Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated: Ghost in the Mirror

I'm going to do something a little different this time. For my past Haunted Mansion animations I've tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original artist's intentions, but this time I'm going to do my own armchair Imagineering.

You'll notice the above concept art of a woman trapped in a mirror looks rather aged and old. When I discovered this sketch floating in the boundless realm of the Internets I assumed it was from the 1960's. To my surprise, it's from 1995 and is supposedly part of some proposed HM enhancements (thanks again to GRD999 for this info).

This woman/ghost trapped in the mirror gag was to be placed in the Corridor of Doors. For those who don't know, The Corridor of Doors is one of the scarier places in the Mansion. This is the section of the ride where you travel past a series of doors - each with a seemingly very noisy and angry spirit pounding on the other side.

This gag would work similarly to the mirror gag with the Hitchhiking Ghosts. Although I assume the figure of the woman would be a reasonably sophisticated Audio-Animatronic. My guess is she would look like she's pounding on the glass, move her head, eyes and blink. I also think she'd probably talk or scream. There is an up-light lighting her from below. I assume this would dim up and down to reveal the figure.

Although this gag was never installed in the Haunted Mansion, I think it's a good idea.

Now there's a unwritten rule in the Haunted Mansion that says you cannot see the ghosts until you pass Madame Leota, who through her incantations allow the spirits to materialize. I respect that. Therefore if I was in charge of doing a ghost in the mirror gag for the Haunted Mansion I would do it differently.

Having an actual figure behind the glass, while certainly effective, it's probably much too literal. I think you if you show a ghost in the mirror, it must remain blurry and undefined. Also with the advancements in flat panel HD displays, I would probably dress a monitor to look like a mirror. I also think you could have some sort of mirrored glass on the monitor too that would reflect when the ghost is not visible too (I don't know for sure if this practical. I haven't done any R&D on this so don't hold me to it).

So enough with the set-up, here's my animation...



Additional comments...

This effect isn't perfect, but it's very close to how I would do the effect if I was actually designing this for the Haunted Mansion. It's certainly a very good first draft of the proposed effect.

Just in case there's some rabid HM fan out there reading this who wants to debate why this effect is not appropriate, or some other sort of nonsense. Remember I am not an Imagineer, or work for Disney in anyway. This effect is NOT going in the Haunted Mansion. This is just for fun. This is my sandbox to play in, and so if you're upset you can take your Tonka trucks and go home.

Yes, that's me as the ghost in the mirror.

Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated: Haunted Mansion Kitchen

If you're a Haunted Mansion fan maybe you've always wondered where the kitchen is. I remember when I was a child thinking it might be cool to see a haunted kitchen scene. It wasn't until recently when I found the above art on the Internet that I learn there were actual ideas for a haunted kitchen scene.

The art is once again from the talented and very prolific Marc Davis, and the text at the bottom of his drawing reads:

Invisible ghost cooks meal. Footprints move around floor. Handle on teakettle raises up to position, teakettle pours into pot. Steam rises. Spoon stirs pot. Oven opens, lid on roaster raises. Steam comes from roaster. Voice of ghost happily hums and recites recipe.

Well enough of the setup here's the animation...



Additional comments...

One issue with a long show scene like this is it's very possible you could ride the attraction multiple times without seeing it all. Although that would sure encourage repeat rides...

EXT. DISNEYLAND -DAY

Three Haunted Mansion fans discuss their favorite ride.

HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN#1
The part where the kettle floats up and pours into the pot is pretty cool.

HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #2
Wait, the kettle floats? I've only seen the oven door open.

HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #3
What are you guys talking about. The water pump is only thing I've ever seen going on in that scene.

I guess if this scene was actually in the Mansion most of us would have to wait for a YouTube video from some guy who got stuck in front of the kitchen scene and was able to record the entire sequence to eventually see all of it.

A very special thanks to my friend Bob Biestek who did the great job on the 3D kettle for me, and who even made the lid jump up and down.

Also I'd like to thank GRD999 over on MiceChat for helping me identity the artist of the artwork.

Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated: The Tiger Hunter

Hey all you fans of the Disney Parks Haunted Mansion, I've got something fun to show you I think.

As part of my Halloween celebration, I got the idea to animate some of the unused concept art to see how that scene might look if it was actually installed in the Haunted Mansion.

For Marc Davis' s concept art of the "Tiger Hunter" I animated it two different ways: First, I animated the art only, and made to move like it was an animatronic scene. Secondly, I animated a crude simulated ride through as if you were in your "doombuggies" complete with sound and lighting effects. Check it out...



Some additional thoughts and comments...

I wish I had the time to fully animate the classic "Story and Song" cover art for my opening titles. It would have looked cool, but that would also be a lot of work to prep that art for animation. Maybe next year.

Marc Davis was a genius at staging a scene. Everything reads so clearly. I hope I managed to come close to what he was envisioning. All the tiger heads on the wall are drawn differently, and so I animated them each in different ways.

Audio for my simulated ride through was challenging. If anyone out there reading this has a good sound effect for a laughing tiger I would love to hear it because I couldn't find anything suitable. Although losing the laughing effect was probably for the best since the sound for that scene was getting pretty full. I basically only used the growling, hiccuping and the hunter's ranting (which I turned way, way down). I dumped the bone crunching, panting, and laughing (which wasn't good anyway) because I found it all to be just too much noise.

Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist Promo

Such an incredible discovery, and on Halloween no less!

Last night a mysterious small roll of 16MM movie film was delivered to me by carrier pigeon. With curiously getting the better of me, I immediately dashed off to our local all night film-to-DVD transfer services to find our what was on the film.

Much to my delight it looks to be a promo for a long lost Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist TV show. Just like what I wrote about in my blog a while back. Wow, imagine that!

Here check it out...


Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist from David Witt on Vimeo.

Some may question the authenticity of this since there's no record of the show ever existing, and I can't blame them. A few things seem a bit off, and not at all like a true Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960's. Those voices for example... What was Jean Vander Pyl busy or something?

Well, like Linus and the Great Pumpkin I choose to beleve this is true. It's more fun that way. If you wish to believe too, I'm not going to stop you, and I'll save a spot for you in the pumpkin patch.

Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist & Friends

Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist are possibly Hanna-Barbera's strangest creations.

They're not strange because they are obscure, or creepy Addams Family-like creations. They're strange because they only appeared as supporting characters in three Hanna-Barbera shorts, never had a show of their own, and yet still managed to get their own comic book "series."

Let's take a look at the three Hanna-Barbera cartoons that Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist appeared in. For comparison sake I've included a frame grab of each character. This way you can see how the designs change from cartoon to cartoon.  Once upon a time I embedded a YouTube video of each cartoon, but they inevitably got yanked.  So now I've simply posted the title cards from each cartoon - you're on your own if you want to watch these somewhere.

The Evil family's first appearance in Surprised Party 12/03/1960

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Looking very green in Fraidy Cat Lion 02/20/1961

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The design of the "Evil" family changes once again in Chilly Chiller 10/6/1961

Junior seems to be the only one doing any science

It's funny, for a family named Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist, the toddler Junior, is the only one depicted doing any sort of "evil scientist" type stuff in any of their cartoon appearances.

All the Hanna-Barbera cartoons featuring Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist were written by the famous cartoon writer Michael Maltese. Michael Maltese worked with Chuck Jones on some of the most memorable Bugs Bunny cartoons, and it's here I suspect some of the roots of the J.Evil Scientist character began. Oh sure, the Addams Family single panel cartoon in The New Yorker are certainly the biggest influence (the Evil's were on on the tube years before the ABC TV show), but not the only I think.

Chuck Jones directed Hair Raising Hare in 1946. It was written by Ted Pierce, and featured a Evil Scientist without a name that looked and sounded exactly like Peter Lorre.

Hair Raising Hare 1946

In 1952 Jones directs Water, Water Every Hare which was written by Michael Maltese. The Evil Scientist in this cartoon no longer looks and sounds like Peter Lorre. Nope the Scientist is now short and greenish, and sounds like Boris Karloff. Although the Evil Scienti still has a flashing neon sign outside on his castle.

Water, Water Every Hair 1952

Take these two Evil Scientist characters mix together, take the "J" from Michigan J. Frog, from One Froggy Evening which is another cartoon written by Michael Maltese, and you have J. Evil Scientist.

So is that a total crackpot theory for the origins of Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist or what?

All 4 covers grouped in one convenient picture

Now we come to my exclusive addition to the internet - an entire Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist comic book story. Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist had four issues of thier own comic published right around Halloween time from 1963 to 1966.

However, I don't know which comic this story originally appeared in. "A Visit from Granny" was reprinted in a issue of a Flintstones comic from 1970. Here I present it to you in all its four page glory.

Well there you have it. It's a shame Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist never had their very own show. It's certainly fun to think what it might have been like. I don't know maybe some animation historian will turn up some lost footage or something one day about these almost forgotten characters.

If you wish to read more about Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist, you can check the Wiki entry,  fellow blogger I'm Learning To Share post, and last but certainly not least, there's a number of posts over on Monsterama.

UPDATE:  I've come across mysterious evidence of a lost Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist show, and I have the TV promo for it right here.

Lifebuoy Radio Animation

A while ago a producer I was working with asked me about lip sync animation. I told him I had done that before for some local commercials, but didn't a quality example to show him. So I decided to make something new.

I found an old radio commercial for Lifebuoy soap recorded in 1945. This commercial has some unintentional funny audio which I thought would work well for my animation.

This radio spot is the only audio used in this project. I was very tempted to add sound effects to some of the crazy things I animated, but I resisted the temptation (in fact the audio abruptly cuts out at about a second from the end, and I didn't try to smooth that out either). All the art work is 100% original, and I created it exclusively by me for this project.

I think it turned out pretty good, and I think you'll enjoy if you appreciate my kind of "humor."




About the only thing I knew about Lifebuoy soap is that it's the soap of choice if you wish to punish Ralphie, so I did the Wiki on Lifebuoy and found some interesting facts. The soap is still manufactured today in India, and is popular in Asian countries. Also Lifebuoy coined the term "B.O.", short for "body odor." So now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Holiday Lights

To ring in the New Year, I present to you the holiday animation I made for 2006. Here's the text I sent to friends to setup the animation:

Dear friends,

I've been doing holiday illustrations for a while now, but recently I've received numerous requests to do a special animation for the Christmas season. So in the spirit holiday giving, here it is - an animated festival lights.

If I may say so, I think it's quite a thing of beauty which perfectly captures the illuminated holiday displays of the season. But isn't not just a spectacle for the eye, oh no, the music for this animation was carefully selected for it's emotional impact. Extra bonus points to anyone who can identify the rich orchestrations I used in this short.

It's my sincerest hope you'll enjoy this celebration of electrical wonders, and harmonious sounds of the season. So without any further adieu, please join me as we visit a serene and picturesque winter carnival where the magic unfolds...



Not to belabor the joke, but here's an explanation in case my animation left you scratching your head.

So the "joke" was what you could call a switcheroo. In the setup I made it sound like I was animating elaborate holiday light displays, and I start the animation with fancy orchestra music and the winter carnival setting. But I then start pulling away from the carnival, and switch to wacky animated neon and illuminated signs that have holiday themes edited to the music from the closing credits of the Bullwinkle show.

But you probably knew that didn't you?

Holiday Spirit

Here's my Christmas gift to the world, or at least the handful of people who visit this blog each day.

Instead of sending out cards each year I've stated doing short holiday animations. This years animation is about a cute bell ringing elf, and the holiday spirit that possesses him. Enjoy...




I'm planning to do a few more homemade Christmas card posts this coming week, and one last special animation to ring in the New Year.

Halloween Animation Spectacular

Above is an honest-to-goodness fortune cookie fortune that I got not too long ago. Although I don't believe in supernatural nonsense like this, I choose to look at it as a sorta cosmic green light to do things like the holiday animation below.

Now if you're the type who likes your internet videos to feature Jackass-like stunts, or overly emotional pleas to leave Britney alone - you'll be sorely disappointed.

But if you're looking for something fun, unpretentious, and crudely animated I think you're in for a treat.



Well I hope you appreciated that just as the fortune cookie foretold.

You know, I got this honest-to-goodness ticket at the supermarket the other day. I wonder if this has any cosmic significance for my life.