Will Vinton is an Academy Award and primetime Emmy Award winning director and producer of animated, films. His films are usually done in Claymation, a term which he trademarked in 1978. Although he was not the first to use clay for animating films, he perfected the form and is considered a Walt Disney type figure in Claymation. [1]
Beginning[]
Vinton got his start making independent films while a college student at Berkeley. His first fully produced short called Closed Mondays, was 8 minutes long and won an oscar for best animated short film in 1974. After winning the Oscar, Vinton quickly established Will Vinton Studios in Portland Oregon. In 1978 Vinton created a 17 minute documentary, showing behind-the-scenes footage of how he created his films. The documentary was titled Claymation, a term that caught on with the public and has now grown to be synonymous with clay animation.
Commercial Success[]
Vinton continued to make animated films in the ‘80’s and his projects continued to progress. He quickly began doing special effects for movies such as Michael Jackson’s Disneyland-Disneyworld film/ride Captain EO. Additionally Vinton created several very successful commercials and commercial characters such as the clay animated California Raisins. [2] [3]
Present[]
Vinton continues to make animated features, and in the early 90’s he began to use CGI to make films and characters such as the Red and Yellow M&M’s. After his studio was bought out by Phil Night, Vinton created Will Vinton’s Freewill entertainment which continues to make animated films.