturalness. Many scenes in which human actors are acting, so filmed with real actors, whose movements are taken directly serve ( rotoscoping ) or their movement poses defining the animators as a model.
Filmography
Short Films
- 2009: Gift of the Hoopoe