Passamaquoddy

Other than the SURVIVOR: PASSAMQUODDY television series being in town, the highlight of the week is this Passamquoddy first… A Ellenshaw museum post in TRUE 3-D!  It is pretty awkward that the Superbowl football game grabbed onto our coattails by featuring 3-D in a trio of commercials.  So, if you’ve used the glasses available from Grumpy’s gym and the Comb and Tome, or even the second rate Superbowl glasses, put them on an enjoy the 3-D experience.

This visit we see Ellenshaw has returned to familiar territory that he explored in DARBY O’GILL.  Of course, he explored creating many paintings to enhance the size challenged gnome world but also, as in teh above picture, he enhanced the beauty of a regular evening shot.

The Gnome-Mobile was certainly an obvious product from the Disney company…  In addition to Ellenshaw, the film featured music by Buddy Baker and the Sherman Brothers, was directed by Robert Stevenson and even starred Matthew Garber and Karen Dotrice (credited as the “Mary Poppins Kids”).

Enjoy these offerings and we’ll see you next time in the Ellenshaw…

Walt Disney was always intrigued by the Matterhorn.  And not always the one with tobaggon sleds designed to challenge even the sturdiest of spines…  So, it was only natural that the mountain would play a major role in a film about climbing.  Of course, scaling a mountain is dangerous work,and to alleviate the risk - and keep the costs manageable, many of the mountain climbing scenes were created using optical effects.

This week Passamaquoddy proudly introduces a new exhibit to the Ellenshaw museum.

 

 “Generations” will feature designs created by both Peter Ellenshaw and his son Harrison. The display is designed to be a bridge between each wing of the museum and features matte paintings and miniature work from Disney’s “The Black Hole.” That film, earned two Oscar nominations in nineteen seventy-nine for Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography.

 

In an age when studios were turning toward special effects made possible through the use of newer technologies, such as CGI, the Disney Studios created a science fiction fantasy using old school methods that visually still stands up today.

 

The DVD release of the film contains a bonus feature entitled “Through the Black Hole.”

This sixteen minute film contains an interview with Harrison Ellenshaw who makes this statement about computer generated graphics. “Photoshop is great, but it doesn’t have a slider for great composition”

 

Simply put, Harrison is saying that it is the input of the human element that is so important. And he is 100% correct. Take for example the recent Indiana Jones film “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” Lucas Arts relies heavily upon digital scenery added to green screen sets. In my opinion the finished product lacks depth of field. Any forced perspective is lost because the computer leaves in too much detail. Scenes sometimes look flat or too picture perfect.

 

 

Beginning with Treasure Island and subsequent films Peter Ellenshaw was a master at his craft, painting scenery on glass mattes that look realistic even by todays standards.

 

 

The film itself was not a commercial success but it is a pleasant diversion.

The collaborative artistic vision which the Ellenshaws’ bring to the screen should not be missed.

 

 

Submitted by Fred Appleton July ‘08

With the town running at about 35% of its computation capability, we’re working to get things done, especially with this website.  The security system at teh Ellenshaw is down so they’re back to the old “put each person in a net and lower them directly into the lagoon, therefore soaking and destroying any dangerous items or recording equipment” security screening technique.  (Note. If you plan on heading to the Ellenshaw, wear your gollashes.)

Back in 1956, the elder Ellenshaw was taxed with creating much of the coutryside of the Tennessee region.  As can be seen in the top picture, he wsa also responsible for increasing tehsize of the armies.

Even though the film Johnny Tremain began as a two part television special, the amount of matte work done for the film is astonishing.  The display in the museum had some nice offerings to highlight the work.

Here is a piece of concept art and the subsequent film painting:

Today’s visit to the Ellenshaw Museum takes us to the wing of Peter’s talented son Harrison.  Harrison did not have the longevity with the Disney organization that his father did, but his impact may have been even more prominent.  After all, he left Disney to work on a small independent film called STAR WARS.  Harrison continued the matte processes perfected by his father but was even more creative in the design of other unique special effects.  And his occasional return to the Disney studio was for such landmark visual films as THE BLACK HOLE, TRON and DICK TRACY. 

Now mattes were even more interactive, including movement previously unavailable in a static painting.  In one of the first major mattes of Dick Tracy we travel across a massive cityscape featuring moving trains and blinking lights.  Harrison even got his father involved with Dick Tracy by having him dabble on the huge twenty plus foot scene.

In an interesting homage to Harrison, who creates a perfectly counterfeited world, a counterfeiter uses a stolen check to mimic Dick Tracy’s signature and writing style…  The Payee?

Harrison’s Hardware

You can check out more exhibits by searching for “Ellenshaw”

With no resolution in the kidnapping as of yet, Fred Appleton stepped up and took some shots from within Passamaquoddy’s Ellenshaw museum. This time, from back in the television gallery. He grabbed some interesting stuff.

Most exciting is the moving painting that turns an ordinary horse jump into a perilous leap…

The curator of the Ellenshaw Museum has finally informed us they are back open for business!

To be honest, I didn’t get to spend much time there this morning.  In fact, I just got into the front door, saw the crowds… took in one picture from DARBY O’GILL and headed back out to re-ride Minnow Mania and prepare for Starfish Weekends.

As we’ve discussed in an earlier post, Darby O’Gill boasted some of the most spectacular special effects and still stand up almost 50 years later.  Although Ellenshaw had to strecth his special effects creativity into different arenas, he still gave some of his tried and true matte paintings.. like the one above.

If you’d like to see more exhibits from the Ellenshaw Museum, use the search engine at right with the word “Ellenshaw”

Heres another matte painting by Peter Ellenshaw. What makes this one so interesting is what I had to go through to get it. As you may recall, I was recently thrown out of the museum because Fred Appleton hits people when they are not looking. ( I think he is mean to puppies too). So, I had to rely on quick thinking to get in unnoticed.

First I tried sneaking in the back door, but it was guarded by the dog that used to work over at the now closed “Turtle Talk with Cujo!”.

Next I stopped some nice folk coming out of CLUB 8, and paid them some good hard cash to get me in. They put me in a carraige and tried to sneak my by, but the guards saw from their smiles that they were up to something. When I saw the photo of them I could tell as well… What a waste of money that was. And after I got caught they abandoned me. They ran off to visit Andy Jones for the twelfth time that day.

So finally, I approached the door, said ‘please’ and they let me in.

So now we have another great picture of Ellenshaw’s work. Its interesting to see how his work changes and morphs as time goes by. We can discuss that later.

Of late, things are busy in downtown Passamaquoddy. All of this “castaway” stuff is allover the place. Special events.. bank holidays… even special sales. Most prominently, the “Swiss Family Robinson Brewhouse” had lines out the door. To avoid the crowds I headed into the Ellenshaw museum, back to some of the early television work by the elder Ellenshaw, Peter. I donned my coonskin cap and took a look at some of the Davy Crockett work.

One of the more interesting things available here was a side by side comparison of a shot through the painted glass next to a direct shot. Worth a look.