Many films now use digitally animated storyboards or cinematics to allow the director and the effects supervisor to give a semblance of how the parts of the scene will move.
I did these storyboards in 1992 for a contemplated TV ad spot for the Dinotopia book. The ad was never produced. The idea of a skeleton rising from the earth is based on the classic story from Ezekiel of the dry bones lifting up and coming to life.
Yes, that looks like a great idea for a commercial - everything gradually building up. But it also looks expensive:)
ReplyDeleteYou also use the little arrows to unambiguously define direction of movement. I guess there are a number of convensions to use for storyboarding just as there are for comic books.
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ReplyDeletewere you planning on animating this on your own?
ReplyDeletethe dinotopia series is painted in such a realistic way it would proably be hard to get that same realistic quality in animaiton?
that old pbs show "reading rainbow" always did a good job of bringing life to books when they would show them. proably just a slow pan over your book images with a few sound effects and a good author denison voice over would do the job....and save you tons of cash, haha. i loved that show!
butterfly in the sky! i can fly twice as high! take a look! its in a book! a reading rainbow...reading rainbow!
Hi Mr. Gurney. I've been a huge fan ever since I discovered your books a couple years back. I'm wondering what you might say is the one thing you could pinpoint which ultimately lead to the recognition of your first book. This comercial idea sounds amazing. I've never heard of any other children's author even consider doing that.What sorts of things did you ultimately resort to? Thanks.
ReplyDeletePerfect time post this! I just watched a Dinotopia Marathon on Sci-Fi Channel last night.
ReplyDeleteNot a very huge budget but to be from 1992.
It looked great! and some of the scenes looked just like your paintings!
Hi James,
ReplyDeleteYeah its a very good idea to raise up a skeleton to live,
When i just saw the picture, i search a link for the video and too bad there's not!!
I hope for one day!!
I have a question, do you works on another book of no?? and do you think you'll do another one??thanks
That looks super! Well, the book was beautiful and it jumped off the shelf in the bookstore for me without any commercial.
ReplyDeleteI often love the storyboard sketches more than the movies that came from them.
I've just got to wonder; do you have a lot of those weird fundies for fans? I mean those... reality challenged people who actually think that the earth is only a couple of thousand years old and man and dinosaur lived together until the Flood wiped the dinosaurs out? (y'know, the people who raised 25 million to build a 'museum' to illustrate just that)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you say to them if they send you a raving email or letter?
Marionros, you're raising a pretty sensitive issue. I don't make value judgments about the belief systems of Dinotopia fans, who range across the spectrum about earth history and origins. What's important for this blog discussion is that Dinotopia is a fantasy world with its own set of rules that hopefully can speak universally to a variety of people.
ReplyDeleteDag, I'm working on other projects and books, but not a sequel to Dinotopia/Chandara at the moment.
Matthew, actually there were a few TV commercials for the Dinotopia book in 92, thanks to the book being published by Turner Publishing.
When an author doesn't want to distanciate from any culture or believe, I always think he mainly doesn't want to exclude any group of potential buyers.
ReplyDeleteBut in the case of Dinotopia one has to acknowledge that the author of a book that illustrates a utopian edenic world where both people from different origins and cultures as well as even animals(!) live peacefully together with respect to their differences, would suddenly call people (that may have significantly different believes than himself) 'weird' and 'challenged'.
Also...
ReplyDeleteDinotopia is full of temples, parades and rituals. You can find many hints to different (existing) cultures and religions, most of them which we would call 'exotic': Buddhistic/Asian, Islamic/Arabian, etc...
As a (young) reader you are invited (guided by the author) to walk through this unknown world and be amazed by and learn from that what is different from what you know.
Ah! If only I had been able to read Dinotopia as a kid...I would have turned out to be so much more tolerant to others!
(But the book being a major source of inspiration for a beginning illustrator is also not bad...)
[EDIT of one-but-last post, as that was one horrible sentence]
ReplyDelete...
But in the case of James Gurney we're talking about the auther of a book that illustrates a utopian edenic world where both people from different origins and cultures as well as even animals(!) live peacefully together with respect to their differences.
What confusing message would he give if he were to suddenly call people, that may have significantly different believes than himself, 'weird' and 'challenged'.